Fandom Persona 5: The Meta War CLOSED

[Nellancholy]

Countess was tenacious, that was for sure. Like a parasite or tumor that you just couldn't get rid of. Fear and contempt mixed in Heartbreak in equal measure as she eyed her for a moment, taking in her maniacal speech. Was this in itself some kind of attack? It could be considered no less than an assault on reason in so few words. More baffling still that Tragedy would play along with her ridiculous role. Perhaps...only a twisted mind like hers could be so cruel.

Was she going to persist as surely as Phoenix did? Heartbreak had fought him to a standstill (or so she would think), but she was in no shape to offer the same resistance again, certainly not against a foe who nullified her main means of attack.

But she had to persist, for the sake of Tragedy, and the others. A cornered rat would bite, and she had lived as a rat for long enough.

Countess resumed her assault, Bathory slashing with her fan at Tragedy while hurling crystallized blood at Heartbreak. It looked like she would have to split her efforts as well.

"You declare this romance? You know little of what love is." Thrud bent one wing and turned, using it to shield herself. The shards of blood shattered on impact, though hard enough to damage Thrud's metallic wings. But she could work with that. With both hands, Thrud grabbed the falling fragments of her own feathers, infusing them with what power remained from the Megido. Her posture resolute, she leapt towards Countess valiantly, holding the irradiated metal fragments like daggers aimed straight at her chest.

Heartbreak, for her part, could thank her own foresight in making sure that she had reloaded her gun. This would have to count. Taking advantage of Thrud tying up Countess herself for the moment, she held up her heavy weapon again and clamped down the trigger, aimed at Bathory. A stream of bullets plinked off her expanded fan, potentially exposing her to attack and throwing her off balance, making her far less likely to complete her sweeping slash.

Anthem Maeve Valor

 

[Azurian Dream]

~Disturbing the Disturbed~
Maeve Valor Anthem Nellancholy

Cryptic could only watch out in the distance as Tragedy, and Countess continued their bloody dance. The smaller boy was still pretty far away, and with such constant movement he wasn't going to catch up anytime soon. Quickly this was becoming a problem as more, and more he watched the matador girl bleed Tragedy while he in turn did the same showing signs of chaotic nature that in turn fueled the Kuchisaka-Onna's drive to chase him back. Just like in her legend if Tragedy didn't say yes to her beauty she would kill him. Yet the bizarre nature of her taking Tragedy's bullet was a perplexing sight... why would she take damage?

"I think we should immediately implement some sort of kickstarted cease and desist from her allegations of infatuation," Cryptic yelled out to Tragedy letting him know he was closing in on the scene. Thankfully.... no horrifyingly Countess would not register the boys presence as Countess proceeded to steal the upper hand gouging a straight line into Imato's cheek. Pure fear, and adrenaline filled the smaller boy witnessing the gory intent of this yandere in action as she acted like this was her declaration of love. Were the legends of Kuchisaka-Onna infectious? Would Imato become one of them... would the internet tolerate a male Kuchisaka-Onna as proof of zombie like spread of disease? These were the thoughts Isao had to concentrate as the brutal display of self harm, and harming another swayed back and forth between Countess and her trapped ichored love Tragedy. The limits of pain seemed to not exist for the girl mixing into a sense of pleasure created a gut wrenching sick reaction that made the small boy want to puke, but he had to keep watching as he tried to close the distance picking up more speed.

Someone had to pull Tragedy out of this madness..., and fast. The showers of blood seemed to freeze before vacuumed onto Countess's body some form of extra layered armor making itself known as Countess revealed her perfected style of monstrosity. Her moves skills were now beyond what they knew as she threw out new attack measures. Prior notes on her were now useless.

Not to fair away above the road farther ahead Isao noticed in the distance a familiar wagon bulleting for the fight as at first he was in fear of it being reinforcements, but upon the sight of Heartbreak things quickly turned around as that sickening feeling in his stomach lessoned. They now had the numbers on this vampire wannabe.

"Alright... quite the protector complex you got their shield maiden....," Shadow Takeshi hesitantly laughed a bit scared by Heartbreaks resolve. Yet even in the wake of overuse the shield was still ready to arms as the three shadows watched her without a doubt in her mind reloaded her gun with extreme intent as the cart came to a aggressively halting stop. Like a hip shot bullet they watched Heartbreak blitz onto the battlefield as Thrud arose again on the field of battle like a true Valkyrie.

Her war-cry was a thing to witness as her attacks begun pulling Tragedy out of the madness he was seeping into. Cryptic could only thank her later for making the distance before something worse had happened. The fight continued to move away from him, but he was making the distance enough to stay out of Countesses sight. As the duo fought with Almighty infused weapons Cryptic closed in further on the fight waiting for the ample moment.

"Vampire on sight," Cryptic, cryptically called out as he started to speed up more not towards the distracted Countess, but straight at Elizbeth Bathory herself.

