The Magician Strikes

I was pretty tired when writing this chapter, so my apologies if it proves to be a bit awkward to read. Hopefully, it's fine overall though. Finally, writing battle scenes aren't exactly my forte so apologies for that, it didn't help either that Webnovel decided to randomly log me out when writing this so I had to rewrite the entirety of it, and that was literally up to around five-thousand words.

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"Speech"

'Thoughts'

『System/Persona Speech』

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The emerald moon.

Just the sight of it made chills run down his spine as he stared up at its beautiful yet menacing glow, the same could be said for the others as they were all talking to one another in confusion as they looked up at the night sky. Understandable, they had never witnessed such a phenomenon.

The green moon he was seeing right now was instantly recognizable to him, it looked like the very same moon that appeared during the Dark Hour. A concept that appeared in the Persona 3 games, the Dark Hour being a hidden portion of time occurring during midnight.

'Could this really be the Dark Hour... no, it can't be.' Ayato shook his head from the thought as he looked around to see that everyone here was still very much awake. They weren't coffins, so the chances of this being a Dark Hour were unlikely.

The number of people who should be capable of even staying awake during a Dark Hour was incredibly limited, and even more so if they had the potential to unleash a Persona. He had high doubts that these people could just up and unleash a Persona, the power wasn't exactly common.

That left many questions in his mind though, such as what in the world was going on if this really wasn't a Dark Hour event? He had heard the system speak to him about some kind of test, so was this the workings of the system or whoever was behind it? If so, why? Why did they refer to it as a test, and for what?

He wasn't dumb enough not to think that his very existence here in this world may have influenced it in some ways, so it was highly likely that such an event like this was never supposed to happen in this world. He was an outsider, so his appearance would obviously cause a shift in fate, per say.

"Wh-What's going on...?" Xiangling stuttered a bit after she had managed to push through the group of people as well. Just like everyone else around here, she was looking up at the moon with obvious surprise. "What happened to the moon?!"

『Kid, I suggest you make a run for it now!』

'Huh, why?!'

『Because unless you want everybody here to die, then I suggest you make run as fast as you can and out of this city. Whether or not you'll be able to escape whatever is coming is debatable, but you might at least be able to prevent any others from perishing. It seems to be after you』

'You have to be freaking kidding me...' Ayato clicked his tongue at that as he clenched his fists a bit. If it was true that whatever this thing Dagda could sense was after him specifically, staying here right now would only make others suffer. If he was at least out in the open he could put up a better fight against whatever it was.

"Ayato, where are you going?!"

"Don't worry about me, just stay here!" Ayato shouted after Xiangling had noticed him dashing away off towards the closest exit to the city. The restaurant was relatively close by to the front entrance gate to the harbor, so that was the closest and fastest way to exit the city.

『Kid, turn the fuck around!』

"What now?!"

『It's literally coming FROM this direction!』

"...This is bullshit!" Ayato felt his face twitch when he heard Dagda's words, immediately skidding to a stop before sprinting off, this time in the opposite direction to where the front entrance was. He didn't know what he was supposedly running from, but he honestly didn't want to find out. "Dagda, how close is it?!"

『It's catching up quickly, just keep going!』

Ayato did as he was advised as he continued running as fast as he could, he considered summoning Dagda to see if he could fly him out of here. However, just as he was literally about to bring out his Evoker, he heard some kind of loud cry that seemed to echo through the entire harbor.

『Too late, kid. It's here! Best prepare yourself for a fight!』

"Damnit... Dagda!" Quickly pressing the Evoker to his head, Ayato summoned Dagda while also summoning forth his sword. He didn't stop running though, he could at least try to lead it as far off from the main area of the city before it caught up to him.

He didn't get far though as loud stomping could be heard from behind him, and just from the sounds he heard, he could tell that the roads of the city and more were breaking under its powerful steps. If that wasn't bad enough, he could hear it getting closer and closer.

