As the events unfolded and the shadow began to take it's monstrous form, Jun decided to pick up a weapon from the ground. It was one of the dungeon's weapons, more importantly, she was putting herself in danger.

"Wait! Get back!", it seems she didn't heed this warning. Her shadow warped into the form of a demonic shogun, it's features were obviously female, but mixed in with it were knightly and feminine features. That wasn't all of the shadow though, in one arm was a princess-like figure, and the other was a longsword.

As Jun charged at the shadow, she realized that her weapon phased right through the shadow, her punches and kicks merely bounced off of it. With manacing laughter the shadow raised it's blade to strike her down, and that would've been the end of her, had Rui not summoned his Persona to block the strike.

"I told you to get back", he ordered. Jun was pulled back by the rest of the party was they moved into position.

As they did so, the knights along the sides were beginning to form. There were roughly 3 of them.

"Rui, I'll handle the knights, you push that shadow back. Ayano, scan the shadow for weak points, once we clean these knights up, we'll wrap this up and dispose of the main target", he ordered.

"Understood. Akane, take my place at the front and I'll be your backup, Sen, strike it with magic between intervals, and Kotori, keep us and even Kami's team healed up",

"Right guys, pick a knight and have at it", it appears Kami's job was a bit simpler, regardless, it seems most of his party was forced to duel the knights. The entire two teams were surrounded, with Jun in the middle, the one they were rescuing.

"You, I suggest you sit there and think about everything you've heard that thing say. That thing isn't just some monster, it's a part of you. So think about that", and with that he turned back to fight it. Those without the power of Persona, cannot possibly hurt their own shadow, let alone other shadows, try as they might, nothing will work without the power.

Kotori Shirohane - Sapphire Inn: Royal Suite Main Room | Sunday, July 5 2015

As everyone finished their preparations in their own ways - some speaking to each others, others impatient to get going already whilst Kotori herself just took the opportunity to catch her breath - Rui and Kami called upon everyone to get ready to proceed onwards. Though they didn't know what awaited them at the end of the hallway, Megumi had already picked up a formidable presence ahead - and having delved into enough of these placed before, most everyone knew what that meant. As such, Kotori was on edge all the way through; glancing about for any signs of shadows suddenly pouring out of previously unseen crevices - but to no avail as the now merged group continued unaccosted on the long walk. The tension did at least save Kotori from focusing too much on the particular choice of decoration that accompanied the climb - and before the halfway point, she was instead worrying far more over the rather excessive length of the stairs.

As they drew closer to the doors at the top, muffled voices could be made out - which sounded similar but just slightly ajar of one another; a dissonance that undoubtedly rang a few alarm bells for all those present. Pushing onwards with varying degrees of fatigue at the stairs they'd just climbed, Rui pushed open the doors to finally reveal exactly what they were dealing with: Standing in the centre were two girls - or rather, the same girl twice, save for a scant few details being just slightly off. One of the two was talking down to the others in a tone which would have betrayed her nature even if it weren't for the unnatural colour of her eyes - it was a shadow; the secrets locked away inside oneself somehow made manifest through this strange mirror realm.

Even as she caught her breath, Kotori couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed at hearing someone else's inner thoughts, worries and hidden feelings being laid bare - but before she or anyone else could interfere, the real girl instead yelled at her mirror self; decrying her shadow as not herself. Kotori winced as laughter erupted from the shadow's throat at those words - a mocking tone which began echoing all around and becoming more sinister as darkness surrounded the girl's shadow; coalescing into a far more monstrous form. Much in keeping with the place's traditional Japanese feeling, so too did the shadow take on such a shape as it emerged from its shroud of blackness as a armour-clad demon; an evil caricature of a shogun of days long past, albeit one which had somehow become intermixed with a medieval European knight's features and at the same time still retaining an air of femininity about itself - which was unsettling in its own way to see in a shadow, even as if was gripping both a sword and a figure clad in a pretty dress.

The girl, however, did not seem to grasp the gravity of the whole situation as she picked up a sword laying upon the ground and raised it in defiance - but without the protection of a persona, doing could only spell danger for herself. Kotori feared what might happen if the shadow turned upon the girl; reflexively reaching out with one hand even though they were too far away to do much of anything - remembering a moment later that she had something on her side that would be far more capable of stopping such a thing from coming to pass. However, even as she called upon her Persona, "Kikuri-Hime," the shadow raised its sword to strike at what it seemed to perceive as an insolent if insubstantial attack by the girl - which left Kotori to fear that she would not make it in time.