"Time to file a thoroughly filled restraining order, and gavel it into approval. Count of Monte Crisco... Iceborne Hammer," Like a spinning speeding saw blade Cryptic summoned the Counts ghostly gloves as it sent a chilling wave up from Bathorys right side encasing it in ice. Using his tanto like a Ice Pick Cryptic spun like a shuriken shattering the ice multiple times all over the vampiric persona before reaching her face sending him hurdling up above. The gloves of the count came together in finger lock as rest of the ice magic expanded around them fusing them to the tanto's blade turning them into a imposing block of bufu in the form of a hammer fit for someone fighting monsters.

"HUH??? LOOK TRAGEDY I TOLD YOU HE'S DEFINITELY THE MOTHMAN LOOK LOOK SEE I TOLD YOU WE NEED TO CATCH HIM FOR STUDY," Unfortunately at the apex of the speedsters combo, and even with the metaverses increase of strength Isao wasn't able to keep his composure as he was distracted by the flaming events out in the distance as Phoenix fed into Isao's delusional theory's with the Mothman chasing him burning up in a extremely devastation attack. To excited at the worst time instead caused gravity to catch up pulling Cryptic with the falling hammer fast in a path to collide the makeshift weapon straight on top of Elizabeth Bathory's temple.

"CHARGE," the three wagon bound shadows suddenly came rolling in unleashing a torrent of firework rockets that proceeded to explode on, and all around Countess creating a major smokescreen effect. Along with taking out very few of her ichor needles that were intended for Heartbreak while also assisting in distraction the Valkyries brutal gun totted charge.

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~The Prize Delivered, & The Prize Yet Claimed~
Maeve Valor

Arachnee watched Prophet with calculating intent. The boy was troubling, and quick witted thus the longer she watched him the more she was tempted to simply take him out instead of guarding him... yet she had annoyingly promised her favorite water toy money maker this favor. Thus she couldn't do much, but wait in annoyed silence with the lumps she had earned from their shared fall.

Prophet wasn't one much to talk either given the more he was stationary the longer he kept the problematic spider out of the field. This wasn't a method one would normal attain to as the longer he held to it the potentially worse it could get. For now though it gave the operation breathing room costing both sides numbers. Oddly enough Oracle hadn't checked in on him, and that was the part currently eating at him as well furthering his silent thoughts. His stationary placement on her scans should have bothered her, but he had received no such signals of concern. Something was eating her attention, and that worried him more than anything else... had something gone wrong?

Moving now would only trigger Arachnee to act, and given his current tied up condition he would come out of it only worse for wear which helped no one. No, patience he had to be patient until a opening presented itself... unfortunately that opening wouldn't come any time soon as a very familiar voice exuded charmed delight his way. Though he could barely see it the side sight of Syren forming seemingly out of nothing was now a major concern.

From what he could gather someone had been delaying her, but had been escaped by the slippery girl. Panther came to mind meaning hopefully she would arrive herself soon if he was lucky. For now he would have to bet on a strategy built on luck as the girl he had little original interaction with gave her full attention to him.

"Another sin to confess," he asked trying to keep hold of the scenario knowing there were many unfavorable ways this could play out with her trident pointed right at him. Her fever pitch for what he had done to Fixer someone clearly important her well laced in his memories of that first encounter... she was hurting in a emotional way. Meaning she was currently unpredictable.

"Not sure yet haven't gotten to know you. Seems you plan to fix that though... I can only assume this was all for you," he spoke eyeing Arachne's intentions now visible in its reasoning. He had been routed on purpose..., but again this was a positive negative. Two of the Meta Mercs had concentrated on him meaning the rest had less to work against, if the cost of success was himself than he would play the part flawlessly.

"By all means you have my attention I am just hanging around after all," he expressed staying rather calm all things considered. Arachnee however was a bit unnerved by his attitude looking at Syren.

"Just be... careful. This ones to clever for my liking. So make sure you get what you want, and weed him out alright keke," her laugh was short as she was hesitant to leave her friend, but given what Syren had spoken of early it meant another annoyance was on their way to this location giving Arachnee another fly to swat into her webs.

"Have fun, but not to much kekekeke," Arachnee smiled before jumping onto the walls before climbing up onto the rooftops disappearing from sight.

"You two seem to be close," Prophet noted aloud.

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~No Risks Past This Point~
Maeve Valor

As the disorientation finally started to clear, and the screen finally locked on back to proper projections Oracle found her headache beyond bearable as she winced trying to hold Necronomicon together. The static around the persona only lasting for a moment as Futaba fought past the pain. Stabilization resumed as Mona got up finishing his revival of Swan before declaring his totally not simp reasoning to leaving the girls to save another not in danger... girl.

"Duuuuude not cool," Oracle groaned in pain plopping onto her control board as she looked at all the fixated locations. Seemed things had gotten a little out of hand, but she could tell two of the meta merc's for whatever reason were gone only leaving three on the board. That was a positive start to the reboot from her last check at least. As she looked out into her screens visual something was clearly happening to the mental wall. As such with regret, but much needed intent she had Necronomicon lift itself up into the air heading towards it to see what else may need work.

That was when the projection caught onto the bigger fight with Tragedy, Cryptic, Heartbreak... and... some shadows? Yep even after rubbing her eyes she was indeed seeing shadows fight along side the three Phantom Thieves against the Matador nutso chick. Yet before much else could be checked Swan approached the board locking on the sight of Tragedy who seemed to have been brutally...

