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 Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:30 pm
~Amagai Family Compound~
Situated on the outskirts of the town in the midst of the rice paddies and the empty farmland that forms much of the countryside near the small town of Inaba is a large but not quite garish compound which belongs to one of the oldest families native to this particular area of the country. This compound is large, with a main wing that houses his immediate family, and a side-wing that has long played host to the elders of the Amagai, including the beloved grandmother of Amagai Genji. Though it is furnished with many modern appliances, the housing style is that of a traditional Japanese home, harkening back to the roots of the forward-thinking family. In one edge of the compound is a large, open level which can be used to train traditional styles of combat and host large receptions when guests are present for family meetings or recreational gatherings. And at the back side of the compound it nestles into the Inaba Hillside, with a single alcove with a small waterfall and stream tucked back beneath some of the more rolling spaces that has become a frequent visitation spot for the current Heir to the Family name...
This is the home of the long-standing Amagai Family and their current heir, Investigation Team member Amagai Genji. In the main wing his father and mother live together with him, their two servants, and in the elders' compound lives his grandmother. Located near to Inaba as it has always been, they consider themselves to be native to the town despite not living quite within the city limits. Their longstanding rivalry with Inaba's own Nuri Clan is something that only tends to be passed around the richer circles in the area, not something that's exactly common knowledge throughout the town.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:14 pm
Amagai Genji, the Investigation Team's Gentle Fist
"...You see the surface, but my eyes see more...I see your intentions and fears. I see what you truly are..."It was a strange first day of school, he decided, as he closed the front door to the compound behind him and popped his neck with a lazy incline, relieving some of the tension that had built up there over the course of the day. Thinking about it, it wasn't hard to figure out what was weird about it...the morning had passed without incident, the afternoon had passed and the teachers had gone over their subjects without any real interruptions. Lunchtime had been uneventful save for the usual unusual antics of the wannabe Justice Crew. Even some of the Messiahs had been spotted at the school grounds, going to classes and interacting with one another as though they weren't apartheid to some of the worst sorts of crimes and intentions that the town, the country, and possibly the world had ever seen. Yes, it was easy to see why the day was strange when he considered all of those things...it was unusual because not a single incident had occurred which brought danger upon the heads of the student body, the school itself, or the town as a whole. Yes, in a world that had gone as backwards as their own as recently as two months prior, peaceful days had become the uncommon ones...even if the last month and a half had been remarkably quiet. He only wondered what life was like for the others before he had ever learned about the true threats in the world, before that white light had pierced his chest and the gift given by Soji Seta upon his Fall awakened within him a power that he had never imagined. They had been fighting, been living in this crazy world for much longer than he had, and he never let that fact slip far from his mind. There was much that he had to make up for from his days of ignorance, for the troubles that he had caused them upon their first meeting, and for their acceptance of him despite the limitations his life forced upon him. He was indebted to them...always would be, he imagined...and he had no doubt that if Teros Inisu and the others like him were milling about the town again, he would soon have the opportunity to begin returning the favors they had done him.
For now, however, he could relax. The world about him was peaceful and the walk home had allowed him some time to stretch his legs, his eyes finding nothing particularly noteworthy upon the path towards the outskirts of the town between the rice paddies and the outlying hills that lined Inaba. If he had the time this evening he could run through a few of his exercises to stay fit and battle-ready, hone his mind beneath the waters of the fall where he had trained so long after the fall of the Tower of Demise in his shame. He could sharpen himself, so that he was ready when the time for him to lend his powers again came...when he could cleanse this town of danger at his friends' backs and return to the world where he could imagine his future again. He could ponder, only then, the repercussions of taking over his family's name, the Westernization of the Amagai versus the observation of traditions...the thought made his smile dim only slightly as he made his way into the large room that had long been his own, set his bag against the wall, and shed much of his uniform in favor of clothes that better suited his lean frame...
And it was just as he finished the buttons on his loose white shirt that a call broke the routine, a familiar text message ringtone catching his attention in an instant and leading his practiced fingers into his bag to pull out a pink cell phone with the name 'Ak'Thias' displayed prominently on the Call ID. Gray eyes narrowing, he flipped the phone open and pressed the key to summon his mail, the message within catching him surely enough to set his blood to pumping faster...was it really going to start again so soon?
...In an instant he had typed out a reply and ditched his pack, phone flipping shut as he closed the door to his room behind him and made his way out the front of his compound towards the road back into Inaba. He was a fair distance from the Hilltop and he would be better off catching a bus once he made it back Downtown again...it would only be fortune if there was one passing by at just the right time, however. Which meant he had to hurry, considering he might have to climb the Hill on foot. If the message was right and something that serious was happening, he didn't want to take the chance or leave it just to Rednal and a couple others to handle alone. That thing...that monster that had fought them all before...it was more than a match for them. It was deadly, dangerous...it was the type of foe that needed to be expunged. But even as he made his way to the pavement and his feet set into a jog back towards the rural community's center, he couldn't help the small, lingering doubts that were there. Something didn't feel quite right about all this, did it? 'I thought they only came out in the Dark Hour?!' he thought as he moved, hoping that whatever Rednal was seeing wasn't what he thought it was...
...After all, one of those in the daytime...when everybody wasn't transmogrified and safe from danger...could do a Hell of a lot of damage before he could make his way in town to help stop it.To: Ak'Thias Rednal
From: Amagai Genji
Subject: RE: "Are you certain?
I'm on my way, but my family's compound is on the far side of town. It will take me a short while to make it on foot.
Keep them under watch until I arrive...
If something is amiss, my eyes will not miss it."