Luckily, however, Rui was ever vigilant and Askr's blade intercepted the Shadow's just in time to deflect the blow away from the girl. Several group members had rushed to her side in order to get her out of harm's way - no matter how much she could or wanted to fight, this was one foe she was helpless against. With the girl in safety for now, the group quickly got into position to take on the warrior-like Shadow - but just as Kotori began to hope that for once they might an advantage with the numbers on their side, the shadows off to the sides began to move as three more enemies stepped from them. Knights, similar to the ones they'd already struggled against before, strode forth in their armour; ready to join the fight - and making Kotori's confidence take a dive, seeing how even one had already been a struggle even without backup or an even stronger shadow behind them all.

However, before her worries could overtake her, Kotori took a deep breath as she felt Kikuri-Hime's presence calm her thoughts. Though the enemies were numerous and strong, they too had strong fighters on their side. Kaminari sprang into action, ordering his half to engage the knights whilst leaving Ayano to figure out the Shadow's weakness and Rui to occupy it for the moment. A brief acknowledgemenet followed before Rui in turn addressed his team - much like before, Akane and himself would take point and go about striking and defending whilst Sato would be lending fire support from afar. Unto Kotori fell the role of making sure that everyone stayed alive and fighting with her healing spells - including Kaminari's group.

Though she felt her heart sink at the responsibility, given the odds they were facing, Kotori still nodded - a quiet "right" thereafter spoken more to herself than anyone in particular. However, these doubts only lingered for a moment before she quickly shook her head as if to rid herself of any stray thoughts - pushing her glasses back in place after doing so - before focusing at the task at hand. Even if she wasn't exactly the model of confidence, she knew that the others were counting on her at this moment - and wallowing in worries would only lead to them coming true.

Her confidence somewhat regained, Kotori took a quick note of who was engaging what and where everyone stood. They found themselves encircled by the three knights and the shadow, even as each knight in turn was engaged by one of Kaminari's group whilst Akane and Rui faced the Shadow itself; a loose formation being established which left Kotori with the other spell-casters on the inside together with the probably slightly confused girl. Before moving in to take on the Shadow, Rui told her to think upon the Shadow's words - after all, those were essentially her own and realising this would likely prove crucial further down the road.

For the moment, however, Kotori could pay little heed to the girl as she focused all her attention on the group - ready at a moment's notice to cast a group-wide healing spell should multiple people get struck or a more powerful singular heal if someone took a heavy hit instead, leaving the offensive magic entirely to the others.

Mako affirmed their mutual struggles, though Sato couldn't help but frown as Mako brought up his ability to use Debilitate, which seemed exceptionally useful for one-on-one fighting. Sato lacked any such trickery in his arsenal. Anyone else could do what he does; magic and hitting things is in no short supply in the Investigation team. Though, the weight of his bow reminded him of one thing: he had more range than the others did. Besides the obvious arrow thing, a lot the others often simultaneously fought with their personas, combing their attacks. Chronos was more of a knight of his command, in a way, while he could focus on his own safety and maneuvers... Maybe he was over-thinking it wrong, though.

"You be safe yourself. Lack of experience is no excuse for carelessness." Sato said, only able to look Mako in the eyes because Mako himself was looking to the floor. Taking a breath, Sato grabbed Mako's wrist, surprising himself with such a bold move. "Nobody is going to die today, and especially not you..." Sato immediately turned heel and walked briskly away, glad he could remain composure until a cool exit. That was a total senpai move.

Sato walked back over to Rui, and in a quick moment everyone was ready to proceed into presumably the final area of the dungeon. The gaudy signs and lights suddenly faded behind them as they stepped onto the veranda, leaving a shadow of the team cast onto the stairs before them. A voice came from up them, though, so they had little other option to head up. As they climbed the stairs, Sato could only try not to notice the progressively worsening interior design. While the lighting was a bit duller, the decorations were only getting more obnoxious and lewd. He was trying to take the mission seriously and keep an eye out for traps or shadows, but the mysteriously changing images of girls naked (and related activities?) littered the walls. Not that Sato minded, but he didn't exactly not mind either...

