Acid Rain [Boss]

[Vice Ysal]

A lot of people would consider actively looking for danger a bad thing, that only people who had quite a few loose screws in their head would be the ones going for it. The biker wasn't going to deny those accusations if they were directed at him. After all the concussions to the head that he'd been able to survive through, there's seriously going to be a few side effects that would affect his thinking process. Though if it was the primary reason as to why he was doing this, well, that's still up for debate for another time. Because right now, as he was climbing up the steps to his new hunting grounds, the biker could easily feel the pressure in the air begin to increase the higher he went.

It was a different sensation compared to his usual trips, the air never really felt this heavy except for one thing. He had been expecting it to happen sooner or later, the extra time he'd put into preparing for this was supposed to mean something, and Vice really had no other choice but to keep climbing. Would he meet the same people from the last time he'd fought one? They seemed to be the only ones capable of handling themselves on this level from their entire group. Nearing the entrance of the cathedral, Vice was slightly amused at the tell tale signs of when he had to drop a freak over the ledge. Shaking the brevity away, the young man opted to wait for a bit here in the entrance to meet up with anyone else who decided to go. He'd eventually go inside but having a welcoming party for his teammates wouldn't be too bad.

[Holly Mason]

There was one of those presences in the halls today, the sign that the big shadow was finally going to show itself.  With a grin on her face, Holly raced up the stairs to the castle as fast as she could only to see a familiar face at the top.  She slowed down a bit as she approached the top of the staircase, and waved once she made it to the top.

"Looks like it's that time again," she cracked her knuckles.  "Can't say I'm used to you waiting around for other people to show up.  It's a little strange."

[Akira Nakajima]

Akira was honestly both surprised and pleased that the guardian mama bear of the Cathedral of Shadows' first area was coming out. He had been wandering and slaying so many Shadows that he was beginning to wonder if there was anything unique there to begin with. It was bothersome. The last major event, outside of the Full Moon, was the big bat. The bat had been annoying mainly because of the other Shadow's presence. He wanted another serious fight. He had some new toys, had some new powers, and he was a bit eager to test them out on an appropriate opponent. The crossdress casually strolled in towards Holly and Vice when he found other Users.

”Hello, hello, you familiar faces. Good to see that we're all coming together again for another major raid.” The boy's expression was positive. As was his mood, really. Alma Elma floated behind him, eventually wrapping her arms around his neck. Despite the fact that a strong enemy was approaching, he was completely at ease.

[Luka Kurokawa]

Luka slowly ascended the stairs leading to the citadel. She had no particularly normal reason for being here. She simply had that now familiar feeling in her mind. The major shadow of the citadel had finally decided to show itself.

She had been exploring the citadel for quite some time, yet the major shadow was just now choosing to show itself. In a way, it was a bit ominous. Though, as Luka entered the citadel, she was met with pretty much what she expected from the start. Vice, Holly, Akira. . . it seemed that Alisa wasn't here yet. This was the group that had fought off the bat from the previous fight Luka was in. All of their abilities had complemented each other quite well which made them a good team. In a way, it was a bit relieving to see them here. That time again it seems. . . As she spoke, Luka looked down the halls of the citadel for a moment. What did the shadow's lair have in store for them this time? Guess we'll find out the usual way. That way? It was to wait.

[Ayakura Alisa]

The last time I had come here I had a very bad feeling something had already woken up. Judging from the fact four other familiar faces had shown up at the venue it seems I wasn't the only one that had the sense of foreboding to come to this location. The citadel at this point had been such a slog that this was kind of a refreshing sight for me. As I made my way to the four - Vice, Holly, Ran and Luka - I hailed them again casually. "Hey, it looks like we all had the same feeling again. Something's up. Another haven of Shadows, another Guardian..." I yawned and stretched, casually throwing my knife up and letting it spin in the air before I caught it again by its handle. It must have looked very dangerous to onlookers, but I was pretty skilled at it by now from the number of times I had done and practiced it out of sheer boredom. This team of fighters was the same team I had fought the terrible bat from Hell with, though since then I had seen worse, much worse.

"Hope everyone's ready for the rumble."

[Za Bossu!]

As the humans gathered up at the entrance one by one, nothing seemed to happen. Nothing came running up to them to initiate a fight. Nothing came to kill them. What did happen was something likely unexpected by the humans.

