Persona. IC and plot. (accepting)

[Mizos]

Yuji squeezed the bridge of his nose still waiting for the pain to subside from his body fully, this annoying little man didn't make any sense.
Aside from the fact he ran a random cafe in the middle of a den on monsters, he made Kazue sign a contract which branded all of them which was even more suspicious. Though he had given them the closest thing to a way out then anyone else. Something about bells leading the way out, he wasn't entirely sure since the pain was one hell of a distraction while he was talking. Taking an extra moment to collect himself and catching what Kazue and Osada said he lowered his hand from his face before looking back at Igor. Whoever this guy was he knew more about this stuff then they did, and judging by that contract he was pretty sure they'd meet again, he got something out of this. What that was though he had no idea.
"Ken," Yuji said. "I'm pretty sure he's not going to answer our questions...seeing as he ignored most of them. Don't waste your breath."
Aside from Osada Ken openly spoke of his discomfort of this agreement which Yuji could understand, he wasn't exactly pleased about this either.
Reaching up Yuji adjusted his glasses before his gave moved over to Kazue since she did ask a question.
"More than likely I would've asked for any other options before signing," Yuji said. "My opinion hasn't changed, I don't want to see you second guessing later on either, I gave my consent and I'm willing to deal with whatever comes, I expect the same from you since you signed it. You either helped us or screwed us all over bubbles. If it's the latter I will hold you partially responsible and I will make you suffer for it."

His peace said Yuji glanced back at Lucelle wondering what exactly to do about her, if they were attacked again her chance of survival was pretty slim and even if they got out of his place, how was she getting home? If that time came he'd push her towards one of the girls and make her their responsibility, leaving her alone to the jackals at night, some of which he knew, wasn't an option and he wasn't personally taking her back either.
Yuji brought his hand to his face realizing the amount of burdens he had put on himself, now that he had a moment to think this whole thing was inconvenient.
"So...bells then. Let's hurry this up."

 

[Ser K+]

"Tch." After a brief pause Ken gave a sigh, one filled with the disapproval of a couple hundred fathers... Maybe his disapproval wasn't that intense, but he still didn't like what was going on. Plus all of these unanswered questions were giving Ken a headache. "So...Persona? Like a mask, persona?" Ken wondered why Igor used the Latin form of "mask", but like Yuji said, it wasn't like this large nosed old man was going to give any answers. Ken grabbed his right hand which suddenly seemed to grow numb. "And now we're branded?" Ken said looking at the mark that developed on his hand. Was that a clock? "[Great... This guy must be the devil...]" He shook off the numbness, everyone would probably have to fight again in a bit, and everyone'll probably die. Thanks Inoue. "Bells..." Ken looked at everyone, he meant to give Lucielle her glasses back when the got into the cafe, but it completely slipped his mind, well he's still hanging on to them, and they weren't necessarily "safe" yet. "Fine, let's just get it over with..." They just had to get out, and that would be that... Or they all, you know... Die... But just about anything is better than having to deal with Senior Long nose, his pet owl, and his interesting secretary much longer. The ambiance of the place alone was slowly killing him.

Ken was ready to leave. He hastily drank a glass of water he received, to wake himself up. This caused him to get a brain freeze, but it wasn't too bad of one and he quickly got over it... As soon as everyone else was ready they would leave, and hopefully not die.

 

[Celestial Scorpio]

Lucelle heard Yuji speak to her. "Well I would show you but I'd have to pull my pants off. It is on my upper thigh on my right leg. So I am guessing every got a mark?" She looked around at everyone even though they were blurs but slowly her vision cleared. Unlike her glasses though she could see in crystal clear HD, well if real life could be HD. She noticed everyone's marks and took her hand away from Yuji. "Well good news everyone I can see. Maybe these marks make us superhuman. I wonder if I can fly." Lucelle began to jump up and down but after a few springs she stopped. "Super strength?" She moved to a table and tried to lift it up but nothing. "L-lazer eyes?" She squinted but nothing and finally she just stopped.

Igor ignored everyone's whines and looked at Kazue. "We will meet again and next time without these troublesome guests. Until then take this." The man handed her a key that matched the blue theme. "When you come across a blue door use this key to enter and we can talk again and awaken more of your powers." "Why does she get powers?" Lucelle complained but Igor just crossed his fingers. "Until we meet again." In the blink of an eye the group was back into the streets of the city. The lights dimly lit the brick sidewalks and buildings. Though no life seemed to be anywhere. No people no monsters, nothing but the group.

Valentine looked at the mark that formed on his left bicep, it was a heart. (will get a pic up soon.) He saw Nihil's fade into her shirt, Yuji's on his neck and everyone else's mostly on their chests. "So what now? We just sit here until we hear a bell tolling? I say we go to that tower but I have a feeling Kazue should decide seeing she was appointed the leader role." Val heard footsteps and he looked down the street to see another set of monsters. Well it looked like their reprieve was over now.

The monsters seemed different than the other's. Not as aggressive, well that was until they noticed the group. Out of nowhere one sent fire towards Nihil, another sent ice at Ken, the third sent electricity at Lucelle and the fourth sent wind at Kazue.

(I just found a pic because I am lazy. Its info is not the same as in the game though but it will use agi, bufu, zio and garu as attacks. Look at the enemy stats to see its... stats. Also I didn't make it weak or strong to anything just yet.

Map

COMBAT SYSTEM GO! Combat Shiz

Enemy stats

Everyone's stats

Order posted in the OOC)

 

[DNA]

Nihil was absolutely pissed at this point. She almost slapped Osada for being an idiot as usual, but decided against it. Unnecessary violence would get them nowhere. What she really needed right now was necessary violence. After some more chatter from Igor and a teleportation out into the street, it looked like she'd get her wish. She couldn't explain it, but she felt like there was something wrong here. It was the same feeling as before...

"We should deal with the obvious problems first," she said, as she heard the monster's footsteps. Bingo. She was about to unsheath the sword again when a ball of fire was hurled at her. Fire. Why did it have to be fire? Nihil just sat there and stared at it, wide-eyed until it missed and crashed into something behind her. She just stood there, shaking as the monsters crept forward. Something shook her out of her trance. She wasn't exactly sure what, but she knew what she had to do.

In one swift motion, Nihil brought her hand to her chest and made a downward swiping motion as if she were trying to scratch the new marking off. Her finger tips glowed and left a trail of light as the sigil burned bright enough to show through her shirt. "Persona! Kuchisake-Onna!"