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:57 pm
Amagai Genji, the Investigation Team's Gentle Fist
"...You see the surface, but my eyes see more...I see your intentions and fears. I see what you truly are..."Home...it was a relief to be there after the day that had passed. From Rednal's scare at the Hilltop to the incident with the summoner and a confrontation with Teros that was as tense and confusing as any other to boot...he couldn't deny the relief he felt at setting his socked feet upon the floor of the wooden walk of his expansive home, sipping a drink from a familiar cup in the kitchen, and pacing the floor during the long hours of the night leading until this one. ...He felt it descend upon them in an instant, as he always did, and were he to activate the power in his gray eyes there would be an ever-present aura of ominous intent about him...it felt at times as if he could see the very intentions of the Dark Hour, the shadow-supporting air about them having a will of its own and intentions of their own. He had his own theories about that, but he dared not voice them unless he could convince himself that was the case. But it hardly mattered when the sky was so ugly and green, the moon so golden, he could tell you without his eyes that this was a time of great evil, a time that they as members of the Persona-User force needed to eliminate one way or another. Waiting was always difficult when you knew that there were dangerous elements out there, but this was the best move for now, not stirring the pot until they had more information on their foes' movements to go on. What were the Messiahs doing in Babel and why weren't they moving? Where were the Messengers? He didn't know as much as the other members of the team about it, but he knew enough to be cautious when things were the most quiet. Long fingers tabbed through the early pages of his History book as he made his way slowly from the kitchen past the front of the estate and towards the back room where the candles were already burning...the only place in the house he kept them, being aware of the Dark Hour in a way that no one else in the estate was. Back in their room, his parents were already transmogrified...he had seen one of the servants in the kitchen and knew another would be resting at this very moment. He was alone now, but he didn't mind the silence...
...Until a surprise knock upon his door broke it, earning a quirk of his strawberry eyebrow just as he had been ready to leave the front room of the home. When was the last time one of the members of the team had come all the way out here to visit him? Never? His lips turned downward as he set the book on the floor by the wall and made his way towards the door, hoping that it wasn't something serious that had brought one of them here to see him. Skilled fingers touched at the handle of the sliding door, opening it just an inch to peer through the crack at the person on the other side. Was it Rednal again, come to confirm what they had talked about earlier on the Hilltop? Nix, perhaps, since they hadn't been able to finish their conversation? ...Soji, even? He had told them all before once where he lived, but he hadn't shown them and they had never come here. What would bring them to the Compound? This he asked himself a few times, until the crack in the door revealed a figure bathed in sick, golden moonlight...that shimmered with a luminous yellow and reflected the sky's boon with its own sort of glow. 'Blond hair?" his eye widened as he saw the slumped head of the girl before him, knowing on instinct that there was only one person with that hair color that he had become at all familiar with. The ribbon in her hair confirmed it, even if it looked unusually tattered. Had something happened to her? Concern washed over him powerfully, and in an instant he had slid the door open to stand before this sad-looking frame, arms limp at the side and legs slightly bent, head dipping as though in despair, skin pale as death. She looked...terrible, and his heart wretched at the sight of her. "Koroko...senpai?" his voice was slow and uncertain, his empathy getting the better of him as he nearly lost the honorific attached to her name...there was something wrong about her and he wasn't sure quite whether to reach out to touch her shoulder and usher her inside or wait until she had spoken to make a move. ...But what really broke his heart before he could say anything was the sound of her voice, hollow and wet as though she had been crying...confirming what he had already guessed about her. Something was horribly wrong. "Amagai...san..." she sounded like the world was crashing down around her and the boy felt himself like he was dying just to hear it, "Moto...nari...and Duke...I can't...I can't do any...thing." Her shoulders twitched unnaturally, almost violently, and the boy wondered for a moment if it was because of the cold or because she was about to start crying all over. "Ame...lia...and...Soji...I...I need...them to...help me..." Her voice was cracked, hitching here and there in an almost broken fashion, her mouth opening and shoulders twitching violently twice, and this time he was sure she would break into tears. His hand darted out to touch her shoulder and she was impossibly cold, a twitch suddenly shaking his hand away from her, but rather than recoiling she only stepped closer... "Amagai...san...you..." she moved forward and a terrifying chill ran down his back at that, but his empathy for this shattered person overwhelmed him, stepping forward, he tilted his head to try and take a better look at her face, too shadowed by ragged blond bangs to see, "Koroko-senpai, I..." His voice was cut off by her head bumping against his chest, frigid fingers taking his shoulders as the sound of a crack in the joints of her elbows startled him...just what in the...? "...You...I...Help me...I hate...I can't...you will...tell me...Amagai...san...Won't you...tell me...? Aren't...I..." Her grip became vice-like and for the first time a sense of true fear crept into the heart of the berry-haired heir...a sense that something was horribly, terribly wrong. He knew it when the grip became tighter, so tight he thought his shoulders might crack and he knew the girl couldn't have been so powerful in this state unless...
"AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" her screech was high and shrill enough to make him wince in agony, hands flying towards his ears as the girl's body suddenly crackled with blue lightning...
His eyes flashed, but a loud cracking sound echoed, the bottom of the girl's jaw snapping unhinged, like stitches ripping and a shudder slamming open, and all at once the head against his chest shot up with a malicious snap to reveal a complexion completely white, lips that had been sewn shut by some sadistic seamstress, and where the eyes should have been was a smattering of black emptiness from eye to eye like a sleeping mask only grafted to her skin...from her lips the inhuman cackle erupted in his face, but before he could move to free himself several lines of what looked like electricity suddenly streamed into her jerking body, mouth filling with a ball of it until with a deafening thunderclap it exploded between the two of them!
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Amagai-san...aren't I...prettier this way? ...HAHAHAHAHAHAA...I'm just a puppet...after all...a doll...don't you think?! HEEHEEE!"