The ceiling above the humans began to give! Only, it wasn't breaking. It was slowly lowering, revealing a staircase of sorts. This staircase seemed to be leading to a higher section of the citadel. And up that staircase was a large door with an incredible seal on it! A large amount of power seemed to be coming from it as well. To each side, you also see a large stone gargoyle, each holding a weapon. The left one seems to be holding a halberd while the right one holds a spear. Though, they seem to be purely decoration as you don't sense any power from them. More importantly, this was the way up to the next floor. The door just by looking at it appears to be extremely durable. But. . . what to do?

Gate Guardian

-Protective Force-

-Border Protocol: Defense System-

Absorb: ? Repel: ? Null: ? Rs: ? Wk: ?

[Vice Ysal]

"Good to see the entire party's here." Vice announced, a small smile dancing on the edges of his lips at the sight of everyone being here again. Seriously, he was pretty much getting used and expecting these people to always be there whenever something big happened, to always be the ones at the forefront of every battle during the full moon, and anything that needed them. This battle shouldn't have been a surprise.

Vice was also about to say something else when the hair on the back of his neck began to rise. Turning around, his legs already pushing backwards after that, the young man was wary of what the hell was happening. When the only thing that came down to them being that of a stair case and some tacky entrance to what could be considered the next level of the cathedral, well wasn't that just strange.

"There's probably a joke somewhere here but I'm not getting it." Well, it was true. That and Vice pretty much didn't see the need to go around ordering them. They weren't new to this like the others and they knew what they needed to do anyway. Still, the visible energy that began to gather around Vice was more or less enough of a signal for the group that there's probably gonna be a fight brewing soon and buffing themselves up now would most likely be the best course of action.

---

Action: Mind Charge

Dodge:

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[Ayakura Alisa]

I heard the sounds of the ceiling starting to give way, fortunately for us though it didn't seem to be crumbling or falling. Instead, it was lowering as if revealing a staircase. It was leading higher up. Which was a positive thought, only to be immediately dampened as I saw an incredibly large door with an equally incredible seal on it. I'm sure the others could sense it too. It was a power far beyond my own comprehension, as it seemed? Nah, that was just me being poetic. Gargoyles of some kind of stone were on each side - were they ornaments, or something more? I sensed nothing from them, so perhaps they were just for decoration. The weapons may be symbolic of something though, it stands to reason that we would soon find out.

...The door at first glance didn't seem to do anything like a demonic wall, but this was certainly something ripped straight from a video game. "The best I can come up with is that this entire citadel is just a giant video game," I said jokingly as I eyed the door from my current vantage point. "I don't have any useful support skills on me, so I will test the waters with some offenses." I simply stated, straight to the point, as I soon ran up the stairs to get in range. At the speed I was running up the stairs, those who watched me probably thought I was a madman. Or an assassin. Possibly both. Nevertheless, my spells would fizzle out by the time it got to the door, and on top of that I wanted to test out my new technique.

I raised my knife and literally attempted to plink at the door.

"Let's see what this thing is made out of! Literally!"

(( Heaven's Blade on the seal on the door ))
Roll 1-2 for Critical, 1 is success
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1-2

[Luka Kurokawa]

Luka remained on guard while keeping the group in her sights at all times. Something was going to pop out at them. She just knew it. And yet, nothing did. Nothing alive anyway. What did show up was a staircase leading to the second floor and a door with a couple of ornaments on the sides. Whether or not those ornaments were just for show or not remained to be seen, but Luka had her suspicions.

The door itself seemed to be guarded by some immensely powerful barrier. But now Luka was beginning to wonder. Where was the big shadow they had to fight? Why this door? Nonetheless, Luka felt the need to prepare for whatever was in store. Willing Hel to her side, she began to cast Mind Charge for a powerful opening attack. But just what would she attack? As she thought, she watched Alisa charge straight up to the door and swipe at it. The attack seemed quite powerful, but how would it fair? She looked to everyone else to see how they decided to handle it.

Action: Mind Charge

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[Akira Nakajima]

"Ah, it's the stairs to heaven. I guess we'll achieve enlightenment here, huh?" The crossdresser utilized some rather morbid humor as the stairs appeared. Skipping right along up them with the rest of the crew, the boy took note of the environment. Statues? Almost definitely gonna end up coming alive. RPG trope. The door itself was just going to be annoying, he was sure. Oh well. So long as it didn't try to eat them in the mean way, it was cool.