"HOLY SHIT WHAT HAPPEN TO HIS FREAKING FACE WHY IS IT MATCHING HIS NAMESAKE," Oracle yelled completely creeped out getting a quick glimpse of something rather disturbing as his lip flaps moved with unnatural intent. It was than Swan proclaimed her intent to join the fray which caused the girl to pause and look her over... she was serious.

"What? Hell no you are in no condition to assist anymore," Oracle immediately argued locking Swan with all understandable intent as the sealing of Mona's exit trapped Swan inside.

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~Two Cats In A Web~

As Panther took her leap away form the tentacles taking a moment to breath a onlooker would watch Mona joining the fray. Both Phantom Thieves would find their path overwhelmed with webs all around the area extremely limiting their chase until eventually... Syren slipped completely away. The amount of webbing grew in numbers making their forward paths extremely limited, and narrow until.

"Hello little treats. Come to join my webs with your friends? I already got one of you so two more will definitely be a delight for a night kekeke," Arachne's boastful taunt would echo all around as a tension of position suddenly saw many of the wires tighten up into a cage like trap. Numerous solo weaves of webbing would latch onto them pulling them up before they were tossed around like a spinning hurricane.

"GARULA," the webs would get vortexed in vacuuming the sticky trapped Mona, and Panther into a spinning disorienting ride as they were pulled through a few builds in a funnel carnival of madness before crashing into each other conjoined by the webs as Arachne high on her rooftop perch upside down pointed, and laughed at them.

"Kekekekekekekeke.... huh.... oh well look what the cats dragged in... little miss red back for a rematch," Arachnee hissed in delight fixating on Panther in particular the girl that had caught her off guard saving Heartbreak, and Tragedy from her combos before Abyss took all the fun. A deviously enticed smile spread from ear to ear as she slowly lowered herself flipping onto her feet upright as her extra limbs reformed into her scythe.

"Well than lets see who the better predator is shall we," she spoke not moving strangely almost unnervingly waiting for the conjoined fighters to make a move.
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[That Weird girl]

Panther was relieved to see Morgana coming towards her as opposed to those mercs. The cat’s words made her smile and she was happy he was here. Syren couldn’t stop both of them! But she was instead greeted by spider webs only meaning one thing…Arachne.

Well, this was certainly a surprise for the red clad thief. She didn’t expect to be caught in a bunch of webs with Morgana. Her path was clearly limited by the various webs scattered about. Out of all the meta mercs she met, Arachne was perhaps the most interesting because of her spider abilities. Of course, Panther had yet to meet more of the Meta Mercs since they seemed to get in the way of their goals. The only one that wasn’t that bad was Roadkill but he wasn’t here right now.

Panther couldn’t react in time as the webs weaved around them like a cocoon wrapping them together. “Shit, Mona!” Panther yelped but it was too late as the pair was wrapped in a web. This was worse and worse every second for the pair. Panther truly felt like this was the closest her and Mona had ever become, literally. She had a feeling the cat would enjoy this.

The spider mercs voice would of course make Panther angry since she knew the person she was talking about was Prophet. The red clad hero wanted to save her new found ally but she couldn’t in the current predicament. Unfortunately for her things would take a turn for the worse.

“GARULA!”

Panther felt herself being violently spun around in a vortex of webs with her cat companion. They were both pulled through a funnel and crashing into each other. Panther groaned as she tried to get up but found she was stuck to Mona with webbing.

“Just shut up!” She glared at the spider merc and tried to take out her sub machine gun but her arm was stuck to Mona’s back. Panther internally panicked and tried to get her arm unstuck to no avail.

“Mona, we are going to need to do something about this, any ideas,” Panther said to the cat as she attempted to separate from him.

Anthem Azurian Dream

 

[Anthem]

- Tragedy

A romantic moment? The thought made Tragedy smile a touch, but now wasn’t the time to worry of such things as the bloodied royal before them grew ever more a threat to their plans. His strike had hit true, which was surprising to the boy at the end of the day… perhaps the extra training he had done with his weaponry had paid off in the form of deadly accuracy? Bathory would be sure to bring an end to the calm feeling spreading through his chest as she approached, blades extending to clash with both user and persona. Heartbreak couldn’t protect him this time as she was dealing with the girl of the Empress arcana herself. Tragedy would take a deep breath as he would close his eyes, Loki faded back into the ether leaving only the user as he clutched his threaded cane tighter than ever.

Crimson digits darted open as he brought the weapon into its cane form, the shots from Heartbreak’s firearm would strike against Bathroy’s fan allowing the boy just enough leeway to lock weapons with the persona, entering a mighty clash. “You’re past your prime… you damned hag!” Tragedy yelled at the Bathory, keeping the bloodied royal in place as ice from Cryptic encased the cognitive form, allowing the fool to jump back and catch his breath. In awe, the albino teen would watch as the speeding bufu user cut through the ice like a fine blade before rising high… high into the air. Named moves huh? Now this was something he could get on board wi-

“Wait what-” Tragedy’s attention would be taken to where Cryptic’s was, beholding the sight of a burning sky as there was something… someone was escaping to who knows where. That wasn’t important, the fool quickly spun on his back foot to look at Cryptic who was now falling via the mighty iced weapon he created, just for gravity to take hold instead. “Shit.” Cursing under his breath, the brute would put his weapon upon his back and prepared to burst forth. And when the ice weapon shattered upon impact with the persona, Tragedy launched from his position to catch Cryptic before Bathory was given the chance of counter-attack “Nice one! But make sure you finish the attack before you start fanboying next time, aight?” The fool quipped as he put his ally on his feet, turning to bear witness to the shadows creating a mass smokescreen to cover the battlefield… leaving a wicked idea in the mind of the fool.