『Watch out, kid!』

"...!" Ayato widened his eyes when he saw Dagda suddenly rush behind him to block something, and the force that occurred when Dagda and the thing that attacked him made contact sent him flying forwards and crashing to the ground. He managed to recover after the initial crash, skidding to a stop in a crouched position. "Fuck, it's that thing...!"

Now that Ayato was facing the creature that attacked him, he could instantly recognize the creature. The thing that Dagda was trying to hold back right now looked to be a black creature that was made entirely out of what looked to be long hands, a few of them wielding incredibly sharp blades.

One of the hands also appeared to be holding a blue mask of sorts in one of the hands, the mask acting as the creature's face. There also appeared to be no main body to the creature, it was entirely made up of the countless arms that it called a body.

"The Magician Arcana..." Ayato muttered as he stood back up. The creature was one of the Shadow Arcanas from Persona 3, the multiple different special bosses the protagonist fought throughout their journey. This was the first of them that appeared during the first Full Moon Operation.

『Kid, get running! I can't hold this thing much longer!』

"Right!" Ayato quickly snapped out of his stupor before quickly rushing off again. With Dagda's current power, the deity only managed to hold back the Shadow for a few seconds before he found himself being slashed in half by one of the blades before returning to the Sea of Souls. "Dagd-!"

Before Ayato could summon Dagda again, the Shadow had already managed to dash straight at him before he could. Using Onimaru, Ayato parried against each of the blades as he continued backing up while doing so. Due to how fast the Magician proved to be and having multiple blades, Ayato was having a hard time keeping up.

'Damnit, it isn't giving me any breathing space...!' Ayato gritted his teeth as he continued to defend against the blades being swung at him. The physical strength of the Magician didn't help either, each slash he defended against were incredibly heavy and it was taking a toll on his arms.

If Dagda hadn't taught him how to redirect force with the sword, he knew for a fact that he wouldn't be lasting as long as he was. He could just feel the power in each of the Magician's swings, if he took one on at full force, he doubted he'd even live a single one, at least not without being injured severely.

"H-Heat Riser!" Casting the spell onto himself, he felt power flow through him as he parried another slash before dashing off with incredible speed. Even with the boost in speed, the Magician was catching up with him. 'I need to get to a more open space, I can't keep fighting here!'

Ayato quickly jumped up onto one of the buildings before continuing to run while jumping across each building, the Magician quickly chasing after him by climbing itself up as well. The buildings beneath the Magician's feet seemed to be struggling to hold the Shadow's weight.

"Zionga!" Ayato did a quick spin mid-air as he leaped to another building, sending a bolt of lightning from the palm of his hand at the Magician. The Shadow appeared unfazed though as it literally CUT the bolt of lightning into nothingness as it continued its pursuit. 'I don't know this thing's freaking weakness!'

This was another major problem with fighting the Magician, he had absolutely no clue about its weaknesses. The Magician wasn't fought as a boss, it was just an enemy that appeared during the cutscenes. He didn't know how powerful it truly was, nor did he know what it was weak against.

All he knew about it really was that Thanatos could kick its sorry ass, and he didn't exactly have that God of Death with him! Whether or not Minato would have been able to defeat the Magician with only Orpheus was debatable, Thanatos was the one that crushed it after all.

"Shit...!" Ayato held saw the Magician suddenly lunge at him with full force, he didn't even get to summon forth a Persona before it literally slapped him away into the roof of one of the houses. It was honestly a miracle that it didn't just slash at him, that probably would have been the end. "Fuck, that hurt...!"

Quickly looking at his health, he noticed that it dropped by a good chunk just from that slap, and he could only imagine how much it would have done if he had been slashed. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself out of the roof as he saw the Magician staring him down.

"D-Diarama..." With a bit of healing, Ayato began to shakingly stand back up to his feet as his health was quickly going back up and the pain throughout his body was fading away. Though, just as he was about to attack the Magician, he was surprised when the Magician was suddenly struck by a flash of lightning.

