Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Tatsumi Port Island.
June 20, x788.
After Yukari accepted Mitsuru's invitation to join the future S.E.E.S., the rest of the afternoon was spent explaining what she was getting herself into. And although she did not accept simply on the spur of the moment, she was not ready for what she heard.
"Wait, so you're telling me that the school transforms into a gigantic tower every night at midnight?" Yukari asked in a disbelieving tone while she walked with Mitsuru, Akihiko, and the wizards from Fairy Tail towards Gekkokan High School. "But that should be impossible."
"In a world filled with magic, almost nothing is impossible." Alfonzo said with a smile. "I've even fought things that just grew their heads back after I cut them off. So, a building transforming into something else is way outside the realm of impossibility."
Hearing that, not only Yukari, but even Mitsuru and Akihiko looked at Alfonzo with dumbfounded expressions. Alzack and Bisca also looked at him with strange expressions. Even though they had heard about the fight with the homunculi before, they still could not imagine something like that.
The only person who was unfazed was Elicia, who had also fought with the homunculus in the past.
"What can I say?" Elicia asked while shrugging her shoulders. "Not everyone dies when they are killed."
With that, all the incredulous expressions shifted towards Elicia.
"I basically ripped one of those things apart from the inside out." Elicia continued after feeling everyone's gazes. "And it just regrew a new body less than a minute later.
When they heard Elicia's explanation, Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Yukari felt that she was just messing with them. Growing back a head was hard enough to believe. But a whole body was simply too farfetched.
"Well, I can understand why you don't believe me." Elicia said with a smile while shaking her head. "I wouldn't have believed it either if I didn't experience it myself, after all."
June 21, x788.
Before the conversation could continue, the clock struck midnight and the Dark Hour came once again. And when it did, Yukari, who had never been awake to experience it, began to tremble. The atmosphere created by this strange time of the day rattling her badly.
"Is this... the Dark Hour?" Yukari asked in a shaky tone while looking around with a frightened expression on her face. "It's so... creepy."
"Yes, this is what we're trying to keep people safe from." Mitsuru said in a solemn tone. Then, she pointed towards the place where Gekkokan High School once stood. "And we think the answer to all our questions can be found at the top of that tower."
Following the direction of Mitsuru's pointing finger, Yukari's eyes and mouth opened wide when she saw the outer appearance of Tartarus, she began trembling even harder.
"No... way..." Yukari mumbled at a volume that was barely louder than a whisper.
"Well, let's go inside." Alzack said. "We only have an hour."
Nodding in response, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Bisca made their way inside of Tartarus with Alzack. Meanwhile, Akihiko followed them without hesitation. Mitsuru, on the other hand, glanced at Yukari, who was still stunned into inaction. Then, she started pushing her motorcycle inside, as well.
"You've agreed to participate in something quite large in scale." Mitsuru said while walking away. "And I understand you did not know what you were getting yourself into. So, if you decide to leave now, no one will blame you. But if you decide to follow us after tonight, I'm afraid there will be no turning back."
After saying that, Mitsuru disappeared past the doors of Tartarus, leaving Yukari with a conflicted expression on her face. But she eventually gritted her teeth and followed everyone else with resolute steps.
However, when Yukari finally stepped into Tartarus' entrance hall, she was thoroughly dumbfounded when she saw Mitsuru holding what appeared to be a magic pistol to the side of her head.
"Hey! What are you doing!?" Yukari shouted in shock.
Even so, Mitsuru did not even flinch, as she pulled the trigger.
*Bang!*
"[Penthesilea]." Mitsuru chanted as her head jerked to one side.
"Kya~~~!" Yukari screamed when she saw that.
However, Yukari's scream did not last very long when she saw the figure of Penthesilea materialize behind Mitsuru.
"That's how we summon the Personas we told you about." Akihiko said, giving Yukari an explanation. "That gun Mitsuru is holding is called an Evoker Pistol. And after tonight, you'll have one, too."
Hearing Akihiko's explanation, Yukari turned towards him with an angry expression on her face.
"Why didn't you tell me about that before!?" Yukari shouted. "I almost had a heart attack. I thought she was going to kill herself."
"OH... Now that you mention it." Akihiko said while scratching his head. "I guess we probably should have mentioned that, huh?"
Seeing Akihiko's nonchalant reaction, Yukari felt she just landed a full powered punch on a wall of cotton. So, instead of staying angry, she just let her shoulder slump. Then, she looked at everyone else, who did not seem to be bothered. In fact, the wizards from Fairy Tail were all wearing amused smiles after seeing her reaction.
