Infinitely Zero (SMT/Worm)

[UsurperOfTruth]

I don't own anything from the Shin Megami Tensei series or Worm, if I did that'd be great.

Anyways, this is an idle idea that was brewing in my head quite a few months or so back that I finally decided to fix up a bit and get it made into a proper idea. All of my knowledge of Worm comes from various fanfics I've read, and the wiki so please point out if something seems wrong on that end as I am trying to stay faithful to the characters for the most part. SMT stuff I'm way more experienced about, but since it's a rather complex universe don't hesitate to call me out on stuff that seems wrong. Anyways, enough of my banter, onto the main course.

Posting this over here from SB.

Infinitely Zero

Prologue I - The End​

Life was coming to an end.

In his final moments he had thought about his decision, the decision that he had made because he was a coward. His heart had clenched, his blood racing, even as he tried to remain a calm facade. The decision to fight fate, to fight death itself or to live the rest of his days in blissful ignorance that the world was going to end was one that he had put much thought into. His friends would agree with whatever he chose, but he knew they were much more willing than he was. In the end he had chickened out, however he had not attained true ignorance.

Sure, for a few months he had lived without knowledge of Tartarus and S.E.E.S, but it hadn't lasted. March 5th, as he enjoyed karaoke with Junpei and Yukari, his memories had come back and he'd felt sick. So very sick. Everything was wrong, so very wrong. He'd excused himself giving some excuse because he couldn't be around those people that were Junpei and Yukari, but weren't. He ran away from the Karaoke bar and towards where the door to the Velvet Room should, to see if he could fix this, to see if he could do anything to fix his mistake.

It was futile, going to that small dead end he found nothing. It was in that moment that he saw her, that blonde girl that he'd met for the first time only days ago, though that wasn't quite true. The girl was Aigis, he knew this and somehow he felt as if she knew it too as she looked at him with sad green eyes as the clock striked 12. Her final words as the world ended being just as sad as her eyes.

"If only you had remembered sooner, Makoto."

And then, without warning or any chance of stopping it The Fall occurred as he cried out to the world in regret. Regret, as he had doomed the world when his friends were all more than willing to help him ascend Tartarus and stop this from ever happening. As his consciousness started to slip away into the bliss of death, he saw those two people who had been a constant throughout his journey and had helped him down the road he'd followed. He forced himself to try and go them, even as the sweet whispers in his ear telling him to just let go got louder.

The familiar ever ascending elevator and pure blue velvet colored room was something that surprised him. Though, more importantly the ever-grinning Igor and Elizabeth stared at him with a look that made him feel even worse than he did. He tried to keep himself stoic, it was better than breaking down at this point.

"Ah, dear guest...I had not expected you to be able reach this room once more. I suppose one with a power as unique as yours can surpass even my expectations," The long-nose fellow known as Igor chuckled as he looked at Makoto, though the grin on his face never quite reached his eyes. "However, I suppose now is not the time for jokes. As you can see your world is ending, something I believe is a result from not completing your journey."

Makoto winced at that and stared down at the floor, wanting to avoid the stares of not only Igor but also Elizabeth. The white haired elevator attendant stared at him with a look that made his heart clench, he didn't want to look at her golden eyes anymore.

"Dear guest, please do not worry. As I said before, no matter what you're decision was so long as you abide by the contract you signed so long ago. However," For the first time since his meetings with Igor, Makoto saw the man stop grinning. "The events that have transpired are quite unfortunate, the event known as the Fall has come to pass. Even as we speak the outside world is slowly coming to an end. I fear this is one the worst possible course of events that could occur, there is nothing I could do to help you at this point. It is unknown to even myself why you came here now, or even how. Fate is quite unusual, is it not?"

"I refuse," His words were short and to the point as he got up from his seat. "I refuse to let things end like this, I refuse to let all of our efforts go to waste just because of my mistake. I'll fix things...even if it kills me."

As he faded away from the Velvet Room, his last sight was of Elizabeth, reaching an arm out to him. He smiled at her, even though she could see that it didn't really reach his eyes; and then he was gone. Igor simply grinned as tarot cards lied on the table in front of him, the promise of a new journey in the cards.

Makoto's footsteps were heavy as he ran, things weren't over yet. He still had to graduate with his friends, he remembered all of the promises that he had made and he refused to let them end in ruin because of this. He saw the faces of all those people that had given him purpose; Kenji, Fuuka, Mitsuru, Hidetoshi, Bunkichi and Mitsuko, Yukari, Kazushi, Chihiro, Maya, Keisuke, Yuko, Maiko, Bebe, Mr. Tanaka, Mutatsu, Mamoru, Nozomi, Akinari, Aigis, Pharos, and Elizabeth. They were his world, no, his universe. He refused to go back to his lonely existence his bonds meant everything.

"Hmm, what a fascinating development."

The voice that appeared from nowhere made him stop, looking around the street he was on he noted it was worryingly empty. There wasn't just a lack of people, but also a lack of coffins as well. Looking around, the only thing he saw in sight was a woman. She didn't look like anything special; The woman was pale and had blonde hair that was adorned with a goat-head hair clip, along with this she wore a simple blue dress and was strangely barefoot. Her eyes were what put him on guard, besides the fact that it was seemingly the Dark Hour and someone besides himself was active during it, each were a different color. One red and one blue.

"I suppose this is why some Demons emerge from humans, to protect their psyche from this Nyx…," Turning her eyes towards Makoto she spoke with a small smile on her face. "However, I suppose this is not of much importance to you. I believe I can offer you some assistance in accomplishing your current goal. Would you like my help?"

He didn't know if he could trust this woman, the odd feeling he got from her told him that she was much more than she appeared to be, but he didn't have time to think things through. The more he stood around, the less time he had. So, even if his instincts were telling him this was not a good idea, he nodded his head at the woman as a sign he would accept her help.

"Good choice, this wouldn't be much of a world if humans no longer existed. No freedom nor will, only mindless husks would remain, a terrible fate indeed."

Pausing for a second she snapped her fingers and the effect was near instant. Things felt like they were swirling, distorting, what did she do he thought?

"Now, go. Go and change fate."

Things twisted and distorted more and more until things looked like they had been twisted thrice over, becoming a mangled caricature of itself. It was a decidedly odd experience seeing things like this, he didn't like it. He was surprised when the view changed suddenly, and the moon was much closer than it had been a moment ago. He'd think about the how part of his sudden teleportation up here later…

He had bigger problems to deal with now.

Looking up at the giant eye-like moon, he reached inside of himself to find the power that had always been with him. A sea overflowing with different facets of himself, even if he didn't have an Evoker any longer their power was still his. Looking at the foe that was more than likely to defeat him, he stated that word that had started his Journey for the final time.

"Per-so-na."

 

[UsurperOfTruth]

Infinitely Zero

Afterthought - The Rouge​

The being stood there staring at where the Fool had went to confront what would be the changing point in his life. The chances of success were slim, he knew this to be true, but he hadn't placed his faith in the Fool lightly. In a world that had not gone through Conception, he was truly unique. His strength now wasn't anything special, but that wasn't what he cared about, it was the infinite potential that was there.

The possibilities were literally endless, and that was something very interesting. However, as he was now it was guaranteed that he would die against Nyx. There was simply no way for him to bridge the gap between power, unless of course he managed to call upon the power that lie within him. So...he would have to take this matter into his own hands, someone with such potential could be the person needed to go forth with his plans.

