The Magician's Rematch

What's up, I'm finally back! Well, at least for now. I have finally managed to reconnect my computer and can use it now, I am using my phone's internet to supply my computer though, I need to get the internet all sorted out with a technician next month so I have to make do.

If you had looked back at my chapter comment I had written rather late after by previous update, it explains why I haven't updated in so long. To put it simply, Australian Flash Floods happened and my house was destroyed, so yeah.

Anyway, this particular chapter is mainly fighting, and somehow I got it to six thousand words, pretty decent amount if I say so myself. I'm not really the best at writing fight scenes either, so I apologise for that, never really was my forte when it came to writing.

Hope you enjoy.

--------------------------------

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

『System/Persona Speech』

--------------------------------

Ayato calmly performed a cart-wheel to avoid a downwards slash that was sent towards him by the Magician, then performing another half-cartwheel as he pushed against the ground. The action made made his body jump upwards and away from the Magician.

"Okay, the Magician really isn't so complicated..." Ayato noted as he continued to observe the attack patterns of the Magician. His eyes narrowing as he made sure to take in all the details. The reason he was doing this was pretty simple.

After having made his way through the dungeon, he had arrived here in this final large open area that was covered in the same black sludge that covered the rest of the city that this dungeon took on the appearance of. He made sure to avoid making contact with it at all cost.

This area was the place that he was now fighting against the Magician, and just like he had assumed prior to entering, the Normal difficulty Magician was the exact same compared to the one he fought in Liyue, it was exactly the same in strength.

Though, with his new Godslayer powers backing him up, he really didn't put this Magician as a threat in his radar. In fact, it was because of this that he was now using this Magician to learn from. He wasn't sure how difficult the Hard mode version of it will be, so he wanted to take the time to learn it's combat style.

Thankfully, it's style of combat was very simple and easy to understand. He hadn't really paid nearly as much attention to it the first time around, mainly due to it overwhelming him every single second, so he really didn't have any chance of doing so at the time.

Anyway, on his way here, he understood exactly why the chance of success he had for this dungeon was marked as 95% instead of a 100%.

It was the god damn sludge!

He had ended up getting splashed with it at some point due to being slightly careless when he saw how weak the Cowardly Mayas were that had randomly appeared. The damn sludge was poisonous, so it continued to chip away at him until its effects wore off after a few seconds.

If he was to assume correctly, the system gave him a 95% success rate because he had no way of healing any form of poison, he only had cures for physical wounds and emotional effects like dizziness, panic and fear. It seemed that the system took into account what he had in his disposal to deal with certain situations within the dungeons.

"Alright, that should be enough." Ayato smiled as he then dashed around the Magician before sprinting forwards with a burst of speed as he took hold of one of its arms. He then used his strength to swing it over his shoulder and crash it down onto the ground. "Dagda!"

Ayato summoned forth to deliver the finishing hit, mainly since Dagda was constantly complaining in his head to let him do so since he wanted some sweet revenge for what the first Magician did to him. Ayato was the one who technically killed the Magician the first time around, and Dagda wanted to do the same.

『I'm going to enjoy this, you slimy shit!』

Dagda chuckled as he glared down at the Magician, raising his hand up before crashing it down and taking hold of the mask that the Magician attempted to protect. Once Dagda took hold, a familiar surge of black and red energy formed beneath the hand that held the mask.

『Eiha!』

Ayato could only sweatdrop as the pillar of energy rose up and struck the Magician's mask. When it did, the mask slowly scorched before it started to disintegrate away. Dagda was laughing the whole time it was happening, and Ayato could only nervously watch on as Dagda sadistically laughed.

"You... okay?"

『Yeah』

"Whatever you say." Dagda then disappeared as Ayato shrugged before watching the remaining sludge that made up the Magician's body flailing around like worms before going limp as they started to disintegrate as well. "That's the Normal mode done, guess we should try out Hard mode."

『Just don't get cocky because your a Godslayer, kid, That power has just allowed you to go far beyond anything a human can possibly achieve, along with an initial boost in power. Don't think you can just go around and beat up gods and all that without training』

"Yeah, I know." Ayato rolled his eyes slightly as he already knew that. Just because he was a Godslayer didn't mean he was invincible, Nanashi didn't just go around killing gods without training to get stronger. The Godslayer powers just gave them an incredible boost and advantage. He may be much more powerful compared to what he was before, but he was still far from the strongest in this world.