"Are you okay?!" When Ayato stood back up, he heard the voice of a female suddenly call out to him. Turning his head, he saw a purple-haired female jumping across the rooftops before quickly arriving next to him. It was a young woman probably a bit older than he was with purple hair tied into pony-tails.

"Y-Yeah, thanks for the help." Ayato nodded his head as he walked up next to the female as they were both holding guarded stances. The Magician was still more than ready to fight, so they both needed to stay cautious for when it attacked. "Probably not the best time, but my name's Ayato. Thanks for the help."

"Keqing, it's a pleasure to meet you." The purple head introduced herself as she narrowed her eyes at the Magician, who appeared rather unfazed by the attack as it pointed its blades at them threateningly. "I would have preferred it be in a better situation, but this creature needs to be dealt with. Are you okay to fight?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me." Ayato nodded seriously. "We should try and lure it to a more open space, fighting it here in the city won't bode well for us nor the citizens."

"Agreed, we have already begun the evacuation of the citizens to a safer area until this threat has been dealt with. We'll need to lure this creature away so they can make a safe escape."

"Right, then let's get started!"

With that, both of them quickly began rushing off towards the direction of the wilderness as the Magician quickly chased after them. They were both sending lightning attacks at the Magician, alternating its focus between them. This made it harder for the Magician to focus its attention on just one of them, so it hesitated in deciding who to focus its attack on.

This continued on for a good while before both of them managed to slowly but surely lead the Magician out from the harbor and into the flat areas between the mountains. Ayato had to keep an eye on his SP though, only throwing lightning every now and then so that he wouldn't run dry.

By the time they arrived in the mountains, he was at around half his SP now. Not exactly favorable, but at least it was something.

"Do you know how we should approach this? I've never seen such a monster before."

"While I don't know what it is, it is not something to be underestimated." Ayato responded as they both kept their eyes trained on the Magician. Keqing glanced at him in suspicion but quickly shifted her attention back on the Magician. "It's much stronger physically than it looks, and those blades are incredibly sharp."

"I see, then we should take care of it before it can cause any further harm."

"Right." Ayato nodded before bending his knees slightly before dashing to the side and began circing the Magician as it continued to follow his movements. Keqing took advantage of the distraction and dashed forwards before conjuring and throwing a dagger of lightning up just above the Magician.

Ayato was surprised when Keqing looked to have teleported right where the dagger had hovered, allowing her to deliver a downwards lightning-infused slash down onto the Magician. The attack merely stunned the Magician for a second as the electricity made it paralyzed for a small second.

He didn't let the chance go by as Ayato rushed in while Keqing quickly jumped off of the Magician, allowing Ayato to safely send a barrage of slashes at the Magician. Despite the paralysis, the Magician managed to move its blade enough to barely block against Ayato's hits.

"Zionga!" Ayato jumped up and over the blades before sending a pillar of lightning down onto the Magician. The attack seemed to momentarily stun the Magician, allowing Ayato to quickly aim his Evoker to his temple before firing. "Jack Frost, Bufu!"

Jumping off of the Magician while summoning forth the small snowman, Jack Frost emerged before firing a wave of dense cold air and shards of ice. The attack struck the Magician on the back, the attack causing the Magician to stumble a bit with a few sparks still coming off of it.

'What the...?' Keqing momentarily froze in confusion when she saw what Ayato had done. Didn't she just witness him utilizing electro just a second ago? How did he just use cryo then? He was an electro vision holder, wasn't he? 'Now that I think about it... he doesn't look to be holding a vision.'

Keqing had a few suspicions about Ayato, starting from when she first helped him out on the rooftops. The creature they were fighting seemed to have targeted him in particular, pretty much ignoring the citizens. That just made her suspicions greater than they were before.