She felt something breathing raggedly behind her, almost in laughter. Nihil looked back to see a tall, zombie-like woman with a face mask on. Her hair was long, disgusting and matted in front of her face, with small slits through which her glazed-over eyes peeked through. The creature bent down a bit to examine Nihil, leaning on her oversized shears for support. Taking one hand, it lifted down the mask to show a repulsive face with something like a glasgow smile carved into it. The teeth were stained a disgusting yellow and the canines appeared unnaturally sharp. The persona gave off a crooked smile as she continued to stare at Nihil.

Nihil didn't even flinch, and gave the thing her own, sick, twisted laughter. "Is this some kind of joke?! Kuchisake-Onna? Really?" she asked out loud to nobody in particular, knowing the legend of the slit-mouthed woman all too well. "I knew I was fucked up, but really?!" she exclaimed. This... thing... It was a part of her, wasn't it? What did that have to say about her, then?

Nihil looked back to the monsters getting closer to them. Kuchisake-Onna stood straight up, the cracking of bone ringing out as she did so. Lifting her large shears into the air, she snipped once as if testing them. Nihil glanced back at her. "Go."

Kuchisake-Onna brandished a large smile that was only possible by someone with such a cut-up face as she charged at the enemy with blinding speed, going straight for the one that had shot fire at Nihil. Opening her shears wide, Kuchisake-Onna grabbed it between the blades and lifted the thing up over her head before slicing it clean in half, causing a shower of darkness over herself that faded off and disappeared. Over the screeching of rusty metal and the cracking of Kuchisake-Onna's movement, one could hear Nihil's laughter in the background. She was suddenly feeling slightly drained after that attack, but she didn't even care anymore.

----------

Takako was too speechless to do anything except roll with the conversation at this point. She was almost glad to be teleported out in the middle of the street. "Wha- Oh whatever," she said. Anywhere else was better than the Velvet Cafe. Probably. Hopefully. Her thoughts were cut short as she heard a shuffling and a bunch of stuff was flying at the group. Out of instinct, she hunched over a bit and covered her head as she closed her eyes. Takako was near Nihil and out of all of the elemental bolts, the fire was too close for comfort.

When she opened her eyes, Nihil was staring off into the distance, visibly shaking. "S-Senpai?" Takako asked. Then practically out of nowhere, Nihil performed that summoning ritual. Kuchi-whatnow? Takako didn't even know what was happening. Nihil's marking was glowing and all of a sudden there was a sort of glowy, swirly thing that revealed a huge scary lady! Takako's knees shook. That thing... that "persona" sure was something. Just looking at it was dreadful and... Kind of sad? Sadness? Where did that come from? Whatever, that didn't matter right now! She had to help, somehow!

As the big ghoul lady looked down at Nihil, Takako thought about what Nihil did. She rolled up her sleeve a bit and looked at her own marking. Her hand practically moved on its own towards the mark. As it got closer, her sigil emitted a soft glow. Takako looked up back up at the monsters as a thought occurred to her. "Persona! Headless Rider!" she shouted as her hand brushed over the mark and down her arm. The action sure wasn't as violent as how Nihil had done it. That weird, swirling glow appeared next to her and dissipated to reveal something that looked like a large, ghost biker.

Takako stared at her persona with wonder. Although where his head should've been there was just a ghastly light, she somehow knew he was staring at her. "Uhh... Hi?" she said. This 'Headless Rider' simply revved the engine. That was a response, right?

Takako looked back to see that the big scary lady had practically launched herself at the enemy. She felt a wave of relief over her. If it had attacked an enemy, then hopefully it was on their side, right? Upon destroying the thing, the engine got louder and Takako looked back and forth between her new 'friend' and Sugiyama. Her senpai appeared to be enjoying this, giving off a maniacal laughter as the enemy was sliced in two. That... Was kind of worrying, honestly. However, she did notice that the biker's gaze appeared to be fixed on the creatures in front of them.

"Y-You want to go, too? Then you ca-"

Takako didn't even finish before Headless Rider practically tore up the road, racing towards the enemy. He lifted up the front wheel of the bike and slammed into the enemy, grinding the front tire against the mask until the monster had practically turned into dust and disappeared, like the first one. Takako watched her persona in awe, gasping a bit with a smile. He was... So cool! She couldn't believe how rad of a monster friend thing she had!

 

[Celestial Scorpio]

Lucelle watched as Nihil and Takako killed two of the enemies. Thank god no one got hurt. She stood there a moment before looking around. What was everyone waiting for? That's when she realized it was her time. Just like the other two Femme Fatales Lucelle had a gut feeling. Her hand swiped over the mark on her thigh as a yellowish hue surrounded her. "Taiyo No Otoko!" A floating sun humanoid thing appeared next to her. It head was a sun, it had no arms or legs, just a cloak that looked somewhat like a clown. Two floating hands were in front of it. Lucelle pointed to one of the enemies. "Garu."

Taiyo moved its hand so the palm was facing the monster. A strong razor like wing soared towards the enemy, cutting it. Sadly it still survived and Lucelle was disappointed. "Why did THEY get to kill one but I didn't." The persona would of shrugged it if could before disappearing into its cloak, which then vanished. Valentine looked over at Lucelle. "Hey don't worry about it. You did good." The enemy she hit was noticeably hurt and seemed to be on it's last leg. "Bow my chance to kill it." Val took the pipe from Lucelle's hand to hit the enemy. "H-hey don't use MY weapon to kill it. Its supposed to be MY kill." The male just let the words go in one ear and out the other. Sunshine sure wasn't happy at the moment.

Valentine smacked the monster with the pipe making it explode. A dark redish black cloud was left behind as it died. But through the cloud came a fireball hitting Val. He was thrown back and landed next to Nihil. "Ooooowwww." He groaned ans looked at Nihil. His hand went up towards her. "Care to help me Nihil. Friend. Buddy. Pal." If she was still mad from earlier then this was the perfect time for it to go away. "I think I am dying." "Good." Lucelle mumbled still upset she couldn't be as awesome as Nihil or Takako.

 

[Ser K+]

Ken decided to attack a monster. It wasn't like they would just move out of the way, right? But of course he wouldn't dare touch whatever these things were without a weapon.