Thankfully, once they got to the top, everything appeared normal again, and Sato mentally prepped himself for another edgy session. While it was never quick as bad as his own due to the lack of context and relevance, baring witness to all the built up troubles and emotions of a stranger was certainly something. Though, as Sato set foot into the final room, it appeared as though the victim was already in mid-conversation with her shadow. The blonde hair felt weirdly familiar, but that was hardly important; whoever this girl was, she was already visibly agitated and there was no way this was gonna end with a peaceful resolution.

Sato felt a weird nausea inside of himself as the shadow made a point of the shame of sexuality the girl had. He couldn't quite relate with the other father part in general, but he could sympathize with her regardless. Though, again, not that sympathy really mattered, because it was almost palpable when the girl finally snapped.

She brandished a katana on the shadow, and with the typical "You're not me!" uttered, the shadow started laughing. The form of it started contorting and warping in an unreal fashion, the features turning to black as it morphed into a stronger form. That moment of stillness hit, and suddenly a longsword swung out from the amorphous darkness. From the shadows emerged a shogun figure, cradling a woman in its free arm. The contrast between the demonic features and the almost saintly femininity was irking, to say the least. The girl's attack on the shadow, of course, was a complete an utter failure as her weapon literally didn't even touch it despite a direct blow.

The shadow swung its sword at her, but Rui quickly blocked it with Askr, signalling the start of the real fight. The entire team suddenly moved into combat position, the girl being dragged into safely at the same time. Sato almost felt cocky with their numbers against one shadow, but that feeling was quickly stopped when he noticed shadows emerging from the side walls, forming into a set of three knights. There was no gauging any of the shadows' strength, so Sato could only hope in his friends' abilities to cover anyone who needs it. Rui quickly belted out his orders to Sato and the others, their team being delegated to deal with the big bad itself. Akane and Rui of course took the front-line, while Kotori was to keep an eye on the entire squad. Sato, of course, was best suited for his task of slinging spells and maybe some magic arrows for good measure.

Everyone formed a circle with the girl in the middle. There were attacks coming from every direction, and Sato couldn't but steal glances at Mako as Chronos was summoning blasts of winds when the time was right. Despite his previous confidence he exuded about the whole no-causalities thing, this entire dungeon wasn't normal, and this shadow probably wasn't anything usual either. The best he could do was stay out of harms way for his and Kotori's sake, keep an eye out for surprises, and dish out all the spells he could as one of the only dedicated black mages of sort.

Ryan waited for everyone to finish their preparations outside the "boss fight" room, casting Media on everyone before they entered. Some people stayed by themselves. Some talked to others. Ryan spent his preptime preparing himself enotionally. Whoever was in their was going to say some crazy stuff, deny their Shadow, maybe even attack it. It was his job to make sure that person made it out alove, no matter what. If the person ran towards their Shadow, he needed to grab them and shield them with his own body if he had to. This was it. He was going to make sure he was useful, no dragging everyone down.

Things were already in full swing as they entered, the girl was arguing with her Shadow like he had and like everyone else had. Come to think of it, did Ruins have a Shadow? It kinda seemed like he was the first one to gain their Personality judging from his leadership role. Same with Kami. Questions for another time.

She denied her Shadow and it began to morph into a Shogun, reminiscent of an anime he had once watched. She began to attack the Shadow and Ryan stepped forwards. "Wait, stop!" He was about to chase after her but Rui stepped in first, saving her from herself. Literally.

Some Knights began to form up around them and with a quick order from Kami the fight was on. Ryan summoned Eric and had it swing it's sword in the direction of the Knights, cutting them all up in one fell swoop. He looked towards Jun and sighed as Rui scolded her. "He probably could've worded that better but yeah. I had one too..." Ryan's face heated up in embarrassment as he thought about his Shadow, but he shook his head and banished those thoughts. With one final nod of encouragement Ryan moved away from Jun and started throwing out some more Gale Slashes at the Knights.