『Dagda has levelled up』『x2』

『Your Strength has increased by 3』

『Your Magic has increased by 2』

『Your Endurance has increased by 2』

『Dagda learned Power Punch』

『Level Up』

『Kuragasaki Ayato felt a surge of energy inside』

『Your Hit Points and Skill Points have increased』

『You are now able to create Personas up to level 21』

"Power Punch?" Ayato repeated as he saw the notification. He quickly went into his Personas menu to check out the details of the new skill. From the name alone, and from his personal knowledge, the attack was obviously a physical one. In fact, it might be his first physical skill. "Medium Strike damage, forty health points for use..."

Ayato read over the information with interest, and from the description, he now understood one major component of the system. The system wasn't functioning with all skills of the physical nature being under the Physical umbrella, but the separated ones like Strike and Pierce.

Along with said skills obviously requiring the user to sacrifice some health for their use. Aside from that though, he now had his first physical skill, and with how Dagda's Strength stat right now was his highest, it was more than a welcoming sight to see the skill come in.

.

『Magician Arcana Dungeon - Complete』

Difficulty Mode: Normal

Objective: Defeat the Magician Arcana at the end of the dungeon

Rewards:

● Random Magician Arcana Persona [Level 10-25] [Rate: 20%]

● 5,000 Balance

.

『You have welcomed Sati into your heart』

"Sati? If I remember correctly, she originates from Hindu mythology..." Ayato pondered to himself as he saw the Persona that he just obtained. He was honestly surprised, there was only a 20% chance of him getting one, he wasn't complaining though. Anyway, he moved her to his forefront. 'Hello, Sati? Can you hear me?'

『Indeed, I shall be in your care, young one. In turn, you shall also be in my care』

'Then I thank you.' Ayato smiled and nodded as he responded. Sati was a goddess that was born as a human due to Brahma, he wasn't sure if that was true in actual mythology, but from what he knew from her profile in Persona, that's what she was. 'Let's see...'

.

● Sati - [Arcana: The Magician] [Leve: 20] [Inherit: Fire] [Block: Fire] [Weak: Ice] [Strength: 10] [Magic: 19] [Endurance: 10] [Agility: 13] [Luck: 15] [Skills: ⓘ]

.

『Persona Skills: Sati』

● Maragi - [Deals light Fire damage to the target/targets] [Cost: 6 SP]

● Media - [Restores a slight amount of health of all allies within a ten-meter radius of the user] [Cost: 8 SP]

.

"Nice, that means I got a fire affinity now." Ayato smiled with satisfaction as he read over the information. Since Fire wasn't an element he had access to before, it was more than welcome. On top of having a Fire persona now, he could even heal multiple allies at a time, although a small amount.

Even if it only healed a small amount of damage, it was still an area of effect healing skill, and that could definitely prove to be useful down the road. Both his Pixies could only utilise healing that affected a single target, not more than one.

On top of all of that, Sati was completely immune to Fire. That meant that he had a way to completely nullify any Fire damage he'd be dealt with if he placed Sati at his forefront, so that was a big plus as well. He already had two nullifications for Ice, and now Fire as well.

.

『Do you wish to select and continue to another dungeon or return to the real world?』

『Continue』『Return』

.

This notification screen had constantly been displayed after the notification of him finishing the dungeon was announced, though he ignored it to check out Sati's information. Anyway, Ayato calmly tapped onto the continue option.

He decided to try the Hard mode difficulty first, and he could just do the three Easy mode options after. He assumed that the Easy mode option probably gave him significantly less rewards compared to the others, so he'd do that last.

"Oh, I see. So the green indicators are my remaining attempts."

True to those words, the green indicator that was previously present next to the Normal mode option had now changed to red, and he could assume that it'd return back to green by the same time tomorrow since that was the cooldown for the Normal mode difficulty.

Anyway, he selected Hard mode next.

.

『Available Timespace Dungeons』

● Magician Arcana Dungeon [Difficulty Rank: 5] [Easy: 🟢🟢🟢] [Normal: 🔴] [Hard: 🟢]

.