There was always that "mask" thing... No it was "persona"... Hmm, well apparently thinking the word wouldn't summon what these other guys were summoning. So he might as well say something... Wait, did he have to grab his hand to do that? Right, that's how that girl did it, so why couldn't he do the same?
"Come forth!"
With those words came a man with a hammer and shield. Was that Ken's "Persona?"
The hell?
His mask, his inner self is a flipping body builder? Heh, oh well...
"Uh, hey there?" Ken said toward the hulking fellow, hoping to get a response. He didn't get one. "So would you attack that one?" Is what he would've asked if "Gale Slash!" didn't come sputtering from his damned mouth. Ken, the kid who was pointing at a shadowed figure WITH a face of raw cockiness, had no idea what he said, but hey this guy seemed to be reacting to it, so he got a break there. This big guy simply swung his hammer. Wrecked that monster too, it was still just barely standing though. It looked like it would fall over minute now too. Just like flamboyant guy over there...
"Woah! Nice one Vulcan!" Yet another word comes sputtering from Ken's mouth, and this time it was a name, more so, he felt like this has happened before.

Maybe that was Dèja vu.

And with that, "Vulcan" vanishes. Ken looked toward the bell tower. They were fairly far away from it, so he doubted them being able to get there safe and sound if one of them was already beaten within an inch of his sorry life, but he didn't have a plan, so he asked the others the only way he knew how, improperly.
"Yo. You guys gotta plan?"

 

[AutumnWyvern]

Kazue put the key she received in her super cute bag before looking around. Of course more monsters would show up, that was how this thing worked. But this time they had super cool powers, and from the looks of things they were like monster summoning powers. It was just like Yokai Watch! "Alright it's my turn!" Kazue announced, bringing her hand to where the symbol was on her chest. A incredibly large 3-headed dragon appeared with a burst of light and landed on the ground with a dull thud. The leftmost head examined Kazue and her companions with a snort causing warm air to blow over the group. The center head just seemed to quietly survey the area, while the right head bent over to look at the teetering monster. It's eyes narrowed and it let out a low rumble of a chuckle before turning to Kazue, as if asking her for the next step, to which Kazue responded with "Agi!" Really, she thought "blast it with fire" but instead that word came to her mind instead. Nodding the rightmost head let out a puff of fire at the beast before the dragon vanished. While Zmey was at such close range there was no way the attack could miss, in it's assessment of the battle it severely underestimated the power it would need to put forth, and the beast was left standing. "Aw..." Kazue pouted. She wanted to land the finishing move again.

 

[Celestial Scorpio]

Leo was her name. "Hey... Narrator it's HE thank you." -clears throat- Leo was his name. (Sorry I had too)

Leo was laying on the hotel bed. For now his parents needed to find an apartment or place to rent out. After he started to transition his parents wanted him to have a new life away from the bullying from the old city. Leo was born as a female, Eleonor to be exact. At a young age he was always different. He liked action figures over dolls. He preferred to play sports rather than wearing make-up. When he was forced to dance he preferred what guys did but was stuck being a ballerina. At the age of 12 he discovered he was transgender and decided to transition. First he cut his hair then told his parents. Who were supportive but they often couldn't handle how Leo was treated. Eventually they wanted to move to give him a better life. So here he was. In a hotel in a new city. A new life waiting for him.

Leo gazed out of the window. The huge church looked creepy but it was the easiest place to stay for the night. He had his headphones in listened to music when he saw a group of teenagers enter the building. It didn't seem odd to him since well teenagers liked to go to creepy places. Paying no mind to it he went back to his music. After a few minutes he looked back to the church. Something about it was enticing. Calling to him. He slipped his headphones off and put his phone down. Sitting up he wondered if his parents were asleep. The two bedroom hotel room was perfect for privacy which he preferred until he fully could transition to a male body.

Standing up he closed the curtains and slipped his shirt off. Leo was already planning on going to sleep, his sleepwear consisted of a shirt and pajama pants. When in private he didn't bother wearing his binder since it hurt somewhat. He looked in the mirror and sighed. "Thanks mom for the large bazoongas." He mumbled as he pulled out a binder. Slipping it on he made sure it was nice and snug. Now his breathing would be kinda short, not noticeably thankfully. After Leo got it right he put on a shirt and some jeans. Not even checking to see if his parents were asleep he slipped on his shoes, grabbed his jacket and walked out into the hallway.

He quickly moved to the elevator as he slipped his jacket on. Clearing his throat he hit the first floor button. It didn't take much to change his voice but that was due to years of training. Once he was in the lobby Leo left the hotel and walked to the church. It was about a block down from the place so it didn't take long. It seemed the other teenagers were still inside. Creeping up he entered quietly and saw nothing. The place looked empty and no signs of the others. Then out of the darkness he could make out a figure on the floor. Walking to it he put his hand to his mouth. "What the hell?" Jiro's dead body was laying there covered in blood. "I need to call the police." Reaching into his pocket he felt nothing. "Damn I left my phone."

"What do we have here?" The priest walked out of the darkness. "Thank god someone is here. Especially a priest. Do yoh know what happened here?" Leo heard the man chuckle before he started to change. "Of course. It was I who killed the brat." The monstrous thing moved towards Leo who eas now confused and scared. "What the hell are you?" Without warning the monster swung which Leo dodged. This is when dancing came into the equation. It helped with his evasion. "Whoa man what are you doing?!" He asked backing up after his dodge. "I am nothing more than a priest." He snickered. Next thing Leo knew there was blinded light which affected the monster. Without thought he ran towards the light, he stumbled into the door and saw the stairs. It was either up to the monster or down to wherever this lead. Deciding to descend Leo made it to the bridge just as the darkness began to flood. The group od teenagers were running to a city.

Without hesitation Leo began to run. Whatever was going on wasn't good and he could tell by how they were reacting. Were those monster's he saw chasing the group. Damn he would have to go through them wouldn't he. The teen took off even faster but soon enough he couldn't see as the darkness surrounded him. It seemed to be grabbing at him which he pulled away. His movements grew slower as he pressed on. "Let me go!" Leo shouted at the darkness and he guessed it listened as he went tumbling forward after being thrown. He rolled on the ground and stopped on his back. "Thanks." An exaggerated tone was given as Leo stood up. Thankfully he made it to the city and the darkness just enclosed it. "A safe haven?"

