As the rubber band suddenly struck Haruto in the head, the lion-masked boy was shocked at just how much damage such a small and weak projectile could’ve possibly dealt towards him. Growling, Haruto prepared himself to retaliate whoever just shot him, but a bolt of lightning struck him straight into the chest. Without even a chance to guard against the attack, the lion-masked boy couldn’t even give off a sound of surprise before he was sent flying backwards, hitting the wall of a building before sliding down onto the ground, unconscious.
____________

Haruto
0/70 HP (x_____x)
50/50 SP 
____________

However, inside of Haruto’s mind, the damage was powerful enough to send a jolt to both the shadow and Haruto, causing the demon to release its grip onto Haruto – grunting as he landed on the floor, Haruto quickly recovered and stood up, glaring straight at the demon. Growling, Haruto began to advance towards the lion-faced shadow, which simply stared at the walking boy.

[color=0072bc][b]“Yeah…you’re right. All I ever really had was this anger, and this hatred, towards a faceless man that I will never see receive justice for the crimes against [i]me[/i].”[/b][/color]

The lion-masked Haruto, once unconscious, now woke up screaming as the lion mask began to crack into pieces. Jolting in place, despite all the damage dealt to his body, Haruto began to roll around, screaming in pain, jerking around as if an unknown assailant was attacking him right at this moment.

[color=0072bc][b]“So I’ll let the anger consume me, the hatred devour me, and [i]you[/i] control me – after all, we’re one and the same, aren’t we? I was ignoring my basic nature for the longest time, but it’s about time we joined together again.”[/b][/color]

Reaching forward, Haruto’s hand touched the right index finger of the shadow in front of him, and the two simply merged as one – a bright light grew from where their hands met, and as the light dimmed away, the gigantic hallway disappeared as well, leaving Haruto in the darkness. However, the solace was comforting and familiar – the boy did not mind it at all.

The lion mask snapped in half and dissipated, and Haruto lurched forward, vomiting out a black material that kept on leaving his mouth. After a few seconds, Haruto managed to wipe his vomit and looked up, seeing a knight dressed in silver armor and a black cape floating right in front of him.

> By facing the difficulties and hardship he held within, Haruto Okada has acquired the Persona [i][b]Astolfo[/b][/i].

With a smile, Haruto realized that he had absolutely no energy left to even move and join in the concluding fight – with a sigh, Haruto collapsed on the ground once more, stuck in the place between awake and dreams.