『Magician Arcana Dungeon』

Dungeon Difficulty Rank: 5

Estimated Chance Of Success: 60%

Difficulty Mode: Hard

Objective: Defeat the Magician Arcana at the end of the dungeon

Rewards:

● Random Magician Arcana Persona [Level 25-40] [Rate: 2%]

● 25,000 Balance

● Magician Badge [One Time]

『Enter』『Cancel』

.

"Damn, only sixty percent! That's like half the chance I had for normal mode. Guess it's the hardest difficulty for a damn good reason..."

Ayato was honestly surprised, he did expect the chance of success to drop, but he hadn't expected such a significant drop. That kind of made him concerned about how strong the Magician was going to be in this mode, and the objective obviously remaining the same.

Though, he did somewhat go by the rule of no pain no gain, so he'd have to risk it for the rewards. Plus, this training is much better compared to anything he had encountered so far outside, aside from that first Magician of course.

He wasn't going to be able to get seriously stronger if he didn't take some big risks every now and then, and on the plus side, the rewards were significantly better to a degree. If he wasn't mistaken, that amount of balance was more than a million Mora in total. Though, that chance for the random persona was incredibly low, expected though.

"What's this badge though?" Ayato couldn't help but feel confused seeing the last reward. Along with it being a one-time reward from the looks of it, it must be something special. "Guess there's only one way to find out, let's do this."

--------------------------------

Once Ayato selected to enter the dungeon, just like before, he was suck into a portal as he now found himself surrounded by a large desolate city covered in black sludge. However, the city was far different from the one he saw before.

This city appeared to be even bigger, and even more advanced from the looks of it. It kind of looked like a city that was on its way towards becoming sci-fi. If it weren't for the black sludge that covered every nook and cranny, he would probably had thought the city was a beautiful sight.

"...!" Ayato suddenly felt his instincts flare up as he immediately jumped back, and it was lucky that he did as something seemed to crash down onto the spot he was standing on. He flipped mid-air and landed gracefully, to which he then looked to see what had attacked him. "The hell...?"

Ayato blinked in surprise when he saw that a large tendril composed entirely out of the black sludge had crashed down onto his previous position. It was like a snake as it swayed constantly, and from the looks of it, it originated from the pools of black sludge that covered the city.

"Oh shit!" Ayato didn't get to stop for long as multiple other tendrils sprung forth from the pools, all with the intent on striking him down. He had no choice but to jump towards the buildings and begin running atop and on the sides of them.

As he did this, he had to constant avoid being struck by the non-ending formation of tendrils that continued to strike at him, some were even extending to great lengths and chasing after him. This was already a major difference to the previous difficulty.

He didn't know for certain, but he was pretty sure it was safe to assume that if he was hit by these tendrils that not only would he be hurt by the impact, but also be poisoned. For all he knew as well, since this was Hard mode, the poison was probably more lethal and long-lasting compared to before.

He quickly jumped off the side of one of the buildings and landed into a more open area, the area appearing to be an intersection within the city. Just as he was about to dash forwards in one of the directions, a figure formed from the pools in front of him and blocked his path.

Unlike the Cowardly Mayas he faced back in the Normal mode dungeon, the monsters formed from the pools were unfamiliar to him. The one that just formed had a large human-like form, along with wielding a blade very much similar to the ones that the Magician wielded.

"Okay..." Ayato narrowed his eyes before summoning his sword and began fighting back against the monster. It wasn't too powerful compared to him, so he was easily managing to overpower it. It'd be pretty bad if he had trouble against the smaller guys. "You got to be kidding..."

Just as Ayato destroyed the swordsman that had formed, numerous other monsters of similar nature had formed around him from the pools as well. He could see Cowardly Mayas mixed in as well, along with other monsters, all composed of the black sludge but varying in different shapes and sizes.

As they all charged towards him, Ayato widened his eyes before holding both arms outwards.

"Maragi!" Ayato shouted as a circle of fire formed around his person, to which a burst of fire then erupted outwards from that circle, forcing all the enemies back. They had to use their limbs to shield themselves from the flames. "Heat Riser!"