Leo began to walk but a blue sign caught his attention. The Velvet Cafe it seemed to be called. He went inside only to see a man, an owl thing, and what seemed like a cafe with people. "Ah looks like you just missed them." Igor motioned for Leo to sit down, which he just stood there. "We do not have time. Do you agree?" "What?" "If you want to get out. Do you agree with my method." Leo shrugged. "Dude I just met you. Sure sure whatever. You need to call the po-..." Looking down Leo felt the top of his left hand burning and a mark appeared. "Now you have the way out. Please hurry and catch up to them. It'll be easier that way." With a wave Leo was in the streets of the city once more. "What is going on?" He stared at his hand.

 

[PyroJack]

This is crazy! The shadows had now started throwing great balls of fire at everyone, and some members of the group had big monsters appear behind them and fight for them. "Thi-This is unreal!" Osada was almost at a lost for words for what he was seeing. It wasn't natural. No way anyone could have done this before. Was this the thing that Kazue agreed to? Was this the thing that the owl and long nosed man gave to them as part of a contract? This was a persona?! Osada felt his head was going to explode...but he couldn't do that! He had to keep everyone safe!

He looked at how everyone was summoning there persona. Each were a bit different but the idea was the same. Cover the mark you had gotten and shout out. Feelings of anticipation and fear started to sink in to mind, but he couldn't worry about what might not happen or what his other self might look like...he had to try. He closed his eyes and breathed deep...and in one swift motion he opened his eyes and beat his close fist over his tattoo with the determination of an old warrior spirit. "Persona!"

Suddenly, the area behind Osada got a lot brighter...and hotter. He turned around and saw the being behind him was almost ghost like figure. No not a ghost...more like a genie or a jinn. A jinn with four arms made completely out of fire. The only other things worth noting about the figure before him was the large ornate brown pieces of cloth that covered the Jinn's mouth and waist and a really strange horn growing out of the fire being's head. The jinn looked down at Osada who in turn was looking up at the fire genie, then it brought his head down to Osada's eye level. It looked at the high schooler with an almost childlike sense of wonder. "I think I remember what you were called...I read a story about you once. A jinn that helped Solomon find the promised land. Ifrit."

The staring contest would have to wait. As long as their those shadows that need to be dealt with. Osada looked back at the battlefield and saw that one of the shadows had set his sights on him and Ifrit as it was getting ready to cast a spell of some sort. "Ifrit! Burn it!" The jinn wasted little time reacting to the order as in each of its hands, small balls of fire formed in the persona's hands. Once completed, Ifrit smashed the fireballs to create one large ball of flames and shot the fire ball out with the kind of force and speed that could be compared to a modern bullet train. The mage shadow tried to answer back with a large ball of ice that was on a collision course with the fireball, but it was like it wasn't even there! The fireball didn't melt the ice ball, but smashed right through it with no sign of slowing down until it had it its intended target. The shadow disappeared with an audible splat, as the flames consumed what little was left of the once shadow. "That....was amazing."

 

[Mizos]

What the fuck was going on?
Those words resonated in Yuji's skull at the mess of events transpiring in front of him, finding more monsters wasn't too surprising, the things seemed to be everywhere and he raised his stick getting ready to attack them so they could move along. However the moment fire shot out from one of them he stared wide eyed as they started attacking with what seemed like magic. The ones they met before didn't do anything like that, even the priest ran at them with a sword, these things were using sorcery and they were clearly different from the slowing moving creatures they dealt with earlier.
What followed afterwards however caused what concept of reality he had left to shatter as a glow came from Nihil and...some...some thing appeared behind her. It wasn't until she spoke the name that Yuji realized what the thing floating behind her was, an urban legend was literally in front of him killing these creatures and Nihil was standing there laughing the whole while.

Yuji brought a hand to his head as the others started summoning more of these apparitions, ponytail summoned a headless man on a bike that attacked another creature killing it, even Sunshine summoned some kind of sun thing, which he was happy she remained clothed for, that attacked them.
This process repeated again and again as everyone called forth these strange creatures, excluding Valentine who decided to attack the things headfirst with disastrous results. His surprise didn't wane at any of the other 'inner selves' that showed themselves, the reality of this world was seriously twisted he had accepted that but somehow that had found a way to pass onto everyone through the seals. It was Kazue's however that caused his eye to twitch as he felt something in the back of his mind snap at...the dragon. A three headed, towering monster was literally within arms reach.
"The fuck bubbles!" Yuji exclaimed staring up at the huge creature.
Was this thing the reason why she was so special, that monster could eat these things with little effort thus he was surprised when one of it's attacks didn't destroy the monster, this thing made the Minotaur and priest look like fluffy rabbits in comparison.
Yuji ran a hand through his hair as he watched Osada summon a flaming creature who tore apart the remainder of the monsters, he didn't realize it but he was so lost in everything that happened he completely forget to attack the things.

His glasses askew Yuji could only watch in silence as everything slowly resonated in his skull, he was beyond a point where he could fit all these together with any form of logic, and after a while he took a deep breath in before letting it out. Removing his classes he squeezed the bridge of his nose trying to regain his composure, at the summoning of these 'persona's' if he heard the others correctly. This had to be the doing of that long nosed freak, everyone had used the symbols he had given them to summon these bizarre things and though Yuji was glad the creatures were gone, the method which they were disposed was worrying. These things had to be the inner selves, he mentioned something about accepting them to escape this place and aside from Valentine they had brought all of theirs forth.
Something about this bothered him, it didn't feel right, these things came from inside of them, what exactly did that mean? Yuji eyes glanced to the side as he thought about his own mark, he was sure if he followed the same action his 'persona' would come out...but he wasn't about to do that. Not one of the other's persona's looked normal and if he was honest with himself he didn't like the idea of knowing what his inner self looked like.
He could feel it though and it was calling to him.
Bringing a hand to his head he tried to shut the voice in his head up, it felt far too familiar for his liking and shutting his eyes tight he managed to stop whatever it was from talking before he put his glasses back on.
Yuji walked forward, leaning his head down he walked under Zmey and just decided to keep walking, no words were going to clear up what just happened, and he couldn't think of anything that made this current situation less strange so he was just going to keep moving towards the exit.
"Get up Valentine," Yuji said kneeling down grabbing him by his arm. "You took a fireball to the face man up and keep moving."
Grabbing Valentine he picked him up off the ground, a bit roughly before releasing him and continuing to walk.

