Level Upper [Battle/Layla]

[Layla Amare]

The shadow absorbed a little bit more of her energy. Layla bent over, bracing her hands against her knees in the aftermath of the drain attack. She could still keep going for awhile, but...how much longer was this going to take? The other shadow still didn't look like it was in particularly bad condition. The shadow talked again, saying more things that Layla didn't care about. "You haven't earned my respect yet. Which...is saying a lot, actually," she answered.

She stood straight again and fired off another localized lightning storm. More bolts of lightning came down as Layla stepped back, away from the shadow and from any chance of getting hit by her own attack. "Tell me something," she continued. "What's to stop me from just...walking away? Other than your energy drain attack, it doesn't seem like you can do much to hurt me."


Action: Mazionga

[Isaac Strazos]

This time when the Shadow was stuck by the lightning, his shoulders slumped forward even as he staggered back a few steps. He wavered from side to side a few times before starting to speak again. "Nothing besides yourself, I imagine. After all, I've limited myself entirely to non-lethal means of combat, while you seem intent on killing in some misguided attempt to avenge the fallen... or something of the sort. Who can say what really goes on in a human's mind?" Loki stood upright again, his usual condescending smile plastered across his face as he continued, "Or maybe it's just bloodlust. You don't value your own life, so you think nothing of robbing others of that gift. All you want to do is kill and kill until your mind has been numbed from all the senseless murder and you don't have to worry about useless things like emotions or a conscience anymore. Haven't you ever wondered why Shadows hunt humans with such vigor? It's almost as if they've been wronged in some way... but I'm sure such things don't interest you. Why would they? Knowing the motive might weaken that murderous ferocity that you humans cling to so desperately." Loki snapped his fingers, causing a red ring to appear around the girl's navel before vanishing immediately afterward.

Action: Provoke
If '1', Enrage is inflicted!
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1-2

[Layla Amare]

Finally, it felt like Layla was making progress. The shadow had been noticeably affected by the last attack, but she probably still had a ways to go. She just had to make it that far. And yet, the shadow continued to talk, having the nerve to claim he'd limited himself to non-lethal skills and that she was the one with bloodlust. Did he seriously think he had the moral high ground? After leading a group of people to their deaths? After attacking her on sight? After the promise of turning her into some experiment for his amusement? It didn't even matter if he was a shadow or not. No one like that had any kind of moral superiority.

Another lightning storm materialized almost of its own accord, sending more bolts of electricity down on the shadow, but otherwise Layla did no more than to calmly shook her head. "No. I do value my life. I value it more than someone like you could ever imagine. But when it's already been lost once, why should I fear death? I don't suppose someone like you could understand that, though, could you? After all, you didn't think anything of trying to kill me until you found out that I was immune to your attacks.

"And if I ever want to ask why shadows attack humans on sight, you certainly won't be the one I want to hear the answer from."

[Isaac Strazos]

After she shocked him yet again, he merely threw his head back and laughed, spreading his arms out to either side. "Ha! You see? You can't help but try and destroy that which you can't understand. How many of my brethren have you slain without a second thought? How many were merely acting in self defense to protect themselves from the ruthlessness of you humans?" He pointed his cane at the girl and let loose a small bolt of lighting just to prove his point, showing that he had more attacks at his disposal if he so chose to go that route, "Girl, if I wanted to kill you, you would be less than a scorch mark on the ground right now, whether by my own power or calling for the rest of the horde to return and tear you apart. But harming you isn't my intention- simply wearing you down until you're forced to listen to reason is."

Action: Zio

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya had already been feeling an unnatural presence around the airport for the longest time now, as if there were some abnormal amount of Shadow activity. Sure enough, as Sakuya concealed herself silently behind pillars observing the scene, she saw a familiar figure seemingly toying with a human. It was the man with a hat who told her not to harm anyone in exchange for money. And here he was trying to bully a young girl and trying to toy with her. It was clear from what Sakuya had been witnessing that the man tried to invoke her visage too, except that her doppelgangers always wielded scythes... The problem was, Sakuya never even wielded scythes in her life. She wielded a bolo. Apparently, the Shadow was trying to intimidate the girl. And he had used Light-based attacks.

Sakuya winced. It was one of her major weaknesses. Having been observing the scene the entire time, watching the two combatants fight each other, Sakuya finally stepped out into the fighting scene in clear sight, though she had been there for a very long time now. She had not changed into her Shadow form just yet. You're just a big bully, huh, Mister? Sakuya growled, recalling the name on the card she had gotten - a fellow by the name of Isaac. You tried to intimidate her who claims not to fear death, by invoking my image? You don't even know what weapon I use, Sakuya growled, whipping out her bolo. I don't use a scythe. I use this bolo. Do your goddamn research before you go around trying to bait humans into your sick behavioral experiments.

