Reverse Tarot - entrance

A levelled blade, that glint of moonlight drawn upon steel- oh, how the brat should have known this puppeteer's fondness of such DRAMATICS, and display. Those meaningless words, spouted along with it- an attempt to goad and distract. Appealed to him less. Especially so, when they should have both been VERY aware of how this would end... despite the lack of feeling expressed from the mask that covered his face, the sickening sensation of Selfish desire's glee would permeate throughout Phlegethon's inner sanctums. Drawing ever closer to what was once his own. "...This strength you have garnered through the years. Your resolve- it's amusing, how through it all.. None of it has fundamentally changed you."* He begins. Making a vague hand gesture, Shadows parting from the masses to come to his side. Though, they dared not move further beyond that. As they were not what would tear this boy to shreds. "Why, you haven't learnt a thing. Are you still not aware...?" A spark- licks of flame stirring beneat Sho's feet. Igniting into a tower of inferno- twisting, convulsing, a pillar of light that shot into the sky itself, parting the tide of darkness overhead. Albeit for a short moment. Barely visible over the walls- "It's rude to talk about those who are listening."

It would've been easy to let Kagutsuchi's words rile him up. In fact, that had to be what the smug bastard was counting on-- he could talk all he liked about how Sho hadn't changed, but the deity's love for pissing people off was still as prominent as it was a decade ago. As much as he wanted to retort, Sho knew he'd only be giving the deity what he wanted. Well, outside of that bit of extra power he held inside of him at the moment. At any rate, he wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction of a back-and-forth. Well, not that it didn't stop him from talking just to revel in the sound of his own voice... As the inferno burned, it might've seemed that Sho was engulfed at first glance-- maybe even incinerated, considering the fact that he no longer stood where Kagutsuchi's flames burned. Except, the god must've known that wasn't the case. On the opposite side of the corridor behind Kagutsuchi and his adoring public, Sho emerged from Tsukiyomi's void, rapidly changing cards— from the Moon, to the Emperor. "Odin!" In Tsukiyomi's place, the Allfather stood tall, striking the ground with the butt of his spear. Wild Thunder. The air around the corridor and the Shadows themselves surged with electricity, before lightning struck both they and their master with tremendous force from the sky, like the tower of fire before it.

5:55 PM

[ @Emily eats TWO lemons ]

Not a word in response, alas .... he had expected such. No, Kagutsuchi was well aware of this puppet's new potential. And here, he would allow for a display of strength from the other. Crowds of shadows, scattered to the winds. Sliced apart by sheer force- sparks of energy lingering as they dissipated, though Kagutsuchi's vessel stood ever still. All that had changed, a crack in the mask: cross slit pupil glaring through . This form was not corporeal in any capacity. After all, they weren't at the center. Not quite yet. And as long as that remained the case- The BRAT should be aware- his, was a losing game. Of course he was, why... the intention to keep selfish desire distracted until the others could find the two of them? It couldn't be more obvious. And as such, well... As much as it pained him so, he could not afford to play with his food, now. Could he? A scarlet fog, markedly thicker than what surrounded them would begin to leak out of his body. That true, unfiltered essence . No facade, no performance. Goal clear... Just. How long will this boy resist? It reaches out, - no, surges toward the redhead in a frenzy. Aiming to suffocate, surround , confuse- This needed to be done quickly. Should Narukami make his way here, things would be delayed. Even longer. [ @waffle | himbo collector ]

The Shadows were all obliterated, but as Sho could've guessed, the damage dealt to Kagutsuchi himself was more just cosmetic than anything else. A crack in the mask, with that eerie yellow eye peeking out from behind its shit-eating grin. What the hell would it take to slow the bastard down, at least? Probably more than Sho could muster up on his own right now. His greatest power was out of the question. Not enough time, and probably not enough energy to muster it up… but then, what was even the point of trying to hurt the deity? Flashing back to a memory that wasn't his own, Sho growled to himself. Minazuki tried the same exact thing on General Teddie, didn't he? Seemed like attacking Kagutsuchi's newest puppet worked about as well now as it did back then. Well, fuck. As much as he hated it, all he could hope to do was stall for time however he could; and his time was running out real damn quick. Kagutsuchi must've had his number, with the way the red fog rapidly approached Sho from the deity's form. Just from looking at it, he could tell; the deity was done messing around. Barrier skills wouldn't work on that— hell, fighting head-on at all was totally out of the question.