 

[Xam]

[spoili]
Netsui had just finished club activities and had helped out Hana with the Student Council and he was heading home when he received the first text. Skimming through he saw it was just spam. Probably Remi trying to mess with him again. That girl had too much free time on her hands.

Leaving the school grounds he waved to the scattered students he recognized, which was a majority of them. Judging from the larger than usual numbers, something had taken place after school had let out.
_____

Arriving home after a short walk from the train station, he took his shoes off and announced his arrival. Upon padding his way to the living room he was un-surprised to see his younger brother playing some game in the living room.

"Where are mum and dad?"

"Work, something came up."

Netsui just grunted in response and headed to the kitchen to get started on dinner, digging in the fridge for ingredients.

"Arato, you have 15 minutes, finish the match and go wash up."
_____

After eating together, Netsui set his brother to task on his homework and put the leftovers aside for whenever his parents got home.

Then he sat down across from him to study for entrance exams. Taking a break every half hour or so he could answer the people messaging him. Netsui noticed he was still getting those spam texts, but he couldn't delete the thread either. Shrugging a bit, he put it aside as inconsequential.
_____

Several hours later, Netsui and his brother got up and packed away their books. Checking his watch, he noticed his parents still weren't home.

Frowning a bit now, he told Arato to go ahead and get his clothes out for school tomorrow, following him to do the same. After he was done, he stuck his head into Arato's room to see his brother watching a show on his laptop.

"Hey, I'm going to head out and shoot some targets. Don't wait up, although since I know you're going to, tell mom and dad."
_____

Netsui walked down the street in his casual clothes, when he noticed a group of kids gathering at the old abandoned church. 'Huh', he thought the stupid dares had ended months ago when the rumors were found to be false. Shrugging a bit to himself, Netsui stopped by his favorite haunt for cakes. Rapping lightly on the door, he inquired inside. "Miyamura-baachan, are you still there? It's your favorite customer." He heard some shuffling inside which made him smile.

After a small pause, the door was opened and a grumpy looking woman appeared. "You know I'm here, I thought you weren't coming today?" Netsui just shrugged as if to say Neither did I, she just nodded in response, moving aside to let him.

"I set aside one for you for tomorrow, but I guess you can have it today." Chuckling, Netsui thanked her and went to stand by the counters at the front of the store. It provided an excellent view of the church. Something about those kids had piqued his interest.

"You're usually more animated than this, is something the matter?"

"Theres a group of teenagers across the street at the church, they appear to be going in."

"Oh that, it's just teenagers being stupid, you know that it's of no consequence....I'm going to head on up, put the dish away and lock up when you're done alright? and don't worry too much about them. Running a business is hard."

Netsui just nodded in response, his throat suddenly too tight to respond. Moping around for a bit, Netsui saw a figure darting across the churches yard out of the corner of his eye.

"What the."

The other group hadn't come out yet either, it had been close to 20 minutes, and now someone new was going in. Something was fishy, taking off his pack, he took out his bow and arrows, this was supposed to be stress relief, but it served as a deterrent just as well, he locked up the store behind him.

Stalking across the churches lawn, Netsui silently ascended the steps and slid inside the church. It was dark, moving forward silent, Netsui didn't notice the thing on the ground until he was right on top of it.

"Wh...WHAT THE FUCKING HELL." Stumbling back a bit at the cooling corpse, Netsui felt something warm land on his neck, he swiped at it and extended his arm to the light and saw that it was crimson colored.

"Ah, you must excuse me, I didn't mean to bleed all over the place."

Netsui turned and on instinct he nocked an arrow and let it fly, He heard the solid *thunk* which signified that he'd hit something, but it...didn't usually sound so wet. Netsui's nervous face morphed into one of outright horror as the voice made itself known.

What walked out of the shadow was a Priest, but what it turned into was some kind of Eldritch abomination. A disgusting parody of an angel, and it had his arrow sticking out of one of it's eyes.

Turning on his heel, Netsui ran blindly towards the light that had appeared in the room, leaping forward wildly through the light, he managed to turn it into a sloppy front roll and come up with another arrow nocked and ready to fire. Only to find nothing around him but slithering darkness. That wasn't going to be anything good, making a split second decision, Netsui shot forward as the darkness tried to grab him.

At the very edge, Netsui spotted a figure running, it looked vaguely human. Praying that it was a honest to god Human, Netsui poured on all the speed he had, finally breaking through the darkness, he had to stop himself from crashing into a wall as he looked over his shoulder to see it retreating.

Nerves shaken, Netsui hurried forward until a sign caught his eye. Velvet Cafe, it looked off and completely out of place, but it also felt safe for some reason, warily walking inside he looked around at the odd decor.

"Ah, another straggler."

Turning quickly, Netsui was greeted by an odd man with a nose that defied common sense and an..owl butler? The sight was so humorous that he had to rub his eyes. When he was done they were still there, and did not seem to be lethal. The sight actually soothed his frayed nerves, somehow.

"We will have time to talk later, but right now you must catch up to your peers, and to do that you must agree to take responsibility for your actions, and that you will not contest my methods."

Netsui had a hundred thoughts running around in his head but he knew, on instinct that the only answer was yes, so he simply nodded mutely. Only for an intense burning to suddenly assault his senses. Switching his bow to his left hand and lifting his right arm where the feeling was originating, Netsui saw a mark had appeared on his palm. It was a violent looking heart with a crown adorning it, surrounded by an angelic and a demonic wing and with three spikes extending from the bottom.(might change the sign)

"It is done. I'm sure you have questions but they'll have to wait. The story must continue after all."

Netsui hadn't even finished processing the mans finals worlds when the "Cafe" melted away and the city streets once again surrounded him.
[/spoili]

 

[DNA]

Nihil was hardly paying attention to Ken's persona, instead focusing her attention on this absolutely pitiful display at her feet. She gave her new prey a wide, devilish grin.

"Sure, friend, buddy, pal," she replied mockingly, putting more emphasis on each word she copied, "I'll help you out."

But she didn't move. She just stood there, snickering. Val was just so... Pathetic right now. It was great. Luckily for him, the Demon Lord's thoughts were interrupted by a literal giant, fat, three-headed dragon spiraling a fireball at one of the shadows. She had almost forgotten what a strange situation they were in. Val was safe, for now.