On top of that now, she had just witnessed him utilize two entirely different elemental powers, which shouldn't be possible from what she knew. There had never been a person wielding two visions before, and Ayato didn't appear to hold a vision at all.

'...and what is that creature?' Keqing couldn't help but grow confused when she saw him seemingly summon forth a strange white creature from out of nowhere. She was less surprised about this though, vision holders have been proven to have familiars spawn alongside or after obtaining their visions, though it's very rare.

"Tarukaja! Tarukaja!"

Keqing was forced out of her thoughts when she heard Ayato's words, looking towards him to see that he was now next to her. She soon felt a strange sensation washing over her, though she strangely felt stronger when the feeling faded away.

"We'll attack it at the same time, it shouldn't be able to defend against both of us... hopefully." Keqing merely nodded in response after pushing her previous thoughts away, she'd think about it after they got out of this fight hopefully alive. "Also, when you get the chance, try to strike its mask."

"Huh?"

"I've noticed that the monster keeps protecting its mask from my attacks, and I doubt it's for no reason." Ayato did seem to recall that the Magician went down properly after Thanatos had slashed its mask in half. If this was the same Magician, it should be the same solution.

Keqing stared for a second before nodding, to which both of them quickly dashed in as Ayato's previous attacks seemed to be temporarily slowing the Magician down. Ayato attacked from the front while Keqing charged in from the back, both of them slashing away with incredible speeds, though the Magician was still managing to keep up thanks to its multiple arms.

"Rakunda!" Ayato quickly shouted as a familiar dome surrounded them before fading away. With the spell in effect, Ayato quickly found an opening before managing to cut off one of the sword-wielding arms of the Magician. 'Are you serious, regeneration?!'

Ayato grew irritated when he saw the arm quickly connect itself back into place before he could even deliver another slash. Keqing tried to jump up and attack the mask when the Magician was distracted with Ayato, but ultimately failed as the Magician used its other four swords to force her to retreat back.

"G-Gah!" Ayato was instantly grabbed by one of the Magician's free hands before it raised him high up before slamming him into the ground. The force behind the slam was so strong that it cracked the ground, the Magician didn't stop and continued slamming him up and down mercilessly.

"A-Ayato...!" While she couldn't see it due to the mask having a constant expression, Keqing could tell the Magician was enjoying what it was doing right now. Keqing quickly charged in an attempt to help him, her blade releasing an incredible amount of electricity.

The Magician quickly noticed her advance but was surprised when she began slashing at it with incredible speed, each hit sending a flash of electricity onto it as she looked almost as if she had become lightning itself as her movements were hard to keep track of.

The speed in which she was going was far beyond what she was capable of before, so the Magician wasn't able to keep up and just held all of its swords around its mask to guard itself. Even when Keqing's attack ended, the Magician continued guarding itself.

"Are you okay?!" One of her slashes had managed to slice through the arm holding Ayato, so the male was let free as she quickly took hold of him and dashed off a safe distance away from the Shadow. Ayato just nodded his head as he coughed up some blood that he spat onto the ground.

"H-High Pixie... Diarama!" Shakingly holding his Evoker to his head, he summoned forth High Pixie who quickly began casting her spell, healing up a majority of the wounds that were present on his body. Ayato felt most of the pain go away as he forced himself onto his feet, Keqing helping him stay stable.

"Are you sure you can fight like this?" Keqing asked in a concerned tone as she noticed the blood still dripping down from Ayato's mouth, although far less than just a second ago. She was surprised by the new creature he summoned, but her attention was more on the male's health than that.

"Y-Yeah, I should be fine..."

"You should rest, you can barely have the energy to stand."

"You're not one to talk..." Ayato chuckled slightly as he noticed that Keqing was obviously drained after using whatever the heck that attack was before. It didn't take a genius to tell that she was obviously running dry on energy as well, they both were.

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『Character

Name: Kuragasaki Ayato

Hit Points: 188/226

Skill Points: 14/134

.