[Layla Amare]

"None of them," Layla answered plainly. She was already preparing another attack, another flare of light, as she gave her response. "Every shadow I've encountered so far has attacked me on sight, just like you have." She thought back on anything that could have remotely been called an exception. Both of the shadows which had appeared under the full moon, which had already started on small rampages and attacked her as part of a larger group. But even the second one had gone for her first. Then there was the tank, which was already distracted by Holly when Layla had arrived, and was shooting massive holes in the surrounding buildings before that. Layla had leaped to Holly's defense there, but it was still attacking someone on sight. "You act like you have some kind of moral high ground, but you only tried to understand me when destroying me didn't work."

Then the shadow finally attacked, hitting Layla with a small bolt of lightning. So he did have other attacks...but if they were as weak as that she had very little to worry about. It wasn't completely insignificant -- she didn't resist lightning in the same way she did light or darkness, after all -- but at the rate she had been going even if he did nothing but attack her like that from then on she would still probably finish him off before he could finish her. In the worst case scenario she could always heal herself.

She let off her own light attack just in time to see someone else show up...and immediately wondered if she should have waited long enough for the newcomer to get in range. It was the same woman who had appeared in the image in the shadow's cane orb. Only...instead of trying to kill her from behind, she seemed to be angry at the shadow for invoking her image. But...the image and the shadow's behavior suggested that this human-looking (but admittedly very inhuman-sounding) girl was a shadow too. What in the world was going on here?


Action: Mahamaon

[Isaac Strazos]

The Shadow sighed as the girl hit him either another light attack. He could withstand a bit more damage, but.. it was starting to get annoying. It was time to end this farce. The girl didn't seem to be interested in anything he had to say, so there was no reason to continue talking to her. That was simple common sense. But as if on cue, the serial killer who he'd just used as part of his illusion decided to make an appearance. How very... opportune of her. Hopefully she would serve her purpose as well as he'd hope. If she became upset with him for what he was about to do, well then... that's something that will have to be resolved later. If this girl didn't end up killing the Shadow somehow. He turned his attention towards the Shadow, gesturing towards her to keep the human's attention focused on her as well, "How very convenient. But, you should know better than to appear off-schedule. The script didn't call for your entrance just yet. As such..." He raised his cane, which started to glow with a bright light. The Shadow's expression hardened a bit, his smile fading away into a scowl, "Begone, pest."

A huge, white seal formed in the sky, far above the newcomer. It shone brightly for a moment before emitting a large pillar of light, engulfing the female Shadow in it's radiance. With that serving as a makeshift distraction, Loki twirled his cane into a reverse grip and spun on his heel before sprinting away, hopefully before the other Shadow recovered or the human girl took notice of his absence. Since he hadn't bothered to inflict any measure of injury on the girl, she should be somewhat fine if another fight broke out. Probably.

Action: Heaven's Purge

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya raised her weapon in aggression but soon realized the rude man from before had dropped a literal heavenly nuke down on her from above. Oh, for fuck's sake! I don't need this shi-- Sakuya braced herself as the radiance engulfed her and she could feel the light burn through her clothes, and she screamed in immense agony and pain, by the time the light had faded and the environment was clear, Sakuya was reeling on the ground, clutching her body; her clothes had basically been burned to near-nothingness from the radiance... Sakuya's weakness indeed, was the Light itself. And on top of that, the man had literally run away. "You fucking coward! You go and run away like a little pussy-ass bitch! All you men are the goddamn same! Fucking Shadow scum!" Sakuya scowled at nothingness as she crawled to a pillar and huddled against it, eyeing the human girl who had been at the time continuously trying to attack that rude Shadow.

Coughing and wheezing, all Sakuya could do was shiver against the pillar, having taken far too much damage from that singular attack. She didn't even bother to face the human anymore at that point. She felt ashamed of herself.

[Layla Amare]

In her tired state, Layla's movements had slowed down entirely too much to do anything when the light attack came crashing down. If they hadn't, she might have tried to tank the attack for the new arrival. While she was almost certainly a shadow as well, Layla could tell from the attack and the previous exchange that they very clearly weren't on the same side. But as she was, it didn't matter. Her movements were too slow to interpose herself, or even her Persona, between the light attack and the person it was aimed at. And in her moment of distraction while failing to do that, the shadow who had fired off the attack had turned and broken into a run. Layla turned to follow, but realized after a few meters that she would never catch him in her current state.

It pained her to let a shadow like that go free, but at that point there was very little she could do about it.

Breathing heavily, Layla made her way back to the girl who had just showed up. She directed Vajrabhairava to heal the two of them, although in her own case it was little more than minor burns. The shadow girl needed it much more, but even then it wouldn't be enough to get her back into good condition. She seemed to have been weak to the light attack, which would be a good thing if she decided to attack Layla after all. Layla figured that she had at least a couple more shots of whatever skill she chose to use left...even if it left her too tired to get back.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, though.

"So," Layla said, approaching the girl but staying on guard and keeping enough distance that she could react if her current state was just an act. "Are you okay?"