Turning slightly he caught a glimpse of a black butterfly, it was going towards the tower known as Tartarus. He could only chuckle at this, it seemed that he wasn't the only one with a vested interest in the boy. He'd have to make sure the interloper knew how he felt about such a thing.

His wings unfurled around him as Lucifer took flight, off to save a fool.

 

[UsurperOfTruth]

Infinitely Zero

Chapter I - To waltz with…​

Watching the clock slowly tick by, I thought to myself that these last 5 minutes of class were going by too slow for my liking.

I sat in the classroom bored, my head was down on the desk, my earphones played a irritatingly catchy song that I had downloaded on impulse. I had tried to remain focused, but at the moment it seemed like a near impossible task. It wasn't the teacher's fault, he actually seemed to be rather enthusiastic about his job if I was being honest, it was the fact that I had already learned all of this. In subjects like Math and English, well, it wouldn't be false to say that I was years ahead of them. It was...annoying to have to go through classes like this.

"Okay class, now I know I said that today was going to be a bit lax due to spring recess just ending, but I still need to hand-out homework," The rest of the class groaned at Mr. Devin as he pulled a stack of papers off his desk. "This is a simple assessment of your basic Calculus skills, so as to make sure that the lessons you've learned so far haven't faded due to a week of non-stop partying." He finished dryly as he quickly went around desk-to-desk giving each of us the work.

While I waited for him to get around to me, I thought about what I knew of the man. From what I had heard, Mr. Devin had transferred here from New York a short while ago and still had remnants of an accent, but I never really heard it. He was tall, about 6 feet or so if I had to make a guess, and had short slicked black hair. His skin was a bit tanned but still rather fair, more notable was the small scar on his cheek that he'd apparently had gotten from a break-up he had before getting this job. Out of the teachers I had, he was probably the youngest being only in his 30's.

"Mr. Yuki, I hope you're quite confident in your math skills seeing as you weren't paying attention in my class today. Even if you think you're just that smart, remember that the early bird catches the bookworm." Placing the paper on my desk, he moved on to the next desk as I twitched a bit at the lame pun that he had just made.

The classroom quickly started to devolve into a series of chatter and noisy voices that made me wish that I still had my old MP3 player and headphones to block it all out. The ones I had now simply weren't good enough. Students chatted back and forth around me about mundane stuff like; what boys they thought were cute, what they planned to do after-school, how they were totally going to cheat on the homework, and other things like that. I disliked all the noise and decided to just pack up my belongings now, hoping that the bell would ring so I could get out of here.

The bell rang soon after with a soothing ding-dong as I finished putting my things away. It was finally lunch time. Rising up out of my seat a bit, I was about to start making my way towards the door only for a loud voice to suddenly interrupt me.

"Makoto-san," Turning my head slightly I saw him, Naoki Managi, one of the other Japanese students that were in my class. He had short black hair and grey eyes, his skin was strangely pale for someone who spent as much time outside as he did, and he was an inch or two shorter than me. The ever-present blue hoodie that he wore made him stand out in a crowd if only because he'd worn it since the beginning of the year. "What's up? Classes still being boring as usual?"

"I guess." I said noncommittally as I picked up my bag, slinging it over my shoulder as I made my way out of the door, Naoki following behind me with his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, Calculus has gotta suck man, introducing all these letters was a killer for me in Algebra. I can't even imagine doing the stuff Mr. Devin has you guys doing." Naoki said with a sigh as we walked towards the lunchroom. It really wasn't that bad, in my opinion, but I did have an unfair advantage of course.

"Hey! Naoki," As soon as we entered, a voice yelled from across the room. Getting up from a table off in the corner was a tall asian guy with a green and red scarf. The green and red colors that the guy wore let me identify what he was apart of immediately, the Asian Bad Boyz. Or maybe he just really liked Christmas? I doubted it, it was March after all. "You got the stuff that I asked for?"

"Yeah, of course," I watched silently as Naoki reached into his book-bag and pulled out...a smaller black bag that seemed rather full of something. "Here ya go Sudou."

Snatching the bag out of Naoki's hands, Sudou looked around a moment before stuffing the bag into his shirt. "Thanks…" He muttered gruffly before walking back over to his table. This seemed immensely sketchy, but I knew Naoki wouldn't think of it like that. He was a bit too nice for his own good, helping out others and being way too trusting. I knew for a fact that it was going to get him in trouble one day, and I think that he knew too.

"What did he have you get him, Naoki?"

"Uh, he just wanted me to pick something up for him that he left around the Boardwalk. I thought that it'd be rude to pry, so I didn't actually open it up. It felt pretty heavy though."

"...Did it ever occur to you that this guy had you pick up something illegal for him?"

"What? Sudou would never do something like that, he's had me pick up stuff before and it was never anything illegal. Heck, I picked up a book for the guy from a bookstore a couple weeks ago, ya gonna tell me his book was illegal? I think you're just worrying too much man, anyway Ms. Knott asked me to help her with some stuff so I'll see ya later man." Running off before I could respond, I simply shook my head at him. I hoped that if he ever did mess up or something bad happened, I was there to make sure he didn't die.

Going and grabbing my lunch, I quickly exited the cafeteria. I didn't like eating food with all these people around, even after all I've been through I guess I'm still not the social type. I planned on asking one of my teachers if I could eat in there room, but as I walked back to Mr. Devin's room I noticed something. It was a group of girls, they were surrounding something or maybe someone. Focusing in a bit, I saw who they were surrounding.

The girl was tall, at least an inch or so taller than me, but gangly. She wore glasses and had long dark hair, her clothes were a simple sweat-hoodie and some jeans. Overall she looked rather plain, however I still needed to know why the girls were surrounding her. Stepping a bit closer, I could hear their voices better and the things they were saying.

"Oh Taylor's such a slut."

"A guy wouldn't want to touch her with a ten foot pole."

"She's so ugly."

"Probably the ugliest girl in the school."

"Obviously, she's just an idiot. Doesn't she know that nobody likes her?"

They continued on with insults and other disparaging comments even as the girl, Taylor if there words were to be believed, stood there. The annoyed look on her face made me think that she was used to dealing with such a thing, that wouldn't do. No one should have to get used to being bullied, I hated bullies.

Despite the group of girls being huddled rather close together, I still had more than enough reach and strength to pull the girl out from the group as I felt my power shift within me. Dragging her away and into the classroom I had planned on going to while the girls stood there in shock was easy, people didn't expect a guy like me to do things like that after all.

I paced my stuff down on a desk and looked around a bit, Mr. Devin wasn't here. That was weird, but I suppose it worked out for me. Mr. Devin would likely ask question about why I had just dragged this random girl in here and might kick us out, yeah there was definitely less to worry about without him here. Though, thinking about that made me think about what Taylor thought was going on, should probably clear that up.

Looking over at her she seemed...perplexed, and a bit anxious. I suppose being dragged around, or in this situation away, by some random guy you had never met before. I stared at her a bit, watching her try and work up some sort of nerve before finally she spoke.

"Who set you up to this?" Her voice hardened a bit.

"No one, I didn't even know of you till today." I answered honestly.

"Why should I believe you?"

"Hmm, you have no reason to."

That made her go silent, If I had to make a guess, she was currently wondering whether I was being genuine or not. I didn't know anything about her situation, I knew nothing of her and I wouldn't pretend that I did.

"...Then why?"

"Because, you looked like someone that needed help."