Ayato clicked his tongue when he glanced at his current status, he was seriously running dry of SP, it had gotten to the point that he had trouble even summoning his personas. High Pixie just now hurt to even bring out, and the headache he was feeling now was seriously not helping.

"Look out...!" Ayato widened his eyes when the Shadow lunged at them, although slower than it could previously. Both himself and Keqing quickly moved out of the way before they were hit, Ayato barely managing to do so himself, he almost stumbled due to the toll on his mind right now.

As the Magician turned around and was about to lunge at them once more, it had to defend itself when what looked to be an arrow suddenly shot towards it. Ayato and Keqing took the chance to gain some distance before looking towards where the arrow had been shot.

'Isn't that...?' Ayato blinked in surprise when he looked to see that the arrow was shot by someone who was standing on top of an elevated cliffside. However, he was surprised to see that it was the person he saw the first time around he visited Xiangling's restaurant.

"Ganyu!" Keqing shouted in both surprise and relief. The one now known as Ganyu shot a few more arrows that seemed to be infused with an icy aura towards the Magician, to which she then quickly jumped down and ran over towards where Keqing and Ayato were. "Are the citizens okay?!"

"We have managed to evacuate all the citizens from their homes, though the millelith are fighting against strange monsters." Ganyu informed seriously as Keqing and Ayato widened their eyes at that. "They resemble this creature here, though much smaller and appear more like slimes..."

"This creature is already enough trouble..." Keqing clenched her sword a bit as they all stared down the Magician that was now ready to pounce at them once again. The arrows that it was hit by only kept it at bay for a few moments.

'Probably the Cowardly Maya from the description...' Ayato kept his eyes trained on the Magician as he thought this. From the simple explanation that Ganyu just gave, these millelith or whatever were probably facing Cowardly Mayas. The first monsters that the player fought in Persona 3. "How many are there?"

"The exact number is unknown, but the millelith seem to be holding them back just fine." Ganyu had responded to the question as she turned to face him. "However, I'm afraid that they might not be able to hold them back forever. There doesn't seem to be an end to them..."

"Damnit... okay, then we should deal with this thing quickly before heading back and helping with the other monsters." Ayato stated as the two females just nodded their heads. He could only hope that the Cowardly Mayas would disappear once the Magician was defeated, at least he hoped they could beat it. "Dagda!"

Shooting the Evoker against his head, Dagda was quickly summoned to the battle. Both Keqing and Ganyu looked at the deity in awe, his mere presence was incredible. Dagda immediately charged in without a word before battling with the Magician, making sure to avoid being hit by the blades.

"...!" Ayato fell to his knees, using one hand to help stabilize himself as the other was clutching his head. Just by summoning Dagda he felt like his mind was being completely shattered, it was obvious that summoning stronger Personas took a greater toll than weaker ones. 'D-Dagda, try and destroy its mask...'

『Yeah, I got it! You try and recover your energy!』

"Are you sure you're okay...?" Keqing asked in a concerned tone as both she and Ganyu looked at his fallen form with concern on their faces, Keqing kneeling down to check on him. She could see that he was panting heavily, and his eyes were starting to dull a bit as well.

"Y-Yeah, you both just help Dagda..." Ayato groaned as he clutched his head. He then looked up at Ganyu. "Ganyu-san, right? Aim for its mask, try and destroy it. We think that the mask is its weakness, destroy it and we may destroy the monster..."

"I understand, then please rest and leave this to us." Ganyu nodded her head in understanding as she and Keqing glared at the Magician. Dagda was keeping it distracted as Keqing charged in to help, Ganyu circling carefully around while firing off arrows.

Ayato nodded his head as he got his breathing under control, now using both hands to keep himself up, he looked forwards with hazy eyes at the battle. If he was being honest, he felt freaking useless right now. This was the main issue with Persona users, if their psyche was reaching the breaking point, they could barely fight if at all.