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya shivered as she felt the healing spell from the human fall on her. She still felt weak inside, but she felt a little better. She couldn't bring herself to stand, instead turning her attentions towards the human girl who understandably kept her distance away. Sakuya was soon asked if she was alright. Coughing, Sakuya shook her head. "Not really," she said. "Thanks for asking, though... That Shadow..." she heaved and sighed, looking down at the ground. "He's just a big bully. I saw him once, before. Kept calling me a monster. A hypocrite. Look at that guy, though... He just wants to capture humans and have them run through his stupid experiments." Spitting at the ground, Sakuya shivered again. "I won't attack you... I have no reason to attack you anyway. Besides, you probably have something up your sleeve that'll wreck me. I've already had that happen to me once. It wasn't very pleasant."

Sakuya huddled up against the pillar again. "I try not to do anything explicitly harmful towards women and girls anyway... Unless they provoke me..."

[Layla Amare]

So they had met before, but just as Layla had suspected, they were on anything but good terms. She wasn't sure where the one who had fled got off calling anyone a hypocrite though, after everything he'd just done and said. "Well," Layla said, relaxing her guard just a little as the shadow girl said she wouldn't attack her. "I couldn't say what you're really like, having never seen you before today. But I wouldn't trust a word that guy says. And..." Vajrabhairava vanished as Layla dismissed him. "If that's the case, I won't attack you either. I don't have the energy for a second fight like that anyway."

It was a bluff, but not by much. Layla wanted to give this girl the benefit of the doubt, despite her being a shadow, but if she took her current exhaustion as a chance for a free meal, Layla would still be able to defend herself. But if the shadow girl could take anywhere near the same amount of punishment as the shadow who had just left could, then the only thing giving Layla any chance of victory was the attack he had used before running off.

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya nodded, still looking rather weak. Her condition was pretty unstable at the moment and even if she did harbor a malicious intent towards the human she couldn't move her body very much to mount an offensive. "He says he deals with money or something. Gave me a card. Doesn't seem that trustworthy to me. I'd be careful about him. He doesn't seem to like getting into conflict and getting dirty on his own; he'd rather play the observer. That's probably why he's so sturdy..." Sakuya sighed and heaved. "Shadows... they're dangerous creatures. Takes one to know one, after all. Those of us who take the form of humans like yourselves... I consider us more 'advanced.' Capable of proper sentience. Capable of proper distinguishing between 'friend' and 'foe.' In my case, I'd be perfectly willing to do battle with another Shadow if I had to or if I felt like it." she continued.

"I'm in no condition to do anything productive right now. If you have no words for a wounded creature like myself it might be better for you to let anyone you know about this encounter. I'm sure you want to figure out as much as I do why exactly this funny business regarding the barrier and whatnot has come around. After all, I was inside the City when the lockdown occurred..."

[Layla Amare]

The shadow that had left was a money lender of some sort, then. That could help with finding him then, if for one reason or another he needed to be hunted down. Layla once again found herself using 'if' instead of 'when', although if he continued performing experiments like he'd been doing up until that point he would have to be taken out eventually. But, if what the shadow girl was saying was true, not all shadows like him were like that. And while her words reinforced the notion that Layla was entirely justified in fighting most shadows, she would have to be a little bit more careful around ones that displayed more intelligence.

"I don't suppose you still have this card with you," Layla said. "I may be able to use it to track him down in the future. As for you..." She looked over the shadow girl again, noting how hard it was for her just to move. "Well, not that I'm doubting that you'd be fine, but I'd still feel bad just leaving you here."

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya shivered and weakly smiled as she fidgeted on her person and procured the card that the Isaac fellow had given her. She extended her arm out, card in hand towards the human girl. Soon, the human had also stated she'd feel a little bad for just leaving her here. Sakuya shook her head, still waiting for the card to be received. "It's alright, you've already done me a service by believing me and not going ahead and pelting me with some spells. I figure it's the least I could do for just sitting there and watching you have to deal with a stupid bully like that," Sakuya said simply. "I'll be fine in due time. I've got my own healing ability. I just need to lay down here for a while. Tch... Stupid Light attack."

[Layla Amare]

Layla accepted the card, looking at the name on it. 'Isaac Strazos.' And in addition, an address and phone number. Yes...that could be useful, if it came to it. The idea of hunting someone down, even someone like that shadow, left a sickening feeling in Layla's stomach. Maybe she'd just pass it on to Alisa, or else one of the other, stronger Persona users who had shown up on both full moon nights. Not yet though. For now, there were more immediate, important things to attend to.

"If you insist," Layla said when the shadow girl claimed she would be fine. If she had her own healing ability then yes, she probably would be fine. Although...no, Layla wasn't going to worry about that. She was exhausted herself, and staying out here any longer would just make it even harder to get back. If the ability to trust that this girl would be fine was there, she would just have to accept it. "That said," Layla said, partway through turning to start making her way back. "I can't guarantee that I won't have reason to fight you in the future." After all, she knew nothing about this shadow. She could very well be a horrible person in her own right. But right now was not the time to worry about that. Besides, as much as she hated to admit it, the shadow called 'Isaac' had given her something to think about. But their next meeting could and probably would be an entirely different story. "So next time we meet, if that time ever comes, all bets are off."