7:46 PM

Beyond the red fog, the only real option Sho had was plenty clear. With it in mind, he whipped around in the other direction and started sprinting forward, switching Personas off of Odin once again. "Heat Riser!" The buff kicked in near instantly as the redhead picked up the pace, his increased speed allowing him to outrun the pursuing fog for now. As soon as he came to the end of the corridor, he spun on his heel and turned right into the next. "Star, it's Crescent! If you can hear me, I'm in a real fuckin' bind here!" He called out as he bolted along the winding path, hoping against hope that the navigator could hear him. "Kagutsuchi's right on my tail, so tell everyone to regroup 'n get the hell outta here as fast as they goddamn can! I'll meet ya at the entrance!" As he finished that sentence, it felt like he'd been lying through his teeth. Maybe that was the case, but if he didn't make it out of this… the least he could do was just make sure the losses didn't count above one. Soon enough, outrunning his pursuer probably wasn't gonna work out, anyway. Another wall could pop up in front of him at any second, right? Box him in, and then there'd be no stopping the bastard from taking what he came for. Sho could just see it now… ugh. The worst part of it would be hearing him gloat, no question. Fucker never knew when to shut up. Although, Sho wasn't really one to talk, considering that he was one to talk. Oof. Even his jokes weren't working right now... In the event that he was finally cornered, with nowhere left to run, all he had was one final card to play. Well, more like two, if he wanted to get technical about it. It was all he could really think of that might even have a sliver of a chance at hurting Kagutsuchi, and if it didn't? It was one last "fuck you" before he either passed out or died.

Cascading down the walls- from the looming red skies itself, tides of ebon swirl- ravenous hoards, slack jawed, wild-eyed, aiming to cut off the boy at every turn, to direct him where he needed to go, thousands of arms splaying from the gelatinous mass. Many entities acting as a writhing whole, a hivemind- within this wretched shadow nest. Their eyes, all windows of view for their overseer, and those in pursuit of Sho would echo his sentiment. He wasn't above gloating, that may have been true. But all that can be heard from them, cacophonous laughter. Voice harsh- growing more manic by the second. How he'd longed for this. The reclamation of power- of course. but this pursuit. This tangible fear- ah! lurking in the darkness may have been all worth it for this orchestra of discord, but here.. he could once more take to the stage. A centerpiece of a grand performance. a tide of crimson came in tandem with the shadows' rampage, as that blood red would gather- becoming thicker as it grew closer from all sides... One wrong turn, and it would all come to an end. And this was no longer a game. "...We both know how this will end, dear puppet. though, It was a pleasure to see you dance by my whims, one last time... " (edited)

As every possible escape route was cut off one after the other, forcing Sho to spin on his heel and turn in another direction before the next path was walled off by the deity's ravenous masses again and again, he found himself getting increasingly irritated at the sound of the bastard's laughter, echoing off of every goddamn wall that was crawling with his stupid little minions. Couldn't lose his nerve, though, not yet. Had to stay alert, look for some way out, there HAD to be a way out! Except… no. No, this was it. Before he knew it, he couldn't see a thing beyond that goddamn fog; not like it would've made any difference without the fog, considering he was getting cut off at every turn anyway. God, what a pain in the ass… clearly, Kagutsuchi wasn't going to budge on keeping the wildcard exactly where he needed him to be. Much to his annoyance, Sho didn't have much of a choice in it either, what with Phlegethon being the piece of shit's domain and all. Knowing it to be the end of the line, Sho halted his mad dash in its tracks, taking a glance all around him at the approaching fog and Shadows. "Fuckin' hell…!" He bared his teeth at the pursuers. Much as he would've wanted to save it for a little later, the last resort he'd been thinking up was already the last option he could've hoped for. All he could do was fight to his last breath like the cornered animal he was made to be by Kagutsuchi. Oh, well… it was at least more fun than continuing to run for his life. There were many worse ways to go out than making a final stand against the most annoying god there ever was. If he was lucky, though… this final trick would be a damn good signal flare for the others, if they were quick enough to get to him before he bit the big one.

2:37 AM

"Alright, alright already!" Sho splayed his arms out wide, hands up in a mock surrender gesture as he glared into the fog. "Spare me the fuckin' monologue, ya clingy bastard. I ain't gonna run anymore, since you're just so desperate to get your power back. Speakin' of which…" Above the palms of each open hand, two Persona cards materialized with the telltale blue glow around them. One of the Star arcana, the other of Judgment. "You want it so bad?! Here!" As he shouted, Sho crushed both cards within his fists, prompting Helel and Satan to appear on his left and his right respectively, blue auras raging against the crimson fog. "Hope ya fuckin' choke on it!" With a final roar of defiance, Armageddon was cast, shaking the ground underneath Sho's feet as everything that surrounded him was engulfed in an almighty storm of bright blue thunder and fire. Just like with the fog, Sho couldn't see beyond the destruction of the fusion spell, but he hoped that this'd be enough to slow Kagutsuchi down and destroy a big enough area around him, maybe even the walls barring some of the others from getting to him. There was no question that everyone else would be able to hear and maybe even feel the impact of the attack from where they were, at least. When the dust finally settled, the rightfully huge energy cost of the attack had hit Sho like a train– even with a passive skill to cut the toll it took in half, that was just about all he had left to muster up right now. From here on out, the rest would have to be up to them; Yu, Adachi, everyone… all Sho could do now was place his faith in them, whether they could get him out of this or not. If he didn't make it out, at least he could take comfort in the fact that he'd be avenged… maybe.