I am thou…

Thou art I…

The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, they sealed their fate... Entrusting their future to the cards, they cling to a dim hope.

Thou have made a genuine bond of the Reversed Death Arcana.

 

[UsurperOfTruth]

Infinitely Zero

Chapter II - The hung noose...​

The girl, Taylor, felt like Death.

That wasn't to say that her skin was cold or that she looked tremendously pale, it was the sort of presence that she gave off. She looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders and was just barely managing to keep it from collapsing on her. Bullies were certainly stressful...but for her to give off a presence of Death, or at least have some sort of tie to the arcana, meant it had to be much more than just your average bullies. It was something to think about for later I thought as I ate the rather simple sandwich that I had grabbed. Taylor sat a few desks away from me, giving a wary glance to the door and me every few seconds.

I understood why she was worried, me grabbing her and taking her a relatively short distance away wasn't really going to stop them if they wished to follow after us. However, the lack of faith in my ability to make sure they stopped was disheartening, I did not tolerate bullies. We sat in silence for a bit, just waiting until something happened when suddenly she spoke.

"I hope you don't think this means I trust you or anything…"

"It'd be weird if you did, seeing as you don't even know my name." I replied as I went to the large trash can Mr. Devin kept in his room and threw away the styrofoam tray before returning to my seat, I'd finished my food in only a couple of minutes.

"Ah…" She made an awkward sound as the room returned to silence only for it be broken by the door opening. There was a group of girls outside the door, but one seemed to loom over the rest of them.

The girl was a caucasian redhead. She was pretty, probably enough so that she could one day be on one of those beauty magazines or something. She seemed to be the type of girl that guys would drool over and would probably be rather high on the social hierarchy, however I could focus on that later. The look on her face told it all to me, she was here with bad intentions, but why?

She looked at me for a moment, then around the room, and then started heading towards Taylor. Not willing to let her set the tempo, I rose from my seat and quickly intercepted her before she was right in front of Taylor. Putting my hands in the pockets of my unbuttoned blazer, I stared down the girl who was clearly one of Taylor's main bullies.

She finally actually took a real look at me, and I could see the cogs turning in her head to figure out what to do. It only took a few seconds for her to piece something together, and I could see that she was about to say something so I interrupted her.

"What do you want?" My words were cold as I spoke.

"Hmm, who are you supposed to be," Looking around me and at Taylor the look on her face became smug and vindictive. "I guess this guy doesn't know about your rep Hebert, there's no way anyone would want to spend any sort of time around you otherwise. You're just an ugly slut after all…"

"Could you shut up already?"

"What?" She recoiled and turned to look at me as if I had just slapped her.

"I said, could you shut up already you dumb redhead?" I felt my power shift within as another Persona came to the surface, I could feel the anger radiating from it as it made itself known.

"Just...just who the hell do you think you're talking to, you nobody!" Her voice quickly rose as she took slight of my seeming offense to her apparent status.

"I think I'm talking to some redhead who thinks she has power and is trying to lord it over others, I don't like that," I allowed a small smile to appear on my face as the effect of Evil Smile took place. "So please, go away."

The shift in her attitude and posture was immediate, the girl seemed to shake a bit as well as the sudden hitch in her breath as she felt what should be a sense of terror come over her. This was a bit excessive, I admitted to myself and decided that a few seconds of that should be more than enough for her to get the message. Letting Evil Smile fade I stared at the frightened girl in-front of me with a dispassionate gaze.

She stared at me with an odd look in her eye, before storming out of the room. I didn't like that look, it wasn't one of fright but of someone who had a plan instead. She'd be back, I could feel it. However, I'd worry about that later. Turning to stare at the girls that were still in the room, a frigid glare was enough to get them to go away. With the situation temporarily resolved, I turned around to face Taylor.

She had seemingly shrunk in on herself and she was staring at me with a look of puzzlement, as if she couldn't believe what had just happened. I could only wonder what was so unbelievable about it, other people had to have stood up for her before. Right? I did not wish to think about the alternative, taking a glance at the clock showed that there was about twenty minutes before lunch ended. I wouldn't be able to take a quick nap today it seemed, I could only let out a sigh at that fact.

Taking a seat once more, I pulled out my phone and decided to kill some time with some stupid mobile game I'd downloaded. All you did was just flick these birds towards these structures and little pig things to try and destroy as much stuff as you could, it was a good time-waster with little focus required unless the level was particularly hard. We settled into a comfortable silence as I played on my phone and Taylor got over her disbelief.

"Why?"

"I thought I told you already, you looked like you needed help." I replied absentmindedly as I focused on my game.

"...thanks…"

Turning towards Taylor, I offered a small smile as I shifted the Persona that was at the forefront of my mind. Sun would do nicely. "Since I haven't properly introduced myself, my name is Makoto Yuki and it was no problem. If I may ask, what is your name?"

"Taylor. Taylor Hebert."

The bell rang right at that moment, the soft ding-dong sound it made seeming just a bit more melodic than usual. Getting up from my seat and grabbing my bag, I let the Persona fade away and felt the smile fade away from my face. I felt a bit annoyed at myself for what I had just done. I wasn't the best at talking to people, I knew this to be fact, but I disliked using it my power as crutch.

"It was nice meeting you, I'm sure that we'll meet again." I said simply as I exited Mr. Devin's room. Walking quickly away from the classroom to make sure that she was unable, I let out a sigh. I always seemed to draw people with problems towards me, or maybe it was the other way around and something was pulling me towards them. Well, whatever it was, I'd figure out what it was eventually. For now, I had a computer class to get to.

Turning around the corner I saw a crowd of people, their voices loud with excitement. What was going on? My curiosity peaked, I slipped my way through the crowd, making use of general skinniness to get through the small gaps in-between the people. Getting closer and closer to the center gradually, I froze for a moment.

"Get up ya damn chink!"

Naoki was on the ground, curled into a sort of ball to protect himself, as he got wailed on by a particularly burly skinhead. I felt my Persona become restless as I watched as a particularly strong kick hit him in the ribs. I didn't even think about it before I threw a haymaker at the guy's head. No one hurts my friends. That was the rule I kept, and this guy had broken it. I was far beyond pissed, and it was no surprise that I ended up in the Principal's Office after continuing to beat the guy after knocking him out along with the two guys that decided to jump in.

Zoning out as the principal said her piece, I had to admit that today was pretty interesting all things considered.

 

[UsurperOfTruth]

Infinitely Zero

Chapter III - The strings were pulled by…​

I woke up from a dream about butterflies.

They hadn't done anything very spectacular, but it had felt like there was some deeper meaning behind what they were doing. One pure blue butterfly and the other a malevolent black, they twirled and flitted around the Earth in a sort weird dance. With everything that had happened to me, I could just feel in my gut that there was something there that I was missing. Just another thing to go on the list of things I needed to figure out.

That list seemed to increase more and more the longer I stayed here. The thought was still baffling that somehow I'd landed in another world, but the signs were too prominent for me to just ignore it all. Not only did Iwatodai not exist here, apparently he had been born in the U.S. of this world. The first few months here were difficult, I remembered the times that I forgot to speak in English. However, the more important difference was that this was a world filled with people that had superpowers, it seemed like one of those video games that Junpei used to play.

However, it wasn't a case in which the superheroes always won and the bad guys lost, and peace and justice prevailed. No, that would be too easy, this was world was plagued with a case of competent heroes but even more competent villains. It seemed that every win the heroes tended to be hard fought, and that wasn't even getting into these creatures known as Endbringers. All the deaths they caused...I didn't even want to think about it.