His body ripped through the rice-paper wall like a hot knife through butter, the wooden struts snapping beneath him as though he were shot out of a cannon, having brought half of the houses inner walls down upon him as he was launched by lightning into the heart of his home, collapsing in a heaving, twitching heap far from the doorway where the Shade of the girl he knew still stood, cackling with the melodic, shrill laughter of hers. He could see her body now, stitched up at all the joints with one giant cross stitched over where her heart should have been as though it had been taken out...her clothes were ragged and little lines of electricity seemed to run from places on her body to somewhere beyond his sight. He could see her now and she looked more like a puppet than a human, some ungainly doll that made a mockery of the beautiful girl that Minori Koroko truly was. This was a monster born from the worst of her, he knew, just like that strange zombie-like creature that he had fought alongside Rednal a few months back. It was a Shade...a mere fragment of them, but the part that they could never accept no matter how much they wished it. The part they subconsciously shunned, laid bare now before him. Was this what Minori could not accept about herself? Did she think she was...some sort of a puppet? A doll? That she had no free will? His mind struggled to grasp what he was seeing as it was still clouded from the concussive impact of ripping through half of his walls, his back aching with no less than one rib certainly shattered...his arms were cut but he could still stand, and if he could find his equilibrium he was going to do just that...if...but just standing, it felt like the world was spinning and his vision swam, recovering only as the strange monster's arms lifted in an almost deadweight, inhuman fashion...like they were being manipulated by some unseen puppeteer...and with one leg moving in that manner towards him now, she launched with an impossible speed in his direction, adrenaline alone allowing him to push himself to his feet and throw a cross-arm block in the path of a body-charge that still pushed him half-into the thin paper wall before the wooden struts stopped him from moving any further. His gray eyes flashed for another moment, the movements of this doll-like monster's knife-like fingers towards his eye seen just in time for him to shift his head and let the strike rip straight through the wall, wooden planks and all, before withdrawing and aiming for his body again. ...He launched himself full-speed into a dive to the side to avoid that attack, rolling to his feet facing her just as the creature's limp limbs brought her swinging near to him again for another attack...
...But this time he was ready, his eyes activated and the veins at the side pulsing once with the power of his unique Eye. Fingers hardened into daggers and as her limp fist thrust at his face he evaded inside of the guard and launched his fingertips at her forehead, looking to land a blow that would stun her right from the start...but no sooner had he thrown the blow than a loud crack in her back sent her bending over backward in an impossible manner, leg sweeping up behind him to catch him in the back of the head and send him stumbling away. 'She's flexible, fast, and strong...and she has that lightning!' his mind raced as he set himself against the wall of the hall and watched her body snap back into place, twisting around to face him with a childlike giggle laced with a choking sob, 'My opponent isn't human, so I have to anticipate inhuman reactions...' He reminded himself of his training, of the different moves his grandfather had taught him, and of the way of the Gentle Fist...and the hesitation, the confusion from a moment ago was gone, replaced with determination and the quiet wheeze of his measured breathing, the hiss of pain from the broken rib dying with each steady breath. And it was just in time, as the creature was moving down the hall again towards him, bouncing off the walls without losing momentum as if being dragged from above, its foot ratcheting up from below at an unlikely angle towards face that he ducked smoothly, the back-kick return missing as he spun the opposite direction and clenched his fist tightly, a spinning back fist slapping across the creatures chin with enough force to knock a normal man unconscious...but it only snapped her doll-like jaw out of place and distorted her laughter. ...He distorted it further when he reversed his rotation to avoid another kick and countered with a reverse-heel kick that snapped the jaw out the other way and tore the stitches in her cheek, causing the lower jaw to hang loose in a disgusting fashion...only to see it pull back into place as though manipulated by a wire, her body lurching forth just in time for him to duck and avoid the double-flying knee towards his chin...which caught his right shoulder instead, a sick thud sending a numb feeling throughout the limb in an instant not enough to stop him from charging at her back upon landing and kicking violently into the monster's spine in a jumping push-maneuver, following just as she turned to face him with a combination of dagger-like finger strikes to the vital points on the body that he hoped...with any fortune...would shut down this body and allow him to land for the finish. It hurt, oh how it hurt to throw with the injured shoulder, and he was sure that after this round he would have to let it rest or risk an even more severe injury. But each strike hit the shoulder, the neck, the stomach, the diaphragm, his breath escaping him in increasingly-raspy sounds until finally, a flat palm struck against the dead of her chest just above where the heart would be in a final blow...one he hoped would finish the fight...only, it was the feeling of stitching against his palm that reminded him...the lack of eyes and the china doll smile that sent a chill into his spine...and on instinct he leaped back in retreat to a distance, a fighting stance at the ready in spite of the creeping exhaustion that made him curse that all his months of training in the Dark Hour hadn't prepared him for this. "Gen...ji...kun..." the voice melodiously danced through the air, each syllable teasing and empty and sadder than the last, "Please tell...m-me...please...can I...kill you?"