“My turn!” Tragedy would run towards the dazed Bathory, putting out his arms as he tried to carry some of the smoke towards the bloody royal. Jumping around in the same movements of an all-out attack, a sphere of smoke started to surround Bathory as the boy could help but let out a sinister chuckle. “Say your prayers! Critical… IGNITION!” The fool yelled out as he whipped his threaded can forward, the metal of the weapon clashed against itself creating sparks… igniting the unburnt fuel within the smoke’s fumes. The sphere of smoke around Bathory ignited in an explosive flame, leaving the persona wounded and Tragedy’s weapon enchanted once again. “I guess paying attention in science was worth the bore..!”

---

- Mona

Webs… Webs could only mean one thing. Mona grew dreadful as he ran alongside his fellow thief as they attempted to catch Syren though to little avail as the fish was able to slip from their reaching grasps completely. Instead, the blondie and the faux-neko had been ran into the wicked clutches of a different merc entirely as winds started to whip and howl, coming to life all around them. Thanks to his own affinity to the winds, the lucky thief wasn’t damaged harshly by the sudden Garula but that didn’t stop him from being caught up within the webbing as he was stuck to one of the ladies he admired… though not in a way he could say he was particularly fond of.

The spinning had heavily disoriented Mona, causing his usually blue eyes to be replaced by comedic swirls as his head felt like it was going to twist off his little body. “Panther…. close…” Mumbling under his breath due to still being rather dizzy, it would take a moment for the baka-neko to finally come back to the situation at hand out of the daze. Mona struggled against the webbing for a few moments with no signs of ripping, he wasn’t nearly as strong as Shiro or Imato so there was no way he could simply just bust out of these confines. “I don’t think I can do anything… Wait…” The cat’s hands were confined, yes, but that wasn’t a problem as he differed from his fellow thieves in one amazing way. He hadn’t the need to rip off a mask to summon his persona.

“Zorro!” In a flash of blue flame, the masked gentleman would appear and use his rapier to dice through the webbing that entrapped him and his latex-clad ally so tightly. With a deep breath, Mona would take his scimitar and slice away at the webs nearby to open up the tight passageway a bit so Panther could hopefully summon Carmen. “You hold her weakness, Lady Panther! I’ll do all I can to assist you!” Violent winds started to surround Zorro’s saber as the baka-neko spoke, readying himself for whatever lay ahead. Perhaps if Panther started a flame, he could fan it into a great wildfire…

 

[Maeve Valor]

Surprisingly, the young man didn't seem fazed in the slightest that he had a sharp weapon pointed down at him as he was defenseless. This only got more on her nerves as she pulled her trident back as if she were about to fully plunge it towards him, but instead stabbed it into the ground. Syren then began to pace in front of Prophet from side to side as she continued on by saying, "Yes, we're pretty close. Why do you ask? Do you plan to banish Arachne as well? What's one more person close to me going to do, right?"

The agitated merc suddenly stopped to obviously feign a change of heart by placing the back of her hand over her forehead dramatically. "Oh, but I should be more understanding, shouldn't I? From what WarSong told me, she believes that are still pretty new to the Metaverse despite still having been able to defeat Fixer. Tell me oh Prophet blessed by such strength..." With a honeyed tone to her voice she climbed onto the web and cuddled up next to him over one side of his outstretched arm. "Do you even know what happens to a persona user after they've been killed in the Metaverse?"

Without even waiting for an answer, the seductress flipped her leg over to sit on top of him while simultaneously letting one of her armbands quickly restructure itself to the shape of a gun, creating something similar to a small sleeve handgun. "They get banished, and when they are banished, they forget everything that they've said and done for the duration of their time in the Metaverse. When you have been a persona user as long as some of us, if you get banished I'm sure you can guess how the details of your real life can get mixed up with your Metaverse life. Fixer is most likely confused with his living situation in the real world and along with that, he's forgotten everyone... that includes me!" The girl noticeably shook as if she were actively trying to keep herself from pulling the trigger.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Swan attempted to make a full-on dive out of Necronomicon right up until Oracle closed off the exit, causing her to lightly bump into where it once was. In frustration slammed the side of her fist onto the inside of Necronomicon. "Damn UFO, you aren't helping your case on why I should ever trust extraterrestrial shit! I don't care if you're just a persona, I don't like you!" Swan yelled, making it clear that she was oddly speaking directly to Necronomicon before then kicking the wall(?) with a metallic clink.