Kami's team was having a rough time with the knights, while any action Akane made was covered by Kotori and Sato doing their jobs, whether it be to ward off one of the prince-knight shadow's sword slashes, or undo any damage dealt by the spells from the princess shadow. This was another one of those troublesome two-component shadows. They had to figure out who was relying on who, otherwise the shadow would get free-reign on them.

"We'll try starting with the princess. Megumi, see what you can find out about the knight", he ordered.

"Ayano, copy and paste my Ziodynes, focus-fire whichever knight I strike. We should be able to thin them out with quick eliminations", he requested. He seemed to plan on just using the one spell for Ayano to follow-up on.

The various Gale Slashes on Ryan's end were doing some good too, it was keeping the knights from crowding on top of them immediately, though it's damage was spread thing with the amount of knights, it did manage to buffet some of them and prevent them from overwhelming immediately.

The battle so far was looking uphill, with the numbers plus the boss, it was looking to be a battle of endurance.

Stepping through the veranda and into one, big hallway Ayano could sense that the Shadow was just beyond that door. Wow, way to make it subtle, if this were a video game there'd be tons of supplies, health, and probably ammo in this hallway. Y'know just to prepare for the big fight. She looked the projected images in her monitors and could only stare at her surroundings with a mixture of curiosity and displeasure. She hasn't seen this many girls since...Well, now. She could've sworn that they would change into someone else whenever she turned her attention from one of them. Focusing back at the task at hand, the team swung the doors open and it was time...

And it was..."Jun?" Yeah, it was that girl she and Chiaki met at the inn way back then. Who would've thought...The Shadow spoke of forbidden romance and Ayano could see how it caused Jun pain and could only hope she could power through the taunts but that was all wishful thinking...And of course Jun couldn't take the words to face value and it transformed. Ayano sighed at the same old song and dance, and what appeared before them was an archaic monster that was a horrible reflection of Jun's inner feelings. Even carrying a princess in one of her hands. Kami had given Ayano orders to scan and she went to work, her fingers typing as fast as she could in the moment of the battle, her screens capturing various nooks and crannies of the shadow in an attempt to look for its weakness, it would take some time however and she relayed this back to the team.

It wasn't long before Kami told her to use her newfound ability of copy-pasting his attacks, she nodded back in response and assured him. She glanced back at the progress of her scan, just a little bit more...

Akane Hanazawa // Sapphire Inn | Royal Suite - Main Room
Sunday, July 5th, 2015

When they finally arrived at their destination, Akane couldn't help but feel relieved. She was getting tired of the gaudy decorations and this cringe worthy dungeon, not to mention all those images of many different girls. Though, it wasn't quite over yet and when they opened the doors to the final room, that fact was made clear with the latest awakening. Fully intent on fighting it, the girl picked up a katana. Rui tried to warn her but the idiot ignored it and charged in anyway.

While she might've done the same thing in her shoes, she would've at least had Rui give reason for the warning. The power of hindsight... In any case, there was nothing the girl could do. Once the girl was pulled back behind them and orders were given, she made sure to remind her. "As you are now, you're useless. Do try not to get in the way and make the situation even worse, 'kay?" she said with a slightly harsh tone, as she walked passed her as she stood near Rui.

"Got it." she said calmly as she acknowledged his order. Akane then summoned Setanta, Unsheathing her Katana, she went in on the attack.

---

The more the battle went on, the more it became clear that this would be yet another battle of endurance, with not only all the knights but the shadow as well. Not to mention the shadow's irritating ability. Another one of 'those' kind of opponents... she grumbled to herself. 'Those' being two-component shadows, like the monkey leader from before.

They'll just need to hang on a little longer until Megumi finishes scanning it. Summoning her persona once more, "Kill Rush!" she ordered Setanta as she charged in herself with her Katana.

Kotori Shirohane - Sapphire Inn: Royal Suite Main Room | Sunday, July 5 2015

As everyone started engaging their targets, things were immediately looking somewhat shaky. None of the shadows, neither the three knights or the primary shogun, were pushovers and were putting up quite a fight. Whilst Akane and Rui could at least hold their own against a single foe, covering for each other and using openings from Sato's spells, having to take on a knight alone was proving to be no meagre task for Kaminari's team. Luckily though, they managed to avoid taking any direct hits but it seemed that working in real hits of their own rather than just glancing blows would take some time.