He was exhausted, but he had to fight on and he knew it. His palms glowed with the power of his Gentle Fist, eyes gray and flashing as he prepared to go at the monster again. No matter what, if he could just weaken it for the others...surely they had sensed the power by now? Surely they had sensed the evil and were coming...he just...had to hold on a little and fight back! And this thing, it was powerful and it was fast, but it was also clumsy...for all its explosive strength, if he could just exploit the openings and avoid its attacks, he could...he could... "Ah ah ah, Amagai-san," a deeply feminine voice tutted from the back, a crawling sensation over his legs and shoulders suddenly surprising him, but before he could react and pull free he was already caught...shadow-like hands from a puddle of black goop at his legs holding him still, and the pressure he felt on his shoulders became sharp talons digging into the flesh of his shoulders and holding him as stringy bands of black hair brushed against his torn and injured flesh, that voice tinged with sensuality and pure hatred whispering against his ear as the creature was close...his body breaking out into a cold sweat, eyes wide as he fought against the hold to no avail...and terror gripped him as the monster's breath touched his ear, brushed his cheek, eyes shifting to the side to see an empty onyx gaze with horrifying golden pupils staring back at him...the painted black lips curled into something of a mixture of pleasure and anger, always joined together, as if hating that he he were so close but enjoying his pain...and her fingers were like those of a harpy, sharp and powerful, feathers over her shoulders leading down to a body that was hidden by his own. And from each little talon he could see a wire that crackled with violet and blue electricity, each little jolt jerking the body of the blond puppet before him...was this...?! "Heartilly-sa...?!" his voice was silenced by a crackle of pure electricity through his shoulder, coursing through his body and nearly bringing him to his knees, "Shut up! You pest...don't you realize who you're talking to?! I...am much higher than even you are, little Genji...don't think you can talk to me like an equal." It was practically snarling in his ear at that point, a stark contrast of hatred and madness when set against her civilized speech... "I hate that you all drag me down, that you make me have to deal with you, that I have to be around the likes of him...Ak'Thias, that worthless peasant...but if I didn't suffer you, I wouldn't have her...would I? Sweet Minori..." her fingers twitched in his shoulder and the puppet responded in turn, a fawning, sickly smile from the puppet for its master's control, "I'll never let her go...I need her with me...she's the only one that appreciates me...she listens...she follows...she obeys...she never forgets her place because she doesn't have one...and that's just how I treat her...sweet Minori, sun to my moon, day to my night...of course, even she doesn't compare to me...I'm just so <********> superior it makes me want to cry! ...Even the guys see it too, you know...Masamune and Keys...oh, yes, I'm so desirable, aren't I...?! GENJI-KUN?!" Her hands clamped down so hard that he barely strangled his cry and he could swear he felt droplets falling on his shoulder, black globs of shadows like tears stinging bolts of electric with each one. "BULLSHIT! ALL ******** BULLSHIT! What do you TAKE me for, GEnji...?! GEnJI?! Even your name is ******** PRECOCIOUS! SHiNinG CHilD!! noW SHuT uP AnD ACCepT YOUr pUnishMENt!" Her words escaped her like bile spewing from her lips, chewing each sentence and spitting out the bits of it with pure hatred dripping, superiority and self-loathing added to the mixture for extra flavor, but all the while she commanded her loyal puppet, the depressing doll that raised a hand in his direction and let the light gather around it, growing more and more powerful...rings about her arms circling, eight of them, growing wide with each successive moment that the power gathered and the light became blinding. Struggling futilely against the power that held his legs, the pink-haired heir couldn't help but notice the growing power before him, the devil holding him fast at the back, and his heart had to have beating a thousand times a minute when the light reached a fever pitch, a breaking point, and the cackling of the two Shades on either side of him became deafening to his ears...until...!
'There!' he saw it with not a half-second to spare, the flow of power within the blackness that held him...and with a great heave he tore away the left side of his body from the harpy's claws, ripping through the flesh and bone of his left shoulder in the process but allowing him to extend his finger just enough to land a blow on the shadows that held him, forcing them back away from his body, "You're not...Heartilly!" his calm, melodious voice was ragged as well, a mixture of desperation and anger as he kicked at the lower body of the thing that held him, loosing the fingers on his shoulder just in time to turn and feel the ripping of claws across his chest, three parallel scars bleeding thick crimson ooze that couldn't quite stop him from ripping an open palm across the jaw of the harpy and sending it tumbling into the hallway behind him! ...Behind him he could hear the laughter die and fear take the puppet for an instant, but just as he thought he had an opening the hand with the light about it raised, "Mikaboshi Star!" the voice half-cried and laughed...and it released, shooting one spear across the distance between them that he avoided to with a lunge to the left...and the second scraped his side to his gratitude...but the third he could not, hitting him with all force in the stomach...and then the fourth did as well. His eyes flashed with pain at the fifth and by the sixth he was blind in pain, lifted from the ground in time for the seventh to send him into a writhing spasm mid-lift...and the last hit him with a concussive force that blasted his body through the outer wall of his compound and into the cool grass in the front of his home in a bloody heap...crimson trickling from his chest and from his forehead, coating one of his eyes in a red lens that blinded all. An arm felt like it snapped as he hit and rolled, body feeling hurt and useless as, for a moment, he seemed utterly spent...a heap of beaten flesh upon the courtyard beneath the green sky and the golden moon...until that lump shifted. Perhaps by sheer will or determination, it flopped onto its stomach...and then shifted to a knee...even as the puppet walked slowly towards the hole he had ripped in the wall, swaying to each side with a light giggle each step it walked towards him...the shadow playing her like a puppet in the hole behind her allowing them both to leap out onto the green patch where their quarry lay...
Blood spat from his lips at that, tasting coppery...and all the power he had to use his special Eye was gone, drained from him...his left arm was useless and his right arm was half-numb, his chest still bleeding from the claws that tore him. But he couldn't...wouldn't...his knee pressed and his other leg stood, shaking, even though his ribs were cracked all over now, his legs twisted and sore...he stood and looked with his one working eye at the two of them...'Just a little...lon...ger...' he wavered, knee nearly caving as his one arm hung limp and the other raised slowly before him, a shadow of his elegant and beautiful Gentle Fist style, "I am...Amagai Genji...true heir...of the Amagai...Family. And I will not...will not give in until my body..."
"Genji...bro...? Is that...?" a voice suddenly spoke from his back left, a voice that was empty and never, ever should have been...a cold, aimless, sad sort of voice that crackled every now and then with static like some sort of broken machine. Turning his head painfully to look at the voice, he could see just who it was now, and the sight was enough to twist his stomach and nearly empty what lay within yet again. Blue hair...white jumpsuit...but so much of the rest of the Freshman named Zeo was missing from this monster, including a hand...part of his side...he was a machine that was not whole, sparking and twitching, as though glitching with every step that he took towards them...but in his usually-vibrant eyes was nothing but an empty sort of purposelessness...as though without identity...without direction, "...am I? ...Who am...I? Gen...ji...? If I am...not...a pimp...if I am...not...a human...then who...am...I?" He lurched forward towards Genji in one smooth motion and with its free hand it raked a heavy cross across the jaw of the berry-haired boy, missing with a second punch only because he had stumbled back and out of the way in his daze from the impossibly heavy first blow. "Who am...I don't...Genji...bro...I am...WHO AM...WHO AM I?!" it lunged again and this time the pink-haired boy threw himself forward and slammed his injured shoulder into the stomach of the android, pausing it where it stood just long enough for his working palm to smash into its jaw...but his own fingers protested against the blow, knuckles crying out in pain as a closed-fist punch smashed the side of the sparking droid-Shade's face with a second shot that forced it back just one step. It would have moved again, but no sooner had the heir recovered than a gust of pure, powerful wind smashed him in the stomach and the side of his head, knocked stars into his eyes, his body landing with a sick slam against the grass...only this time, he didn't get up so quickly.