Taking the chance, Ayato quickly began taking down the monsters as they were still recovering from the previous attack. While he was confident he could take any of them on one-on-one, he didn't want to end up getting swarmed. It didn't help either that the tendrils from before were also trying to attack him.

Ayato jumped up before holding his Evoker to his head, pulling the trigger. "Sati! Maragi!"

When Ayato pulled the trigger, the figure that formed behind him was a beautiful woman dressed in black clothing, said clothing decorated with golden accessories and more. She had a black veil covering her mouth as flames seemed to dance and form from different parts of her body.

Sati opened her eyes and narrowed them before holding both hands down towards the remaining group of monsters, a powerful burst of fire erupting outwards as they engulfed the horde. Despite the attack being one that deals light Fire damage, it still had some impressive power behind it. Even a weak Fire spell could be immensely powerful if used by a strong enough person.

『Level Up』

『Kuragasaki Ayato felt a surge of energy inside』

『Your Hit Points and Skill Points have increased』

『You are now able to create Personas up to level 22』

『Sati has levelled up』

『Your Magic has increased by 2』

『Your Agility has increased by 1』

Ayato then calmly landed back down onto the ground. "Thanks, Sati."

Sati merely gave him a gentle smile before disappearing, Ayato then switching Dagda back to the forefront as he then dashed out of the area. The attack he just used had caused the tendrils to recoil back, so he was taking the chance to escape while he could.

--------------------------------

There was really no rest within this dungeon, no matter where he went, as long as there were pools of that black ooze, then those tendrils would always be able to attack him. That alone already made the dungeon significantly more dangerous and annoying compared to Normal mode.

It wasn't just the continuous attacks he was being barraged with, it was also the overall layout of this city. Unlike Normal mode, this city was more like an actual arena than it was a straight forward dungeon. The city back in Normal mode had a more linear and straight forward path towards the end.

This city, however, there was no definitive direction he needed to go. He literally had to explore around and try to find where the Magician was located, and that made things a lot harder than you'd expect. On the plus side though, he was getting some good training.

He had been defeating a number of monsters that continued to appear throughout the city, and due to them being much stronger compared to the ones he's fought back in the real world and in the Normal mode, he had been getting some good experience from defeating them.

He had already levelled up another two levels himself, though the progress to level up was obviously getting slower the higher his level went. He also managed to locate some resting areas that were relatively safe so that he could recover his SP.

He didn't know when he'd end up finding the Magician, so he made sure that he didn't at any point end up going below fifty percent of his SP reserves. Always making sure to go back to or find another safe place for him to recover at.

"Freaking hell, this dungeon kind of reminds me of areas in Shin Megami, the monsters are damn non-stop..." Ayato sighed as he ran along the side of one of the buildings. 'This thing better be here, this whole dungeon is a damn small city!'

Ayato looked down towards a large open space which looked to be the front of a hospital, though it was hard to identify the place to be a hospital at this point. Anyway, from the building he ran along, he kicked off of it towards the open space before skidding to a stop and finishing with a small roll.

Once he landed, he wasn't surprised when a number of the puddles of black sludge began to move and become more monsters. He quickly dashed towards them and began slashing them to shreds, or blobs, or whatever you call pieces of sludge.

Ayato had to stop his advance towards another group though, mainly because of a loud cry that sounded through the area, the sheer volume made the area shake a bit. In response, the remaining monsters all looked around in a panic before jumping into the larger pools of sludge and out of sight.

"Guess the big guy's finally here..." Ayato narrowed his eyes and quickly looked around. The fact alone that those remaining monsters ran away was a clear sign that something had scared them off, that cry being the cause. Ayato then heard some kind of whistling as he quickly turned around and swung his sword.

When he did, his blade made contact with a large sword that had been sent flying directly towards him. When both swords made contact, Ayato managed to swing with enough strength that the other blade was sent spinning back in the direction it came before impaling itself in the ground.

Ayato didn't hesitate as he jumped back to get some room, and he was glad that he did as he saw something jump up from the area behind the hospital towards his location. The figure was obviously the Magician, and said figure soon landed in the field Ayato was in.

When the Magician landed, it pulled the sword Ayato deflected out of the ground and gave a loud cry of hostility towards him. Ayato just narrowed his eyes and got into position, though his eyes showed signs of surprise and confusion.