Getting out my bed, I checked the time on the small digital clock that I had. It was already 6 pm, I guess I had been more tired than I thought. My stomach growled making known that I hadn't eaten anything since I had gotten home, that needed to be fixed. Checking my fridge revealed that I was sorely lacking in supplies to cook dinner, it seems I'd have to make a food run then. Slipping on my blazer, some jeans, and sneakers I left out of my apartment making sure to lock the door behind me.

There was small grocery store about 5 or so minutes away from my place that I frequented. Since I lived on the edge point on what some people would consider the good and bad parts of town, it was convenient to not have to go very far away from home. There was still some light outside so I wasn't very worried, people tended to not try and do unsavory things during broad daylight. Well, as far as I knew anyways. I'd probably end up eating my words sooner or later, but for now I was more worried about getting food in my stomach.

As I made it to the store I checked my wallet and saw that I had a little less than $80, that would be more than enough to get the things I wanted. Stepping into the store I quickly moved aisle through aisle, picking up a few basic things like bread and milk whilst also making sure to pick up the things I needed for dinner. As focused as I was on getting what I needed, I was able to keep myself from flinching when a finger tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hmm?" I turned around to see an elderly woman with a polite smile on her face.

"Young man, could you help me grab that?" She pointed to one of the higher shelves where a bundle of paper towels were.

It was just a bit out of my own reach admittedly, but I could still reach it if I stretched a bit. Positioning myself below it, I got onto the tips of my toes and stretched and grabbed the plastic portion of the bag. Slowly allowing it to drop down, I kept a tight grip on it as it came down to my height and then proceeded to place the bag on the ground when I was sure the plastic wouldn't tear.

"There you go miss." I said looking as the woman's face lit up in joy.

"Thank you so much, young man. But, if it isn't too much to ask, could I please get you to help me take my belongings out to my car? I've got quite a lot of things I need to carry, you see?" She gave a pointed look at the rather significant amount of belongings she had in the basket she was carrying.

"Sure, let me get my things rung up and I'll help you miss." I replied.

It took a few minutes, but after getting my items rung up along with the old lady's I helped her carry her stuff to her car. It looked pretty old, with a few chips in the paint, but overall seemed to be in decent condition. Piling the stuff into her backseat was only slightly problematic because of the space available, but I somehow managed to fit it all with some patience.

"Thank you so much for the assistance young man, not many people nowadays would go out of their way to help an old woman in need."

"I suppose…" I replied back as I closed her car door.

"I believe you deserve a reward for your charity."

"That won't be necessary."

"Well, a message then…," Turning around to face the old woman, in her place was someone completely different. It was a much younger woman who seemed a bit taller than me and was in a black mourner's garb. Who...was she? "This world is soon to face a great calamity, but one it has chance of surviving. A being destined to follow the words of others will be led to bring this world to destruction, however that is only one of the many threats that you may have to deal with. You will play an integral part of the fate of this world, but also many others. How does one choose the way they live?"

Before I could say anything in response the woman disappeared as if she had never existed in the first place, the car doing much the same. Standing there as the sun started to set, I was left feeling as if I had just gotten dragged into something that I wanted no part of. And then I heard the sound of gunfire.

Turning to the sound I saw that the gunfire was coming from around where my house was, that certainly wasn't a good sign. Letting out a sigh, I started the run back to my apartment, groceries still in hand. This was certainly turning out to be quite a day, for better or worse.

 

[UsurperOfTruth]

Infinitely Zero

Chapter IV - The first battle is…
​

When I arrived, it was much worse than I had anticipated. What from a distance had sounded like a small gunfight had somehow evolved into a full blown cape fight. A gunfight, while dangerous, generally resulted in not much collateral damage. A cape fight, however, seemed to be the leading cause of collateral damage besides other obvious sources. This was bad as my apartment was in the line of fire, which meant that I'd have to stop this before it got to a point where my things got destroyed.​

Staying far enough away to make sure that I wasn't in immediate line of sight, I looked for the major targets first. There were humongous dogs attacking various people throughout the battlefield, but mainly focusing on the guy who was shooting what appeared to be blades of wind. Standing towards the back was a girl with dark blonde hair, and wearing a skintight lavender outfit. Next to her was one of the monstrous dogs, and she seemed to be intently watching the fight and then giving orders out. She must be one side's leader, or at least their tactician.

There was a strange darkness over a portion of the battlefield that was spreading rather fast, and I took notice of how every now and then the side that actually had people with guns were missing shots, their limbs jerking randomly. So there was probably 5 or so capes here, with one side having 4 and the other having one, as of now. However, if the wind guy is whom I think it is, it's only a matter of time until the cavalry came. If I had to make a guess, it'd be only a few minutes max before more of the Empire came this way. More than enough time to clean this up.

The power that rested just underneath my skin felt like it thrummed as I called it forth, I couldn't help the smile that came to my face as I rose a hand towards my first set of targets. They were hiding behind a car on the side of the street closest to my apartment.

"Mabufu." The words that signaled my entrance into the impromptu fight brought with them ice, ice that had rapidly formed in a solid block around several of the armed gunmen up to their necks. Pulling the hood up on my blazer, I was quite happy that I'd chosen to buy it if only for the fact that it helped hide a good portion of my face and hair. It would be very annoying for villains to show up to my house just to try and kill me or something, but moving on, I still had things to worry about right now.

My footsteps were loud as I walked into the battlefield that had come to a pause because of my attack. I looked around the battlefield and I could feel the stares on me, I'd try end this now while the shock and awe was still there. However, I wasn't surprised when the blade of wind struck me. I knew for a fact that they weren't expecting it to simply vanish as it made contact with my body.

"Sukukaja." I felt myself become lighter as the spell took hold on my body. I couldn't take bullets currently, my current Persona didn't have resistance against pierce attacks, however I did have an advantage now. Bullets were much less scary when they couldn't touch you, but I was getting ahead of myself. I needed to deal with all of the remaining thugs with guns, ultimately they were more dangerous than the wind guy.

Moving quickly, I could feel the wind rush past me as I ran. It didn't seem as if I was moving particularly faster, but instead things were moving slower around me. Sukukaja was a weird spell, but I digress. Running over to a group of thugs I quickly grabbed the guns out of their hands, threw them on the ground, and then froze them in a small block of ice with Bufu. I repeated this process to the all of the other thugs over the course of the minute or so until I came to where the dark fog-like substance was.

I was a bit hesitant to go into it, even now I could still see it moving and spreading outwards. Curiosity killed the cat, but I didn't have much choice seeing as I couldn't sense the people that were in the darkness. Taking a deep breath, my Courage allowed me to walk into it completely calm. The effects were immediate as I felt my senses become muted; I could see only a few feet in front of me, the sounds from the slowed down actions seemed like they were happening far away, but my sensing range seemed to get a bit better. This field, or whatever it was, was very odd.

I felt a few people that seemed to be injured and others that were trying to find their way out of the dark, slowly edging towards where the darkness began. Somewhere near the middle was the person causing all of this, I could take them out now, it would not be hard at all. I shook my head as I walked away and began the process of taking out the rest of the thugs, the darkness guy was less of a threat ultimately.