"Time for the fun stuff." The boy simply noted before having Alma Elma unleash a heated wave of empowering sensations.

Action: Heat Riser


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1-2, dodge Awmaity1-5

[Holly Mason]

The usual group showed up unsurprisingly.  With a nod she went inside expecting them to follow.  Despite her attitude she was a little nervous about this battle.  Still excited as she tended to be for these kinds of fights, but more nervous than usual.  The idea that there were genuinely sentient shadows bothered her.  It was easy to fight them as long as they were mindless monsters or some kind of hivemind, fun even, but it was pretty hard to deny that the two she saw fighting the sun and moon shadows were their own beings.  Of course, such feelings wouldn't show on her face, and hopefully wouldn't show in her actions.  She couldn't afford to be a liability to her team in a place like this, Holly understood that much.  Needless to say, she was a bit relieved when it turned out they were fighting a door instead of a shadow.

Despite that relief, she wasn't really sure what to do with it.  There was power in it, but it wasn't the same kind of power shadows had.  Well, this wasn't the first time she had encountered an object of power.  Maybe a lightning rod-like shadow would pop out again?  With any luck the door itself would have some defenses and that wouldn't happen.  Regardless, she was able to break something like this before, so this would probably break too even if it was more durable.  Just meant they had to hit it more right?  The real question was whether her debuffs would work.  There was only one way to find out.

Her own strengthening aura went off shortly after the door fell.  As always, just being in her presence made everyone stronger, faster and tougher.  Holly summoned Anaisa Pye to weaken the shadows as they were going off since she was not quite so terrifying that she could do that to her enemies without expending any energy.

Action: Debilitate

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1-5

[Za Bossu!]

The ominous door remained such. Ominous. Nothing happened. It didn't have any killing intent. After all, it was a door. However, as the slash attack hit it, the barrier sizzled a tiny bit. It was hardly noticeable, but the attack worked. . . maybe? It was hard to tell if the attack was just ineffective or if the door was simply that strong. As for the debuff, it did not affect the door likely because it was a door. It was hard to tell. One thing was for sure though. The door began to react to the attack. The seal on it began to turn blood red as a loud humming noise could be heard all around the door and throughout the room. Then, a cute girlish voice could be heard as if it was projected by some sort of loud speaker. Border Protocol: Defense System Activated~! Sentinels set to terminate!

A moment later, an electrical pulse surged out from the door and became absorbed by the two gargoyles in front of the door! Slowly, the two two gargoyles shed their stony forms for something more shadow-like and began to move! On one side, there was a red-eyed gargoyle wielding a halberd and on the other was a blue-eyed gargoyle holding a spear. It seems that they are more than ready to attack as well!

Gate Gargoyle (Halberd)

-Swoop-
-Frenzy Idol-
-Burn Beam-
-Defensive Protocol: Fortify-
Absorb: ? Repel: ? Null: ? Rs: ? Wk: ?

Gate Gargoyle (Spear)

-Sting-
-Earthen Gaze-
-Tundra Breath-
-Defensive Protocol: Fend-
Absorb: ? Repel: ? Null: ? Rs: ? Wk: ?

Sentinels Activated. Commencing Defensive Barrage~! After the words of the strange voice came, a huge force of energy came from the door blasting everyone for Major Almighty damage! Barrage successful. Recharging.

Meanwhile, the gargoyles slowly began to move around a bit before taking flight! The red-eyed gargoyle slashes at Luka for Severe Slash damage! The blue-eyed gargoyle swoops down and jabs at Vice for Severe Pierce damage!

[Su Hao]

Rumbling came from where the group of 'humans' came. There was another spike of power that could only belong to a powerful Shadow. Twelve pink lights shined forth, like the eyes of a predator sharply scouting out its prey. One by one, the creature would make a step through the halls. Metal talons scratched the floor, creating a deafening 'screeeeeech' sound each time his nails struck the ground.

Angra Mainyu could hear their voices, sense their spells. What were they? Before now, he had never encountered a Persona User before. In fact, he didn't know the term 'Persona User' either. There was something wrong with these pieces of meat. It made him... angry. Their presence wasn't welcome here in this Castle. They shouldn't be able to enter at all! How could the Shadows not have eviscerated them when they first entered?