He lay in agony, exhausted, beaten, broken all over...and to the side where the wind had come he tried to peer, seeing some thing crawling along with many faces...but the face that spoke was a skull, green hair flowing down the back...his vision swam and his hearing sounded muffled by water, but he could see it coming closer...hear its words... "...killed me...? You all...killed me..." the voice was thin, high-pitched, and sounded ghostly, as though pulled from the depths of Hell, "...I was...fine...as I was...I was pretty, and...special...you...all. Changed me...made me...different...not...me...I'm...not me anymore...I'm...you...you killed me...you KILLED me...YOU KILLED MEEEeeeEEeEEeE!"
He tried to push to his feet, tried to push power into his hand, but before he could respond to the creeping, green-haired monster before him a light smashed into his back and sent him stumbling, and he would have fallen if it wasn't for the heavy metallic fist in his jaw a moment later...his eyes swam and there was no consciousness left in them...only lightning kept him up the next time, and then wind tossing his body like a doll towards the heavy blow of the android...
The sounds of laughter, the peals of screaming and wind, the crackle of thunder were all that remained as the night pressed on...and the last, final scream of a boy who had tried, who fought with honor against odds far too long before his consciousness left him and he could no longer hold out against the pain...
...
And only when they were finished did the wires of the puppeteer wind their way about the broken boy's body and lift it from the bloody dirt, dripping with his fading life, holding him high above his home for all to see...
...the Last of the Amagai Clan and his brilliant eyes, closed and empty in the gloom of the fading night.
...
All that remained now was the wait...for the help that never could have come on time.
For the Investigation Team to come and witness their friend's failure...and perhaps just as frighteningly, the herald of their own...
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 11:14 pm
 Ƞix Gallen XI call your name
XBut it does not reach.
XSo I will keep calling
XUntil my love
XReaches your heart X ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ Was she running too slow? Was it already too late? Did the others beat her there by now? Were the Messiahs laying in wait near by? All these worries lingered in Nix's mind as she raced to the outskirts of town. She had over heard others mentioning a large compound around here and saying Genji lived there. The girl was running as fast as she could, ignoring the pain in her feet since she was barefooted. Every second that ticked by could be a second of his life wasting away.. If the worst case scenario happened, though she really hoped it didn't. When she got near the compound Nix ran even faster to reach them, only to slow down as she felt a chilling sensation run over her body.. Words died on her tongue, unable to speak.
Tied up and suspended in the air by wires was Genji.. He looked badly beaten and Nix wasn't entirely sure he was still alive. She wasn't going to give up hope though, there was a chance he was still hanging on to life! Still.. Her chest ached as she saw this image.. How could this have happened and her not be able to assist sooner? He aided them times before and the one time he needed help they were unable to do their part? The snowy haired girl wasn't going to let him die.. Her and the rest of the I Team would somehow find a way to help him. "I.. I have to cut the wires.. But where to they all connect from? Please.. Don't die, Genji." Her ice blue eyes scanned the area, moving about to try and find where she can reach the wires to cut them. They had to be tied elsewhere to keep the pink haired boy where he was, were they all out of her reach? ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ♫
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Fashionable Businesswoman
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:32 am
Amelia M. Heartilly
"Gallen!" Amelia had called out, Sleipnir coming in fast as the dark-haired girl got closer and closer before the demon went into a halt and quickly vanished into the wind the moment the rider placed her foot onto the ground. "Don't move, don't do anything!" she snapped, but only out of fear that Nix was going to get caught into whatever is around in the area. "I think everyone else is going to be here s-- AAH!!" Her eyes were following the odd shadows, how strange they were placed, following the lines that hung a body right overhead with blood just dripping off of the ends. Amelia stepped back with wide eyes and a hand covering her mouth, breath shaken and a voice no longer being heard when she saw that pink, that form silhouetting against the sickly yellow light.
"Oh God...!" she finally choked out. "Oh God, no..! Amagai!!" s**t, s**t, no! No, now waiting around for the others is wasting time! Amelia held her head tightly, eyes already watering in panic, searching the lines and wondering how they could get him down. Her hands finally went to her sides, the young woman breathing heavily in the fear of what's become of Genji before she suddenly lifted her hand to summon her Persona. Wait! She couldn't! How was she going to catch him, the fall would ultimately kill him from where he's hanging.
Amelia suddenly turned to Nix. "Did you see anyone? Teros? Kazuma? Anyone at all when you got here?" the girl was becoming urgent, not at all getting that level headed when one of their own is hanging like a trophy. Who did this? The question was ringing through her mind repeatedly. Who?
...A black feather took her attention, then...
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:34 am
Minori Koroko  She had never run so fast in her life. The girl felt her heart on the throat, the pounding making her sick with each second passed. It was a long way to the Amagai states, but Minori was set to get there was fast as possible, and despite the screaming limbs, she continued on, tiredness and shortage of breath passing to a second plane given the situation at hand. Every now and then she would scan the area all over again, in hopes of feeling that small, flickering presence...but nothing reassured her...not when it seemed to diminish so very quickly. "No! No no! Please..." her voice came in broken gasps, the knot forming on her throat making it all too difficult to form words, to breathe. Her only hope and what made her push further was the looming gates at the distance, signaling that she was nearing the place. The blond couldn't say she had been at the Amagai Compounds before, but there was no confusing it. The traditional home grew nearer with each running leap, and it wasn't too much longer before the sensor of the Investigation Team reached the place where she had felt the shadows. Syr lead her to the place in which the presences were the strongest, and there she found two silhouettes standing a few steps away from her.