After what felt like a few seconds I exited the fog and felt the magic fade away from me, my body went back to normal and the world sped back up to normal. I felt tired. Even though I did have a lot of mana to use, casting magic without summoning was something new for me. Turning to face the last person left to take down, another blast of wind hit me square on. It was about as ineffective as last time. I took a good look at him this time, he wore a white tiger mask and a loose fitting shirt along with some sort karate-esque pants. He'd probably be a bit more intimidating if his ability actually worked on me.

"Would you stop that already?"

The chuckle that came from the man was a bit surprising. "I do not know how you've managed to be unaffected by my ability, but that won't matter in a few moments."

Looking up, I decided that my earlier hypothesis on how much time I had was off mark by quite a bit. Some sort of beast made of metal walked up from behind the wind guy on his right, the beast looked sort of like a bipedal wolf. If said wolf was made completely out of metal anyways. On the left was a...girl? She certainly looked feminine, but the metal cage that covered her face made it a bit hard to be sure.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" The gruff voice came from the metallic wolf as some of the metal blades making up its body dissolved to show a metal mask framed by greasy blonde hair. Hmm...I felt like I should know who this is. Hookerdog? Nah, that's pretty silly, I'd actually feel bad if someone's name was that. Well it didn't really matter at this point, I suppose, I was in quite the pickle currently.

"Me? I'm just a Fool, I suppose."

"Hah! For attacking the E88 you surely must be a jester." The deep voice of the man in the tiger mask made me turn my head to face him. "You no longer have any back-up and you're up against the three of us, I believe this is checkmate."

"Yes, I suppose it looks that way…" Chuckling at myself for allowing myself to get in a bad situation like this. "I guess I'll have to use that."

By the time they realized that something was about to happen it was already too late.

Reaching inside of myself, I could hear the vast amount of voices all calling out to me. However, I had already decided who I wished to call forth. I couldn't help the smile that stretched wildly across my face.

"Per-so-na."

The temperature dropped rapidly as the air itself seemed to hum, hoarfrost rapidly began spreading across the ground away from me. Gale-force winds ravaged the area, gouging deep scars into the concrete and the cars in a frenzy. A sinister chuckle rang out as a miniature storm kicked up around me.

I am thou, thou art I.​

The grin on its masked visage promised terrible things to come.

I am the leader of the Frost Giants.​

Its body was covered by a skin-tight purple latex with many metal clasps all around the suit.

I brought war to Valhalla and clashed with gods.​

The bat-like wings on its back unfurled and spread out, parting the localized storm as if it didn't even exist.

The name's Loki the Tyrant. When it comes to mischief, I am simply the best there is.​

​

​

 

[UsurperOfTruth]

Infinitely Zero

Afterthought - The Snake​

He sat in his base with a lot to think about after the talk with Tattletale. This was the only timeline in which he'd managed to come across this...wild card, and the power that he wielded was a serious threat. Normally he would've abandoned this timeline in favor of the one where he had not gotten the Undersiders to go and provoke the E88, but in one of those rare occasions the much more risky timeline proved to be the more valuable one.

Tattletale's analysis of the power that was shown made it out to be energy based that allowed the user to call upon a variety of effects, from thermal manipulation to super-speed. Such a thing was enough for him to mark this wildcard as a potential threat to be dealt with. If his power was what Tattletale had described it as, that most likely made the boy some sort of Trump. This wasn't even taking in the conclusion of the fight.

A layer of hoarfrost had covered not only the street where the battle had went on, but had also been layered on the buildings as well. The frost itself didn't go away until the next day, and it had left no sign that it was ever there to begin with. What was even stranger was the gouges that marked the street, like someone had ran something sharp enough through it like the concrete was butter. It was a shame that Tattletale had not stayed for the conclusion of the fight, having unknown information about someone with such power was...annoying. However, he'd make it work he always did after all. If it meant he had to play the slow game for a few weeks, it was worth it.

Looking at one of his monitors, he saw that he had gotten a message from his Research and Development department. A department he did not think he would've needed originally, however when he had gotten one of the favors he owed called upon, he hadn't had much choice in the matter. It was worth it however, Specimen A seemed to be coming along quite well. It'd only be a few more weeks before it was ready for testing, however he would need some way to keep his involvement with it secret. A simple task really, but he needed a target of sufficient strength first. Hmm...

His lips curled upwards in a cruel smile as the gears turned in his head, perhaps he'd already found a suitable test for Specimen A.

 

[UsurperOfTruth]

Infinitely Zero

Chapter V - The reversed one has…​

Blood…

A black butterfly flapped its wings...

The cold feeling as life left my body but I refused to stop…

To fight with all I had even though I had nothing left to give…

To know that in the end despite my best efforts the world was still doomed..

And then...I died, but lived.

I jolted awake out of my bed as the sound of my alarm startled me out of my fitful slumber, another bad dream. I'd thought that I'd gotten over those by now, apparently that wasn't true. I had school today...I didn't really feel like going, but if I didn't go now it'd be harder to convince myself to go tomorrow. I ignored how my hands shook as I got ready for school, it was just a bad dream. It was hard to convince myself of that today.

It was Wednesday, two days after I'd been responsible for effectively capturing three members of the Empire 88. If someone were to ask how me how I felt about it all, well to be honest, I was kind of annoyed more than anything. While I did win, my groceries had gotten frozen that night, I'd been forced to have take-out. Take-out was probably cheaper, but I had actually been in the mood to cook something last night. It also didn't help that the other capes that had been there apparently fled, that meant that someone knew at least some of my capabilities now.

PHO was having a field day trying to figure things out about me, and it was kind of annoying to be honest. I had tried to keep myself from being involved with the cape side of this world so I could focus on my task, but it seems my efforts ended up being for nothing. I had known that the chance of something like this happening was high, so I'd live with it. My task first and foremost was to still find out how to get back to them, the people that I had betrayed a harsh voice in my head reminded. I ignored that voice as I walked to school to keep some semblance of normalcy.

Entering the school, I stared briefly at the students who were on their way into the building to go to whatever classes they had. I could feel that something was off, but I couldn't place my finger on what it was.There was a certain sense of foreboding that seemed to pervade the halls as I entered the building, yet nothing appeared to be any different than it had been yesterday, so why? Why did I feel like there was something sinister in the works here?

"Hey, Makoto!" A cheery voice broke me from my thoughts. "How are you dude?"

Turning my head slightly, I let out a small sigh as I saw the grinning face of Naoki. There were no signs of bruises on his face surprisingly enough, but I suppose that if he had anything going for him it would be his vaunted durability. As he told me, before he entered high school he ended up taking some sort of experimental drug to help with a medical problem that his parents were unable to pay for, luckily enough it worked. It had made his body just a bit more difficult to hurt, and he could also heal a bit faster as well if what he said was true.

"Fine, you?"

"I'm good, dude. As you can see, I'm in tip-top shape!" Flexing his muscles to prove his point I chuckled slightly, I could see that he was doing this mostly for my benefit. He was reassuring me that he was fine, it was a nice gesture.

"Good." I replied as I finally loosened up a bit with something to take my mind off of the weird feeling that I was getting.

"Yeah, but...I have to thank you for getting that guy off of me, man. Having a guy nearly twice your size pick a fight with you over some girl that they thought I was harassing is seriously not cool, ya know? I didn't even know her name…" He muttered to himself as we walked to the one class that we shared.

"I suppose you're just unlucky…"

"Heh, maybe you're right."