However, considering that they still had to hold out for their support to get a hold on these shadows' weaknesses, it wasn't all bad. Using Ryan's Gale Slash as an opening, Kaminari brought down a heavy lightning bolt upon one of the knights - which didn't get more than a moment to recover before a duplicate strike followed, courtesy of Ayano. Kotori meanwhile kept her eyes closely following everyone all around her - but with no one having suffered critical damage, she opted to instead recover the little cuts and scrapes that could easily accumulate from close calls and last-second parries.

"Media," she called and just a moment later, Kikuri-Hime obliged. A gentle golden glow momentarily enveloped the flowery shrine maiden that was Kotori's Persona - and then the same glow surrounded all of the fighters; lending them warmth and respite as their strength recovered. The by now familiar fatigue that accompanied any spell settled in her mind, albeit slightly stronger than usual - but though it was a bit more taxing to heal such a large group, Kotori had little time for such concerns and kept her thoughts focused on the present. For the moment though, it was still manageable - and she'd been in such situations a few times now; albeit this time around even more people were relying on her - a fact that brought both worries about their safety but also a redoubled effort to ensure it to the fore.

---

Mako gaped after Sato as he made his exit, not quite able to hide the blush that had lit up his cheeks. His wrist still tingled from where Sato had touched it, and his heart was still skipping beats because of the older boy's words. That... that felt like a senpai move. Like, completely and totally senpai. Am I in an anime? He chuckled at that thought. It wasn't too far off to say that, considering his surroundings at present. Still, best to save thoughts like that for later- for now, they had a fight to win, and some more people to save.

Of course, that positive sensation only lasted as long as it took for the fight to actually begin, where things started to go... less well than they could have. First was the near-crippling shiver of fear he'd experienced when the girl's Shadow had transformed into its monstrous state- he winced as he flashed back to his own horrifying ideal. His sympathies went out to her... right up until she put herself in danger by swinging a sword at her own Shadow, which was less than ineffective, it was actively hindering their progress. Not much use in coming all this way if she got herself killed, after all.

Luckily, Rui managed to save her, as Mako and the others pulled the girl back, forming a defensive ring around her, just as more of those Knights showed up to ruin their day. Great.

Mako turned to the girl they were protecting. "Stay behind us, miss. We'll take it from here." He then turned back, just in time to almost catch a Knight's sword to the face. He quickly summoned Israfil to block the blow, the sound of it clanging against his Persona's trumpet reverberating around the open space. Mako concentrated, before Debilitating the Knight that had attacked him, following up with a punch from his armored knuckles. The blow struck true, causing a sizable dent in the Knight's armor. Mako grinned at the sight.

He turned back toward Sato, just as his senpai was turning back toward the fight, presumably finished doing what Mako was doing now. Mako smiled at seeing Sato still safe, then turned back again into the fray, eager to be done with this Shadow nonsense for the time being...

With the Media balancing out the Kill Rush, the shadow was met with an assault that it was forced to defend against with the sword in it's hand, however as it was doing so, it was defending the princess in it's other. The shadowy princess began to scream a dissonant harmony as everyone's strength was suddenly being ripped from them. Their attacks were suddenly less effective.

"Ugh, that's going to be a problem... If anyone can off-set it, do so", he ordered, while he figured out a way to take care of the swordsman half, so that they can strike the princess half.

"...! Guys, make it use it's sword again. I think I might have something, but it was too brief I need to confirm",

"I see... Alright... Akane, buff us up, and then I'll confirm whatever Megumi has in mind", he ordered, blade at the ready as his Persona Askr began to be summoned.

Behind them, the battle between Kami's party and the black and white knights was just as fierce. Kami immediately took advantage of the knight that Mako had Debilitated, managing to put it out of commission for the moment, weakened, and almost defeated and blown back, giving them time to deal with the others. The other knights were just barely being warded off from getting to their back caster line, but Kami held the line, with the Gale Slashes coming from Ryan keeping them from overwhelming them.

"If we can get one or two more to back off. Ryan, switch to something hard hitting and pick a target, I'll hit the other", it was an idea, however there were four knights, not three... So what to do about the fourth one?

"Ayano, I leave you to handle the last one with a copy paste", he stated. It was a coordinated tactic it seems, meanwhile it seems Matthew was free to just burn them all in a single spell.