Something made her to stop, though... the danger radiating all around the place shaking her senses. The destruction of the home, the broken blinds, the blood smears all around the floor...Careful steps took her beside Amelia, as she followed the little traces of dried up crimson to the one spot they seemed to gather. Little droplets kept falling, and as if in a trance, green eyes looked up tentatively, finding there the worst outcome. A hand slapped against her mouth to suppress a scream, the shake of her head the only sign of movement in the girl for a moment. Even so, she couldn't move her gaze away, the shock of the scene freezing her entirely. "We...we are too late." the girl muttered, her voice just above a whisper. "We are too- No! Genji kun! No...! We must get him down from there!" Words came out louder, broken, shaken as her limbs finally found some movement. No! There was some hope there...there had to be. Genji was... he was strong. She stepped forward, ready to cut whatever was holding the strawberry haired team member up, not caring about who was responsible...how it had happened. "No... it wasn't them. The presence was...different. ... ... ... But that doesn't matter now! It... it doesn't matter when he's...he's..." Breaking down into tears, the blond clutched to her naginata tightly as support, before raising it over her head abruptly, turning to look at the two girls for a brief moment in a silent plea. He couldn't stay there much longer...and they would know what to do.The blade came down then.
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 6:09 am
 Rednal Ak'ThiasNot fast enough. Sentimentality was nice, but there was no way he was going to be able to run far or fast enough to do something like catch the body. On the bright side (such as it was), he didn't really need to, either. A burst of green light erupted out of a small object on his finger, forming light into the shape of a disc just below Genji to catch him and slowly lower him towards the ground. Truthfully, he'd almost forgotten he'd had the little thing, but it had been the right idea to recharge it before he came after all. The disc lightly touched the ground as it finally finished lowering, and Rednal opened his mouth to speak. You'll probably make it worse. Yidhra noted. Rednal simply paused for a second, then nodded and shut his mouth. More importantly, what the heck just happened here? Dude never struck me as the type who wouldn't be able to recognize bad odds when he saw them, and we fight as a team for a reason... He exhaled slightly, not bothering the girls with any vocal words as he tried to piece the bits of information together. Was it a surprise attack...? Or something else?
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 6:31 am
  Faustus Necromonium and Kusuri Keiraku
"No....
"Amagai.."
The two could only look in stunned silence at the figure that dangled from the wires, strung up by some....unknown force. Faust's gaze could only stare in a sort of horror-struck awe, Kusuri moving forward to the others and gripping her Powersoul tightly.
"Koroko, do you Sense anything lingering around here?" Kusuri called, staying on edge. If something could do...that to Genji, then who knew what else it was capable of. Even Teros wasn't this cruel.....
Faust moved over to the strawberry-haired figure at this, bringing his hands up.
"Mythos....Mythos do something!" he called, focusing his energy, and casting a Recarm on Genji.
He's....
"Just do something!" Faust called out loud, the voice in his head complying, as Mythos appeared to cast a Recarm on the Boy. It was hard to tell if it would do anything, but...
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Hopeful Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:36 am
Ƞix Gallen XI call your name
XBut it does not reach.
XSo I will keep calling
XUntil my love
XReaches your heart X ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ Nix could only look at Amelia and the others and shake her heads as she tried to keep control over her emotions. "N.. No. I didn't see anyone or anything here.. Just Genji." Seeing the others trying their part to help the fallen, but hopefully not dead, teammate. She aided Minori in cutting the wires that held his broken body and was thankful Rednal formed something to catch him. The girl looked at Faust as he summoned his persons to try and aid Genji. If they were too late the snowy haired girl wasn't sure if she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.
So Nix quickly thought of a way to help but her only manner of being able to heal someone a great amount was.. A double-edged blade of sorts. Sure it could possibly give Genji the strength he needs to hang onto life but she would be.. That didn't matter! He needed it more! "He.. Has to be alive.. We couldn't have been too late." Her voice cracked a little as tears started coming to her eyes, waiting to see if Faust's spell would have any effect at all. ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ♫
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Arena Emperor rolled 6 6-sided dice:
3, 5, 3, 5, 6, 3
Total: 25 (6-36)
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:27 pm
Shade Minori, the Dancing Puppet
"...I'm just a puppet, after all..."
SHADE BATTLE THEMETry as they might to revive him, their spells and their healing seemed to have a diminished impact on a young man who was already nearly gone from them...they could mend the cuts and reduce the bruises, begin to mend the bones, but all of them combined did not dissipate so easily, the trauma so great that even a Recarm spell couldn't make his body stir. His gray eyes, so full of strength and confidence and belief in the others, remained tightly closed, handsome face bruised and twisted into an expression of pain and will that had remained until the moment he lost his consciousness. Little lines in his arms and across his chest from the wires cutting in healed slowly, the thick gashes on his chest from the harpy's claws even slower, but no healing could begin to replace the blood that had been spilled, perhaps the greatest danger remaining that none of them could fix with the magic at their disposal. He was ghostly white, but from the state of the house it was clear that it hadn't merely been a beatdown...he had been taken by surprise, certainly, but he had fought with all of his strength and made his foes earn every mark they laid upon him. Ultimately, however, there was little he could do to stem the tide of the four great powers crashing against him. He couldn't have fun and left his home, his family to die, and even if he had wanted to, the exit hadn't been there. This was the result of his stand. This was the result of enemies of which the team knew so little...but even as the tears sprung to their eyes and their teammate clung to the slightest sliver of his life, there was a sound nearby like the cracking of a joint into place, loose pieces of plastic ratcheting into position.