As we settled into a comfortable silence I took the time to think a bit more about things I could use to hide my hair if I got into another confrontation. My hair was naturally dark blue, though many people don't believe that here, and that was something distinctive enough to pick me out from a crowd. My blazer did have a hoodie on it, but that had the possibility of being blown off in a combat situation. Hmm, maybe a mask and a wig? No, that seemed a bit tacky...eh, I'd figure something out eventually.

A feeling of nausea went through me as I suddenly grasped my head, the world was spinning around me. Looking around, it felt like something was trying to pull me somewhere. Ugh, my stomach was doing back-flips. I put a hand up towards Naoki as the sounds of him asking about whether I was fine or not seemed to echo around me, what was happening?

A black butterfly flitted by as I closed my eyes.

When I opened them, I wasn't surprised to see myself somewhere else. The room was a bright red, crimson drapes on all sides acting like walls and there was what seemed to be an elevator door seemingly melded into the wall, the tiling was a pattern of black and red. Looking around a bit more, I saw a piano off to one side and what looked to be a bar on the other side. Of course, I hadn't missed the person that sat in front of me.

Shaggy white hair sat atop the man's head underneath the golden crown that adorned it, his pale skin was offset by his piercing yellow eyes. He wore a simple black suit with a red tie, his hands were in his pockets, and the grin on his face made me uneasy.

"Who are you?"

"Oh...no one special, if you need a name to refer to me as I'm partial to Chaos. However, there are more important things to deal with right now, like your connection to one Taylor Hebert. You have a rather interesting connection to her that just so happens to fall under my...jurisdiction of sorts. But...you've been neglecting that bond of yours."

"...It's been a few days, she should be fine." I argued, it was a weak argument however.

"Oh, and how would you know this? Have you ever studied the opposite meanings of the tarot cards? Suffice to say, that girl falls under the Reversed Death arcana and that certainly isn't a nice fate, but she's only a push away from changing. I've seen her situation and so I've decided to offer my assistance. Without those idiots in the Velvet Room to help you, it'll be harder to determine the precise mechanics of these new bonds you make, so in the name of making things interesting I'd like to help you."

This was suspicious, incredibly so. This... thing, because a person did not give off such an alien feeling, was obviously trying to get something from me. But, what exactly did he want from me? It'd be best to just not accept whatever he was trying to offer, but then I'd never learn exactly what his agenda here was. Was it best for me to accept the deal and keep in contact with him or to try and go my own way here? Thinking about it for a couple of minutes I made my decision.

"What would you helping entail exactly?"

The grin on his face grew wider as he leaned forward from the comfy looking couch he was on.

"Well, I'll mostly be offering services that would usually be provided by the Velvet Room, however I can also help you with Reversed Arcana among other things. All I ask in return is for you to sign this contract," A simple piece of paper and a table appeared between us, a single black pen was next to the paper. "It's simply a contract stating that you're responsible for your actions and that you'll try to keep things interesting. Basic procedure for things like this, you've already signed a similar contract haven't you?"

Reading the paper over, I was slightly surprised to see that it read exactly as he said it would. I had expected it to be some sort of trick, but there was nothing else there. Even using a small amount of magic to try and analyze the document to find some sort of secret to it seemed useless. Well, I suppose Chaos was being honest with this at least, taking the pen in hand I looked at the dotted line at the bottom right and signed my name. A foreboding feeling went through my stomach, but I pushed it down as I looked up at Chaos.

"Good, good! Now that you've signed I can give you this," Reaching out towards me, a blackened key appeared in his hand. "This Blackened Key will allow you access to this place, the Dark Room, simply place this key into any keyhole and so long as you're thinking of this place you'll arrive here. You'll find me here most of the time, but my servants may be here when I am out on business. Now, chop-chop, time is now going to resume in your world. Seek me out after you deal with the little problem that's happening in your school."

As he finished I could feel the sense of nausea returning, but it felt lessened, as if my body was getting used to it. However, I had caught what he had said and decided to try and get the answer from him before he forced me out.

"What problem are you talking about?"

"Oh, you'll see. Ta-ta now, Makoto~."

With those final words, I could feel myself returning to the waking world.

"Makoto, are you sure you're fine? You're looking a bit paler than normal, man." Naoki's concerned voice was what greeted me as I got back.

"Yeah, I felt sick for a moment but I'm good now." I replied as I forced myself to stand up. I could've used a Dia spell to heal myself, but I refused to become too reliant on my abilities. Even if they could solve a majority of my problems, I didn't wish to get used to being able to heal myself only for my powers to be unusable and run into a problem where I couldn't handle a little pain.

"Alright man, if you're su-" Naoki was cut-off as someone ran past him, bumping his shoulder hard enough to push past him. The person was familiar to me, they were dark-skinned and slender, and the only person I knew that had those features was one Sophia Hess. I had only met her briefly in the beginning of this year when I had thought about joining the track team, and back then she had seemed aggressive to say the least. However, her face just then had been...worried. What could have made her worried?

"Dang, what was up with her? Why is she in such a rush anyways? Only thing we got to rush for is class, and I'm pretty sure that chick isn't focused on hitting the books."

"You know her?"

"Yeah, that's Sophia Hess, Winslow's track star...sort-of. She's super aggressive and if it wasn't for her looks and her friend, she probably wouldn't be nearly as popular as she was now. I mean, she looked ready to bite my head off that one time I asked her out. Heck, she actually might have had I told her I did it because of a dare. Something's really off with her, ya know?"

"Hmm…" I shrugged in response as we finally made our way into class. Taking a seat near a window I started going through my bag for my supplies. I had lots of things to figure out, but for now I would worry about this class. Art was actually one of the classes that I genuinely liked here. Even as the teacher let us get settled down, I couldn't help but think about Chaos' words to me before I left. What had he meant by "little problem"? Thinking about it for a minute, I decided that it would be no use in struggling to figure something out that I had hints about. I should ask Chaos more about it, but I also should see if I could find Taylor and see how she was doing. Hmm...

Grabbing a pencil from my bag, I decided to make my decision later, but I was leaning towards talking to Taylor first. As I started to draw a butterfly on one of the sheets, I noticed a single fly flit by my view...

And then the screams started as bugs clouded the room.

---

Spoiler

Decided it'd be a dick move to not post this as many places as possible where I have an account.

 

[UsurperOfTruth]

Infinitely Zero

Chapter VI - To learn the truth one must…​

I forced myself to keep calm even as some part of me reflexively told me that I should be panicking about the room being swarmed by bugs. I promptly ignored that part of myself, I had too much Courage to be swayed by my fears that easily. I had already switched the Persona that I had in use to one that Nulled the potential damage from any biting or stinging that could occur, however I was more worried about everyone else than myself. Looking around quickly, I could see everyone was in immediate state of panic.

People were flailing about as insects swarmed over them, I could see some of them getting stung and others getting bit by some of the insects and that was worrying. However, I didn't see any immediately venomous bugs that I could identify so I decided that it was more immediately important to find who was causing this mess in the first place. Quickly getting out of my seat I made my way to the exit, opening the door to see several students and faculty members running down the halls in a panic. They were all heading downstairs towards the exit I presumed, that was good...if this was a serious threat I'd have to cut loose a bit.

Deciding that wherever the people had just ran from was a good starting place, I walked down the halls calm even amongst the mass hysteria. The insects seemed to be avoiding me for some reason, I could see roaches and other bugs actually skitter out of my way as I walked. I could only assume that whoever was causing this knew that I was here, but I had expected them to keep trying to attack me at the least. Whoever was doing this, I think they're trying to either make a point or don't actually wish to do any lasting damage, but that still doesn't answer the why behind all of this.

