This is the End

1. This is the conclusion of the P3:EP series, originally intended to be at least 12 chapters longer, but I will tie-up all the loose ends here and now.

2. May or may not lead into one more story depending on the status of the other projects.

-Yukari wakes up, however, her hair and eye color now match Gig's, the group proceeds towards the top of Tartarus.

-The heroes from P1 and P2 that managed to make it to Port Island meet up and Margaret manages to open the door to Monad.

-As the race against time continues, Yukari finds out that she no longer needs her Evoker to summon her Persona and that she absorbs Wind-type spells.

-The old generation Persona users make it to the 3rd level of Monad and stop to face a Mysterious Entity.

-The team heading for the top are assaulted by a horde of Shadows and another ASW (Labrys), and she manages to separate Shinji from the Group.

-The Mysterious Entity attacks one of Monad's walls, forcing the entire tower to shake and splitting the old generation into two groups.

-Minato and his group sans Shinji manage to survive against the horde, Minato manages to revive Akihiko who, like Yukari, now shares Gig's hair and eye color.

-Shinji manages to disarm Labrys, but neither can land a decisive blow.

-The Mysterious Entity retreats, but not before commenting that neither he nor Philemon can change the course of things at this point.

-Shinji continues to fight Labrys, but even his Physical resistance coupled with Regeneration can't keep up with the latter's Orgia mode.

-Minato's group proceed without Shinji, Akihiko doesn't object causing Ken and Kurosawa to be suspicious about the nature of the resurrections Minato performs.

-Externally, pieces of Tartarus fall to the nearby area, causing some minor damage, but more importantly, Shadows to pop out.

-The P1 team reach the 5th floor of Monad where more Shadows plus an inexplicably revived Magician attempt to stop them

-Nanjo sacrifices himself to destroy the Magician and the portal to the next floor after the others manage to get through.

-Ikutsuki manually overrides Labrys' priorities to eliminate Aigis before the blonde reactivates because her defeat severed his link to her.

-Minato/Gig pull forth even more power from the Onyx Blade, lesser Shadows now run from the team, Aki and Yukari are noticeably become more violent against the Shadows.

-The P2 team manage to reach the 5th floor of Monad and find a hollow void where Kei committed his sacrifice, the team uses the Grand Cross Fusion attack to tear open a hole that leads into the next floor, but lose a considerable deal of their reserve power.

-Labrys receives her orders from Ikutsuki, grabbing her rocket ax and using the massive thrust to break through the ceilings of each floor as she tracks Aigis, Shinji follows after her.

-Minato's team run into Sho Minazuki who insults them before leaving, enigmatically calling Ken, 'brother'.

-The P1 team reach a dead end with Shadows approaching in every side, the group decide to fight to the bitter end in Kei's honor.

-Souji gets a massive headache and is incapacitated as a revived Lovers Shadow arrives.

-Labrys is given a new program titled 'CthdrlOShdws' that converts Shadows weaker than her into energy, many of the Shadows that were displaced when Minato drew more of the Onyx Blade's power into the world met their end in this manner.

-Shinji lags behind Labrys, but his Regeneration is slowly bringing him back to fighting condition.

-Lovers manages to possess Souji (turning him into 'Brotagonist') ensuing in a Wild Card duel, Kurosawa and Ken as well as the revived Aki and Yukari are pushed back by an invisible wall, Aigis is still unconscious, but trapped in the wall.

-The P2 team are assaulted by Sho Minazuki who after being defeated, attacks a crack in the wall (a result of the Mysterious Entity's earlier attack) before escaping once more, the room starts to collapse.

-Margaret notices the Shadows out of Tartarus attacking the civilian populace, she despairs that even she cannot save everyone and sends a message to Igor for reinforcements.

-A door to the Velvet Room opens up for the P1 team, allowing them a reprieve from the endless wave of Shadows, however, the team is injured with Masao having lost the use of his right arm and Eri has a straight cut across her face, Igor tells them of the need to rescue the civilians outside the Tower and that sending them out will be his last act in the 'world at its current state'.

-Aigis slowly starts rebooting as Shadows attempt to break thru the barrier made by the Lovers Shadow, Ken and Kurosawa move in to attack.

-Minato struggles against Souji as the latter is also being empowered by Gig, the bond between contractor (Gig) and contracted (Souji) being unbreakable, Minato must fight with his own power and not whatever he had been given as a result of Gig.