"AH HAHAHAHAHA...Hahaha...Ha ha...uwaaa"
Her thick, throaty cackle died slowly as the pieces of her shuffled and lifted unnaturally, her head hanging low as if in apology, body moving out of the shadows near the house and near them with little lightning chords crackling down the wire from her back, her limbs, stringing her along towards the team that all stood now in despair and terror at their teammate's fate. The sound became sadder and lower, almost a sob for a moment as the blond head of the thing came into view, bowed so that they could not quite see her face, stopping only at length for her arms to raise like a marionette over the slots where her eyes would have been. "Ev...ery...one came for...me," her voice was soft and melodic, cracking here and there with the sound of a strange clicking in her jaw, "You came...to tell me...didn't...you? To save...because I can't...help my...self. ...Can you...you can't...protect...Hey...it's...me and...Ame...li" She didn't look up, but she seemed to know that they were there, her feet stepping forward awkwardly, wavering to and fro as she moved nearer to them...arms raising strangely as another ripple of electricity traced down the wire and sent her body into an unnatural jerking twitch. "B-but...you're not...Hey Ame...lia, I...aren't I...Hey aren't...I..." Suddenly, just as she seemed to reach out towards her raven-haired 'friend' and the others, a sudden jerk on the wires at her back pulled her standing tall, arms spread and her head thrown back with a wide, china doll smile and an echoing laughter! Now they could see her ragged clothes and dirty hair, the stitches at her joints that held her together as she screamed!
"AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Aren't I...PRETTIER THIS WAY?! Don't you just LOVE...to tell me what to do?! I can't do ANYTHING my...self! I'm just...a-a-a-DOLL! HEE HEE HAA!"
Electricity coursed through her and she twitched violently, lurching forward and bending in their direction at the waist...then, with an impossible grace and a few sickening snapping sounds in her knees doused by the movement, her body whirled forward and slammed a booted foot into Nix's cheek to send her skidding quickly away from the berry-haired boy that lay unconscious beneath them. Above him the Shade landed and bent at the waist unnaturally to the back, upper body twisting, stitches snapping and reconnecting as her arm bent down and touched the dying boy's hair with an awkward pet. "He's m-m-my toy now...he will...stay with me now...play with me...now," her broken voice cooed as she snapped back upright and jerked with the pulsation of electricity through her, spinning around with arms extended and her empty, black gaze she seemed to acknowledge all who were present with a wide and stitch-snapping smile, "W-w-we can...all play togeth-th-ther, can't we? All you have t-t-to...do...is let me kill you!" Light suddenly erupted forth from her fingertips, and about each member of the team a talisman seemed to appear that flashed and struck them with a damaging Light. Her laughter erupted again as the light around her arm began to shine brightly, eight circles swirling ominously about her limp puppet limb with a slasher's smile curling at her lips.
'And, and you...can be like...me~" she seemed to coax them, hand raising unnaturally, wrist breaking to twist the palm upward like a puppet's joint and beckon in the direction of her 'true' self, "Ame-chan...Ame-chan would l-l-love that...wouldn't she?"Quote: Judgment of Light - High Light Damage (All Enemies) + 1/3 odds for KO.
[Order: Nix, Amelia, Minori, Rednal, Faust, Kusuri]
[Result: Safe, Safe, Safe, Safe, Safe, Safe]
Physical Attack - Standard physical blow, Heavy Phys Damage (Target: Nix)
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:45 pm
Rednal Ak'Thias"Yah!" Rednal reached out with one hand as the talisman appeared before him, and Yidhra appeared behind him, moving hair wrapping around him and distorting the light. Other defenses sprang up as well, softening the impact of the blow, though it wasn't possible to block it completely. It was certainly quite a lot less powerful than it could have been, though. He raised a hand a moment later, and the gems on his gauntlets began to glow as power gathered into them. "I've got a better idea." the boy growled. "This puppet show sucks, so all I have to do is break you and it'll be over with." With that, the gems began shining even more brilliantly, their charging complete. That wasn't all, though. Yidhra's influence spread across the battlefield, the eldritch Persona looking more than a little angry at the words and deeds of the foul impostor. Nor was it so easy to stand up to this particular entity; before her, all enemies lost power, and aiming became a rather more difficult task. That could definitely happen, considering the way Yidhra distorted things like direction with her mere presence. Perhaps more relevantly, though, a few flakes of ash began to drift out of Rednal's mouth... Quote: Rednal's Actions:-Resist Light (1/2 damage from Light attacks) -Ari Dance (Reduce enemy power/accuracy) -GPR -Regenerate 1 -Spell Master -Action: Mind Charge [Target: Self] (2.5x power to next magic attack)
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 8:01 pm
 Kar u Raiku Karu had got to the Amagai Family Compound as fast as he could on foot with very little familiarity with the area. He tried to not stop to catch his breath since things already sounded urgent from what he had heard, it wasn't easy given the fact that the Dark Hour's atmosphere was already quite oppressive to oneself. Finally finding his way to the Compound he slowed down so that he could actually catch his breath just in case there was a fight ahead or something that would require him to be more prepared. There already was a group that had formed a head of him, unfortunately the outlook was already grim there was a wave of burning light as he got to the group of his allies. Karu didn't feel the need to announce himself, not in the middle of something that was much more emotionally tense for his allies then for himself. That would only increase the likelihood of him looking impersonal and seeming like a horrible person, if there was one thing he knew, it was when he should speak and when he shouldn't. With a deep breath the brown haired senior focused on his target summoning forward Kazami for the first time in what felt like awhile, calling upon her empowering magic for the opening. It seemed like it had become his go to action when there was a fight at hand, after all it always like his first actual attack should leave a bit more of an impact than the rest. It was like a first impression of sorts, a first impression meant to show an enemy that you weren't fooling around at least. This already was looking like it was going to easily prove to be the most difficult battle he had encountered so far, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to give it his all. More than just his own life was on the line, and he would never allow himself to let his allies down. Quote: Karu's Actions:-Mind Charge. Passive: Resist Light.
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Hopeful Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 8:26 pm
 Teddie, RAWR
As Karu would charge up, another figure seemed to dart into the fray, wielding a sharp claw.
"Rawr! I came as soon as I got the text.....But Yosuke's probably gonna be upset I left work a few minutes early.." Teddie called to the group, slightly sweatdropping. Oh, he would be in for it later....
Looks like I just bearly made it in time for the fight. Teddie though, raising his hand.
"Bear!SONA!" he called, sending a Surge of Power through everyone in the area, a Matarukaja powering Everyone up. Nothing like speeding along everyone's attacks, so they wouldn't be sitting ducks charging up. Well, not all of them, at least...
