Persona 3: Never To Leave

The High Road

21/09/09 Dark Hour

“What level are you on?” I asked Richard as we walked through the gates of Tartarus. “Oh! I’m on level 100!” I blinked once or twice upon hearing his answer. That was only ten levels lower than mine… “I see.” I nodded to myself. The one thing that got me out of the thought that it was only a matter of time before he could get stronger than me was that the surges in energy that you got when you levelled up beyond the limit was that they got progressively bigger.

The power jump that I got when I reached level 99 was so huge, and I was pleasantly surprised. “Why?” He asked with a questioning gaze. “I was just thinking that I should get to training too.” I made a smile back at him, passing through the doors that led into the prison of Tartarus.

“What level are you on?” The tone he used was a mix between anger and excitement. “Like… 111-ish.” He eyes widened as he heard, and he gritted his teeth with a low growl. “So…” His tone was struggling to stay more jovial, but I could tell that he was angry now. “There’s still someone stronger than me.” He shook his head.

“You’ve got until January thirty-first to get stronger.” He nodded slightly. I thought for a moment, his eyes flashed a gold colour before they turned to normal. The effect was near instantaneous, rather than the progressive colour change that occurred in Minato’s eyes before. “The Fall huh?” He muttered under his breath.

“Yeah.” I whispered. Don’t worry… I’ve got one more try… I keep on consoling myself with those words. Thankfully I don’t feel as bad… but it still hurts to know that all this happened because I hesitated of all things before killing Nyx. Why did I even hesitate anyway? It’s a huge mystery to me.

“Well, since that’s the case… we should go into the Monad Block. The highest level Shadows that we’ve found are all in there.” I tapped my foot two times to change the dreary music that was playing to this song called ‘Diver.’ This song is really cool, and it always fills me with some kind of determination.

“What just happened to the music?” Richard looked around. “Oh. That was the Reaper.” Minato explained. “Who’s the Reaper?” Richard asked again. “I dunno. He’s a mystery to us all. But he’s a pretty nice guy.” The bluenette shrugged. “Really?” Richard mused with a low and dangerous tone.

How comforting to know that I’M actually the one he’s going to direct his anger at. “Yeah. He is pretty powerful… No-one’s been able to defeat him here.” I explained some more. “Is that so…?” He his thoughtful look was soon changed to one that instilled fear as he bared his canines in a grin and his eyes narrowed to look like that of a voracious wolf. Richard chuckled darkly and quietly, and that look and tone was lost to all the members that stood around him getting prepared except for me.

Something is definitely wrong with him… I mused. I was broken out of my thoughts in favour of the call that Minato was giving to Richard and I. Not to mention Ken. “Is he really part of group?” Richard whispered to me. “Yeah.” I nodded.

“Huh.” Richard looked longingly at Ken. For what reason he did look at the young Justice wielder was unknown to me, but I had reason to believe that it had something to do with that dream that I had. It just seemed to fit in with this whole situation.

“Let’s go.” I nodded to Richard who nodded back with a grin in return. “Mmhm.”

I was surprised by how strong our Justice wielder was growing. Maybe if his height grew with his skill! That would be the most awesome thing he could ask for. Or… he could just wait until his growth spurt. That works too.

I chuckled to myself as he pierced through another Shadow with his dynamic spinning and jumping techniques. Seriously… where did he learn that? I really would like to know. Ah well. Actually now that I think about it… Richard’s weapon isn’t something I would have expected.