-Labrys nears the team, but is temporarily stopped by Sho who shreds her armor, the reduced mass causing her to quickly overload her reactor (the assimilation program is limited by the mass of the user), the excess energy causes her to amalgamate with her current Persona, Asterius, gaining even more strength and resilience at the cost of her speed, she drops her ax and continues towards Minato's group.

-Masao and Eri volunteer to return to the surface, with Maki and Uesegi agreeing to join them, Igor thinks back to when the group was younger and smiles as he sends the four out of Tartarus, the rest are able to proceed.

-Both P1 and P2 teams reunite, but the area is still collapsing, Jun uses his time powers to allow everyone to move through to the last floor, he says goodbye to Tatsuya and Maya as he runs out of power to stave off the collapse and is devoured by the abyss.

-Minato manages to beat Souji by recalling the unspeakable events of Kyoto, causing Lovers' hold over Souji to sway long enough for Minato to suckerpunch the Arcana Shadow out of Souji's head.

-The 4 P1 members meet up with Margaret and they run a boss rush against the unfought Arcana Shadows.

-Shinji finds Labrys' rocket-ax and decides to use it, managing to wield it without any problems as a result of Alexander's tremendous strength and Regeneration.

-The combined P1 and P2 teams reach the very end where they find Philemon who grimly notes that this could very well be the end of the world, but expresses his pride at their growth as people and Persona users, he gives them an offer that will allow them to aid the new generation for the final battle and both teams accept, losing their Wild Card ability and restricting them to their true Personae.

-Labrys reaches the barrier and knocks both Kurosawa and Ken aside before she starts attacking the barrier, Akihiko and Takeba attempt to knock her down but their attacks are ineffective, the strain of simultaneously maintaining the barrier as well as fighting Minato and Souji leads to Lovers' defeat.

-Margaret notices that a Wild Card has been awakened from within the Tower and that someone else with the 'potential' is starting to stir.

-Sho Minazuki appears before Takeharu Kirijo and starts mocking him, the businessman attacks with a Persona suppression device, but it has no effect, the redheaded teen laughs it off before returning to Tartarus, not before he destroys the communications array that was coordinating the defense of the city.

-Aigis completes rebooting just as Labrys breaks through the fallen Lovers' barrier, the blonde ASW manages to summon Cu Chulainn, Nezha and Susano-o in succession for a brutal series of attacks, but the older ASW manages to shake it off thru sheer force of will and begins her counterattack.

-The door to Monad begins to close as the combined older generations fight their way out.

-Shinji arrives in time to deliver a rocket-ax straight through the bull-like Asterius/Labrys hybrid, bifurcating the girl in one quick swipe as Aigis delivers an Orgia mode empowered punch to the older model's face.

-The P2 team resort to one more Grand Cross, Jun's Persona having remained with them in spirit, to clear the way, they escape, but the P2 team can no longer fight from the exhaustion.

-Having attained a temporary victory, Minato uses the power gained from Lovers to perform a resurrection to bring back Mitsuru, however, the heiress' personality has taken a strange turn as she addresses the empowered youth like one would a lover, Kurosawa notes this down. Souji is still unconscious, and Shinji carries him over his shoulder.

-The defense forces are suffering heavy losses from the lack of coordination, Fuuka Yamagishi suddenly senses the presence of nearby Shadows that have been alerted to her awakening, she runs immediately.

-The team, now complete, moves forward, but Shinji can't understand why Aki is being friendly, instead expecting the boxer to through several jabs, verbal and physical, at him before they settled their differences for real. Takaya and Sho watch from the sidelines as they prepare for battle, Ikutsuki makes several mysterious remarks about the Fall being more than what even Nyx had imagined.

-Kurosawa meets with Ken and Shinji and they start corroborating what they know, Minato begins to have his doubts about the revivals as the resurrected Mitsuru latches onto his arm like a lovesick puppy and Aigis on his opposite end, but not before reviving Junpei outside the tower at its 50th floor.

-Fuuka trips and is about to be devoured before Margaret and the four P1 members come to her aid, the woman from the Velvet room immediately discerns Fuuka's abilities and amplifies her sensory skills, at the cost of her active combat ability, to help coordinate the defenders. The group slowly retreat so Fuuka can get to a safer zone.

-Minato starts to ask Gig about what he did for their fallen friends before Takaya manages to shoot Kurosawa several times, the officer protected by his inner Kevlar vest, but losing most of his tubes in the process. Sho proceeds to duel Ken as Ikutsuki finally makes his appearance.