Kotori Shirohane - Sapphire Inn: Royal Suite Main Room | Sunday, July 5 2015

It seemed that the inital strikes were being successful - no one took any immediate retaliation and some hits could be landed on both the knights and the larger Shadow, albeit none decisive enough to take any of them down. Furthermore, their support was still analysing their foe, which meant that they still had to be weary of any surprises it might have up its sleeve. Unfortunately, the Shadow decided to reveal one such surprise as the princess in its grasp suddenly shrieked oxymoronically; a sound which carried all throughout the room and shook everyone. Not only that, but Kotori could feel her strength being sapped by the noise; much the opposite of the feeling whenever another persona-user cast a fortifying spell on the group. Unfortunately, though Rui called for anyone who could to dispel the effects of the scream, Kotori could do little against such magic; limited only to healing direct damage or ailments rather than debilitating effects.

Still, at least with her current role as the group's healer she was little affected by the actual weakening and thus could still continue on as before. Though she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous at the sight of the knights drawing ever closer, her worries were quickly done away when the knights came under a barrage of hits from the other half the the large group. One in particular went down hard after a devastating blow by Kaminari that followed Mako's debilitating spell; Ryan following up with a wide slash to drive the knights back for the moment whilst Matthew's flames kept them further at bay.

With Rui, Akane and Sato focusing on the large Shadow, they had all managed to avoid taking any direct hits for the moment - which Kotori was rather thankful for, seeing as that not only meant that no one got too hurt but also that she could instead once more cast "Media"; her word quickly followed by action as Kikuri-Hime once more recovered some of the strength of everyone fighting - and hopefully allowing them to continue the fight with exhausting techniques and avoiding any small scrapes from accumulating too much over time. Once more, the increased strain of the more widely-cast spell became noticeable for a moment - but Kotori bore with it as she made sure to keep her eyes on both the team, ensuring that she'd be able to intervene with a healing spell if anyone took a hit, and the enemies, hoping that she might avoid any sudden spells or other surprise threats being thrown her way - whilst hoping that someone else could deal with the weakening effects of the princess' scream, even though she felt a small measure of guilt at not being able to help with them.

Even so, things weren't looking too bad for the moment - they were keeping the shadows at bay whilst not taking much in return. If they could keep this up until they knew what the deal was with the larger Shadow, they might stand a chance of getting through this relatively unscathed despite the number of unpleasantly powerful foes. At least, Kotori started to hope so.

Ryan was throwing out Gale Slashes to keep the enemy off them but it was really taking a toll on his stamina, the Knights just wouldn't stop coming. It really didn't help that the shadow Princess did some sort of scream that was just sapping their strength. He cast Media to alleviate the pain for everyone but they couldn't win this if it turned into a battle of attrition.

Kami gave the order to focus fire and Ryan nodded as he began shooting Garula at the Knight. They needed to finish this before it got bad.

Sato was getting frustrating. They were obviously doing damage with their attacks, but it felt like they were getting nowhere with the battle as a whole, and Sato bet the shadows had more endurance than they did. If they couldn't figure out the trick to this fight, they would get overwhelmed by them sooner or later. Rui set Megumi to try to analyze the knights while they tried to take on the princess, so Sato braced himself for oncoming action. All he could really do for the time being was sling spells as best he could.

As the team went in for a powerful strike, the Shogun defended their attacks with relative ease. At the same time, the princess the shadow carried suddenly let out a harsh wail, resonating inside Sato's skull. The familiar dull pounding of over-exertion started beating down on him, his vision blurring for a second before he got used to the feeling. Looking around for a brief moment, Sato could see that it was affecting everyone-- the entire team wasn't exactly feeling it anymore. Rui ordered for buffs if possible, but Sato couldn't exactly do anything to mitigate feeling like shit.

Apparently Akane had something though, and Rui asked for that to be put up so he could go in to test Megumi's theory. Sato didn't really want to waste any strength he had in him for the moment, so after quickly putting up a Marakukaja in attempt to protect the debilitated team, afterwards unsummoning his persona and only used it if need be.