"Good morning shitheads!" The peppy and cheery voice that came from the speaker startled me from my thoughts. "I hope you're enjoying this little gift of mine Winslow staff and students. It's the least I could do for all of your betrayals after all!" The voice let out a demented giggle after that, but more importantly I could hear what appeared to be some sort of echo effect as it spoke. Was it using something to modify how it sounded?

"Hurting such a poor and innocent girl as myself all to keep your precious little hero happy, you've all been so very naughty. Hihihi~! But, unlike all of you worthless good for nothings, I do believe in fairness. So in the name of fairness, if one of you guys manage to find me I'll let you get a shot to stop me from having my many minions devour this school and its inhabitants. Here's a hint, I'm in one of the biggest rooms! Buh-bye now~." With a small click sound the intercom went off as I was left to think upon what the voice had just said.

There were only two really big rooms in this building that I could think of off the top of my head, one being the Auditorium and the second being the Gym. The Auditorium was a bit bigger, but the Gym had more open space...I wasn't sure which one I should go to. If I was to pick a location that could be the eventual place for a battle, I'd more than likely favor the Gym for the open space. I thought about it for a few moments,before deciding that I would trust my gut in this situation and go the Gym.

"Help! The bugs...oh god!" A feminine scream from around the corner made me rush to see what was going on.

"Shit! Why the hell can't I get out?" A dark skinned girl was trying to break free from a hoard of black bugs that appeared to be pulling her down into them. Her more petite friend was trying desperately to hold on to her hand and pull her out, but within seconds her grasp slipped and the dark-skinned girl was pulled into the bugs and somehow disappeared. As the bugs lurched forward to try and grab the petite girl, I stepped in.

"Trafuri." A glow covered her for a moment, before she disappeared. I hadn't been sure that was going to work, but she should be outside the building now. I only had my hoodie, and still no mask so I couldn't afford to reveal that I had powers of any sort. Now, I had to get back to business. Rushing down the steps as fast as I could, I used Trafuri on as many people as I could while making my way to the gym. A lot of people had evacuated already from what I could see, that was good. As I made my way to the gym, I noticed that the doors were suspiciously clear. Going over to the doors I listened as two voice went back and forth.

"Oh boohoo, woe is me. My entire world was flipped upside down by my bitch of an ex-best friend and her little possy and I can't do anything about it. She harasses me so much that I've thought about putting her in her place and just getting rid of this entire school, it'd be so easy to just let my bugs eat them up, but I'm too much of a goody-two shoes to even consider something like that. I'll valiantly bear all of their hate, even though it's slowly killing me on the inside. Mom, wouldn't want me to retaliate against them, even if it would solve my problem. I could even do it discreetly if I really tried, but that's not what a "hero" would do, right? If you just let me use our powers, we could get rid of your problem permanently."

"No! That's not what I want!"

"Ah, but that is what you want. Even you realize that it'd be just a single thought to kill any of the little bitch trio, a Black Widow bite or three would be more than enough to get the job done. But, even more than that, you want to see Emma beg and grovel for your forgiveness after everything she's done to you. That bitch Sophia, or should we call her Shadow Stalker, has to pay too. Obviously the heroes don't know her well or they would've gotten rid of her by now, guess I'll just have to do that too. Hihihi~!"

"No...I don't want to kill anybody, if you were me you'd understand that!"

"Hihihi! That's right~. I would understand it, I just don't care. Just like I know you're fooling yourself into caring about some sort of morals that you hold yourself by, just because you want to be some sort of hero."

"Those are my morals! They're not fake! I...I will be a hero!"

"Ha! A hero? You? Don't make me laugh. Who would allow someone with a power to control insects to be a hero? You certainly won't be heroic in the eyes of anybody, nor will you ever live up to your aspirations as being a hero like Alexandria. You'll always just be the creepy little bug girl, I wouldn't be surprised if they mark us as a villain after our first outing."

"Shut up...shut up!"

"Oh? Can't handle the truth dear? You already know all of this to be true, don't you?"

I ran into the Gym, no longer content with the wait and see approach and two sets of eyes landed on me. One set was Taylor's, she appeared to be wrapped up in some sort of massive web and was struggling to get free. I briefly noted two cocoons of silk that seemed to be moving, was someone alive in those two? The other pair of eyes was...something that was wearing Taylor's face. She was dressed in some sort of black and grey silken bodysuit lined with armor panels that probably served to make the armor more durable. She had a sickly sweet smile on her face as she looked towards me, and her eyes were a piercing yellow.

"Oh, so you somehow made it here Makoto. I must say, I'm surprised. I had felt that some of the bugs were being forced away from someone and had thought that the idiotic me was helping some student escape, to think that it'd be you, mister knight in shining armor. I have to thank you for helping us somehow," She put a finger to her chin in mock thought, before pointing at me. "Actually I'm still a bit reluctant to believe that you helped me out the good of your heart. That bitch Emma could have been setting me up again, and you were just playing the role of a nice person. So~ instead of a gift, have a surprise!" As soon as she finished a curtain of bugs seemingly formed in front of us.

I felt her presence before I actually saw her step through the bugs.

So you're the Messiah, hmm?​

She was tall, her long dark hair seemed to billow on some invisible air current.

You don't look much like what I expected.​

She wore some sort of scale-like one piece bikini that covered her up, but had various holes in the stomach and sides that showed off her surprisingly normal skin, metal latches seemed to keep it all together. On her arms were what appeared to be light purple arm-warmers, and on her legs were knee high boots that seemed to be light blue on the knee and light purple on the the rest.

I thought you'd be much more grandiose than this.​

Her insect wings unfurled from her back and spread out to their full span as she gazed at me with a judging look.

Well, I suppose I shouldn't judge you just yet.​

Flies and other insects seemed to converge from behind her, the constant buzzing grew steadily louder as she approached. A wide grin stretched across her face as she revealed that one of her arms was insect-like, and she motioned for me to come forward.

I am Beelzebub, Lord of Flies. I've come all the way out here, so you best not disappoint me.​

 

[UsurperOfTruth]

Infinitely Zero

Chapter VII - A Hero is...​

She was on me quicker than I thought, her insect hand swiping at me with slash that surely would have hurt anyone else. As it was, I responded with a simple jab to her face that she just barely dodged. A kick to my side sent me skidding away, I was thankful for not having to manifest Persona to get their effects, if I did that surely would've been bad. If I had thought otherwise before this, it'd be clear to me that this battle was unavoidable.

"Oho~. So it seems you have some sort of fight in you, hopefully you can keep things interesting once I do this."

A blast of wind suddenly shot towards me, the look of excitement on her face as it dissipated on touch was rather worrying. I didn't let myself think about it much as I let loose an Agi at her. Her wings beat rapidly as the ball of fire came close to her, the flame was snuffed out before it even touched her. It seemed weak spells like that weren't going to be of much use in this fight, I'd have to step my game up then.

"Come on, let's up the ante a bit."

What seemed to be a very literal sea of insects rose up behind her as she grinned maliciously, each of them seemed to glow with a power that could match any small spell that I could use. This was going to be dangerous, but I'd have to use a bit more firepower to stop all of them. Putting both my outwards, I gathered as much energy as I could until I could feel the flames lick at my palms. As the first insect touched me, I let loose my spell.