-Fuuka falls unconscious from the strain of her powers, but the older generations finally break out of Tartarus and help in the Island's defense. Meanwhile, Junpei drops from the 50th floor onto a group of Nyx cultists, even unarmed, the boy is more than a match for them.

-Ikutsuki commends Minato for holding onto Gig for so long and summons his own Persona, Thanatos.

-Kurosawa proceeds to charge against Takaya with Shinji and Aki as his backup, but not before the ground between them and Minato separates and the sound of chains grows louder with each passing second.

-Before they fight, Ikutsuki reveals that he fathered Ken after failing to induce the potential in his pre-Strega research and that he orchestrated Shinji going rampant and killing Ken's mother as she was about to reveal the boy's parentage, Ken and Shinji go into a rage at this revelation and begin to gun for Ikutsuki.

-Minato vows to kill Ikutsuki on everyone's behalf and launches the first attack with Skeith's scythe, but Thanatos skillfully blocks it before admitting that he had held back in their first (comedic) meeting out of courtesy before countering with a Vorpal Blade.

-Takaya lays covering fire for Ikutsuki, forcing Mitsuru and Takeba away from Minato. Aigis shield Minato from several shots, saying 'You are my highest priority'. The bluenette clutches his head for a moment as memories begin to flood in, but is cut off by Gig telling him to dodge.

-Sho engages Takeba and Mitsuru as soon as Ken had retreated, noting that the two women fight pretty well for puppets.

-Kurosawa and Akihiko manage to reach Takaya, forcing the shirtless man to stop assisting Ikutsuki. Kurosawa shows the nihilist what it means to have the same blood as the Kuzonoha clan by soundly thrashing Takaya without any demonic assistance. The gunman simply smirks and summons his Persona, forcing Aki to join the fight.

-Minato and Ikutsuki are evenly matched while Aigis detects another presence moving towards the group.

-Junpei manages to reach a shelter just as cultists were about to set it on fire, here, he meets up with Tatsuya and Katsuya Suou, both of whom, continue to fight even without their Personae.

-Sho loses an arm, but manages to re-kill Takeba, Mitsuru is furious and manages to get passed the boy's defenses and is positioned to stab him in the heart. At this point, Sho's MINAZUKI personality awakens and manages to summon Tsukiyomi to create a black wall of flame.

-Takaya struggles against two opponents but manages to hit Aki's right shoulder, halving the boxer's combat strength. Kurosawa manages to use his last intact tube, summoning Masakado to corner the gunman. The sound of rattling chains suddenly stops before a massive gunshot is heard.

-Minato is distracted by the loud gunshot and is maimed by Thanatos, losing control of Skeith and regressing to his normal blue hair (now a very pale blue as a result of Gig's influence) and greatly reduced power level, Aigis engages Ikutsuki to give Minato time to recover, but his recovery is hampered by more memories from the past begin to flood in.

-MINAZUKI and Mitsuru are evenly matched, and the former begins to go on a monologue on how the Kirijo are the cause for all the suffering, Mitsuru ignores this and continues fighting until both are struck down by a second thunderous gunshot.

-Aki and Kurosawa stand still as they gauge the new arrival (Reaper) that just killed Takaya and Mitsuru, neither of them are in any condition to fight and wisely go for a tactical retreat, the Reaper sets his sights on Akihiko and pulls the trigger one more time.

-Shinji and Ken are still running for Ikutsuki, but are continuously bogged down by Shadows and obstacles popping out of nowhere. Shinji hesitates as he hears Akihiko's death cry, but Ken keeps moving forward.

-Maki manages to get Fuuka to wake via a combination of medicine and healing spells. The younger Persona user resumes coordinating the defense efforts. Most of the cultists and Shadows have been defeated and the green skies are slowly starting to brighten up.

-Minato switches to Orpheus, now brimming with greater power than when first summoned, and strike Ikutsuki and Thanatos respectively. The god of death coughs out black ichor as he curses at Gig for disturbing the balance. Aigis is about to land a fatal shot at Ikutsuki before Ken's spear lands square in the bad comedian's chest, finally avenging his mother. The blonde's eyes widen as she mutters, "I remember everything."

-Shinji tries to wake Akihiko, but is distressed that his friend isn't responding, Kurosawa tries to snap him out of it even as the Reaper looms over their heads. The delinquent stares down the supernatural gunman but both he and Kurosawa are surprised that the Reaper lowered its weapons and moved on.

-Ikutsuki laughs maniacally as he draws his final breaths, thanking Thanatos for lending him his power and telling Minato that Gig is the final solution.