Akane Hanazawa // Sapphire Inn | Royal Suite - Main Room
Sunday, July 5th, 2015

While they managed to put the shadow on the defensive, it meant little when the 'shadowy princess' began screaming, which was as strange as the fact that it seemed to be sucking the strength out of them, making their attacks seem much weaker. They were getting nowhere and if this kept up, they'll be in big trouble. During their clash, Megumi seemed to have found a way to defeat this troublesome opponent.

However, due to the brief exchange, she wasn't able to confirm it. Which meant that they had to get it to use it's swords again. Well, that shouldn't be a problem. With them needing a way to negate the effects of the shadows screaming, Rui had ordered Akane, and whoever can, to offset the problem by buffing them. As Sato called forth his persona and casted Marakukaja for defense, Akane called forth her own and casted Matarukaja to increase their offensive power. Raising her Katana once more, she went in on the attack once more.

Hopefully this time Megumi would be able to confirm whatever it was she may have discovered before.

Ayano tapped her fingers rapidly, making good use of her duplicating skills to make quick work of the knights. She couldn't help but smile whenever she would successfully pull it off and for a moment, she began to wonder if she and Kami were synchronized in more ways than one. The girl snapped back to reality as the sound of thunder and lightning cackling and striking down another one of the knights resounded through her headphones. A beeping sound came through, notifying the girl that the scan of Jun's shadow had been complete, nodding her head, she tapped the 'ENTER' button for confirmation as her screens began to display detailed information of the creature they were facing. Rather than give a verbose and lengthy description of the shadow, Ayano figured it would be best to display the information all of the team. It would certainly make the fight smoother and easier.

"Guys, can you hear me?" She didn't even wait for a response. "By the time this message is over, a holographic image of Jun's shadow detailing its weak points should have appeared, careful you don't rush it. You know what to do afterwards." What else? Kick its shadowy ass back to where it came from, and hope for the best. Focusing her attention on the fight once more, Ayano was more than ready to start duplicating moves again.

The knights were being fended off with relative success, they weren't able to make use of their superior numbers combined with heavy builds. The one that was focused managed to be put down as they rose again to repeat the process. It looks like it was going to be a routine battle for Kami's team for the time being. Kami however used Rakukaja to increase their defense, enabling them to be a bit more risky without needing to worry about being taken down too quickly,

"Alright, let's turn this bit around. Ziodyne!", he yelled, calling forth Zeus again as he blasted the knight closest him, leading a charge.

Meanwhile, a scan was going down by Megumi and Ayano to figure out the weakness of the boss shadow, the prince and princess. The party was fending off their attacks, as the princess raised a hand slightly, the ring glowing and summoning a rain of ice and shards upon the party as they braced themselves. The prince shadow swung it's blade in Akane's direction causing a bladed wave to fly at her.

Ayano's holographic image displayed the following information.

• No elemental or weapon weakness
• Prince and Princess were separate in terms of HP.

It was rather basic information, but what really stood out most was that both Megumi and Ayano's Personas picked up something unique. The shadow had a glowing spot on it's sword hand in the diagram, this was likely what Megumi spotted.

"I got it... It's grip on its sword is loose when it is swinging... I suggest sending someone to strike when it uses it's sword barrage again", Rui and everyone got the message, he turned to his party... The best options... Anyone here had the capacity to do it, but who was best to send without compromising their battle here?

"Sato, you go", he said.

"Dip out of sight and strike when you see the opportunity arise", the instructions were clear. This would mean their battle with the boss was going to be one man down, but if they took a defensive stance and drew out it's sword attack, then this should be rather simple.

The battle of attrition continued, as they fended off the shadows and everyone put up whatever buffs they had, but only until Ayano chimed in with the results of her scans on the enemy. Instead of just telling the team like Megumi often did, a holographic diagram of the boss suddenly appeared before everyone, displaying some important information on it: it had no glaring elemental weakness, and the prince and princess were separate entities. Beyond that, Sato didn't see much helpful on it. Was that really it?

The answer was no, Sato was wrong. Megumi quickly pointed out that it had a loose grip when it swung its sword, and hitting its hand while it attacked was, well, suggested. Doing so would hopefully disarm it, and even if it was temporary, having such an advantage would really allow them to launch a powerful offensive. Of course, who would do it? Healers obviously couldn't in case disaster struck, and breaking up the front lines was just inviting trouble into the vulnerable inside of their formation. So who wasn't doing either of those?



