Shin Persona Evangelion [NGE/Persona Fusion]

[Ultra Sonic 007]

This may seem like it's overdue, but based on a comment I recently received elsewhere, apparently the fact that there will be spoilers to both the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime and the events of various games in the Persona Series (including but not limited to Persona 3, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4, and Persona 5) wasn't made clear just by how the plot has unveiled.

So I'm placing a sticky post for this message: if you have not watched the original Evangelion anime, or if you have not played the Persona games — especially P3, P4, P5, and their updated re-releases — then take note that this story contains spoilers to all of them. Read at your own risk.

/that should do it
//right?
///right??

 

[neogoki]

This I would love to read.

Click to shrink...

it would be a psychological crime-comedy or straight up porn... or both.

 

[lockdownspartan]

Joker bears the advantage of being fresh from the fight I see, and the most familiar with Cognitive Mechanics in practice if not the theory, I doubt Yu or Minato could fight the way Joker does after all the lives it's been since their sagas.

Click to shrink...

I think each one would have different advantages in a fight. Yu has served several lifetimes as a soldier and other specialists at this point and I wouldn't be surprised if he took advantage of that. We saw Minato was able to crack open his social link with Aigis without alerting the Usurper so he can more readily use the boosts his social links offer than Joker and he clearly hasn't been slacking off as much as likes to pretend he does. As you noted, Joker is much more familiar with this version of human cognition and can manipulate it to a much greater degree.

 

[Ultra Sonic 007]

(Reposting this part due to an apparent error when putting it up originally that resulted in the entire first section with Misato and Sho just going *poof*.)

xxxx


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZH5iQWHY_o&t=16s

Further south of the downtown area, another fight was going on with a frenzy that could be called desperate.

CLANG!

Tokoyo's dual swords crashed into Tsukiyomi's blazing blade, the force of the impact causing a pressure wave that scattered the shadowy Remnants around them. "Myriad Slashes!" howled the masked swordswoman.

The masked swordsman hissed, "Vorpal Blade!"

Tokoyo's concentrated multi-hit strike crashed into the lines cut by Tsukiyomi; some strikes slipped through on both sides, causing superficial damage; the former had been using Heat Riser to keep ahead of the furious Tsukiyomi, whilst the latter had been abusing numerous Physical Skills thanks to the passive Arms Master Skill.

"Garudyne!" With a gesture of her right index and middle fingers, Tokyo summoned a torrential gale.

Tsukiyomi dodged to the side — crying "Life Drain!" — before stampeding towards Tokoyo.

She swiftly kicked a masked boulder towards Tsukiyomi, letting the Remnant serve as an impromptu sacrifice; Tsukiyomi's grip siphoned the hapless shadow of its energy in an instant, but hardly enough to satisfy the furious Persona. Brandishing her blades, she charged once more into the fray, clashing steel against steel.

Such was the fury with which Misato Katsuragi and Sho Minazuki fought.

"HA!" laughed Sho, lashing with wild swings at Misato. "You're putting up a much better show than those loser kids did!""

Misato snorted, parrying Sho's right katana with her short sword before firing her handgun at his torso; the redhead dodged to the side, "Gee, the experienced Agent is faring better than a bunch of kids, what a SHOCK!" Sho was swinging his left blade, which Misato rolled under; her follow-up stab was parried, but not quick enough to stop her from firing off another shot. As Sho leapt back to avoid the bullet, Misato took the brief window of opportunity to reload: sheathe her sword, eject the magazine, pocket the empty clip, pull out another one (whether it had bullets or not was irrelevant, this foggy realm operated like the Metaverse, so her gun would have more ammo upon reloading regardless), insert the new magazine. This whole sequence took less than three seconds; just quick enough for her to pull out her short sword and block Sho's horizontal slash, using the barrel of her gun to block the other.

Sho seemed delighted at their mutual struggle. "Not bad!"

"You haven't even used your A.T. Field yet, and I know you can," she growled. "What's your angle?!"

"What do I look like, a triangle? Besides, what's the point in stompin' ya in an instant?" Sho lashed out with his foot; she barely blocked it with her knee, but it gave Sho enough space to slice through the masked shadow mech that had been approaching from behind him. "I'm actually enjoying myself! Don't start bein' a bore!"

Misato snarled; her irritation in the back of her mind was matched by Tokoyo's renewed anger in her strikes against Tsukiyomi. I know Mana-chan saw me get blasted away by Minazuki...what's taking her?!

xxxx


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivGLDNACIOM

Mana's back slammed into the side of a rail car; this time, when she fell to her knees, she did not rise immediately; gasping, she impulsively let go of LABRYS and AIGIS, using her hands to stop her fall. Ragged breaths slipped past her throat, sounding akin to a failing combustion engine. I...can't land a scratch on them...

(The moment her brothers had summoned their Personas, the duo had attacked with dynamic synergy; combined with their own A.T. Fields and their own Angelic abilities on top of it, their Personas had rendered it a battle where victory was impossible.)​

...I can't...beat them...! Snarling, Mana raised her head to glare at her brothers...or, more specifically, their Personas.

Phobos and Deimos were both twins of a sort, sharing the same proportionate size that Hamlet had with Ikari, or Tokoyo with Katsuragi; each clad in segmented bronze armor that made them appear more like living robots than people. Lightning wound around Phobos like a living snake from head to toe, culminating in a flowing scarf of electricity; Deimos, meanwhile, bore a chariot's wheel along his back, which evoked a thunderous boom with each turn of the spoke. Each Persona's face was half-hidden by a stoic mask of silver, perfectly molded to fit a human face: Phobos's left side was masked, whilst it was the right side for Deimos. Though equally yellow eyes stared at her from behind the mask, their exposed faces were completely different: the right half of Phobos's face was made of living shadow, contorted into a permanent expression of fear and panic; the left half of Deimos's face, by contrast, seemed to be burning perpetually, stuck into a wretched snarl that evoked dread and terror wherever it looked.