Nihil looked up as the dragon disappeared. That was her first mistake. Her gaze was met with a giant being that appeared to be the closest depiction of what an inferno would look like if it were contained in a humanoid figure.

She froze. Her eyes shifted in and out of focus as she continued to stare. She tried to take a deep breath, but it was ragged and shaky. Her cane fell to the floor with a series of clinks and clangs. It wasn't long after that her legs buckled and she too, fell. Nihil was on her knees at this point, her vision focused on the flames as they consumed what was left of the shadow.

Nihil wasn't here anymore. They were burning. She was burning. She opened her mouth to say something. All that came out was a whimper. A small, failed attempt at a scream. She could practically feel her skin burning. Flaming wood branding her legs. The splintering of lumber ringing in her ears. The screaming. Her screaming. The cracking the splintering the popping the screaming that goddamn screaming while everything was spinning around her and she was dizzy and everything was moving so fast and yet not at all, her heart was racing and she could feel tears and everything was frozen in place like her but it was still spinning an-

Clank.

There was just white and dried blood in front of her. A flash of rusted silver. The ground was shaking.

CLANK.

A slow, hazy exhale countered her quick, shallow breathing. It smelled like death, chasing out the memory of smoke in her lungs. She wasn't looking at fire anymore. She was face-to-face with clothing fit for a corpse.

CLANK.

Nihil was here. She was here and she was alive and the ground was cool beneath her. The being before her lifted up its shears one last time before tilting its head curiously. It was just Kuchisake-Onna. However, she didn't have that same smile as before. The ghost woman tilted her head a bit as she stared at Nihil. Nihil broke their little staring contest, looking at the ground as she tried to get her breathing under control. She rubbed her face in an attempt to hide that she had been crying while trying not to do it again.

----

Takako laughed a bit at Val. Man, he sure was silly! Something about Nihil's treatment towards him kind of scared her, though. Was putting him at her mercy really the best idea? She paid her attention to Osada's Ifrit as Headless Rider disappeared again to wherever it was that these "personas" went.

Takako was so glad that everyone managed to beat those things back! There was still hope they'd make it out alive! "Great job everyone!" she congratulated as the last shadow burned up. Kuchisake-Onna was still there. Weird. Oh well.

Yuji helped up Val. Man, what a kill stealer.

Something just... Seemed wrong. And it wasn't just the fact that Nihil's persona was still summoned. Takako looked around for anything out of place. Nihil was just standing there, staring at the burning remains of Ifrit and the shadows. It was that same, scared look she had given that fireball before. Did she have a problem with fire? Then, just like that, she collapsed! That wasn't good! Was she hurt?

Nihil was just sitting there staring and... crying? She was trembling all over. Takako called out to her, but she didn't respond. It was like she couldn't even hear her. She was about to run over to her when something big came lumbering past. It was that big zombie thing! Jeeze, that thing creeped her the fuck out.

Kuchisake-Onna stomped on the ground once in front of her, then waited. No response. The persona lifted her shears high above her head with a creak and Takako held her breath as she struck down. She breathed a sigh of relief as the shears struck down next to Nihil, not on her, metal screeching as it met stone. The thing repeated this a few times until Nihil snapped out of it.

Well, that was one way to give a wake-up call.

Takako just stood there, unsure of what to do now. She was kind of scared to try and talk to Nihil, honestly. What if the giant lady snipped her right in half? That wouldn't do at all.

Luckily for her, Kuchisake-Onna straightened her back, cracking noises as usual, and picked her shears up before disappearing, just like the rest of their personas.

Takako cautiously walked over to Nihil, trying not to make herself very noticeable. She wasn't exactly sure if it would be best to approach her senpai right now.

 

[Mizos]

Yuji didn't make it far before Takako's voice reached him, he came to a stop shutting his eyes wanting to ignore her but with more hesitation he was willing to admit he turned only to see Kuchisake-Onna nearing a crying Nihil. His eyes narrowed a bit before the creature raised it's shears above it's head, Yuji's whole body flinched at the sight and his hand went to his neck, however the moment he caught his own actions his whole body froze with his hand frozen near his neck.
Yuji eyes widened and his body trembled as he noticed what he instinctively went for, he grit his teeth lowering his hand only to see the Kuchisake-Onna bring her shears down, his eyes twitched waiting for Nihil to be skewered but instead it just hit the ground next to her.
He watched the scene his body slowly straightening as her persona slowly pulled her from whatever world she was in, seeing her wipe her eyes Yuji put his free hand in his pocket watching as Takako approached her more than likely out of worry. Nihil seemed like a prideful person at least from what he saw, crowding around her would probably have the same effect it did last time.
"Would you all hurry the hell up!" Yuji yelled back at everyone. "I'd rather not have Orochi breathing down my neck, everything else seems ready to kill us!"
Let the girl stand on her own and keep moving, if she wants to be stubborn then let her those thoughts ran through his head but he didn't voice them, instead he just turned around waiting for everyone else. That was a moment of weakness even he could recognize that, calling out to her wasn't going to help right now.

Yuji pulled his hand out of his pocket and stared at it, he closed it into a fist at what his body immediately went towards, he didn't dash forward or even use the stick in his right hand. The moment he perceived what he thought was danger he immediately tried to summon that...that thing.
His hand trembled as his nails dug into his own skin, that thing was still calling to him he had drowned out the voice but his body knew what it wanted to do, he grit his teeth at that fact, he didn't like how honest he was with himself. He shoved his hand in his pocket deciding to just not think about it, he wasn't about to rely on some weird creature inside of him to do what he needed to do, he'd handle whatever was in front of him without it's help. At least that's what he told himself but he found himself doubting his own abilities a little against these things, he hated the feeling, he had gone up against strong opponents before and he was willing to admit he didn't always walk away unscathed but to realize his own weakness as he stared one in the face was unheard of.
The people behind him seemed so excited at their persona's, the things inside of them, he just couldn't get behind that, he didn't like it.
"We don't even know what they can do to us," he mumbled. "Or if they won't just kill us when they get the chance."
The creature screaming in his head showed no signs of loyalty he couldn't trust it. He just wanted to leave and go back to normality.