All they could rely on was summoning their Personas in this kind of situation, and even then most probably wouldn't be able to summon them due to their psyches being far too gone. He honestly amazed himself that he was even remaining conscious right now. He couldn't even use Pixie's Patra to help relieve the pain, she was locked away right now.

As Dagda attempted to hold down the Magician, it proved to be a difficult task as its slime-like body made it difficult to even get a proper grip. Every time that Dagda tried to hold tightly onto its limbs, the limbs would just explode where Dagda grabbed before regenerating itself instantly.

Keqing attempted to strike its mask, but would find herself at a dead-end due to the Magician using one of its swords to fight back against her. It didn't help anyone either that the mask was being held by one of the hands, which allowed it to easily move it around wildly to avoid being hit.

Ganyu wasn't able to get a clear shot either, the Magician wasn't without intelligence so it made sure to keep an eye on the adeptus as it dealt with the other two. Dagda was soon slashed back into the Sea of Souls, he was dealing with three of the swords at the same time after all.

"D-Dagda!" Ayato forced himself to bring Dagda back out again as the deity immediately went into action once he was summoned. Ayato felt the pain strike him again as he was visibly shaking, his arms barely managing to keep him off the ground. 'Sh-Shit, I don't think I can last much longer...!'

『Just hold on, kid! I won't be able to stay summoned if you fall!』

Dagda flew above the Magician before delivering a powerful hammer fist down onto it, though the blades managed to reduce most of the force behind the attack. Keqing took the chance to charge in, though everyone could see she was having a hard time like Ayato was, she had used most of her energy beforehand.

"Hyaa~!" Keqing shouted as she sent a slash towards the mask, though the Magician immediately acted as it raised its mask upwards to avoid the attack. Keqing widened her eyes at the action, though she barely managed to raise her sword to block the fist of one of the other hands that sent her skidding across the ground.

'D-Dagda, Maeiha!'

『Can you handle it?!』

"Just-̵̞̀-̸̱̾ -̷̼͌-̵̧̀-̵͇̽use-̵̧̀-̵͇̽it...!" Ayato shouted as Dagda widened his eyes a bit before looking back at Ayato with widened eyes, though he shook his head before holding his hand forwards. Causing multiple pillars of Cursed energy to rise from beneath the Shadow. The mask didn't get destroyed, but it did appear to be slightly scorched by the attack. Though the damage was negligible.

The skill made Ayato recoil as he saw his vision turning blacker, Dagda was forced back into the Sea of Souls after the attack. That instant pain Ayato felt to his psyche seemed to have forced the deity back, probably since Ayato was barely even able to keep him summoned in the first place.

"Ayato!"

Ayato looked up to see the Magician releasing a loud screech of pure rage, soon locking its gaze onto him as it quickly rushed towards him with all six swords raised. Ayato immediately forced himself to raise his Evoker to his temple before firing. "D-Dagda...!"

Miraculously, the deity was forced out, Dagda managed to block all six of the blades for a moment using his arms. However, the power behind the slashes immediately destroyed him as the impact from the collision and Dagda's destruction sent Ayato flying back. He bounced a few across the ground before his body rolled to a stop.

"Ganyu, I need you to keep the monster down! I'll get Ayato away as far as possible!" Ganyu merely nodded firmly to Keqing's words as she began raining down arrows onto the Magician. The Shadow using all of its swords to slash each of the arrows down.

She then formed what looked to be a strange frozen pearl of sorts in her hands before holding it towards where the Magician stood, the pearl soon appearing above the Magician, though much bigger than it was before. The pearl then began raining down shards of ice, which the Magician held its swords over its mask to protect itself.

Ayato shakingly tried to push himself off of the ground, coughing up blood as the impact from both Dagda's destruction and the Magician's attack probably caused him some major internal injuries. He wouldn't be surprised if he broke a rib or two at this point.

Right now, he was literally clinging to both his consciousness and his life.

