CHAPTER TITLE UNAVAILABLE DUE TO MASSIVE SHADOW

PLEASE REPORT TO THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED FIC FOR FURTHUR INSTRUCTION

The Shadow's claws no longer caressed the coffins strewn about the streets; instead, they were curled to maximize the ripping of flesh. Its cloak of tattered, patchwork grays fluttering gently in a non-existent wind. Tentacles writhed across the pavement and whipped about, their suckers picking up and hurling miscellaneous items at the duo in front of it. The Shadow's head then came into view, belts wound their way around and across the left and lower parts of its head while the left eyehole of a Magician's mask glowed with the yellow of its right eye, over which the mask was stapled on an angle.

Then came its voice.

It was a death rattle, an anguished scream, a roar of rage, and a whimper of despair. It was quiet as a whisper but it echoed louder than the mightiest of thunderclaps. It let loose one sentence in a distorted voice that sent Minato's blood temperature to that the same level as Antarctica's own.

"'Sup dude?"

The Shadow's voice was a mixture of Tomochika Kenji's voice and Iori Junpei's voice that caused Minato to grit his teeth and summon Orpheus for his first move, "TARUNDA!"

The Shadow seemed to shrink slightly as Orpheus strummed his lyre, but still managed to wallop Karasuba's arms and knock her decapitating strike off course. "Hey now, that's not very nice. But seriously, dude, you need to get your act together, the chick is gonna upstage you if ya don't! Then again, you ARE useless without your stronger Personae! I mean, you needed Death to beat the Magician before me so what hope do you have now?"

"What an annoying creature." Karasuba chuckled as she swung her blade around and about, taking off tentacle sections and causing small scratches to the Shadow's body, smiling all the while. Minato was similarly trying to get a killing blow into the mass of tentacles that had risen about the Shadow, but paused long enough to grin sardonically, "The two who this thing is based off are much more annoying then this cheap knockoff. This thing is the Power Rangers to their Kamen Rider when it comes to being annoying. Agi!"

The small gout of flame that erupted caused a single tentacle to shrivel while singeing three others, causing Minato to change Personae while commanding, "Frosty, Bufu!"

The ice encased three tentacles and a finger, all of which exploded into frozen shrapnel as Karasuba's sword stabbed through them in a vain attempt to gouge one of the Shadow's eyes. The Shadow's chuckle emanated from the depths of its throat as it lazily dodged all of the fatal attacks, "Too slow, maybe next time!"

Minato blinked thoughtfully as he ducked back out of the tentacles' range, grinning maniacally as he summoned to cards into his left hand, "If we're too slow, then lets put on the gas! Apsaras! Orpheus! CADENZA!"

The blue glow encircled both Minato and Karasuba, making them both incredibly light on their feet. Of course, Minato was feeling far too smug to notice that the Shadow had gotten with range, only to realize that when it decked him across the face. The Shadow's left arm struck out in what would have most likely been a mean left hook had Minato not leant back and pulled the arm past his face, proceeding to stab the Shadow where its nonexistent kidneys were. The Shadow grunted, "Ya know, I really hate how you always pull shit like that put of your ass. Facing off against the First you brought out Death, then when you were facing down Mom/Lady Nyx you actually used the Universe, and now I bet that this little spiel has given you enough time to pull out some new contrived way to kill me. Fuck me, fuck my villainous monologue, and fuck you for good measure. Fuck."

Karasuba looked over at Minato who shrugged, raised his hand, and said, "Azathoth, I just met you and this crazy, I know that we haven't had a chance to get to know each other but could you show us The Hunger of the Daemon Sultan maybe?"

Minato crushed the Blind Idiot God's card as it descended into his hand and the Daemon Sultan materialized in the physical plane. Its hair black as darkest night but brighter then the sunniest day, its shoulders had bones jutting out from them like primitive pauldrons, its forearms were grotesque mockeries of a human's. It had only the ripped and ancient remnants of a robe covering the entirety of below its waist, its face would have been handsome if not for its empty eyes that gazed into infinity, adorning its chest was a large mouth complete with jagged and broken teeth. The Shadow was too busy sizing up Azathoth to notice that the mouth on its chest was slowly descending, and, rather then revealing a throat or the normal inside of a mouth, there was only complete emptiness and the guarantee of being removed from existence.

Azathoth suddenly lurched forward, for it was impossible for it to be graceful, the gaping chest mouth covering a number of the Shadow's tentacles and then snapping shut. The False Magician screamed wordlessly in rage and pain as its tentacles were forcibly removed from existence, only for the scream to turn to one of horror as it saw the manic grin on Minato's face and the red glow emanating from the now closed chest mouth. Minato chuckled the Shadow's shriek died, "You know, I really should have experimented with this guy more. It is SO broken for this level of enemy. Azathoth show him The Pride of the Daemon Sultan!"

Azathoth's upper body shot upwards, releasing the wave of destruction from its chest mouth and cleaning its teeth at the same time. The discharge didn't rip towards the Shadow and into it, instead it ate the False Magician and everything in its path atom by atom.

Karasuba watched with an interest and a slight smile as Minato grinned, Azathoth all ready fading out of existence with the death of its feast. The Fool turned to the Black Sekirei and laughed, "I'm gonna go see if that thing left anything back the way it came from, when they're that big they usually have a good amount of cash and other goodies scattered about their general area. What are you going to do?"

"I think that it would be best if I returned to MBI, although I do wish that we could have crossed blades." The bloodstained wagtail answered, her eyes shining with bloodlust, as she looked the human up and down. In turn, Minato just shook his head, "Sorry, my landlady gets angry when I come home covered in blood. Whether it would be your blood or mine is the current mystery."

Karasuba was still chuckling as she leaped up and across the buildings that lined the path to MBI, while Minato rooted through the various things he found around the area where he fought the Shadow.

Minato Hast Formed the Death Social Link.

May it guide his destiny.

~}{~

Across the city, in Higa Izumi's private office, a chuckle escaped the lips of the woman bound against the wall opposite his desk, only a single golden eye shining in the dark.

"The Fool will rise, but remain fallen."

"The wagtails will flock and bicker, their keepers watching."

Silence reigned through the room before the woman continued in a worried tone.

"All the while the Smoky Mirror plots and grows stronger."

~}{~

Author's Note: Short chapter is short, sorry. I think that I'm not very good at writing fight scenes but oh well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Hey look, a button! Click it and leave us a review if you could.