Chapter 19: Testing, Testing

The school gate stood locked, its mundane presence at odds with the tension crackling in the air. Akihiko shifted restlessly, his spiked knuckles already glinting under the dim light, while Mitsuru stood poised, her rapier sheathed but ready. I myself was given the S.E.E.S. armband, of which I wore it instantly.

Mitsuru glanced at her watch. Every tick seemed louder than usual, the kind of ominous countdown you see in movies. And then, right at the stroke of midnight, the tick stopped, and The Dark Hour settled in.

Everything froze.

The moon grew unnervingly bright, casting a pale glow over a world painted in sickly greens and deep shadows. Pools of blood appeared on the ground as if conjured by some horror director with a flair for drama. The school, though—that was the centerpiece of this macabre spectacle.

The building groaned, shuddering as if alive, and then it grew. Floors rose, twisting and crashing against each other, like an architect's nightmare brought to life. The structure stretched impossibly high, its jagged form stabbing into the sky. The colors shifted unnaturally—green to red, red to black, black to white—until the transformation ended, leaving the tower looking like it could swallow the moon itself.

I turned to Mitsuru and Akihiko, half-expecting them to show some sign of unease. Akihiko looked ready to take a swing at the tower, and Mitsuru… Well, she looked as calm as if we were waiting for a late bus.

"This is Tartarus," Mitsuru explained. "We don't know much about it, apart from the fact that it's a labyrinth disguised as a tower. It is a nest of shadows, so tread carefully."

I glanced at the tower again, the sheer impossibility of it sinking in. "And it just… happens to be where the school was? Nothing suspicious about that at all, huh?"

Mitsuru's gaze flickered for a moment, but she kept her composure. "The connection remains unclear," she said, her tone clipped.

"Unclear," I echoed, filing that under things she definitely knows but won't tell me yet. Still, this wasn't the time to push it. Not that I really need that explanation.

Mitsuru turned to lead the way, and Akihiko gave me a quick, reassuring nod. "Stay close," he said.

With the twisted tower looming above us, its presence heavy and suffocating, I adjusted my grip on the rifle case, before following them inside to the tower.

We passed through the gate and stood before the towering double doors of Tartarus. Akihiko stepped forward, his hands bracing against the weight of the door. With a groan of ancient metal, it slowly creaked open, the sound echoing like a ghostly warning. Beyond, the entrance room awaited, gleaming with its reflective tiles.

Stepping inside, the sheer strangeness of the place hit me like a punch to the gut. It felt surreal. Decades ago, I saw this place through a screen, controller in hand, thinking it was all make-believe. Now, it was real, and that realization carried a bizarre weight.

The memories started creeping back as I took in the details: the black-and-white tiles, the deep chasm flanking the main pathway, the shifting walls that seemed alive, and, of course, the enormous clock looming above the staircase in the center. It all screamed Tartarus.

We stopped at the base of the stairs. I crouched down, popping open the rifle case. My hands moved on autopilot as I loaded the gun and snapped the bayonet into place. Resting it on my shoulder, I turned to Mitsuru and Akihiko.

Mitsuru's sharp gaze lingered on me. "Ready? We'll go with you, but remember—this is just an introduction. Focus on getting a feel for the rifle. Nothing more."

Akihiko gave me a reassuring grin, rolling his shoulders. "We'll handle the heavy lifting if things get rough. Just worry about learning the ropes. Mitsuru will lead, as she has the ability to detect shadows with her Persona."

I nodded, adjusting my grip on the gun. "Got it. After you, then."

With that, Mitsuru led the way up, her rapier swaying with each step. Akihiko followed, his spiked knuckles glinting under the dim, otherworldly light. I brought up the rear, our steps synchronizing with the silent tick of that oversized clock.

She stopped directly before the massive clock, her gaze fixed on its intricate, metallic surface. For a moment, she seemed lost in thought, then reached out, her gloved fingers brushing against it. The instant she made contact, the world shifted. My vision went dark, and an unsettling sense of vertigo overtook me, eerily similar to the sensation of being sucked into the book.

—

When my vision cleared, I found myself in an entirely different space. When I turned around, I saw a machine, glowing periodically. It looked like a teleporter, the kind where if you step on its pressure plates, you will be transported elsewhere. As I turned back toward Mitsuru and Akihiko, I noticed a shift in their expressions—intensity mixed with a cautious awareness.

"Watch your steps," Mitsuru instructed sharply, unsheathing her rapier with a flourish. The sound of metal sliding free echoed faintly in the eerie stillness. "I sense there's one entity ahead."

We moved forward at a quick pace. Not slow enough to lose momentum, but not recklessly fast either. It was a deliberate rhythm, led by Mitsuru. As we navigated the winding halls of this first floor, I couldn't help but take in the design—distorted yet unnervingly symmetrical. The maze-like corridors, illuminated faintly by patches of moonlight filtering through warped windows, felt endless.

We passed one of those windows, the enormous moon hanging in the sickly green sky outside catching my eye. It wasn't as bright here in the lower levels, but the sheer size of it was disconcerting. It loomed, silent and oppressive, even if it wasn't a full moon.

The journey was a series of turns—left, right, backtracking, then forward again. The repetitive nature was maddening. But then, Mitsuru suddenly halted, raising her rapier in a signal to stop. She turned to us, a finger pressed to her lips.

From the corner ahead emerged… something.

The creature crawled into view, its form almost painfully familiar. A black, amorphous blob with no discernible features except for its grotesque mask—a face that defined it. This one wore a blue mask marked with the Roman numeral "I." Its blob-like body moved unnaturally, its limbs stretching and pulling it along the floor.

It stopped, seeming to notice us. The creature tilted its head in a disturbingly human gesture before letting out a sick, gurgling noise and charging toward us.

"Now!" Mitsuru barked. "Aim for its mask!"

I didn't hesitate. I spun the gun to get it into position, aiming it at the rushing Shadow. This gun wasn't like the ones I'd used before in the rifle shooting club. No, if it's made for Persona users, then maybe, I had to channel an energy similar to that.

Closing my eyes for a fraction of a second, I focused inward. The tattoos on my body ignited, their glow spreading rapidly, wrapping around me and spilling onto the rifle in a cascade of light. From the corner of my eye, I caught Mitsuru's and Akihiko's stunned expressions, but I didn't dwell on it.

The rifle hummed, the glowing energy now coursing through its structure. Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself and pulled the trigger.

The recoil was manageable but unmistakable, a sharp push against my shoulder. The bullet shot out, trailing light as it streaked toward the Shadow. It struck the mask dead-on, splintering it with an audible crack. The creature let out a final, guttural noise before its form collapsed, evaporating into nothingness as the remains of its mask crumbled away.

I lowered the rifle slowly, exhaling a breath I didn't realize I was holding, and my tattoos disappeared as I did so. Mitsuru and Akihiko both stared at me, their expressions unreadable.

"Well," I muttered, inspecting the rifle, "guess it works."