"Alright, now that the show is over, let's get going." Alfonzo said with a grin as he approached Mitsuru with his hand out.
Elicia, Alzack, and Bisca also approached Mitsuru. And when they were within an arm's reach, Mitsuru handed each of them a communication device. Then, after the four Fairy Tail wizards put them on, they all moved towards the teleporter platform before heading up to the eleventh floor.
Not long after the four from Fairy Tail disappeared, Mitsuru handed communication devices to Akihiko and Yukari, as well.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo, Elicia, Alzack, and Bisca made their way up the long flight of stairs to face the second guardian. And what they saw surprised them.
Instead of one Shadow, there were three. Two of which, they were familiar with, as they were the Magic Hands they had been dealing with since the moment they entered Tartarus. However, they were about fifty percent bigger than the normal ones.
But the third monster was the one they felt an actual threat from. It appeared to be a large, rubber tire on a fancy metal rim with a lion's head sticking out of one side of the tire. And based on the way it rolled around the arena area, it was quite quick and probably hit quite hard, as well.
"Giant, severed hands, I can believe." Bisca said as she watched the three Shadows move around the area. "but now we're fighting sentient wheels? What is this world coming to?"
"Who knows?" Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "But we can think about that later. We don't have the time to contemplate right now. Alzack, Bisca, handle those Magic Hands. Hopefully they have the same weakness as the ones on the lower floors."
"Got it." Alzack and Bisca replied simultaneously as they both loaded [Fire Ball Shots] into their guns. Meanwhile, Alfonzo charged forward to attack the sentient wheel.
{"That' Shadow is called the Barbaric Beast Wheel.."} Mitsuru said over the comms.
"And we'll have to figure out if it has any weaknesses ourselves, right?" Elicia asked as she ejected a large amount of thread from her fingertips.
{"Unfortunately."} Mitsuru replied. {"As I told you, my Persona is actually better suited for battle than support."}
"I know, I'm just complaining for the sake of it." Elicia said with a smile.
In the next instant, Elicia's threads wrapped around the spokes of the rim at the center of the Barbaric Beast Wheel. Then, she pulled them taught, trying to stop the Shadow from moving.
Unfortunately, the Barbaric Beast Wheel was stronger than Elicia expected. So, instead of stopping its movements, she was dragged along behind it as it rolled around the arena, picking up speed and momentum as it went.
"Uh oh! Fonzie! Do something!" Elicia said as she slid around on the arena area as if she were jet skiing.
"I'm on it." Alfonzo said as he appeared in front of the Shadow.
In the next instant, Alfonzo created a long metal spike. Then, he jammed it into the lion head's mouth. As a result, it stabbed into the tire behind it. And after less than a second, because of the spinning wheel, the spike slammed into the floor before flipping the Barbaric Beast Wheel, and causing it to fly through the air.
"Now!" Elicia shouted excitedly as she lengthened her threads.
Then, with all her strength, Elicia began to spin in place, whipping the airborne Shadow around, slamming it into the floor and walls with every opportunity. In fact, her thrashing was so violent that after a minute or so, Elicia's threads broke, sending the Shadow flying once again.
*Bang!* *Screech!*
Eventually, the Barbaric Beast Wheel slammed into the floor and skidded for a while on its side. However, it did not take long for it to start stirring once again, attempting to right itself and continue its rampage.
"Alfonzo, the Magic Hands are down." Alzack said.
"Alright, light that mother fucker up, then!" Alfonzo shouted from high above the Barbaric Beast Wheel.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
In response, Alzack and Bisca, who easily took care of the Magic Hands, which were weak to [Fire Magic], unloaded the rest of their magazines at the Barbaric Beast Wheel. However, the Barbaric Beast Wheel did not seem to be too bothered by the flames from the [Fire Ball shots].
{"It's resistant to fire."} Mitsuru said over the comms. ["Switch to another element."}
Reacting quickly, Alzack ejected his magazines before switching to [Lightning Bolt Shots] while Bisca loaded a magazine filled with [Icicle Shots]. Then, the couple restarted their barrage once again.
At the same time, Alfonzo was floating above the downed Barbaric Beast Wheel and gathering an absurd amount of lightning on each hand. Then, he brought his hands together with his palms pointed down at the Shadow.
["Electromagnetism Magic: Final Flash]." Alfonzo chanted as he fired a beam of violent lightning downwards.
*Boom~~~~!*
In the next instant, Alfonzo's spell slammed into the Barbaric Beast Wheel. At the same time, it created a crater in the floor and sent a cloud of dust and debris into the air. On top of that, Alzack and Bisca continued firing into the dust cloud until it dispersed.
