Souji Seta glared into the fog surrounding his crystalline prison. As soon as his friends and he had arrived to finish their job, fog had engulfed them and they had been separated. Souji had found himself trapped in a prison. He didn't know how long he had been in there when a voice came out of the fog, apparently from several directions at once. It was distinctly female but so monstrous that it made Souji shiver. "Souji Seta." It sighed, as if disappointed "You are your friends have caused a great deal of trouble. I've been working on this so long, so very long. Before your home was even a hamlet, before the first man had set foot on this earth, I had been working. And now I was almost undone. Almost… however, do you know why your friends have gotten so strong?"

Souji paused before answering "They found the strength to face who they really were. They moved on with their lives after accepting the part of them that huddles in the darkness." The voice chuckled softly "Yes, I suppose. But the main reason that they continued was your presence. If you had not appeared, if you had not been there to guide them, what do you think would have happened?" Souji sliced the prison with his sword. It was futile, the prison was much too strong, but it was to make a point. "There's nothing you can do to hurt them like you did!" The voice seemed amused "Do you really think so? Let's find out." Before him, a patch of fog became transparent. After a moment, Souji realized it was acting like a TV, letting him see what was happening to the others. His eyes widened in horror. All of them had been badly injured and their shadows, which had been vanquished, stood above them, victorious. The voice spoke again "While you may have banished most of the shadow in each of them, it only took a miniscule amount of power to make them grow again." The scene focused on Yosuke Hanamura.

Yosuke struggled to his feet "I told you, you bastard, I have a different reason to keep going now!" The leering frog-face mocked him "Do you really think so? Then why am I here? Why did your mind refuse to make me disperse?" The humanoid top formed a ball of wind. In response, Yosuke yelled "Jiraya!" His persona leaped to his defense but when the ball of wind was unleashed, it blasted both of them into a wall. "You never learned anything, Yosuke. And now it's my turn…"