What could she have done, against four at once?

(She had always protected them before; that's what she had sworn to do. But now...?)

(You're too weak to protect them.)

Keita and Musashi both walked towards her.

(You're too weak to save them.)

Scowling, Mana bitterly spat out, "Just finish me off already!" (She was resolved to her fate; what else but death remained, for a weapon not fit for purpose anymore?)

Her brothers did no such thing.

Instead...they both knelt down and embraced her. "We know that this life isn't what you want," murmured Keita. "But if you're not willing to come along...then we won't force you."

"We'll never force you to do anything...but if you stand in Strega's way, then we'll end up fighting again." Musashi gave her one last brotherly squeeze before rising. His eyes seemed truly somber (and who among them could claim to feel otherwise?). "If you ever change your mind...we'll be waiting."

Keita rose, removing his arms from around her battered form. (How pathetic was it that she yearned for that familiar touch, of family taking care of family? How cruel, to remind her of what she had lost!)

(You're too weak to save anyone.)

"...hope the next time we see you will be in better circumstances, neesan." Musashi turned away, showing his back to her. "Let's go."

Keita nodded at her with a small smile. "Take care, Mana-neesan." He too, turned away.

Mana's teeth ground so hard that it felt like they were going to crack; even the mysterious impulses of her sisters' spirits were of no aid, for they only reminded her of how she had failed. Don't...leave...don't...leave me...! She couldn't even muster up the strength to cry out after them, anymore. Don't...go...!

Her brothers vanished into the fog.

(You're...too...weak.)

Inhaling sharply, Mana pounded her fists on the ground; though the words to speak were lost, her misery demanded an outlet regardless. Thus the weapon known as Mana Kirishima — forged from a young girl — wailed and wept; harrowing and sorrowful was her cry...for what else could she do, to face those she had desired to save for so long...only to be rejected so utterly?

 

[jj_789]

Seeing this, I've been thinking. Isn't it high time Mana gets her own persona? Her brothers got their own already, so why shouldn't she get one? Now it would be the perfect time to face her own shadow and start accepting the reality of the situation.

 

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Seeing this, I've been thinking. Isn't it high time Mana gets her own persona? Her brothers got their own already, so why shouldn't she get one? Now it would be the perfect time to face her own shadow and start accepting the reality of the situation.

Click to shrink...

Slight problem: as was relayed by Musashi (ironically enough) to Misato way back on June 30, Mana's Shadow was used by Shiro Tokita to bind Mana to both LABRYS and AIGIS.

It's one of the reasons why, even now, she consciously and subconsciously keeps referring to herself as a weapon.

 

[Vajrei]

It there any way to undo what was done to Mana so that she may obtain a Persona?

 

[jj_789]

It there any way to undo what was done to Mana so that she may obtain a Persona?

Click to shrink...

That would require getting in contact with Shiro Tokita, and we all know where he is. Misato and the others do not, though. So, no dice.

 

[Vajrei]

That would require getting in contact with Shiro Tokita, and we all know where he is. Misato and the others do not, though. So, no dice.

Click to shrink...

I am guessing one must not go blind in undoing what was done to Mana.

 

[Ultra Sonic 007]

It there any way to undo what was done to Mana so that she may obtain a Persona?

Click to shrink...

That would require getting in contact with Shiro Tokita, and we all know where he is. Misato and the others do not, though. So, no dice.

Click to shrink...

I am guessing one must not go blind in undoing what was done to Mana.

Click to shrink...

Plus, there's the whole fact that his Shadow was used to make sure the process stuck:

[Misato Katsuragi said] "If you think I'm going to participate in this after learning about what you did to that girl, you're crazy."

"And what precisely did I do?" [Shiro Tokita] challenged.

She ground her nails into her palm, uncomfortably aware of how heavy the helmet on the back of her head was. "You might as well have killed her sisters...and her Shadow..."

"Simply because JET ALONE is more literal about what we do than what's practically true about A.T. Agents?" Tokita narrowed his eyes, not angry, but rather focused. "Because I'm sure your training didn't involve any sort of mental conditioning. Then again, that is the way of militaries throughout history, isn't it? Breaking down raw material into soldiers, who can-"

"Oh save it," she spat. "I wanted to be an Agent. Men and women signed up for the JSDF. But you stole those kids' lives with a smile on your face, like a jackal scavenging from the flesh of the dead. I bet you probably sing yourself to sleep about all the 'sacrifices' you make for the sake of our country, but you know nothing of sacrifice, you opportunistic asshole!" Her breath had become heavy, her teeth bared into a vicious snarl; she had missed the security guards rising to their feet in the midst of her tirade. Despite that, Tokita simply took another bite of his fish, without a care in the world. "Well? Aren't you gonna say anything?! Or are you that dead inside?"

Tokita calmly chewed and swallowed, using a napkin to wipe at his lips. "I don't blame Strasberg for having a biased view of what he's been through. That being said, I do have a serious question for you: do you honestly believe that the Shadow of a young girl has enough cognitive mass to forge a connection with the minds of two other human beings, regardless of how close they were?"

"...what?"