.

『Character』

Name: Kuragasaki Ayato

Hit Points: 82/226

Skill Points: 4/134

.

Keqing quickly arrived next to him and began helping him stand, making sure to do so carefully as to not hurt him any further. Keqing looked into Ayato's eyes and saw that he was barely conscious, his eyes seemed to be flickering between consciousness and unconsciousness.

"K-Keqing, I can't hold it much longer, get him out of here!" Keqing looked up to see Ganyu struggling to keep the pearl active, the constant rain of cry attacks from the pearl seemed to be taking a toll on the adeptus. Keeping up such an attack would obviously take a lot of energy.

"K-Keqing..." Keqing turned her attention to Ayato as the male barely managed to get his words out. As Keqing attempted to take Ayato away, although slowly since he was in no condition to be moving any faster. "I want you and Ganyu-san to get out of here..."

"Are you telling us to leave you?!" Keqing looked at the male with an incredulous look. She may have only met him a few minutes ago, but there was no way she was going to just let somebody die if she could do something about it. It didn't sit right with her at all.

"It's obviously after me...! I'm sure you know that by now!" His shout was more of a whisper, but it still delivered his emotions. Keqing had noticed how the Magician was trying to go after him the entire battle, only regarding them as fodder. "B-Bringing me anywhere right now will get whoever is there killed..."

"But..."

"I can't hold on, l-look out!" Ganyu's voice got their attention as they snapped their heads to see that the Magician released a piercing screech as it destroyed the pearl with its swords. Ganyu was obviously at her limit as she fell to her knees panting, looking obviously drained.

『Kid, listen to me carefully! I need you to hold out for a few a bit longer, I think I can help you survive and even beat this thing!』

'Wh-What do you mean...?'

『No time for questions, just try to hold out!』

"G-Got it..." Ayato stumbled as gently pushed Keqing away as he glared hatefully towards the Magician. Running away in his current state was impossible, so all he could really do was attempt to dodge and block the Magician's attacks. "Alright, you armed-fuck. Let's do this..."

"Ayato, are you sure about this...?" Keqing asked as she gripped her sword and pointed it defensively towards the Magician. Ganyu was off on the side ready to fire another arrow, though you could see she was having some difficulty conjuring any power. Ayato merely nodded his head. "...Very well, then I shall assist."

"Are you sure? There really isn't any need to go this far for me, we did just only meet..."

"I won't be able to deal with the fact I left an innocent person to die, so I'm staying to finish this." Keqing narrowed her eyes as she responded, Ayato frowned in response but ultimately sighed. Anyone could see that she was not going to budge no matter what he said.

"Okay then, then we'll need to hold on for a bit. Dagda says he has some kind of plan."

"Dagda, that being you summoned?"

"Yeah."

Ayato didn't say anything else as they both had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit, Ayato pushed through his pain and continued running. It wasn't exactly helping that the Magician seemed to be in a fit of rage, wildly swinging its blades all over in a tantrum.

Its movements made the ground shake with each step as it continued lunging at each and every one of them, leaving them no room to rest. Keqing and Ayato had a hard time fighting back against its assaults while Ganyu also had to dodge a number of attacks as well. She was still recovering like Keqing, so it wasn't any easier on her either.

"A-Ayato, how much longer?!" Keqing shouted as she was pushed back after using her sword to block yet another swipe she received from the Magician. Ayato had to roll out of the way as well when the Magician lunged at him before slamming the blades in the spot he had just been standing.

He kicked off of the Magician's body to gain some distance before continuing to jump back quickly to gain distance, he then responded to Keqing's question. "I-I'm not sure...! Dagda, how much longer?! We can't hold out for much longer!"

When Ayato didn't receive any form of a reply, he could only click his tongue in annoyance. He wasn't entirely sure what it was Dagda was trying to do, but he hoped that it could at least help them somewhat. Anything would be useful at this point.

'...Shit, damn it!'

