[center][h3]Manor of Creation - Throne Room
10/5/2015 Sunday[/h3][/center]

Theme: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IORp_o7bnvM]I Will Face Myself[/url]


With Rui at the head the party charged and took up standard formation. Unlike enemies before, this shadow didn't seem to project any kind of weakness or niche. Though soon he would realize that playing passively early was a mistake. With a sinister laugh the shadow blasted the entire field in a wave of dark energy, and with its float arms would immediately aim for Leiko amidst the chaos. Rui couldn't act quickly enough and she was captured, but now he knew the arms were separable. He made a signal to open fire, and Chiaki and Matthew blasted the shadow with everything they had, while Rui using Sukukaja moved to the side where Leiko was captured, and struck the energy that seeped between the arm and main body. This seemed to be successful in partially disarming the mage, but it didn't seem to do any damage. On the other hand Leiko was now free.

After yet another wave of magic, word came in from Megumi.

[color=magenta][i]"It seems to exert power from every pore of its body, and when its not attacking it uses that energy as a thinly coated shield. It should be vulnerable when it attacks"[/i][/color],

[color=slategray]"When it attacks..."[/color], this was going to be difficult, considering it blasted energy all over the place. He looked at the party, only Matthew seemed to be faring okay... Well, these were fire moves after all... Wait.

[color=slategray]"Matthew, use Agi in a fireball when it attacks again"[/color], he ordered. After a few claw attacks, Rui managing to shrug the brunt of it away from the party with the help of Leiko's healing, the big wave sure enough was on its way. On signal, Matthew fired a fireball styled Agi, and using it as cover, Rui charged.

The Agi was destroyed rather quickly, but what it did was open a small spot for Rui to move through. With the help of Sukukaja, he was able to close the distance fast enough, and just before the shadow could bring its shield back, its heart was struck. A clear crack appeared in the armor as Rui slashed through, and dark energy seeped out from within the shadow. As soon as he landed... The shriek of agony began to become almost joyful laughter as he turned. The energy seepeing from the shadow's chest was forming into a gigantic ball of energy, and it was rapidly increasing in size, it was like looking at a miniature black-red sun.

[color=magenta][i]"No! Get out of there! You can't survive that!"[/i][/color], but in this room, there was nowhere to run... There was only one thing to do... Rui slipped his sword back into its sheath, and took a stance. As readily as he did, his Persona also appeared behind him in stance. The shadow let loose its ball of energy, hurtling slowly towards Rui.

[color=slategray]"Akane, we all make mistakes, its natural. To realize you made that mistake means to grow as a person, but you can't grow as long as you let it bother you. Shed the person you are today, and become a person who learned through those experiences tomorrow"[/color], he directed the comment at Akane herself, but now he no longer had time to keep talking. It was time.

He couldn't go for the shadow directly, he'd get struck by the ball before he could close the distance, and going for the ball of energy was madness, but at the very least, it was aimed only at him as he stood behind the shadow who turned to him, while the party was on the other side, while the blast would still hit them, they weren't going to get downed unless it was aimed at them directly... So he slid under it.

As the ball of energy landed, and the explosion began to expand, Rui with his Persona was already behind the shadow, and a single horizontal slash dealt a fatal blow, but even then they had to contend with the blast. As soon as the blast cleared, the shadow while damaged, had its shield again, likely absorbing some of the energy from the earlier attack, but it was far slower than before.

A barrage of attacks both magical and physical rained upon the shadow, and soon enough the shadow crumpled to the floor, and transformed back into its more familiar form as Akane.