"It was an ambitious work, I will admit; binding the very essence of humans - mind, body, and soul - into objects, so that they could be used against cognitive and spiritual foes. Such was the nature of PROJECT LABRYS and PROJECT AIGIS. However, how to ensure they can't be turned against their wielder? It would have to be someone that LABRYS and AIGIS were close to, someone they wouldn't recognize as a threat. And yet, metaphysical bonds can only go so far; by the time Kirishima's Shadow manifested, there were rising concerns that the measures we took to empower LABRYS and AIGIS would result in them overwhelming Kirishima's Shadow. An unexpected issue...but not an insurmountable one. After all, if additional cognitive mass could be utilized to serve as a foundation, to ensure the connection would be stable...that would solve a whole host of problems, wouldn't it?"

Misato blinked. "...what are you saying?"

"There was more than one Shadow that was sacrificed to ensure Kirishima was bonded with LABRYS and AIGIS. There was another."

Misato's nostrils flared. "And who was the unlucky sap you chose for that?" When Tokita did the unexpected - namely, pointing at himself - Misato went agog. "You...you?!"

"There's a reason your prior characterization of me as a scavenger was inaccurate: namely, the fact that I have skin in the game. Anyone who wishes to advance in life, or do anything of worth, must be exposed to the downside as well as the upside." Tokita folded his hands, leaning back in his chair. "True, my hope is that JET ALONE will serve as not only the means for Japan to stop Angel Syndrome once and for all, but to also give us an edge against the rest of the world within the Metaverse. I don't much care for any personal notoriety, though I will feel some pride in the fact that my company will be lauded for their work. However, if it fails...if Kirishima were to die...then so would I." The smile on his face now seemed resigned. "So when I say that I'm staking my life on the success of this project, I'm being quite literal."

"...but why...why you?"

"Because I want this to work. And in the Metaverse, cognition is king. Why would I risk utilizing someone else's Shadow as the foundation if they weren't committed one-hundred percent?"

"...you..." Misato was actually flabbergasted. "...why the hell would you go so far? To these lengths?"

"...because there is a quantifiable cost. JET ALONE will not just be a successful method of combating the monsters afflicting our world, but it will be one that's understandable. The means and methods of producing more like Kirishima will not be secret, nor arcane, nor occult, but known. Something that can't be said for Evangelion."

Click to shrink...

And given Tokita's current 'location', doing anything involving him will be...difficult:

/Hakone Detention House, Downtown Tokyo-3/

With the loss of numerous correctional facilities during Second Impact, the penal system of Japan had had to do a bit of reorganizing. Given the presence of NERV and the A.T. Task Force within Hakone before it was rechristened as Tokyo-3, it had only made sense for a new detention house to be built. The presence of the Cognitive Protection Center ensured that its impact upon the city's cognition could be mitigated if need be, even though there were practical matters related to managing a prisoner system in a world where inmates were just as susceptible to succumbing to Angel Syndrome as the average civilian.

Alas, such questions were not on Shiro Tokita's mind; lying on his roll-up bedding, he found himself unable to sleep. After the sheer snafu that had been yesterday, the decision (made by whom, he had no way of knowing) had been made to place him within the detention house, one step above a local police jail. After several hours of interrogation from various officers, he had managed to get away with saying no more than few pithy sentences worth of words. Coupled with a tired and weary disposition (which was more honest than forced), he had managed to delay the process enough that they had ended up putting him in a solitary cell for the rest of the night.

Long enough for NHCI to get involved with his legal representation? Maybe. Maybe not. He wouldn't be surprised if they had already washed their hands of him. It would be much simpler than risking the degree to which the Defense Ministry had been connected with JET ALONE. Even in spite of his (admittedly foolish, in retrospect) admissions to Katsuragi, the organized nature of the project would be minimized. He would be castigated as a 'rogue element', one who misappropriated company funds to use for purposes that they had not authorized. In all likelihood, he would be looking at decades of life in prison...unless he was deemed too much of a potential information risk, at which point a death sentence would be looming.

Part of him wished that cooler heads would prevail; a death sentence for him would be a death sentence for Kirishima. Regardless of what Katsuragi believed, he did want her to attain to her peak potential. A shame that Evangelion was far more than it was made out to be...

"You seem relatively well."

Tokita jolted up at the voice, looking towards the window (blocked, naturally, to keep him from seeing a hint of daylight); standing in front of it was an aloof figure. In the darkness, he could barely make out the red turtleneck sweater and a pair of distinctive orange shades. "What the...who are...?" Wait a second. "...Gendo Ikari?"

"I've gleaned a few details regarding your JET ALONE project, based on the reports that came across my desk. An interesting endeavor, to be sure."

Tokita impulsively stood, looking around with a panic; the door to his cell was closed. How did he get in here?! "What's going on?"

"I couldn't help but wonder about your decision to sacrifice your own Shadow, however...what does it imply, when a man has the means to see the parts of himself that he doesn't want to acknowledge...and orders it tossed into the proverbial blender?" His shades seemed to gleam impossibly bright in the darkness. "Some would call that the mark of a coward. Or perhaps you saw your Shadow, and were terrified about that part of yourself? About what it implied about you?"

He was talking. A lot. And quite loudly too. Why haven't the guards heard him?! "...what do you want, Ikari? Are you here to lord Evangelion's success over me? For that matter, what favors did you cash in to get in here?!"

"There's no need for such vainglory. You ultimately matter very little in the grand scheme of things. But there's information you may have that I want to know." He quietly used one hand to readjust the bridge of his glasses. "Katsuragi's preliminary report mentioned something about Private Noboru Hanamura's Shadow. Namely, that you told her that his Shadow had managed to escape the Cognitive Protection Center during the last new moon...a fact that wasn't released to the public. So how did you find out?"

Tokita kept his mouth shut. It was just another interrogation.

"...not going to be cooperative? Fair enough. Your cooperation isn't necessary."

Shlyoop.