 

[PyroJack]

Osada just looked at the destruction of the shadows that his persona had wrought. Actually Osada was so flabbergast at what was happening with Ifrit, he didn't pay too much attention to what everyone else Personas looked like. He looked over at everyone gathering around what looked like a tall scary ghostly woman...with a REALLY bad smile and Nihil? Why was she on the floor and whimpering? Was she hurt? It didn't look like it. But the ghost woman began to slam its sheers into the ground and after a few slams and scratches against the stone, Nihil seem to snap of whatever troubled state that she was in. He rushed over to the group. leaving Ifrit to disappear into the ether from whence it came. "Yuji is right about us needing to get out of here. Who knows what staying here for too long could do too us. But before that is anyone hurt?" The group looked fine overall. Valentine was the only one who looked like he got hit, but besides some ash and burn marks on his clothes, no other signs of physical damage. Osada wasn't sure why Nihil was having trouble standing up, but Yuji made vocalized his problem. "I don't know Yuji, they don't seem intent on harming us. Besides, if they wanted to, why would these things obey our commands to kill the shadows? Or why didn't the Ghost girl cut everyones head off when you were all just feet in front of her?" Osada then got a real good look at the ghost woman...and he really wanted her to wear a mask or at least have something to cover the large gash across her mouth. It was unsettling to say the least have such a figure looking at him.

 

[Ser K+]

"So no one has a plan..." Ken muttered to himself. "Seems we're going to have to "clutch" this..." Well it wasn't as if standing around like the semi-silent protagonist he was would help their situation.
"Okay... People I hardly know." Ken nervously said, disregarding what was going on. This was Ken's "charming" side again. "Let's get going to that bell tower. The sooner we get there the sooner we can get back to our regular lives, right?" He knew this was not true. They were branded by that shady, long nosed, man in a suit, who this Inoue chick signed a deal with, their lives would not be the same afterwards...

Oh crap...
She signed a deal with the devil, didn't she?
A thousand more thoughts swam through Ken's head. His pulse began to race. What time was it? Uncle Jun is going to be pissed if he gets home late without the bike. Hell! That'll be the least of his problems if that Igor fellow lied about there being a way out. Wait. Is THIS hell?! No. Limbo? Figures, they wouldn't have been able to survive everything that just happened if they were alive.

Ken was beginning to grow frustrated, he thought he would be used to figuring something like this out, but he was getting nothing but a god damned headache... Ken teared up a bit while facing away from the group, he was overwhelmed. Why in the world did this have to happen to him, or any of the others.
He stopped himself when he felt his eyes sting. Obviously crying about it wouldn't solve anything...

Videogames taught him that.

He started toward the tower. Then promptly stopped when he realized that he was practically leaving a group of kids as concerned as he was...


Excluding a certain someone or two... But who knew what kind of trip they were on.


"..."
Plus. He had his doubts that he'd be able to make it by himself. It was better to be oblivious and with others than to be oblivious and alone...
Besides...
Maybe he wouldn't even be able to summon his "mask" without everyone else.
"..."
Ken sighed.
He stood silent for a while, almost blank in thought.
"..."
He voluntarily fell on his butt after looking toward the group.
Cane girl had an issue. There was no way they were moving now.

Unless her Klutz boyfriend decided to pick her up again.

"Know what, Let's take a short break first." He said putting on a worried smile. He needed the time to think. Ken guessed he had creep-ghost summoner to thank for that.

(Thank mobile for any and all errors)

 

[Xam]

Netsui silently stalked the city streets, keeping to the shadows. He had to keep moving, as long as he kept moving there was no time to think, and no time to think meant no time to panic. He'd already seen some kind of monsters roaming around. He needed to get out as soon as possible.

'Kaa-chan and Tou-chan are going to kill me, they hate it when I go out, but if time flows normally in here as it does outside..'

Such a thought was not hard to comprehend for Netsui, not after everything else he had seen, plus he'd already lost track of how long it had been since he had left the house.

'I need to, find somebody. That's what that old man said, I need to find my peers.'

What had he meant by peers? He had seen a large group of kids gathering before, and then there was the sole figure that went in a bit after, but there was also that disgusting parody of an angel hanging around in the Church, had those kids not encountered him? Perhaps they had also run for the light like he had.

Netsui had thought about this a lot, all his life he'd wanted to be involved in something bigger than life, to be a hero, like in the books he always read. Real life was so mundane and boring, your course in it already picked out for you. It was only when he'd grown old enough that he had begin to appreciate what the characters in those books sacrificed and how terrifying it must be to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Not that he didn't still yearn for it somewhere in his heart, surely if he was a hero in an adventure he would know just what to do, but now. Netsui didn't know anymore.

Shit, he'd stop moving, just standing in the shadow of a building, this was why he didn't want to think. Any of those monsters could sneak up and kill him. While Netsui was making sure he hadn't been surrounded while he was ruminating, he caught sight of the figure he'd seen before. Slowly closing the gap, Netsui nocked an arrow, there was no telling what this thing might be, even if it looked human. When he finally got close enough, he saw that it was a boy, looking at his hand, there appeared to be a tattoo similar to Netsui's...no this could all be a trap.

Stepping out of the Shadows, Netsui lifted his bow so the arrow would hit right between the boy's eyes if he needed to.

"Who are you, What are you doing here?"

 

[Celestial Scorpio]

Valentine was tugged uo by Yuji. Once again Yuji was being out of character and being helpful to everyone. It was odd, almost foreign. He looked at Nihil. One moment she seemed vicious the next just broken. He wasn't sure what to do with her. Everyone seemed unsure what to do. Ken wanted to rest. Nihil just got out of a trance. Yuji and Osada seemed like they wanted to keep going. He was unsure about everyone else. He just stood there. "I am fine with whatever. Shouldn't we consult the leader?" Valentine looked at Kazue. After all she was the one who signed the contract. They all had to put their faith in her.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lucelle watched as Nihil went down. Val pulled up and everyone unsure what to do. She kinda stood there thinking. "Maybe if we stayed positive then the way will reveal itself. Come on guy's just smile. It won't hurt trust me." Despite the gloom was was cheeful like a switched to normal. She wondered if Val and Nihil were alright. "Shouldn't we get y'all to a doctor?" Oh yeah they weren't in Kansas anymore. She just sighed and waited for the decision to be made.