The black, winged shape shook before it released a great, loud, and angry roar. Its claws clashed as they opened and closed. Then, it flapped its feathered wings once to enter the air, and twice more to begin soaring. Hao flew up above his prey, looking down at them like the little forest animals that they were. He stopped when he made it to the front of the gate, and he floated there.

The Shadow opened its mouth hungrily, and its purple eyes glowed a bright golden in its anger. Hao didn't understand their capabilities, and he didn't understand their power. Still, it permitted him to fight with much of his strength. Weak humans were getting boring. Now, if they met his expectations, he would have to work a little harder for that blood. 

Growing and radiating a red glow, the halo above the dark god's body dispersed a red energy upon the merry band of fighters. All of that preparation before the activation of the gargoyles would be for naught: every buff that they had would fade upon the energy's contact!

[Action: Dekaja]

[Akira Nakajima]

Sure enough, the door was special, like a snowflake in the middle of summer kind of special- that one special snowflake that wanted to be recognized despite being the same old piece of decaying matter all around it. The two statues stirred to life. Then a wave of destructive energy swept over the group. Despite the buffs, the wave still hit him. Oh well. Between his armor and buffs, he was still standing. And in pretty good shape, all things considered. The two statues, being the dipshit mooks that they were, went on to attack others. The boy was just about ready to use another Heat Riser, top the group off and all, but then another Shadow appeared. Now, another enemy was fine. Wasn't the first time that happened before, but this asshole decided to wipe out the buffs.

Bull. Fucking. Shit.

Nope. No, no, no. Nope. No-hohohoho-pe. This game was not starting again. The boy rolled his head around on his shoulders and let out a quiet hum before rocking on his heels a little. It was the series of actions one would do when becoming impatient. That was his very brief and fading effort to play it cool. What was the problem? Assholes ruining his efforts always pissed him off. In school, there was only so much he could do to those types. There, in the Shadowlands, though? There was a good deal of things he could do to take out his frustrations. Stretching his arms up, then swinging both down, the boy readied himself. One might have noticed that his scissor-arm, or sword-arm depending on how one looked at it, seemed to create zero noise. The truth of the matter was that the glorious scissors he wielded pretty much absorbed sound. Weapon mods made for some interesting little curios, and he was exceedingly pleased to have the chance to try his enhanced weapon out on an appropriate opponent.

”Ah, guys, I'll heal everyone after this. Just wanna. . . take some frustration out on our guest first.” With absolutely zero fucks given, Akira began to approach the bird-demon-Shadow-thing. It was slow at first. Then, stopping for just a second, he shot off in a sprint, twirling in the last bound toward the enemy and sending a full-body swing at the giant bird-thing. Very little sound was made, as though his weapon was actively distorting, shredding, and consuming the sound waves his body produced while in motion.

Action: Soundless Slasher – Physical attack utilizing Sound Splitter (L6 Slash Weapon; T2 Slash mod, T2 Silence mod; 50% chance of Silence), on Su Hao/Angry Man-You

rKK_ow7n”1-2”

If 1, say good-bye to Dekaja, baby Silence.”1-2”

[Holly Mason]

Okay, so debuffs don't work on inanimate objects, even freaky, magical objects.  Good to know.  Shortly after their barrage the door spoke.  Looks like the fight was finally going to start.  The statues on either side of the door started to move, and the door itself blasted the group with a reasonably powerful attack.  Holly wasn't quite fast enough to dodge it, but she was pretty sure she could take another few hits like that.  Especially since the statues decided to ignore her and go for other people.  She was sure they'd be fine though, it was more important to weaken the enemy right now.

Before she could cast, Holly felt another strong presence behind her.  Felt like another strong shadow was going to crash the party again.  Hopefully this one wouldn't be a total wuss and run away like the last one.  It would be difficult to stop it from doing so since it could fly, which irritated her, but there was little she could do about it.  It was more important to focus on the battle.  Unfortunately, the shadow cancelled out all of their empowering spells.  Annoying, very annoying.  It looked like Akira had it under control though.  She would continue to focus on weakening the enemy.  With any luck, they couldn't cancel her debuffs  And if they could?  Well, she'd figure out what to do then when the time came.

Action: Debilitate