There was an oddly wet sound, as a spectral hand - translucent, pale, like a ghostly corpse - phased through Ikari's torso, reaching into Tokita and clenching tightly. The man grimaced, as though his metaphorical heart were being held in a vise-grip. "What..." he managed to choke out.

"Regardless of what you do to your Shadow...it is a part of you. It will always be a part of you. And that connection leaves you vulnerable," coolly said Gendo.

(Meanwhile, within NERV Headquarters on the other side of Tokyo-3, Mana Kirishima slowly twisted and turned, feeling a vague sense of unease. When she awoke, she would think of it as nothing more than a nightmare.)

Tokita didn't know how much time had passed, but it felt way too long, and why hadn't the guards come by yet?!?! "Ah..." He wanted to scream. WHY COULDN'T HE SCREAM.

"Hmm," casually remarked Ikari, uncaring for the ghostly hand emerging from his own chest. "I see. So that was your source...not a true concern, in all honesty. But that connection might come out during your interrogation...and it would be quite inconvenient."

"So...that's...it...?" Why was it so hard to breathe? What was Ikari doing to him?! "...just going...to kill me...?"

"On the contrary. Killing you would result in Mana Kirishima's death. Why deprive my son of a useful tool?"

It was a reassuringly human answer. "...so...even you care...for your own progeny...to some extent..."

"That notion of yours is born from nothing more than foolish sentiments, I assure you. I want him to possess every single advantage he could reasonably attain to...so that he can reach the greatest heights. That way, his inevitable fall will be all the more crushing."

The words were understandable, but their meaning was so foreign as to be nonsensical. The amount of spite in that last word by itself was so immense, so terrifying, that Tokita could barely fathom it. "...what...why...who...what are you...?"

"Someone who merely knows the truth of this world, nothing more." The spectral hand suddenly clutched even harder, eliciting a fresh gasp of pain from Tokita. "You won't die. But you might wish you had. Perhaps, if you ever awaken again...this will only seem like a bad dream." Without warning, the ghostly limb yanked Tokita forward, pulling him into Ikari's torso, into someplace impossibly large and impossibly deep and IMPOSSIBLE IMPOSSIBLE HOW WAS THIS HAPPENING?!

Shiro Tokita's scream of terror echoed into the depths of oblivion.

xxxx

No one outside of Tokita's cell heard what had transpired.

Minutes later, when the clock struck 0700, morning roll call began in the detention house.

The guards would open his cell to find that its lone occupant was gone, with no sign that he had ever been there save for some rumpled bedding.

xxxx

At the very instant Tokita met his fate: back at NERV Headquarters, Gendo Ikari - sitting in his office, quietly reading Dr. Akagi's preliminary findings regarding Kirishima and her weapons, as he had been for the past hour - shivered unnoticeably. "...hmm." That had been a fairly uneventful visit, all things considered. At least that loose end's been taken care of.

And so the Commander of NERV continued on with his day.

Click to shrink...

 

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Moments after Mana loosed her heartful cry, a column of chaotic colors shot into the sky from the west, piercing the fog. It coincided with the sound of a crashing wave.

xxxx

Misato Katsuragi and Sho Minazuki both turned towards the light, grimacing at the . "What the hell?!" sputtered the former.

Sho snorted. "Well, that looks familiar. Guess playtime is over. Seeya-nara!" Cackling, Sho sheathed his swords, leaping into the sky; Tsukiyomi simultaneously broke away from Tokoyo, clutching onto him as they darted eastward.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" roared Misato, her eyes slowly turning back towards the column of light. "What's going on...?"

xxxx

Right as Teddie neared the edge of the fog to the south, he suddenly faltered, coming to a halt.

Joker rolled with it, figuratively and literally; keeping a hold over Sae Niijima's body, he curled over and around her, landing seamlessly on his feet while still keeping her in his arms. "What's wrong?" he said, looking back at the blue bear. At the moment, the column of light erupted from the west. "Never mind, I think I've got it."

(Sae briefly debated whether or not she was fine with letting Joker continue to hold her. Eventually, her sense of propriety won out, as she wriggled out of his grasp and onto her feet.)

The bear pulled out the familiar hand puppet, nervously chirping, "Oh dear; it looks like my job is done! I think I gotta get going...if I stay around, I might end up hibernating...!"

Why so many puns...?

"Well, we can't have that," remarked Joker, flipping his handgun around the trigger finger (wait, when did he grab it-?) before holstering it; with an unseen flourish, he had unmade whatever had bound his knife and umbrella together. "You take care of yourself," remarked Joker, even as he offhandedly tossed Sae's umbrella back to her.

The hand puppet waved enthusiastically. "You'd beartter believe it!" With little aplomb, the hand puppet's 'head' suddenly popped open, revealing a dark void of some kind. The bear poked his snout in...and kept going: like a looney piece of animation, the bear delved deeper into the void of his own hand puppet, until it disappeared with a cartoonish pop.

"...what did I just watch?!" There was no answer; Sae looked around, only to balk at the fact that her mysterious rescuer had up and vanished. "Hey! Where'd you go-?!"

With sudden violence, the yellow fog began to dissipate; it was being sucked in towards the distant pillar of radiance, as though it were a vacuum. Sae grimaced as the haze rushed by her (unseen, inwardly, there was a shift, as the strain in the back of her mind finally relaxed), blinking rapidly as she stood amidst a normal road on the outskirts of Tokyo-2; for the first time in over a day, the blue sky and the sun were visible. "I'm out...?" she murmured aloud. What's going on...?

xx

Joker had barely made it half a klick before the yellow fog suddenly rush by him; the sensation of power and grace and effortless skill left just as quickly.