-Souji regains consciousness and knocks Aigis out of the way as the Reaper shoots Minato, leaving a hole in the boy's chest. Souji coldly comments, "Something like you doesn't belong here."

-Shinji, Kurosawa and Ken stare at the Reaper, waiting for any sign of continued hostility, but Minato rises, his hair graying and his eyes becoming blood red...before Gig manifests itself and the boy is left with a gaping hole in his chest. Aigis immediately runs to his side while Souji begins to mend his wounds using Amaterasu.

-Gig laughs and says "Damn four-eyed fucker was actually pretty entertaining, bet he didn't think he'd be the big joke in all this." The remaining members of the team are unnerved just as Gig turns towards the Reaper. Aigis comes close to breaking down at the raw pressure that both psychopomps exude and she scurries into a corner.

-Takeharu commends Fuuka and the other Persona users as the city is finally saved, but looks darkly towards Tartarus as it shows no signs of being torn down anytime soon.

-Minato cries out for an explanation as the wound on his chest slowly heals and Gig laughs once more before obliging him. "Why don't you ask your little blonde sexbot over there?"

-Junpei clutches his heart as he feels a massive pulse of power before collapsing, Katsuya and Tatsuya drag him to a safe place.

-Aigis stares at the ridiculously powerful being before averting her eyes, fixing her gaze on Minato and saying "Remember that night, remember who stood where." The gears in Minato's head begin to turn as he finally understands what was under his nose the entire time. "You were the one that killed them."

-Kurosawa, Ken and Shinji continue to look on while Souji was too busy focusing on his senpai's wounds. Aigis sobs as she is forced to face her inadequate power once more.

-"Ding, ding, ding! We have a fuckin' winner!" the Master of Death chuckles at the youth's expense, explaining that he was merely using Gig as an alias and that he was never really the Master of Death...Because he killed that person many years ago, back when he was known as the Devourlord, Revya.

-Junpei wakes up with the Suou brothers and a few other Persona users around him, he feels a sudden urge to kill them all, but fights it, before finally uttering "Screw this! I'm not gonna be some puppet." and stabbing himself with a sword and warning the others that the fight is not yet over.

-Souji yells that what Gig, or rather, the Devourlord has done is unforgivable and has set the world down a darker path. The psychopomp laughs it off and says all worlds he goes to merely exist to alleviate his boredom. Kurosawa can't forgive this and orders Masakado to attack, only for the Guardian Demon to be destroyed in an instant. The Reaper stands quietly as the cause of all the madness continued his diatribe.

-Aigis attempts to make an attack as well, in spite of her knowledge of its futility, using her recently acquired Wild Card. Souji back it up and they do manage to damage the Devourlord, forcing the monster to take them seriously and striking at them with a Brave Blade.

-Minato can do nothing but look on in horror as he's powerless to do anything. Ken stands resolute and inspires Shinji into fighting the unholy being standing before them, not as an order, but an act of their own free will. This act causes Nemesis to transcend into Kala-Nemi and the transfiguration resonates with the other Persona users, completely severing the Devourlord's Dominion over them.

-Devourlord/Revya becomes pissed as he approaches Tartarus' roof, calmly telling the Reaper that he'll play by the world's rules for a little while, satisfying the gunman enough for it to dematerialize, but not before leaving a black shard by the recovering Minato's side.

-Souji yells out "A monster like you doesn't deserve to draw breath in this world!" *Cue Psycho Burgundy BGM* and leads the others into one last charge against the Master of Death as the latter begins to command the moon to fall to the earth.

-"It's a massive pain to have to follow someone else's rules, but at least I get to co-opt the moon into all your asses!" Minato frowns as he realizes that strong as his companions may be, they won't be enough to take down Revya in time to stop the moon. The bluenette musters all of his remaining strength and hears a voice much like Gig's, but it was soothing and gave him a sense of calm. "I am Vigilance, please allow me to right what was set wrong. I am the good that once remained in that monster's heart."

-Aigis goes into a full combination of every Arcana followed by Kurosawa brandishing his sword at lightning fast draws and a dual attack by Ken and Shinji. Souji unleashes Izanagi, but his ultimate attack falls short, like it had yet to be completed. The entity formerly addressed as Gig fires off an energy blast and takes Aigis' left hand clean off. At this junction, Minato's had enough and yells out, "Vigilance!"

-Revya shakes at hearing that name as his former host summons a being eerily similar to Gig in appearance, but held no menacing weapons. "What do you expect that fucker with a stick up his ass to do, pacify me to death?!" Vigilance does not dignify it with a response and flies past him towards the sky.