A few moments later, the dust settled. And when it did, the Barbaric Beast Wheel was nowhere in sight, more than likely destroyed by the gun fire from Alzack and Bisca, rather than Alfonzo's [Final Flash].
Even so, after realizing the enemy had been defeated, the four wizards did not waste any time. Instead, they rushed up the stairs to check the treasure chest room before heading up to the twelfth floor.
From there, they rushed through the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth floors at a rate of ten minutes per floor. On top of that, there were no new Shadows to slow them down. And when they reached the seventeenth floor, they realized there would be another Guardian up ahead when they found another long flight of stairs right as they entered the floor.
"The Shadows got stronger after the last Guardian again." Bisca said. "Still, they're at the very most a match for a high-level C-Class wizard. So, when Mitsuru and her team start exploring, they shouldn't have any problem handling it."
"As long as they stay at that level." Alzack pointed out. "But we have no way of knowing if that's the way things will be."
"We can only hope." Elicia said. "But as long as they train hard, there shouldn't be any issues as long as the Shadows don't get super strong."
"Lici's right." Alfonzo said. "At least we won't have to worry about Akihiko training hard. And Miss Kirijo seems pretty strict with herself, too. I'm just worried for the new people they recruit. I mean, putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger takes a special kind of... person. Even if they know the gun isn't loaded with bullets."
"By the way, Mitsuru, how much time do we have left?" Bisca asked into the comms.
{"Eight minutes."} Mitsuru replied.
"That should be enough time." Alfonzo said with a smile. "I'll just released Riot and Bedlam. Then, we can go back to the hotel."
The other three nodded in agreement. Then, they gathered by the teleporter platform. Meanwhile, Alfonzo flashed up the stairs with his body covered in violet lightning.
At the same time, back on the first floor, Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Yukari, who were all listening through the communications devices wore confused expressions.
"What does he mean by 'release Riot and Bedlam'?" Yukari, the newest member of the team, asked while staring at Mitsuru and Akihiko with a confused expression on her face.
"No clue." Akihiko replied while also looking at Mitsuru with a curious gaze.
"This is the first time I've ever heard of something like that, too." Mitsuru said while shaking her head.
A moment later, Alfonzo's voice sounded through the comms.
{"[Run Wild with Destruction on your fingertips. Usher in Pandemonium with Creation in Your Hands. Riot, Bedlam.]"}
With that, Mitsuru's expression fell. She could feel Alfonzo's spike in power through Penthesilea, and if she had not been straddling her motorcycle, she would have fallen to her knees from the shock and pressure.
"Mitsuru, are you okay?" Akihiko asked as he rushed over to Mitsuru's side.
Yukari was also surprised to see Mitsuru in that state. However, she had no idea how to react. But she figured it had something to do with the chant they heard over the comms.
In the next instant, the entire tower shook for the third time in a few days, surprising the three completely.
"Kya~~~~!" Yukari screamed in surprise.
At the same time, Akihiko moved to protect Mitsuru, who was still incapable of moving. However, the shaking did not last very long. So, they breathed a sigh of relief. Shortly after that, Mitsuru's expression started returning to normal, as Alfonzo had resealed Riot and Bedlam again.
Mitsuru, is everything okay?" Akihiko asked in a concerned tone.
"Yes, I'm fine Akihiko." Mitsuru replied while taking deep breaths. "I'm fine now."
"What exactly just happened?" Yukari asked. "And what made the tower shake like that?"
"It was Mr. Marcus." MItsuru said. "His attack is what caused the tower to shake like that. He annihilated the Guardian on the seventeenth floor with one attack."
Hearing that, Akihiko and Yukari opened their eyes wide in surprise. To think that only one attack could make a tower like this shake so hard.
"But why did you go pale like that?" Akihiko asked.
"It was because of that chant before the shaking." Mitsuru replied. "After Mr. Marcus finished, his magic power spiked by so much that I could not handle it."
"Just how strong is he?" Yukari asked in an amazed tone. "And what could make someone's magic power spike by that much at once?"
"And can they all do that?" Akihiko added a question of his own.
While Yukari was asking her questions, the teleporter platform flashed before the four Fairy Tail wizards appeared on the first floor of Tartarus.
"That's a Fairy Tail Secret." Elicia said, her voice startling the three teenagers. "So, we can't tell you that."
"Anyway, we shouldn't have more than a few minutes left before the Dark Hour ends." Alzack said. "So, we should hurry and get out of here."
With that, Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Yukari nodded their heads. Then, the group of seven left Tartarus for the night and headed back to their own resting places.