He was fortunate to have landed in an alley near Murai Station, adjacent to the Shinonoi and Chuo Lines. The fog faded, revealing rail cars to open sunlight. I guess whatever caused that column of light ended the fog...but what caused it all...? Adjusting his shirt collar, Ren put his domino mask back into the depths of his backpack. Now I have to find my way back to the van...this might take a bit.

Once he stepped out into the light, however...that which had been hidden by the fog was shown in the harsh light of day. "Oh gods..."

xxxx

At Matsumoto Castle, the Cognitive Protection Center had manifested as a taller and more ornate version of its real life counterpart.

The arrival of the strange fog had made Shadow Pacification an utmost necessity, to keep the residents from going berserk.

The onslaught of the Remnants from outside had rendered the defenders' task even more difficult.

They had rotated in shifts — Agents, Persona-users who worked directly for the government, and Freelancers all — to try and keep fresh. But supplies were not infinite, and exhaustion eventually rendered cognitive shortcuts useless.

It was this scene that Ryuji Sakamoto had led Toji Suzuhara, Kensuke Aida, and Yuuki Mishima. Though the A.T. Task Force's headquarters had been rendered a tomb, the bulk of the city's cognitive defenders had shored up around Tokyo-2's CPC; and why wouldn't they? It was where almost every single Shadow within the city was held under protection.

While Toji and Aida had gone inside with Mishima (because Morooka's Secretary would carry some weight with the Agents still standing), Ryuji and Seiten Taisei had joined the dozens of defenders still fighting outside.

(For some reason, a winged Shiba Inu could be seen flying in and around, biting and clawing at the Remnants. It wasn't fighting alongside an Agent; was it a Persona, of some kind...?)

It was right after a targeted Maziodyne that a column of prismatic light erupted from south-southwest. "The eff...?" murmured Ryuji, hanging onto Seiten Taisei's leg. "What...?" Looking down, his confusion was shared by the other defenders; a suction effect quickly took hold, pulling the Remnants like dust with a vacuum hose. "What the hell...?!"

"Arf arf!"

Ryuji glanced to his left, looking at the little red-eyed Shiba Inu; the albino dog happily slurped his face before flying away, disappearing into the receding banks of the fog. "...what's going on?!"

xxxx

(To find out what happened...the clock had to be turned back ever so slightly...)

xxxx

/Twenty Minutes Prior/

Camp Matsumoto had been littered with the bodies of soldiers, with A.T. Agents and government officers among them. The entire military base appeared as if a bomb had gone off in several places; the barracks and supply warehouses had been demolished, and shadowy Emanations drifted among the dead like scavengers.

'Carnage' put it mildly.

"One-Shot Kill."

Hirofumi Kurosawa was firing at the bestial shadows that approached them with a stern frown. "The old accessways are buried under a bunch of rubble," he muttered with a scowl.

"Can we dig through the ground?" asked Shinji Ikari, his Persona having switched from Titan to Hamlet. His original Persona was dueling a shadowy samurai of sorts.

All the while, Mayumi Yamagishi was mentally communicating the locations of the Emanations (as Kurosawa had insisted on calling them; Remnants seemed a lot easier to remember...) to them, allowing the two to prioritize and coordinate seamlessly.

"There are failsafe explosives laced underground to render the MAGI facility inaccessible if someone tries to get to them by foul means...which doesn't help us." Kurosawa's Persona Häyhä obliterated a masked tank, of all things. "Once we clear these Emanations, we'll start digging-"

"Yip!"

Shinji and Kurosawa both whirled around, leaking towards the metal corpse of a ruined helicopter; peering out from it was an orange fox, bearing some notable scars; this only made the vibrant red apron hanging from his neck even more notable. Wait, I've seen that fox before...!

"Ooh, hello!" exclaimed Mayumi, leaning forward on Armisael's stone throne. "You feel...unusual...yet surprisingly helpful...?"

"Yip!" barked the fox, turning around with intent. His ears flicked excitedly, while he gestured with his head as though encouraging them to follow.

"...let's follow him," said Shinji.

"Are you sure?" asked Kurosawa.

"Yeah. I don't think he means us any harm." Though I don't know if you'd believe me if I said how I knew...

'...how do you know this fox, Ikari-san?'

Shinji resisted the urge to jump. I keep forgetting you can communicate with me telepathically now...

'Sorry!'

...

'...but how do you know him?'

...through Mister P.

'...somehow, I find that completely believable.'

 

[neogoki]

Once he stepped out into the light, however...that which had been hidden by the fog was shown in the harsh light of day. "Oh gods..."

Click to shrink...

damn, either he just saw the result of what STREGA did under the cover of the Fog or its the next big problem coming up for a spin.

 

[Vajrei]

Could it be the reaper?

 

[neogoki]

Could it be the reaper?

Click to shrink...

ah crap, he WAS on the move and I suspect that Angels are high on his "ToDo-List"

 

[Ultra Sonic 007]

It was strange, hearing quiet hisses punctuated by the occasional rumble: the sign of pitched combat occurring elsewhere within the foggy expanse of Tokyo-2, between Persona-users and the wretched creatures that had descended upon it.

It was bizarre, seeing the silhouettes of dead men and women; intellectually, he knew that the fallen were dead. Yet...bereft of sight, without clarity of vision, it seemed less real. (Even the images of Sho Minazuki's onslaught at the Olympics had elicited a more visceral reaction.)

The Beast leaned in close.

"Oh? Is that all? Perhaps..."

It whispered into his ear.

"...you've merely come to accept the reality...that this world is merely ephemeral...that death is but a mere afterthought..."​

Fortunately, the fox moved dexterously, taking them towards what appeared to be...a mere patch of ground, surrounded by the bodies of numerous soldiers and a combat truck of sorts. The canine poked his snout underneath the carriage, barking intently.