"Oracle, I'm warning you, you have about thirty seconds before I start cursing the fuck out of this place!" Swan demanded, holding no water to that statement. She did not have enough energy to even do an Eiga attack at this point let alone forcing another persona to do as she says. For the duration of the time that Swan had been aquainted with Oracle, she has presented herself as calm. As well as a person that thought before acting. This was seemingly out of character for the Phantom Thief. It was evident that Swan cared deeply for her comrades since she all but abandoned her collected demeanor.

It only took Swan a moment to think her empty threat wouldn't hold weight against the intelligent girl so Swan tried to be more convincing by going on to say, "We are on our own, no help is coming, and we are getting our asses kicked. I can't just sit around while everyone else is fighting for their life. I rather go out there and risk banishment alongside them, than play it safe by staying in here. If Prophet was on the verge of banishment, wouldn't you want to do the same?"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When the Valkyrie stabbed into Countess, she reflexively extended out her claws to attempt to embed them into the wings of Thrud to prevent her from stabbing into her heart as well as using the enchanted weapons to pour every bit of desperation she could muster into this move. She then dragged her claws downward to try and shred the wings. After which once her claws got towards the bottom of the wings, she headbutted the persona while simultaneously pulled away, striving to rip at least some part of the wings off.

In the meantime, Bathory took significant damage from Heartbreak's maneuver that caused a chain reaction to one side of her getting frozen by the Count of Monte Cristo. As Cryptic did consecutive unrelenting blows on the restrained persona Bathory, she tried her best by stabbing into the ice to set herself free, but of course it was a futile attempt as the amount of wounds she received grew. Then with Cryptic's Iceborn Hammer, Bathory arched back as blood poured from the top of her head, down her forehead, and around either side of her nose. Following this was Tragedy's Critical Ignition which, much to Countess' surprise, caused a blast strong enough to blow off one of Bathory's forearms.

Countess reeled from feeling the damage done to Bathory in response to this attack as Bathory intriguingly looked down at her arm which revealed a starch white interior showing that Countess was not the only one who has a secondary layer while a crack formed up the rest of her arm. Bathory suddenly shot a look at the only one who has not bled during this fight, Cryptic. Now turning her attention to him, the "blood" that came from the end of the open wound formed into something similar to a thorned whip that wrapped around Cryptic before she pulled back with what was left of her arm back that was attached to the whip, trying to make the thorns scratch around him. With her other hand still grasping her fan, she threw out more blood from the bladed parts of the fan towards Countess who was far on the other side of the roadway.

As soon as Countess stabilized herself she held out one set of her claws to link the blood to the appendages. The look on Countess' had now become serious as she stated, "It seems like you all aren't fucking around, so I guess it's only fair that I don't either!" The strands of blood linked up then hardened to create a sharp side. The two then ran at the opposing forces at each side of the street with long, bloody razors in tow between them seemingly about to slice them all up horizontally.

 

[Nellancholy]

"Rrrrgh...!" A guttural snarl escaped Heartbreak's throat as she pulled all her fading strength into Thrud's struggle with Countess. A cornered animal would risk every last chance it had to claw and bite, and Countess was probably rarely pushed to this point. Even so, her bloody claws and sadistic strength were able to barely fend off Thrud's attacks, rending her resilient steel armor to pieces in the process.

On the other hand, Heartbreak's diversion gave Tragedy a far better opportunity, faring well against Bathory and landing a few decisive blows on her. In her desperation, she grabbed onto Cryptic, no doubt aiming to draw more blood from his wounds while donating some to heal her main body. Thanks to those efforts, Bathory and Countess were barely able to rally, forming up for a final assault.

This would be the clash that determined the day's confrontation: and if victory did not fall to the thieves, the Mercs would be nowhere near as merciful as they would. The two came at the Thieves with bloody razors, stretched wide. It was an attack that would be fatal against surrounded, weakened opponents. But an unfortunate oversight against an opponent who could maneuver in the air.

Thrud turned, the remains of her armor splintering as she grabbed Heartbreak and blasted into the air. With that single, massive exertion, her metallic wings reached their limit, shattering into tiny metal shards at the peak of her flight. It would be impossible for her to fly any further today, but this position may have been sufficient.

"This is it..." Heartbreak had nothing more to say at the moment. From her elevated position, she had one chance to attack as they closed in. In this moment, she chose to focus on Bathory, more damaged still than Countess' own body. No one here could choose to ignore damage to their Persona for long.

As she reached the peak of Thrud's ascent, she leveled her machine gun, dumping the remainder of the ammo belt at Bathory in a stream of hot lead. And then: the fall. Separating from Thrud, Heartbreak did a somersault, building up momentum, and...letting her lance loose, hurling the heavy shaft of metal straight at the blood-soaked Persona.

Regardless of the success of the attack, she could use a landing strategy, and quick.