"Agidyne!" Two blasts of intense fire incinerated the horde of insects before they could do anything. I kept myself steady even as the exhaustion from using such a spell twice without actually manifesting took it's toll on me, I had to keep myself in this fight so that I could get to Taylor. Taking a brief look backwards, I saw that the thing wearing Taylor's face was still talking to her and if Taylor's aggrieved look was any sign, she wasn't saying something that Taylor wanted to hear. I needed to finish this soon.

"Oh? You managed to get rid of all of my bugs in a single strike? How impressive. However, if you think that's enough to match me, allow me to show you the difference in physical strength between the two of us."

I prepared myself for whatever she was going to do, only to be surprised as she seemingly blurred out of existence and appeared in front of me. Suddenly I felt myself lift off the ground, one of her hands firmly gripping my face, before I was sent flying into the wall at high speeds. Slamming into the wall at I grimaced as I felt a stinging sensation in where she had managed to grab me. Besides the thought of how the walls were able to take me being thrown at them like this, the thought of how had she managed to get through my Persona's ability ran through my head. Maybe I was wrong in thinking that I had access to the full effect even when my Persona wasn't fully summoned. She gave a grin as I pulled myself out of the crater that I had made in the wall, it wouldn't happen again.

Steadying myself, I put my hands back into my pockets as I readied myself for whatever her next move would be. Three streaks of lightning shot my way as she dashed around me in a circle. Leaning back to dodge the first, I swayed left than right to dodge the follow-up bolts of lightning before lashing out with a straight kick that pushed her back as she tried to strike me when she thought I couldn't retaliate. Gathering energy I quickly sent a spell at her as a follow-up.

"Bufula!" A small pillar of ice converged on her trying to entrap her, however that wouldn't be enough. She was fast, faster than me by a margin that I was unsure whether or not my magic could cover the gap. "Garula." A strong blast of wind set her right back into the ice as she tried to jump out of the way of the pillars, as her body hit the ice she was sent flying through them and crashed into the ground, her boots carving trenches as she skidded to a stop.

"Persona!" Without any of the fanfare, Loki came forth.

"Oh, so this our opponent this time. This could be a little fun." Loki smiled cruelly as the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees.

"Yes! This is what I wanted, a real fight! Garudyne!" A tempest kicked up in the room as gouges were cut into the polished wood of the gym floor and walls. However, Loki was one whose legend made mere wind an inconvenience to him. Loki flapped his wings powerfully, and in moments the tempest vanished as if it had never existed. The look on Loki's face was that of annoyance at the casual display of his power against Beelzebub.

"I'm already bored. Please tell me you have something more impressive than simply summoning a meager storm? Are you not Lord of Flies? You must have something more impressive."

I could tell that even Loki was a little concerned by his words effects as Beelzebub gained a gleam in her eye, insects seemed to form around her in mass as she grinned a smile that belonged on someone that was drunk.

"This is what I enjoy so much! The feeling of fighting against someone with so much power, to indulge in the thrill that comes from defeating a worthy opponent. Now, try and survive this!"

As she sent the wave of insects my way, I instinctively knew that this was not the same attack from last time. If the insects from the previous attack had enough strength to each match a meager spell from myself, each of these were gathering enough strength to match the attack I had used to wipe them out previously. Such an attack wouldn't discriminate who it would damage, this was bad. She was preparing to use an almighty attack.

"Loki, Niflheim!" I shouted as Loki quickly tried to use his strongest attack to block what was coming. Even as the ice formed as rapidly as it could, I could tell that it wasn't going to be fast enough.

"Megidolaon!"

The explosion that occurred as the two attacks collided sent me flying until I hit what felt like metal, I grimaced as I dropped to the ground, it felt like I had just been hit by three wrecking balls thrown by one of the stronger Shadows. There was traces of ice and dust everywhere as I tried to look around, a pain in my head distracted me however. Reaching upwards to my face I felt blood dripping, when was the last time I had gotten this hurt before?

Feeling for Loki's presence revealed to me that he was no longer manifested, the last attack had been strong enough to force him back to my soul. Beelzebub was truly a strong opponent if she able to send one of my strong Persona back with a single Almighty attack, if I had reacted even a bit slower I wasn't sure whether or not I'd even be standing right about now. Well, what mattered now was that I was still conscious to fight, and get Taylor out of this mess.

Standing up even as my body protested my movements, I looked back towards where Taylor and the other Taylor were. They weren't there, where the hell are they? Looking around as the dust refused to clear fast enough, a voice startled me out of my search.

"Oh, you're alive? Good. I thought I wouldn't get to enjoy a proper conclusion to our fight." Looking towards the far side of the gym, past where I had come in, I saw Beelzebub. She was covered in cuts and bruises, with bits of her wing frozen, but the manic grin on her face made it seem like she was unaffected by the damage done to her. Behind her however, were the two Taylors. They were within what appeared to be a cage of bugs, the outside layer flaking away as they had blocked a brunt of the attack from hitting the two I thought. Taylor was looking notably more banged up than the alternate her, I felt myself rage inwardly at that even as I kept my face stoic.

"As you can see, your little friend is perfectly fine. She's a little banged up from the damage we both caused, but she'll live. Now that you're reassured of her condition, let's get back to our fight. Let's see if you can keep up Mr. Messiah."

A storm of movement happened as she zoomed all around, I could hear a sonic boom as she dashed around the room faster and faster. Standing still at the eye of the storm, I took in a deep breath as I prepared myself for what was to happen next. Pain, burning searing pain shot through me as fists and slashes rained down on me from all around. I grit my teeth as I could feel the wounds trying to mend themselves, but my healing ability was being outpaced. No matter, I just needed a little bit more time.

"Now time for the grand finale, Primal Force!"

Rushing at me even faster than before, I made out her hand in knife-like form as she went to thrust it through me. The energy that was gathered around her hand was immense, if it hit me I was sure that it could do more than enough damage to end this. Howeve,r by the time she had reached me my spell was already set. The smile on my face was malicious as I said my next words.

"Tetrakarn." As her hand touched the barrier that formed around me, she was propelled away into and through the wall behind her. Tetrakarn was perfect for people that relied on physical attacks, even if it was only good for one use it perfectly reflected all physical attacks at least once. The person who had attacked would take all the damage back that they would have dealt, while I would take no damage at all. More importantly it had given me the time to acquire the weapon I needed to finally end this.

As raw energy began to coalesce in my hand, I couldn't help the grin that stretched across my face. This was the weapon of a rebel, with both hands I grasped the energy in my hands as it morphed and stretched as it formed. This was the weapon of someone who had fought for what they believed in, the energy stopped morphing as I slid into a Kendo stance. The katana in my hand looked simple at first glance, but the presence that it exuded would let anybody know that this weapon was not normal. This was the weapon of a true hero, the hero Masakado.

"You made one mistake in this fight, Beelzebub." I felt my power take root in the blade as she quickly made her way out of the room that she had been launched into. Flames flickered onto my blade as a figure appeared behind me. His giant form making have to squat on his knees to fit into the room. His own blade alight with flames that burned hotter than any other as he stared at the foe before us.

"No, I won't lose now! Not as this fight is finally becoming interesting. I want to indulge myself on this thrill as long as I can!" She roared as a vast sea of insects rose from behind her, each radiating with as much power as she had used for her previous Megidolaon, however as my blade erupted in flames I knew that it was already over.

"You hurt my friend."

And with a single swing, the cleansing fire of Ragnarok burned all it touched, till not even ashes remained.