"Ikari, please move the truck," ordered Kurosawa.

He did so, switching back to Titan once more; as the hulking Persona quietly moved the vehicle away — setting it atop the smoldering wreck of another vehicle — Kurosawa knelt onto the gross, feeling for something. "Hmm...hmm?" The man's eyes widened. "Ah..." With his free hand, he reached into the soil, grabbing at something; grimacing, he heaved with surprising force, pulling with all his might. Sure enough, the lid of a hidden hatch began to poke out of the soil. "A hand, if you would!" Shinji immediately knelt down, using his legs to provide extra force; scowling, they both managed to swing the lid upward, tearing through the soil; Kurosawa stuck the barrel of his Persona into the gap, using the extra leverage to pry it open. A hole delved underground; a steel ladder was attached to the underside of the rim. "...a secret entrance. Probably something that the base commander constructed for the sake of redundancy...how fortuitous. What I wonder is how that fox knew..." Kurosawa's voice trailed off; he was looking around him with visible confusion. "Where did it go?"

Shinji and Mayumi both looked around with confusion; the mysterious canine had disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. "Uh..."

(Little did they know: the tiny fox, pleased with his little bit of assistance offered, dashed away into the murk.)

"...we'll talk about it later." Kurosawa shimmied into the opening, using his free hand to descend the latter. "Come on."

Shinji dismissed Titan; looking over at Mayumi, he watched as the black throne and glowing double helix seemed to seamlessly shift and shrink; the girl daintily touched down on the ground as her Persona transformed such that it looked like a halo, with the black throne reduced to a floating orb of dark stone above her head. "...huh. That's pretty neat..."

"It is, isn't it?" acknowledged Mayumi with a brief smile. "After you, Ikari-san."

Ikari followed Kurosawa down; Mayumi brought the lid back down behind them, taking care not to actually close the latch. After several feet, they found themselves standing on the top of a spiraling stairwell, lit by relatively new emergency lighting. Kurosawa took point, leading them several flights down; at the bottom was a single door, which the agent pushed open quietly. The trio emerged into an open hallway that was filled with fog...but it flowed like a river. "A source?" Kurosawa raised his gun-arm, walking bravely into the murk.

Shinji and Mayumi followed, with the former summoning Fuu-Ki. The mythical oni raised his windmill blade; with the grumble of "Garula", the fog within the hallway was spread about by a burst of wind.

Kurosawa's eyes narrowed as his visibility immediately increased. "The MAGI chamber's open." Without hesitation, he dashed forward to the end of the hall.

Shinji and Mayumi took off after him, slamming into the torrent of fog as though it were a cushioned wall...and when breaking through to the other side, they saw it. "What the...?"

A great eye stared down at them: a yellow eye with a green iris and crimson pupil, bordered by orange flesh. A trio of tendrils descended from the creature, connected to the red-and-white MAGI units like parasites. Tellingly, yellow fog was emanating from both the eye and the MAGI. "So this is the cause," growled Kurosawa, raising his Persona's barrel to take aim.

"This sensation..." murmured Mayumi with wide eyes. "This...this is an Angel!"

"Little surprise, that of all the Lilim to reach me, it would be the cohort of Shinji Ikari," rumbled the Angel, its voice sounding akin to a meteor roaring through the sky. "I am Sahaquiel."

 

[jj_789]

Hmm. Sahaquiel being faced outside of a new moon. Seems like the angels are that much eager to end humanity as soon as possible by using outliers such as Adachi to disrupt all activity in the capital of one of the main countries in charge of dealing with the Angel threat. This might prove to bite them in the rear later.

Edit: I just confused the two surnames, sorry. They just look so similar.

 

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Hmm. Sahaquiel being faced outside of a new moon. Seems like the angels are that much eager to end humanity as soon as possible by using outliers such as Akechi to disrupt all activity in the capital of one of the main countries in charge of dealing with the Angel threat. This might prove to bite them in the rear later.

Click to shrink...

Akechi: I'M NOT EVEN IN TOKYO-2!!!

Ren: Man, you're even getting blamed for someone else's misdeeds...which would be poetic justice, come to think of it...

Akechi: I will cut you.

Adachi: lol get rekt newb :D

 

[Vajrei]

That is unusual, the Angel of the sky is underground.

 

[NGSoares]

With sudden violence, the yellow fog began to dissipate; it was being sucked in towards the distant pillar of radiance, as though it were a vacuum. Sae grimaced as the haze rushed by her (unseen, inwardly, there was a shift, as the strain in the back of her mind finally relaxed), blinking rapidly as she stood amidst a normal road on the outskirts of Tokyo-2; for the first time in over a day, the blue sky and the sun were visible. "I'm out...?" she murmured aloud. What's going on...?

Click to shrink...

Hm, does that mean that pillar of light was the cross signifying Sahaquiel's death, since Shinji encounters him about twenty minutes before the fog dissipates? But then again, it very well may involve the MAGI.

 

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Hm, does that mean that pillar of light was the cross signifying Sahaquiel's death, since Shinji encounters him about twenty minutes before the fog dissipates? But then again, it very well may involve the MAGI.

Click to shrink...

That pillar of light wasn't a cross.

We've actually seen a similar event once before:

Asuka Langley-Sohryu hadn't quite known what to expect after vaulting down the stairs, finally entering the main MAGI chamber underneath the Georgia Dome.

First: five MAGI units, constrained by orange spheres lined with blue lines (almost like veins...or perhaps mold?).

Second: an Archetype (no, I bet that's a Persona) that looked like a silvery robot with a stereotypical flying saucer for a head, possessing thin legs and only one gangly arm on a rotating ring.