Maeve Valor Anthem

 

[Azurian Dream]

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~Interrogation or Confession~
Maeve Valor

At first it seemed she aimed to end it all rather quickly, however, while most would be in a panic on the spot Prophet in particular simply watched her body language. If it had been that Arachnee girl he would have believed the realm of the threat her body language screamed someone willing to go for the kill if not torture, but this newer one? The one that had gone straight for him in their last excursion here? She had full control last time to yet she faltered upon his original answer... she was conflicted on how to go about this. It was bizarre even for Prophet how this Syren was acting she seemed to want some form of revenge on him specifically for the Meta-Merc FIxers downfall, yet when she was close something held her back genuinely like moral conflict it almost seemed. As such her trident disappeared, and again she was conflicted moving side to side with Prophet following her movement like a swaying clock before finally she spoke.

"Curiosity really. Know your enemy, and such," he spoke to her first question acting as if he was the one running the actual interrogation at hand. She was getting sporadic with her next few lines accusing him out for blood, to hunt, to get even, and such with what she was doing now. Agitation blooming in her words... she wanted a reason to strike now at the moment? Didn't she have enough to already do so? Why was she reaching for kindling to a fully formed flame? What would she do if she had it?

"Well it would allows us more time to talk wouldn't it," the rather dark answer was hard to interpret. Was it a threat? A joke? Hell it could have even been taken as a bizarre flirtation really, or even a hand of companionship reaching out to someone in a struggling bind. For all these things it could be though it was both what Syren wanted a trigger, but at the same time a major distraction for thought to its meaning without anything else to follow. Prophet watched the girl stage her play chastizing Prophet in the realm of a greek tragedy... it was actually pretty impressive a performance. For all its mockery it held its wait with her words as her voice sweetened the performance with a tone well practice.

To his best bet Prophet imagined she had to entice or convince people quite often to switch like that so fast. Who was War Song? Before he could make his own questions prominent he felt the twist of the web tilting him for a moment the other way as Syren climbed up asking her next question as she laid against his upper side. Yet again he wasn't allowed to speak as she answered for him her legs flipping to sit atop him in a very suggestive manner... this was definitely not how one usually took to interrogation. He watched as she pointed her transforming firearm at his rather clever a device... he was impressed. However the impression was short lived as she started to tremble... she wanted to pull the trigger... with every detail she wanted to pull it. The pain behind her voice was very evident just like last time, Prophet took someone from her that was her world, that probably took care of her like no one else had. Yet it was with that he knew how to answer her...

“There is love in me the likes of which you've never seen. Yet there is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied in the one, I will indulge the other," just as Syren had taken her lines to mockery of a playful act he had instead made a serious read on her actions with his own act quite.

"Frankenstein. I have a odd habit of matching people to books I like to which for me have been about monsters. Frankenstein faced a level of rejection, and dissociation having boundless love for the world but rage towards the rejection of man. No one suffers worse than them. The ones people ignore, yet use just to throw them out, shunned from once they came, now broken from the abuse in the end. I would know, I consider myself one as well in truth. A rejection, and in truth it allows me to see the pain in others though I can't understand it myself," Prophet expressed no tricks no maneuvers just blunt honesty... that was the best way to keep her here away from the others.

"I don't really know the Phantom Thieves all that well. Yet, I can tell you each suffers in one way or another thanks to societies envy's. Stripping away what little they had as a original safety net. Leaving them to be the messes others want them to be.... malleable, and corruptible like the rest. I see that same pain in your actions, that same cry in your voice... so forgive me," Prophet spoke not of hostility, nor of resistance he was reaching out a understanding to how much hatred Syren had form him, and that he was willing to accept it.

"I had to play the monster to your story, but when that all went down... I realized something. I had no choice, but to do it," the webs started to shake, and tighten all around as Prophets hand started to pull against the strings all over his left arm the tension growing with each inch threatening to cut through his outfit probably even cut through own skin at this rate.

"Not because he would have killed them by choice, but because he would have to upon the same understanding I came to about them. That... that broken little group understands the pain better than most ever will," the strings started to cut though his cloth.

"They are the rejects, but they are the one trying to do something. Rather than let the system bleed along with those that abuse it to rot them or others to the core... they wouldn't stop throwing themselves at Fixer until they were dead... cause if they can do just one right to save another to not end up broken like them? They will die in that mission... just like me their broken, but not out," the strings started to cut into his skin bleeding him slowly as his hand neared the barrel of her gun.

"In the one unique strand of pain I can share with them... is that I will help them reach that goal even if it means I might die to let them live. I wont let them go to my extremes, but I wont let you end up like me... so forgive me," Prophet spoke still calmly almost completely insane as his hand gripped the barrel of her firearm halting the shaking allowing her to have a straight shot without jamming the gun in the process. Was that his idea... to let her go through with it? No he let the tension of his hand go forcing Syren into a extreme tug of war with the gun against his own strength, and the tension he had made with Arachnee's webbing.

"Because I have a lot of catching up to do to be even a inch near their level of worth. So I wont let you taint yourself over the mistakes of my existence," was this a distraction... not even Prophet could tell anymore, but he fought her for the gun as insane as it was to think this couldn't stop her with another weapon. He could have taken it in the direction of Fixer as the vocal point, but that didn't matter he was gone nothing would bring that version of him back. Prophet couldn't fix that, that was part of life... the lose. Yet in this moment she was concentrated with that single firearm on that single person meaning just possibly he could steal the upper hand if she was as distracted with her emotions as he thought she was.
.....................................................................................................................................