"Look out!" Ayato heard both females shout as he looked over his shoulder to see the Magician charging at him once more. He had almost tripped as constant waves of pain struck his head. Widening his eyes, he desperately kicked off the ground to avoid the attack.

Ayato fell to the ground and rolled to a stop after having jumped, the Magician sailing past and skidding to a stop. While it appeared that Ayato had managed to avoid the hit, both Ganyu and Keqing widened their eyes when they noticed a very important detail.

One of the swords the Magician wielded managed to brush against Ayato, having cut the right side of his neck. Blood was running down from his neck, and when Ayato touched his neck, he could feel the blood on his hand. If the wound had been any deeper, that would have been the immediate end.

"Ayato, y-your neck!"

"Are you okay?!"

While they both could tell he was doing anything but okay, both Keqing and Ganyu couldn't help but cry out in concern for the male. Ayato didn't respond as he glared up at the Magician who turned towards him, and seemed to release a series of soft screeches reminiscent of laughter.

"J-Jack Frost... Bufu!" Forcing Jack Frost out, the snowman immediately fired off a wave of ice and cold wind towards the Magician. The attack did stop the Magician for a short second, though ultimately failed in doing anything else. Ayato coughed up some blood as he struggled fiercely to even stay standing, watching as the Magician approached.

"Get away from him!" Keqing attempted to dash in front of Ayato and slash at the Magician, though her movements were now much sloppier than they usually were, her own fatigue was really hitting her. She had to parry a slash, though the force made her stumble, which the Magician took advantage of to smack her away with full force.

"Keqing!"

"I-I'm fine...!" Keqing groaned as she picked herself up from the ground while answering Ganyu's concerns. Both females looked as the Magician raised all six of its blades high up, staring down at Ayato while releasing screeching laughs, the male glaring up at it with shadowed eyes. "Wh-What do we do...?"

"I-I..."

"J-Jack Frost..." Having shakingly raised his Evoker to his head, he pressed the trigger. But unlike any of the other times he had done so, nothing happened. The persona didn't emerge, nothing happened at all. Ayato gritted his teeth at this.

"P-Pixie..."

Nothing.

"High Pixie..."

Nothing.

"Jack F-Frost..."

Nothing.

"...Dagda."

Nothing...

Defeated, Ayato's arm that was holding the Evoker shook before falling down to his side. He was barely conscious, his vision was flickering violently between different shades of black as he felt his consciousness slipping away. All he could do was fall to his knees and watch as the Magician laughed before striking all six of its swords down onto him.

.

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『Current Personas』

● Dagda - [Arcana: The Fool] [Level: 10] [Inherit: Curse] [Resist: Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind] [Weak: Bless] [Strength: 14] [Magic: 11] [Endurance: 10] [Agility: 11] [Luck: 9] [Skills: ⓘ] [Status: 🟢]

● Pixie - [Arcana: The Lovers] [Level: 6] [Inherit: Electric] [Resist: Electric, Bless] [Weak: Gun, Ice, Curse] [Strength: 2] [Magic: 8] [Endurance: 5] [Agility: 4] [Luck: 6] [Skills: ⓘ] [Status: 🔴]

● Jack Frost - [Arcana: The Magician] [Level: 12] [Inherit: Ice] [Block: Ice] [Weak: Fire] [Strength: 8] [Magic: 11] [Endurance: 8] [Agility: 9] [Luck: 7] [Skills: ⓘ] [Status: 🟢]

● High Pixie - [Arcana: The Priestess] [Level: 10] [Inherit: Ice] [Block: Ice] [Weak: Wind] [Strength: 4] [Magic: 6] [Endurance: 4] [Agility: 6] [Luck: 10] [Skills: ⓘ] [Status: 🟢]

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A/N: The 🟢 status means that the persona is currently available for Ayato to summon, and since Pixie is currently locked away due to her recent evolution her status is currently displayed as🔴