Third: the Persona-user himself, standing in front of a terminal; clad in black cargo pants and an unbuttoned trench coat colored green (like, ew, what kind of fashion disaster ARE you?), the man's dark blue eyes stared at them from behind black, square-rimmed glasses. His blue hair was slicked back, with only a few strands running loose; of particular note was the fact that his chest - covered only by a white, cotton tank top - showed signs of some kind of corruption: blue veins stretching from his heart and towards his extremities, so close to his skin that they seemed like tattoos.

Listening to him talk, and to see his eyes...yep. No doubt about it. Definitely dealing with a zealot. "Can the crap. Who are you, and what have you done to the MAGI?"

"The name's Jin. Who I am...really isn't that important. All I can say is that I'm here to send the message of Strega."

Great, are we dealing with some cognitive terrorist group? "What have you done to the MAGI?" she asked again. In her peripheral vision, the Third Child and Hamlet were tense, ready to attack at a moment's notice. Matilda, meanwhile, was staring at the MAGI with...concern. (What exactly am I seeing...that I'm not seeing? Damn it, I shouldn't be confusing myself.) "I won't ask a third time," she emphasized, trying not to get distracted.

"Well...it's not what I did, so to speak. I'm simply a messenger...for the Angels."

Asuka's blood froze. Wait, what-?

"Strega's message is simple: we're going to finish what Second Impact started." The man stared briefly at Shinji Ikari before raising his left hand. "Bardiel...whenever you please. Moros, NOW!"

Jin's Persona beeped and chirped; in an instant, the man and his walking UFO wavered and vanished.

In that same instant, the blue veins suddenly surged with bright light, drawing in the space around them like a vacuum-! "Oh Scheiße-!"

In the very next instant, an unusual sensation erupted from her left side; she barely recognized the specter of a horned, purple demon overshadowing Hamlet (wait a second, that looks like Shogoki) before the empowered Persona grabbed the Third Child and her at the same time (holy cow, that IS his Evangelion, how is it appearing in the Metaverse?!). Matilda immediately vanished, returning to her being-

Her Other frowned.

"This power..."​

-and then with a defiant roar, Hamlet unleashed a powerful bolt of Psi energy from his skull that shredded through the ceiling, cutting through to the surface-

The Beast snarled.

"...even now, it hasn't changed..."​

-and Asuka thought no more before Hamlet leapt through the hole he had made; she just barely caught sight of the five MAGI collapsing into points of light before vertigo took over.

xxxx

Less than five seconds after Jin and Moros had vanished, the veins around the MAGI - extensions of the Angel called Bardiel - constricted; ethereal power was unleashed, forcing the metaphysical and cognitive mass of the MAGI to collapse upon themselves.

At that moment, bereft of their constructs and chains, the sheer river of power that the MAGI had channeled overflowed.

Like a tsunami brushing away everything, the power of the five MAGI erupted in a wave that spread in a radius of a thousand feet: more than six football fields in diameter. (The A.T. Agents and the Acolytes and the Archetypes caught in the crossfire within the Metaverse were overwhelmed.)

The majority of the cognitive overflow was directed upward, spilling into the sky with flashes of incomplete lightning and glitching colors. Unlike the perfectly uniform event horizons that were the cognitive voids, this maelstrom was disordered and turbulent: a living tumult. (At the same time in the real world, all those who stood within the realm overlapped by the maelstrom suddenly went still. Within cognitive voids, thinking itself was nigh-impossible, and those caught within them simply ceased to live after long enough; this maelstrom was not so elegant. Hundreds promptly died from cerebral hemorrhage.)

Within a realm between dimensions, Bardiel witnessed all of this, and was pleased.

Click to shrink...

 

[NGSoares]

That pillar of light wasn't a cross.

We've actually seen a similar event once before:

Click to shrink...

Welp. In that case, there go Tokyo-2's MAGI.

And shit, a lot of people are gonna get caught in it. Really reads like the Angels are going for a scorched earth approach by attacking MAGI systems and what happened during the July new moon.

 

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Shinji took a step back out of disbelief. An Angel? But...but it's not even a new moon! The sight of that humongous eye...

Another place. Another time. When the fight for his future still seemed hopeful...before the dark days...

Charging up a hill, far larger than any human; why was he so tall? He towered over the forests. Why was he so fast? The landscaped faded away like the wind.

Sliding to a halt, he heard, saw, tasted the atmosphere become oppressive; a great loomed down, intent on crushing him...!

Howling, he unleashed the Light of his Soul.​

...it stirred something deep within. (But what?)

"What is the meaning of this fog?!" roared Kurosawa.

The Angel's great eye lazily drifted towards the man. "A mere accident of history, resurrected by the will of a mere thrall: his designs aim to increase the devastation amongst you Lilim, and so I care not for how it manifests. Once this matter is settled, I shall return to him, to witness his malice once more."

"...who is he talking about...?" wondered Mayumi.

"A human, no doubt; a member of Strega...who else would be working for an Angel?" Scowling, Kurosawa prepared to fire-

A new voice sounded from behind them. "I'm afraid I'll have to correct you..." Shinji, Mayumi, and Kurosawa turned around, watching two silhouettes approach from beyond the foggy wall; they quickly solidified into the shapes of a pale shirtless man with stringy hair, and a bespectacled man wearing a green trench coat. "...because we weren't responsible for this little display," finished the shirtless man.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO1-uksWgaE

"Takaya Sakaki and Jin Shirato," muttered Shinji with wide eyes.

Kurosawa immediately turned Häyhä towards them. "One-Shot Kill!"