~The Necromatic Mad Truth~
Maeve Valor

Oracle watched with unexpected wide eyes as Swan went for a full on dive attempting to escape thankfully catching her at the beginning of it causing the curse user to lightly bang against the door. Though, the simplicity of the matter went right out the door as the rejection of exit caused the older girl to punch the Inside of Necronomicon's walls making Oracle flinch a bit as Swan yelled out some oddities even flat out directly speaking with to it before kicking at it aggressively causing Oracle to bite her lip. She couldn't let Swan out, not in this condition though she paused as something started to feed into her comms. Her attention was pulled only a for a moment as she closed her eyes in an unexpected formation of frustration.

"PULL YOURSELF OUT OF YOUR OWN ASS," without warning a tentacle swiped left snatching Swans arm restraining it in full grasp yet no other tentacles came to add to the restraint no it wasn't that... Oracle saw through the veil of Swan's lie her ability readings Swans data... Swan was completely spent even with items it wouldn't change the mental fatigue, and blood loss she had suffered at Crows hands. The one tentacle was all that was needed.

Yet its what Swan said next that finally triggered Oracle as she ran right for the bigger girl jumping her like a freaking spider monkey slamming them both into the ground as Oracle fought to be on top of Swan with the tentacle extending its reach to keep a hold of the older girl. Oracle proceeded to pull Swan up by the neck of her outfit as she hissed in frustration blood finally seeping from how much she had bitten her lip. Though instead of saying anything the screen swapped from the Countess fight to a rather different type of intense scene... a gun in someone's face... with a bloody arm holding onto it in a deranged struggle.

"How much? How much have you gained from each other? How better are you all for having each other. Soldiers die on the battlefield together, but family struggles to live together no matter what so which one is it," Oracle demanded of Swan to think about in her delusional situation as Prophets struggle played out fully on the string for Swan to bear. He was willing to die, but at this moment he was struggling to live... for them.

"Do you want to lose the part of them that made you better? Want to erase all that which you never knew you could have... cause I don't. Cause I can't save him without you all. He's so enamored with you guys you gave him a road he never consider... rebellion. So don't you dare insult the part of you that makes us want to care about you all by throwing it away. Cause if I let one of you die or be banished that will just stack on his conscious," Oracle's frustration with Swan death wish was in full bloom how could this cool big sis be such a idiot right now? This wasn't any of the way she had been before: Calm, collective, strategic, knowledge, badass none of that was present she was a complete insult to herself, and Oracle wasn't having any of it.

"My big bro will pull through no ones taking him down, and that's how you should be for them so no I wouldn't do the same I would flip the script right on its ass. You can't fight right now, but you can guide cant you. So I say again Big Sis pull your head out of your ass cause I reject to believe any banner of defeat is near us. You should to cause out off all these wackos your the most sane. So no you don't get to be the one being suicidal like them you need to be the one pulling them out of it so help me find this creepy hoes weaknesses. Cause I am your navigator so I will make sure to help you lead them to victory you got that," Oracle demanded of her big sis as he screen swapped back to the Countess as numerous piles of data collected onto the screen on Necronomicon's scans of Countess thus far.

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~Webbed Orbital~
That Weird girl Anthem

"Kekekekeke someone's in a foul mood," Arachnee jabbed stifling a notable laugh at how hilarious the two looked webbed together as they were. Panther was very willing to jump right back into their prior exchanges shoot out though again the webbing turned the scene comical as Arachnee unable to contain the torment of the divine comedy in front of her interrupt into a series of laughs pointing at them like a child overwhelmed by a clown. Surprisingly though she didn't halt the cats strategy to release them from their combined prison. As she snorted a bit at the end regaining her composure she sighed smugly as she spun her scythe around before pointing it at the duo.

"Neat little trick, little neko. Though you seemed to be confused on my weaknesses," Arachnee taunted as her mask burned With Jorogumo appearing above her like the stalker's predatorial monster it was with its limbs extended out ready to leap at them at the beck of its master. With one small pull back the arachnid taur monster launched above them.

"ABYSMAL SURGE," Jorogumo landed on the roof of the duo feline thieves unleashing a purple wave of despair energy. It was clear she wan't out for a all out fight like usually she was in it to capture them alive. Though the didn't stop her spinning around the second forefront leg of her persona to spin kick wildly at Panther while ushering another spell.

"Terror Claw," Jorogumo's hand expanded out into a terrifying set of bladed hands as it slammed down its hand aiming to squash Mona, or better slice him with fear. Arachnee was aware of their tricks, and figured if she didn't keep them at a distance they could turn the tables so for that she was going to make it hell for them to work off each other. Spinning atop to her Persona abdomen she proceeded to take pot shots at Mona, and Panther dancing around her larger persona using it like playground like shield.

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................

