Persona: Rise of a New Wild Card

Chapter 14: Moonlight Encounter

November 26th, the final full moon battle. Maki was holding her father's sword as she looked at her watch. 11:59pm. Everyone stood waiting at the Moonlight bridge as they prepared for the upcoming battle. Yukari was waiting with Mitsuru, Junpei, Akihiko, Kotone, and Shinjiro. Maki was standing with her friends Lance, Minerva, and Kojiro. Everyone was waiting for the Dark Hour. 12:00 struck as everything turned green. "Huh? Surprised you all decided to show up." They turned and further down the bridge was Jin, Matsuyama, and Chidori. The three of them were standing in SEES way of the final shadow, the Hanged Man. "Get the hell out of our way Jin. Strega lost its leader. You really wanna lose yourselves too?" Shinjiro yelled out. Matsuyama looked a bit nervous, as if he was afraid of death. The three members of Strega took a battle stance as they readied themselves for a battle.

Maki, Yukari, Kojiro, and Mitsuru prepared themselves to fight Strega as the rest of the team watched. "You can't hide your weakness from me!" Jin summoned his persona and scanned everyone. He threw a fire bomb at Mitsuru which hit her hard. Then he summoned his persona again and sent a shock towards Yukari. Chidori then sent a bufu attack at Kojiro which knocked him down. Jin tried to scan Maki but he was left confused. "The hell!? You covered up your weakness?" Just as he was about to attack Maki summoned a new persona. "Persona!" SEES hadn't seen this persona in nearly 20 years. "I am thou. Thou art I. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I am Orpheus Telos. Master of strings!" Jin, Matsuyama, and Chidori looked on in horror as Orpheus Telos sent a massive blast of Megidolaon hurling towards them. Jin realized he couldn't win this fight and so he grabbed Chidori's hand as they leapt off the bridge. They expected Matsuyama to jump with him but he stood there struck with fear. For the first time since he joined Strega he didn't know what he was doing. Takaya had lied to him about their goal. "They wanted to keep the Dark Hour to end the world?" He whispered under his lip. SEES surrounded Matsuyama as he dropped his Evoker.

"You've got a lot to atone for Matsuya." Maki said as she slapped him across the face. He dropped to his knees as Anton used a feature in his arm to tie restraints on him. Maki gathered Akihiko, Lance, and Kotone to battle the Hanged Man. Akihiko hadn't fought for a very long time, same with Kotone. But as the Hanged Man floated in the sky several statues were stood before the team. The first wave of statues was no issue, once they all went down the Hanged Man fell to the ground. Akihiko drew his Evoker as he said aloud. "It's been a while. But I know I've not lost my skill. This ends here, Caesar!" He then summoned his persona Caesar as he performed his ultimate Theurgy. Akihiko dashed around the shadow with incredible speed before sending a huge lighting ball at the shadow. The attack did massive damage as the Hanged Man retreated back into the sky. One large statue was summoned as the team threw everything they had into it.

Just before the statue could be destroyed it sent a huge almighty blast at the team. Matsuyama managed to wiggle his way out of the restraints he was in at he dove for his Evoker. Before anyone could react to stop him he summoned his own persona. What surprised him is that it wasn't the same persona he had once had. "Your newfound resolve has given way to your true persona. We bestow upon thee, Amaterasu." Matsuyama summoned a new persona which was the evolution of his previous persona. Amaterasu sent a volley of arrow-like attacks at the statue which turned it back to goo. Maki turned as everyone was surprised Matsuya helped them. He ran over and joined the SEES team as their 5th member and they continued the attack on the Hanged Man. As he fell to the floor Maki put a Theurgy cartridge into her Evoker as summoned both Loki and Susano-o, the two created the powerful Trickster fusion ability which destroyed the Hanged Man.

Maki and Matsuyama locked eyes as she thanked him for his change of heart. Anton and the rest of the team ran over. "Mission complete. What should our cheer be?" Maki took a second to think about it before whispering it into Anton's ear. "Confirmed. Ready? 1... 2... 3... Let's eat!" Minerva was about to repeat it before she caught herself, "Let's eat?" Everyone laughed as Mitsuru and Maki took Matsuyama aside to talk with him. "Matsuya, what you did was very heroic. But you also were aiding Strega and were a part of Takaya's murder of our friend. We cannot simply forgive and forget what you did. While you did not directly kill Makoto, you did stand by and help Takaya in his goal." Mitsuru was scolding Matsuyama of his actions. He looked down in shame before replying, "I am deeply ashamed in my action. I only ask that you let me atone for what I did by letting me help you finish the fight. I was lied to by them, they told me they sought to defeat you guys because you wanted to end the Dark Hour which would have given up our powers. But I see now they just wanted to stop you guys from saving the world from its destruction."

Maki asked Mitsuru if they could allow Matsuya to join the team. Mitsuru agreed but he wouldn't be made a true member of SEES. Matsuya was fine with the deal and would have to atone for his own crimes of helping Strega by defeating them in their final confrontation. The next day though would be spend without Matsuyama as the rest of SEES enjoyed a big feast at Maki's house. Mitsuru had ordered the finest meals in the city to be delivered to the house and everyone had a great time eating food and talking about what was next. The adults made sure to inform the teens what they had to do next. In January they would have to fight Nyx, but with Maki being more powerful than her father was they were sure that Maki would be able to defeat Nyx without the need to give up her life. But Maki would end up being left with a far more difficult choice than she thought.