The gargantuan bullet exploded ineffectually against a barrier of concentric orange octagons; Sakaki and Shirato were unharmed. "Idiot," said Jin with a snort. "This isn't just the Metaverse; reality has had cognition pushed on top of it...so of course A.T. Fields will still be in play."

"After all, breaking the 'rules' is not so easily accomplished for most...right, Third Child?" Takaya looked quietly at him, a sly smile on his face.

(What was he referring to?) "Why are you here?" asked Shinji.

"To put an end to this performance, of course. It's been amusing to see the world go on as though this strange fog doesn't exist...but the world must witness the carnage that humanity has visited upon itself. Time cannot be frozen forever."

Kurosawa, keeping both Sahaquiel and Strega in his field of vision, asked, "Who is the one that caused this?"

(Mayumi, unbeknownst to them all, suddenly looked around. "What is that sound...?" she whispered under her breath.)

"Someone that we attempted to recruit into Strega...someone who, alas, has no love for our ideals. Yet if this is how he wants to act, I see no reason to stop him." Takaya looked up at Sahaquiel's eye, a sickly smile crossing his face. "But if you're going to stop Sahaquiel from consummating this city's demise...that just can't be allowed to stand."

(Jin Shirato quietly narrowed his eyes; what was that strange sensation? "Hmm?")

Kurosawa snarled, his normally stoic visage finally showing a semblance of anger. "All this destruction...so much death...so much chaos...and for what?!"

Takaya chuckled, the blue lines on his torso pulsing with corrupted life. "You fear a mere shadow of something real, nothing more-"

"And so another arrives." Sahaquiel's burning voice distracted them all, enlightening them to what Mayumi and Jin had already quietly sensed. "A third party, bearing the fullness of humanity's malice..."

xxxx

On the surface, amidst the dead of Camp Matsumoto...there was the sound of rattling chains.

The click of a handgun's trigger.

"Megidolaon," spoken with a joyous sneer.

Bang.

Then a flash of power and light.

xxxx

The explosives that worried Kurosawa so much were triggered and vaporized; the ray of concentrated force burst through the walls from an upward angle, leading diagonally towards the surface. Though the MAGI chamber rattled and shook, the presence before them seemed to command everything to go still.

The chains were heard first.

(Takaya shot Shirato a look; with a silent nod, the latter summoned Moros, dulling sensations of their presence, aided by the clouds of fog.)

The outline of the bloody trench coat and the long-barrelled revolvers were seen next.

"The Reaper," murmured Kurosawa with a resigned dread.

Into the open, emerged the creature wearing a mask of sackcloth, looking around with a malicious eye; it focused upon the presence of Sahaquiel, who stared back unblinkingly.

xx

The Angel of the Sky glared at the wrathful fiend.

"ARE YOU HERE TO FIGHT, WRETCHED THING?" rumbled the burning sky.

The Reaper sneered.

"The smell of anger...me like...!"​

xx

The Reaper's gaze shifted towards Shinji, Mayumi, and Kurosawa.

Impulsively, Shinji summoned Unit-01; as his familiar bodysuit manifested, the presence of his Evangelion overshadowed the form of Hamlet.

xx

The Beast stared at the Reaper, grinning wickedly.

"We meet again!"

The Reaper cackled with glee.

"The scent of hatred...me want you to DIE...!"​

xx

With a childish giggle, the Reaper fired a bullet into the air. "Garudyne."

"IKARI-SAN, BARRIER!" screamed Mayumi, impulsively pulling Kurosawa behind Shinji.

Shinji barely willed his Evangelion's A.T. Field into existence before the sheer force of the gust crashed into them, blasting them into the long hallway connected to the MAGI chamber.

"Time to kill!" squealed the Reaper, floating in pursuit.

xx

As the Reaper departed the MAGI chamber, Takaya and Jin emerged into sight. "...well, that's unexpected," grumbled Shirato, nervously adjusting his glasses.

"Let's not turn down serendipity when it happens." Takaya looked up towards Sahaquiel. "If you would allow me the honor of bringing this place to ruin, I would be most grateful."

Sahaquiel's tendrils disconnected from the MAGI. "So long as this place is destroyed, I care not how. Do as you please." With those words, the great eye winked out of existence; though the trio of MAGI stopped emitting fog, the cognitive overlay would still last...for a time.

By the time anyone else would think to interfere, it would be too late. "Let us begin, Jin."

"Of course."

xx


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhhhsvS9CeU

Mayumi's Persona had already resumed its normal form by the time Shinji and Kurosawa got to their feet. "Give me a moment to analyze-!"

"What's there to analyze?" growled Kurosawa, warily raising his gun-arm. "It's the Reaper!"

The Reaper, mused Shinji with a grimace. The last time he had fought it...had been in America, when rescuing Mana Kirishima. That feels...so long ago...

His Other leaned in.

"Can you face it?"​

...there's nowhere to run. Fighting was inevitable.

The Reaper, seemingly sensing their resolve, laughed with the sort of derangement belonging to the insane. "Come on, meatbags! Me want you to SCREAM!!!"

 

[neogoki]

"Come on, meatbags! Me want you to SCREAM!!!"

Click to shrink...

...is the Reaper the spirit of Futurama's Bender Bending Rodríguez ?
Because I am seeing some serious similarities right now.

 

[jj_789]

Question. What would be the immediate consequences of the destruction of the Tokyo-2 MAGI?

 

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Question. What would be the immediate consequences of the destruction of the Tokyo-2 MAGI?

Click to shrink...

I refer you to the incident in Atlanta quoted in a prior post: Shin Persona Evangelion [NGE/Persona Fusion] Crossover

 

[Vajrei]

A question I have is, has Tokyo2 more or less been destroyed?