YIKES! That looked like one tough enemy......Like Minori...but with...Strings, and stiches?! Was it a shadow? Or...one of those things the others had talked about?
What was the word.... Quote: Teddie has arrived! Rawr! Action: Matarukaja: (I. Team) Equipment: Night Stalker (Raise Evasion by a respectable Amount, Reaper drop.) Matarukaja: (1/3)
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 8:50 pm
Minori Koroko Green eyes kept on the limp body for a moment longer, unresponsive to healing spell after healing spell; at the smallest wounds closing, even if it was painfully slow; at the bruises and cuts on the paper white skin; at the blood lost and the clock ticking...and still she couldn't grasp the idea of him being gone. "I..." At the sound of Kusuri's voice, the blond stammered, shifting her eyes away and back to the violet haired junior, her words slowly making sense inside of the blond's head. A presence...did she feel one right now? Being so worried about Genji, and so shocked at the mess that was this place, she had completely forgotten to check for the one responsible, or maybe not forgotten, but not caring enough for the moment. Completely negligent on her part, but...but she just couldn't worry about something else with Genji in that state! If he died...she wouldn't know what to do. Still, the scan needed to be done, and with a nod to Kusuri, the blond closed her eyes. But before Minori could summon Syr and scan the area, the faint, but growing, cracking sound caught her attention, chilling her to the bones. The danger was imminent in that moment, and she didn't really need her persona to know there was something close...she could feel it on her own.
The shrill crackle felt like a bucket of cold water running down her spine, the icy fear churning her insides. Eyes darted towards the thing making the noises, the tottering figure covered by shadows. And it wasn't until the eerie golden light landed on the creature's head, that Minori let out a choked gasp. The resemblance was unnerving, the way it giggled and sobbed made her sick, and it's broken movements, almost as if a discarded puppet just...just...hit somewhere very deep down. The fear she had felt the moment they encountered Rednal's Shade returned to her...the fear that somewhere out there, a creature not unlike it, wearing her image, holding the darkest part of herself, would appear and show its ugly self for everybody to see. Minori couldn't bare listening to it talk, couldn't bare listening to its words that reflected ignored thoughts at the deepest corner of her soul. Hands tightened around her weapon in pure reflex, to protect herself against that thing, and to try and block out its sad voice. The blond stiffened when the broken doll identified her and her raven haired friend, as it moved in its clumsy steps towards her.
Abruptly it snapped up, with a speed the girl couldn't have imagined possible given its movements before, empty sockets and stitches everywhere revealing under unkept blond curls. She couldn't even react to the image in front of her before it darted forward in a way that wasn't possible for any human, electricity and a swift kick reaching Nix in the cheek, throwing her away with a force that wasn't imaginable in that frail body. "Nix!" She took a step forward, about to assist the white haired girl, when the Shade's next move made her to stop dead in her tracks. The puppet loomed over Genji's unmoving form, brushing his hair in a way that could have been considered tender if it wasn't for the sickening twitches and awkward angles the limbs seemed to take. "Get away from him!" She couldn't take it anymore.
They needed to defeat this monster.
Talismans that weren't new to the girl surrounded the whole team, panic raising inside of her at the attack coming. It washed over her without any effect, but...what about the rest of the team? Worried eyes turned to look at the rest of the team, a shaky sigh escaping her at the sight of everyone standing. Still, the spell wasn't a weak one. It was the strongest she...- "Listen..." Of course. "She is...- I am resistant to Dark spells...Light won't do any effect. And I am weak to Ice. It...it shouldn't be much different for her." the blond muttered urgently, as the familiar blue card appeared before her. There was something about the doll's arm though...almost as if it was waiting for something... and even if it was suspicious, she needed to act now. "Syr!" The card shattered between her fingers, the figure of a girl riding a huge boar appearing behind her. An arm shot forward, eyes narrowed as she looked at her darker self, Syr charging ahead to deal some damage to the doll. Quote: Actions- Syr's Thrust: Heavy Physical strike. Returns half of the damage dealt to allies as healing energy. Equip -Highest Cut Armor -Doubles all stats -Badge of Courage - Heat Riser effect (1/3)
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Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:12 pm
Ƞix Gallen XI call your name
XBut it does not reach.
XSo I will keep calling
XUntil my love
XReaches your heart X ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ Genji looked in awful shape, nearly standing before death's door as they would say. Faust's Recarm spell hardly had any effect on their comrade and was still in need of help. Though before she could cast her spell a strange yet familiar voice caught her ears. When she saw the twisted copy of Minori she was at a loss for words. Never before had she seen something like that and why was it saying those things? 'Wires.. She must've been the one who hurt Genji like this. I better hurry befo-' The girl's thoughts stopped short as she felt a powerful blow connect with her cheek, sending her flying across the field.
Needless to say that at the moment Nix was feeling a lot of pain, mainly centered around the side of her face that was hit. The snowy haired girl pushed herself to her feet and saw the Puppet pet their severely wounded teammate. Before she could say anything a light spell hit her and the others, luckily it didn't kill them. Minori informed them about the creature, if it was her then it most likely had the same resistance and weakness? "Understood.. We need to get Genji away from the area so he won't get hit." It wouldn't hurt to throw in her own advice right?
Though now Nix needed to back Minori up to ensure they would stand a chance. Even if she managed to move Genji away from the Shade, if it could still move then it could catch him. She took a deep breath to concentrate, she needed to make sure her aim would be near perfect. If her spell hit the pink haired boy then he would die.. "Cruxis!" Nix's Persona appeared and unleashed a powerful bolt of lightening towards the Shade, making sure to keep it as far away from Genji as possible. ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ￭ ♫ Quote: Zionga: (Target: Shade Minori) (Elec boost & Elec Amp) Anglachel the Elf Blade: Deals double damage against pure shadows and demons, but also if damage is reflected onto allies. Auto-Tarukaja effect against all other foes. Murakumo Golden Thunder Armor: Reflect Elec, Elec Boost, Elec Amp, Cast Elec Wall, Cast Elec Break The Chain of Fire and Ice: Resist Fire and Ice Boost 
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