Oh. Well, it was going to be a lot more helpful than just haphazardly throwing spells at it, so Sato unsummoned his persona and clutched his bow tied. He felt bad about completely ditching the formation, practically unable to assist anyone from a range, but they weren't gonna win with what they had going, and this was one of the only chances they had at the moment.

Sato felt a bit nervous about going into the fray when everyone else was holding the fort so well, but he reminded himself of both the healers they had and the defensive buffs that had set up on the team. With that, he ducked out from between the spaces between his allies on the front-line, quietly sneaking out into the corner of the room. Nothing seemed to have noticed him due to being pre-occupied with all the fights going on, so he nocked an arrow and prepared to summon his Persona when the moment arose. He flashed a thumbs up to Rui, and then all he could do was wait for the rest of the team to bait the right attack.

Kotori Shirohane - Sapphire Inn: Royal Suite Main Room | Sunday, July 5 2015

Everyone seemed to be reeling under the effects of the princess' scream - but luckily, others were more capable of at least mitigating some of the effects. Sato and Akane both raised everyone's defensive and offensive abilities; somewhat offsetting the previous setback. In further good news, Ayano had managed to complete a scan of the shadow - but that good news quickly turned sour when it turned out that this particular shadow had no apparent weakness to exploit; instead being equally resistant to all elemental spells and physical attacks. On the other hand though, Ryan managed to help out with healing duties - albeit leaving Kotori feeling a little bit guilty for not doing as much on that front as the knight-fighting half was evidently hoping - whilst Kaminari was leading the charge against the knights quite capably it appeared.

Even as further information - apparently the Shadow prince and princess were separate entities - poured in from the ongoing detailed scans, the large Shadow went on the offensive and swang its blade at Akane - only for an arcing wave to follow the wide strike that seemed to miss her by far. Keeping an eye on her classmate, Kotori was prepared to cast a more powerful, albeit single-target, healing spell in the form of Diarama should she get hit or else continue with keeping everyone at peak performance with a wide-spread Media heal.

However, this particular exchange of blows proved to be exactly what Megumi needed to pick up on a small detail that they'd noticed earlier - specificially, the fact that the Shadow's grip was weak on its sword and thus provided an opportunity for disarmament if they managed to strike a well-timed blow. Needing to devote her full attention to ensuring everyone's well-being through healing - which kept Kotori on her toes and nervously looking out to see if anyone get seriously hurt whenever an enemy shadow made a move - she was a poor choice to make the strike. Meanwhile, Rui was providing and receiving cover for and from Akane - the two giving each other openings and stopping would-be hits as much as they could - which left Sato to go for the disarming shot, receiving the order from Rui to that effect.

As he moved out of line of sight from the large Shadow, Kotori hoped that it didn't have some additional trick up its sleeve that would endanger the current plan - taking away the Shadow's sword, even for just a few moments, would after all seriously reduce its offensive abilities and open up the chance for a hopefully decisive blow. And that was something which would be very welcome at this point, Kotori thought as she felt the by now familiar mental fatigue of the constant spell casting starting to creep up on her once again.

Akane Hanazawa // Sapphire Inn | Royal Suite - Main Room
Sunday, July 5th, 2015

It seems like their efforts paid off as Megumi managed to find something in regards to the way the shadow held the sword. With Megumi's suggestion, Rui tasked Sato as being the one to sneak behind the enemy and launch an assault. It was up to Akane and the others to act as bait and draw out the barrage. Which meant it was back on the attack again. Given how it managed to draw it out last time, there was only one choice. Summoning Setanta, "Kill Rush!" she commanded as she went on the attack, Katana raised.

The prince shadow met Akane's Kill Rush with a barrage of slashes of it's own, clashing each strike. They were going to take damage for this, but Sato had his chance. A well placed shot from a range, anything to strike the shadow's hand was the best course of action here. From this angle even Sato could see that the shadow's grip on the sword was loosened.

Meanwhile the other group was holding out against the knights. Kami called Ayano to request an air-strike to give them some breathing room as the knights suddenly began a much more focused assault, but the airstrike, an array of crimson flames, covered the field in front of them, making each knight that came at them a simple task.

The battle was nearing a point where a conclusion was within sights, but there were still a few things left.