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"I don't care anymore...this life which I discarded isn't mine to do with as I wish...so..." The Shadow raised it's hand, and power began gathering in it's palm. It seemed it was going to unleash it's full wrath from the very beginning, and snuff out the opposition that had become to bud in his precious Eden. "...I shall seize it, and use this body to bring Death to this world. I will endeavor to bring the Fall, and erase the sources of pain that populate this world. Be the first to witness the inevitable, you seekers of Truth." The Shadow raised it's hand and a symbol began to form across the sky. Before the lines could connect however, a massive golden fist crashed into the Shadow, knocking the masked creature's head to the side and scattering it's magic. This strength...it seemed it had forgotten one other being, even if in truth it had only ignored him of it's own choosing. Yuuya was one he bore no malice towards...but now, consumed by Shadow, the mere fact that his interference couldn't stand made that irrelevant.

Nix's magic whipped past the King, but the runes she'd targeted vanished before her attack ever struck, as if she were merely attacking vapors. It seemed the Gate was itself simply a product of his abilities, and appeared and disappeared as readily as a Persona. "Those who yearn for life, should judge not the dead. Haven't you heard something similar before? That the people would prefer a shroud of Fog, rather than a world in which man strives forward together? My goal is not so dissimilar. There are no prying eyes amongst the dead. No judgement...a world where one's heart can truly be free, and isolated from others. Forever." The Shadow seemed determined, something they'd only encountered briefly before. And yet...it seemed driven by something completely different from the prior Shadows they had encountered. A personal goal, rather than a natural longing for human demise.

"Now then, heed my command! The King's Game begins!" The Shadow raised it's off hand, and slammed the butt of his staff into the ground. As the hard clanking sound rang out through the dungeon, magical ley-lines dashed across the walls and ceiling, dancing through the blackness and disappearing after just a moment. On the hands of each person present a flash of light appeared, and on their inner palm they found a number in dark red. "From this point on, the King's word is Law. Any who scheme to share their number, or collude shall not be tolerated. Heed the commands, or be severely punished!" Even as the King's Command echoed throughout the room, the priests continued to chant behind him. The water around the King rippled suddenly, and energy clearly moved from the ring to the Emperor in the center, whose eyes began to glow red as he was invigorated again. "Now is the time for a Gentle King." The King raised his hand, and the irrefutable fate of service began to play out before them. "Number 2 must dedicate every part of their body to restricting the movement of Number 4, by any means!" And so, as the order echoed, so did time flow.

To make matters worse, the King's Gate appeared behind him again, and out poured a torrent of powers...but they didn't seem to be the Emperor's. What could it mean?

Despite the King's manipulation of their battle, the team's morale never seemed to flag as Yuuya and Nym lashed out at him. The Emperor raised a hand to block the incoming wave of almighty, but instead the steely gauntlets began to crack under the pressure, waves of megido power cracking the mask behind it. "You don't understand. Perhaps you can live without hesitation, but that is a gift few share. Even I once thought I could know the warmth of companionship, but such fleeting wants were crushed as if by the very hand of God. The only power I ever truly had, was to end it myself!" As Yuuya's attack finished the Emperor drew back it's hand and swatted the birds away, anger seeping through it's seemingly cool exterior. Despite the empty essence of the Shadow before them, it was clear that the man they'd met before was seeping through. His anger, his reaction to their provocation was waking up this slumbering giant, but it was also making it more deadly as well.

But his hands were full with the attacks, and despite the spell cast across the team, Minori managed to act without interference. A majestic storm of energy blew into the Priests at the feet of the King, filling the pitch black room with light momentarily. Two of the chanting figures let out wretched screams as they were incinerated and vanished into black dust, returning to the tower around them, but the others continued to chant as if they completely lacked self-awareness. What she'd done was clearly effective, but as long as some remained it seemed they wouldn't hesitate to serve their lord further. Instead, the Priests suddenly stood, raising the prayer beads in their hands to the sky as an enormous wave of energy emerged from them, entering the King nearby.

"Those who reside here know neither pain or agony. We are bound together, each unable to find their place amongst the 'real world'! Protecting ourselves at the cost of this peaceful place's destruction, is something none of them have ever considered!" The King slammed his two hands together in front of him, and power gathered amidst his palms. Suddenly the doors behind him slammed shut, and the entire room turned black. The feeling of ground beneath their feet disappeared, and the sensation of gravity seemed to wheel around them, as if they were falling, spinning helplessly in a void. Suddenly light flickered before their eyes, a scene appearing. They were in a town covered in fog...an empty, black street...and above them was a telephone poll, with something hanging from it. Suddenly an overwhelming wave of nausea struck them, a forced sense of realization; what hung there was a body...theirs. The feeling of death, of realizing that they were no more, instantly pervaded their body. Suddenly the room went pitch black once more, a laugh echoed, and suddenly a spark appeared in front of them; the glint of a sickle! The blade slashed straight towards their chests, capitalizing on the moment of weakness (could they recover in time!?), attempting to make the scene a reality with the weapon of the murderer from last year's Inaba Tragedy.

And then the doors opened again, and what little light was in the room returned. It was merely a dim few rays, but it seemed like a blazing sun compared to before. And sitting there with a grim arrogance was the Emperor, casting pity upon them. "I know that look. That feeling, that sensation of being so hopelessly lost you're driven to the abyss. How does it feel, the recognition of your own death? Being told that your story is already written; knowing that now you can only read the sorry notes you yourself left in your wake? Unable to change anything!?" The Emperor lashed out at the team, still disoriented. The scene had been pervasive...was he saying it was real? That they were dead, and that everything in this tower was merely another illusion, a falsified memory? The ringing in their ears from before they knocked over the wall came back to them, the sense that they were beginning to wake up to cold reality. "Go ahead, unleash your fury! Thrash in futility at the darkness! Now is the time for a Wrathful King!" The King's roar filled their ears, daring them to unleash their hatred against the world with all their might. But at the same time, it was a dare to spend all their power...to realize that they could never move the world. The nausea in their stomach remained from before; the dead could never change their past, or make up for their mistakes no matter how hard they tried. Their lives were carved in stone for eternity, and the team's minds told them that once they were spent, they would be the same. Unfinished...all they would be remembered for were the things they'd already done. Not a single ray of hope would shine through. A memory for the citizens of Inaba, a body on a telephone poll; of them, that's all that would remain.