-Margaret floats just outsude the tip of the Dark Tower where everyone is fighting and notes how small a single life is while she stares at the world below.

-Vigilance pleads to Nyx on the burden of marshaling death in a world where individual desires exist and imparts his memory to the Night Mother as the moon slows its decent.

-The Devourlord panics and rises to stop the true Master of Death, but is halted by a second Psycho Burgundy from Souji. The highschooler hits hard enough to cause the enemy to stagger but he flies out of Tartarus. Margaret catches him in time and murmurs that it's all up to Minato at this point.

-Minato watches in awe, his mortal mind can't comprehend in full what Vigilance is doing, but he knows it's enough to change how this story ends. Revya frowns and attempts an attack against the bluenette to sever Vigilance's link to the world, but Aigis tackles him away using her Wild Card to grant her the strength of Thor.

-Shinji roars and uses a Power Charged God Hand against the Devourlord just after Aigis' tackle, slamming the demonic being to the ground. Ken uses his enhanced Persona to launch a series of lightning empowered thrusts against the downed Devourlord, ending with a chain detonation of Hama attacks. Kurosawa follows suit with a few more cuts and an emergency vial which summoned a divine being known as Metatron, said divine being stared at the battered psychopomp and deemed it unworthy, staring at Revya some more until laser beams came out of its eyes. The laser beams then exploded in a magnificent aurora, topped only by Minato walking towards the gravely injured omnicidal maniac and daring to do what no one else had at that point. Punch him in the face.

-Vigilance completes his dialog with Nyx and the moon pulls back as Tartarus begins to revert into Gekkoukan, the long night is over. Revya laughs as he admits "Took several dozen tries 'til I finally raised one that could finally beat me." Minato doesn't respond, instead, he looks in discuss as Aigis draws a a small cylinder labeled 'Thermite' from one of her numerous compartments, and ignites it over the self-proclaimed Master of Death, ending the multiversal threat of the Devourlord, Revya.

-The team relaxes as they return to the city, the many survivors cheering them on. Minato keeps quiet, his worldview being shattered as a surge of emotions, guilt for all his mistakes and misdeeds, shame at the atrocities he had committed under Revya's influence, flooded his mind. "Is this your doing, Vigilance?" the boy thinks, but the true Master of Death only frowns in his reply: "My...other self imposed his twisted worldview upon you. While it saddens me that you are in pain, I am also glad because it means that you have retained your humanity."

-Margaret manages to summon Elizabeth, a final order to her from Igor as the Velvet Room locked itself for all of time to come. The somewhat injured younger sister looks inquisitively at the now purposeless ASW who often stared at the boy she had claimed for herself and smiles, "You and I will get along just fine." Aigis stares in wonder as Elizabeth slowly moved towards her, somehow giving her a deeper understanding of the elevator attendant with each step the woman took until they stood in the same physical place, but conceptually they started filling out the missing and broken parts of the other until what remained was neither Aigis nor Elizabeth and yet was someone more than the sum of her rather peculiar parts. Margaret smiles as she thinks to herself, "Perhaps Sera would be a beautiful new name to call you by, sister."

*Epilogue*

-Takeharu mourned his loss for several weeks before working extensively on reconstruction of the city. Shinji and Ken returned to school with a new lease on life, letting go of their anger, both planning to learn under Kurosawa's instructions in their future. As for Kurosawa, he was commended by his family and elevated to the main branch of the family as well as several promotions in the precinct.

-The old generation of Persona users held a private ceremony for their fallen, inviting only those who took part in the assault on Tartarus and other loved ones. They looked at Aigis and gave genuine smiles as they saw the Wild Card take refuge in a powerful heart, however mechanical it may be.

-Souji and Margaret moved to Inaba with Souji's uncle and little cousin, both gaining scholarships from the Kirijo Group for their heroism in the day marked as 'Falling Sky'. Margaret eventually learned about the truth behind Kyoto and rubbed it along with two other somethings in Souji's face whenever he made her upset.

-As for our hero, Minato took time off with Aigis to reorient himself with being a part of the human race after being so numb to feeling for so long. Vigilance swore an oath to remain by his side in this life, to rectify what Revya had done to the bluenette. Sera, made of two beings that were drawn to what he was beneath the darkness, even when he himself could not see it, stood ever beside him in a combination of love and admiration for the potential he held within himself.

-The dark shard the Reaper dropped, you ask? Why a piece of oblivion that could lead to a fresh start. But, that is not important in this story, for it is finally complete.