--------------------- --------------------- ------------

Leo was trying to find his way out of this place when he heard someone. Lookong back an taller guy stood with a bow and arrow. Pointing right at him. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? I am the overlord Satan and this is hell. Welcome." He sighed. "I am Leo and well I followed some people into here and found myself in this darkness of a world. Who are you and why are you here? You don't seem to be one of those monsters that tried to kill me. Unless this is like Dark Souls and you're hollow. I mean this place feels like the game but darker." (sorry I just had to. Imagines dungeon is exactly like dark souls 1)

 

[DNA]

As Nihil slowly and shakily rose to her feet, Takako helped her up. Or, well, she tried. She gently touched Nihil's arm and didn't even manage out a "Hey," before she was pushed back so hard she fell over.

Takako muttered a soft "oowww," as Nihil stood there frozen, staring at her as if thinking about what she had just done.

"I'm sorry. I just. I didn't," Nihil stammered before giving up and quickly turning away, walking towards Yuji and the others. "I'm. Fine." she said, her words quick and choppy, "Out. We need. We need to go. Now." Her walking had become as unstable as her voice, even with the cane. As she got closer to everyone else, she glanced at Osada for a split second before turning her head away to stare at anything else. She basically ignored what everyone else was saying. "Are we going or not?" she asked, standing there.

-

Takako brushed herself off and jogged to the rest of them. She was about to tell her Senpai not to push herself, but figured it was a lost cause by this point. Might as well let her do what she wanted. "I wouldn't really mind a rest, but" she looked at Nihil, "I'm not sure if we'll be able to stop her now." Man. Look at her. Chugging along like a champ. Slowly. Surely. Okay she stopped moving and was waiting for everyone else. That was good, at least.

Takako put her hand to her chin and thought for a bit at Osada's comment. Then her eyes widened as if she had just made some sort of mind-breaking realization. "Senpai!" Takako exclaimed, facing him, "But what if it's just like one of the movies!? Where the stuff pretends to be our allies but they're actually evil!?"

She didn't really want to believe it herself. After all, her own 'persona' didn't seem so bad. But what if it was a persona-by-persona thing? What if the big ghoul lady really was a bad guy? But she helped Nihil. But she also could've been doing that to gain her trust. But was that persona even smart enough to do that? Would it even bother having a plan like that? Wouldn't it have just sliced her in half right then and there? Takako clutched her head. "Aah! I don't wanna think about it anymore!"

Nihil heard her, and grumbled a bit as if she wanted to throw in her two cents, but didn't say anything about it.

 

[Mizos]

Yuji stared ahead and though he didn't turn to look at him he did catch Osada's words, and he was adamant about continuing forward standing around here wasn't going to do anything, he grit his teeth at the idea of more of them coming. Staying in one place to rest was all well and good but these things seem to come out of nothingness, and that darkness that approached them from before. This world wasn't going to wait for them to catch their breath, that was made clear by the last few attacks they had to deal with. Yuji kept these thoughts in his head though as he needed to say something to Osada if that was really how he felt, though Takako spoke first causing him to look back at her as she mentioned her own disbelief, he didn't agree with the movie part but having a bit of distrust among these things was normal.

He wasn't sure what Ken wanted to do but he was finding he was growing to dislike the guy the more he talked, and he seemed torn between moving and stopping but he glanced back at him to see Nihil at least was trying to move. His eyes narrowed in her direction hearing her voice and watching her try to walk, it was extremely clear she wasn't in any shape to continue at a normal pace. He wouldn't openly admit it but seeing as she was still trying to move, pushing herself like that he could relate to that kind of perseverance...or maybe it was stubborn pride personally he understood both. Under different circumstances he'd be on the side of the people wanting to rest but that didn't seem like a luxury they could afford right now. Staying alive meant continuing to move there was no promise this place was safe either. Lucelle's words however struck a chord in him and his eye twitched as she came forward with that positivity nonsense again.

"You know what sunshine why don't the next time we encounter those things you smile at them and kindly ask them to stop," Yuji said glaring in her direction.
His narrowed gaze quickly shot to Osada however as the man's words still lingered in his skull, and with a shake of his head he spoke to him.
"These things are supposed to be our inner selves Osada if that thing wasn't lying, you know what I'm more worried about...the fact we have to accept them to get out of here. I'm more concerned about that then whatever the hell these things are chasing us. Can you look me in the eye and tell me you can be completely honest with yourself, not whisper lies in the empty skull at yours at the facts you're forced to confront, never betray your own thoughts and beliefs, can you honestly trust that easily Osada? If you can then you're a bigger fool then I thought, the easiest person to lie to is yourself and if these things represent us I wouldn't put it past them either. That goes to the rest of you too."
Yuji turned back shoving his free hand back into his pocket, this whole thing was tiresome, he was irritated and he knew if he kept talking nothing positive was going to come out of him. Internally he told himself to stop talking, opening his mouth wasn't going to solve anything, it wasn't going to move them forward, and it wasn't about to increase morale either but he found it hard to stop.
"I can't put my full faith in a leader who can view this as a game, and was willing to gamble with the lives of her 'team', but seeing that dragon thing come out of her she sure as hell has something over us...including me and that's incredibly irritating to admit. So 'Leader' let's not forget that 'black void thing' we had to deal with earlier, consider that if we're going to stay, and if you're listening to suggestions, I'd prefer to keep moving."

 

[Xam]

Leo was trying to find his way out of this place when he heard someone. Lookong back an taller guy stood with a bow and arrow. Pointing right at him. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? I am the overlord Satan and this is hell. Welcome." He sighed. "I am Leo and well I followed some people into here and found myself in this darkness of a world. Who are you and why are you here? You don't seem to be one of those monsters that tried to kill me. Unless this is like Dark Souls and you're hollow. I mean this place feels like the game but darker." (sorry I just had to. Imagines dungeon is exactly like dark souls 1)

Netsui's eye developed a small twitch when the blonde haired guy introduced himself as Satan, and it seemed to worsen when he compared the current situation to a video game. Netsui was pretty easygoing himself, but this guy's manner was far too lackadaisical, even if he was trying to lighten the situation with humor.

His story seemed to match up since Netsui had also the group, but anyone could know that there was a crowd of kids that entered the church, you didn't have to be human. Netsui wasn't taking any chances, not after the church.

"Why would you question me? I'm the one who found you, I'm the one who's armed. If I wanted to kill you, I could have just shot you full of arrows. Now answer my question, Who are you, and what are you doing here? Or better yet, how did you got here, and start talking quickly. Or I will just shoot you and move on, this isn't the situation for jokes"