~Systematic Beatdown~
Nellancholy Anthem Maeve Valor

"I don't like that smile are you sure she didn't infect you," Cryptic mumbled as Tragedy caught him before chastising him on keeping his head in the game which felt very pot calling the kettle black. Indeed the following attack went into overkill mode imploding the materials at hand into a massive wide spread explosion. The attack was extremely flashy, and as Cryptic had suspected way overkill to the point it may have killed... yet Bathory still stood yet appeared heavily damaged at least. Something told Cryptic's senses that wasn't a good thing as that Critical Ignition should have been enough to top dispelling Bathory... they were a lot deeper in trouble than original thought. Cryptic turned to watch Thrud potentially turn the tides of the situation, but to everyone potential horrified sight Countess just like Abyss tussled the jet mecha persona. Attacking it like a wild animal Countess resisted.

"Count of Monte Crisco," Cryptic whispered summoning the duo hands prepping for a counter attack to assist the struggling persona as Countess began to rip into its metal work. Unfortunately that concentration gave Bathory her open as before his persona could act the strange boy was snatched by a whip of thorns before spun wildly like a pincushion with multiple puncture holes making their debut all over the smaller boys body. Cryptic yelped in pain burning in his voice as ever since the fight with Fixer/Haze/Slayer he had never taken this much damage all at once. Since that fight he had been way more cautious realizing his defense stat in this world was not as high as the other made up for by his speed, and magical attack/defense. Yet even through the pain as the gloves of the Count shot after their master he was able to pinpoint understand what Bathory's follow up would do.

"Halt the hemophages recovery," Cryptic scowled in pain spieling blood from his mouth as the gloves stopped at the half way point before turning around, and rocketing towards Countess. At first it seemed the duo arm wear would join the fray, but as the gloves blasted forward meeting a bit above Countesses height the expanded out interlocking fingers their mission became clear as they caught as much of the Bathory's shower of blood as possible from making its target. Unfortunately at best it may have snatched about 1/3 of that given, but any downgrade to fuel that hags recovery was much needed for the Phantom Thieves even at the risk of further damaging which Cryptic received as he was flung about by Bathory. Unfortunately it seemed Countess still had enough material to work with as in follow up to the madness of it all the blood demon unleashed a razor wire bladed attack

Yet Cryptics attention turned to Heartbreak, she was aiming to double down on Countess it seemed. Made sense if they could break Bathory, Countess would enter a shutdown phase for a moment giving them maybe a few seconds to strategize how to exorcise this monstrosity to bulls from hell. Agreeing upon the solution Cryptic once again gave command to The Count. The gloves broke their interlock jutting upwards towards Thrud before unleashing bufu energy imbuing a upgrade to Heartbreaks Lance a shiny yet chilling hue of blue before rocketing with her in the finale attack assaults. The Gloves of the Count formed fists protecting Heartbreak from counter actions especially the razor wires as they caught Heartbreak upon her attacking descent whisking her away from Bathory.

"Tragedy get me out of this thing fast," Cryptic called out having no defense of his own to protect himself from the razor wire attack while he was still trapped in the thorny whip. During all this chaos the wagon carrying the three shadows had been torn apart flinging the shadow trio about wildly as a series of explosions as the attack triggered the rest of their supplies minus the ones they were still carrying.

Yet even upon their crash with the ground Shadow Takeshi, Shadow Oppai, and Shadow Tabano were stubborn they wanted that ticket more than any other unaware of the falsehoods set by the Phantom Thieves their passion for their boss blazing with unnatural loyality as they got up scrambling from behind Bathory's blind spot making them come into view of Countess no doubt.

"SUPPORTIVE FIRE...um.... FIRE," Shadow Takeshi called out as the trio taking the best weapons they had brought. Festival theme firework rocket launchers with Oppai hilariously tanking two of them. With steady aim matching to professional respect they unleashed the four last shots they had. In a surprisingly spectacular via of sparks the rockets fly towards Bathorys' back making impact with the persona right as the Lance made its mark a intense spray of Bufu shards ignited off the lance hail marying Bathory in a combo attack as if the lance had turn into a chaos grenade.
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[That Weird girl]

Panther

"Good work Mona," Panther applauded as she could free herself go free and suddenly bounced to life as she debated on what to do. Summon Carmen and combo with Morgana or should she try to attack her. Panther could tell that she was trying to keep them at a distance but there were two of them and one of her. They could turn the tables in this fight if they could work off each other...

Panther braced herself for the attack by Joroguma as the persona the best she could. The despair energy hit her like a cold wind and caused her SP to drop. Panther couldn't respond as she was kicked back by one of the long legs across the roof. The latex Thief was ready to give up since the despair was hitting her. Panther stood up and stumbled a little bit as she struggled to keep her balance.

Panther ripped off her mask to summon Carmen and the persona would raise Morgana's defenses before the terror claw would hit him. Panther was out of luck since she did not have a very good typing against Arachnee. She summoned a flame and hoped that Morgana could turn it into a wildfire, and it could at least get her off of the persona for a moment.

Panther attempted to doge the potshots and some of the bullets ended up hitting her. A thought hit her as she thought that this might be the end for them. She was aware that Arachnee could easily end it if she wanted but didn't. Panther assumed that she wanted to capture them alive for whatever reason.

"Mona, I don't know how long I can do this," Panther admitted to the cat as she shot at Joroguma's legs to try and get the spider persona to fall down. This was her only option. left...she was growing weaker by the minute and without help she and Morgana would fall.

Azurian Dream Anthem