The reason behind this was because the Magician looked a bit different compared to what he knew, instead of one mask, it had two that were being held by separate arms. From what he could tell, that was the only difference between the normal Magician and this one.

The Magician gave another cry before lunging towards Ayato, it's blades ready to slash down at him. Ayato calmly flashed to the side as the blades came down and struck the ground where he once stood. 'About the same speed, though that power is definitely much greater.'

The Magician began slashing continuously at Ayato, though the male was ready for it as he began parrying and redirecting each slash with incredible speed. The strength of this variant was far higher compared to the normal one, probably on par with himself, but it's speed seemed to be just about the same, if not only a little bit faster.

Despite its physical strength matching his own, Ayato was still calm as he noticed that the Magician's fighting style was no different from before. He was glad that he decided to properly study the boss back in Normal mode, it was certainly helping.

"Heat Riser! Heat Riser!" Ayato quickly casted as he began pushing back against the Magician, his newfound strength resulting in the Magician to start backing up. He quickly cut off one of the arms before kicking away another arm after ducking under its slash.

He had experimented with Heat Riser at some point prior to attaining his Godslayer powers, and he had come to learn of its pros and cons. He was indeed able to stack up Heat Risers for a total of three times, but the more that are stacked, the shorter the duration the effects would last.

After having gotten his Godslayer powers, he noticed how his SP reserves as well as his health had shot up by a large amount, so he could comfortably utilise three Heat Risers if he wanted and have a good amount of SP to spare. However, due to the shorter duration with stacked Heat Risers, the effects would go away faster and he'd need to spend more SP to reapply the effects.

He didn't have unlimited SP, and while he had a larger pool now, continuous applications of stacked Heat Risers would drain away his SP at an incredible rate. He'd probably stick with using it once or twice in tandem unless he actually needed another increase in power.

"Jack Frost, Mabufu!" The snowman came onto the field and released a cold blizzard towards the lower parts of the Magician. The attack caused the Magician to be stuck in place due to some ice forming on its limbs and reaching to the ground, it won't hold for long though.

Ayato knew that very well so he charged in quickly before parrying another blade when it tried to swing at him, he then jumped over another swing before slashing towards one of the masks that he had managed to reach towards.

"One down!" Ayato smirked as he quickly retreated as the Magician had begun flailing dangerously around when its mask was destroyed. Despite the mask being destroyed though, it didn't appear to be in any way disadvantaged. "As I expected, I have to destroy both masks..."

True to those words, the Magician was very much still up and kicking as it slashed wildly around itself in a fit of anger. It's flailing causing its blade to cut large slash marks into the grassy field they stood up. Ayato was about to charge it for another attack, but stopped when he noticed something strange.

The Magician began swashing its limbs against the ground like a wild beast, and its black slimy body began releasing a blue menacing fiery aura. The black eyes on its mask also began glowing brightly as well, and the blades seemed to gain a dense glow to them.

"What is this, Dark Souls?" Ayato's mouth twitched as this was your generic scene of a boss who had a second stage in its fight. Ayato quickly dashed to the side as the Magician lunged at him, then smashing the ground next to him with its limbs. "W-Woah...!"

The action surprised Ayato a bit as the ground beneath him shook before sending him flying up due to the force in which it was hit, the Magician quickly took the chance to turn towards him and send its blades slashing towards Ayato.

"Dagda!" Ayato quickly summoned forth Dagda as the deity quickly grabbed him and pulled him out of the way of the blades. Ayato nodded in thanks and landed on the ground, Dagda floating down beside him as they glared at the Magician. "Thanks, Dagda."

『You good?』

"Yeah. Let's try out your new skill, Power Punch!"

『Alright!』Dagda flew forwards towards the Magician before reeling back his fist, to which his fist was soon coated in a dense orange swirling energy. The energy radiating off of the fist as he then swung it forwards towards the Magician, who quickly raised all of its blades up in front of itself to block.

Once Dagda's fist made contact with the wall of blades, a powerful shockwave was sent outwards from their collision. Dagda grunted before giving a shout as he managed to overpower the Magician, the attack sending the Magician skidding back several meters.

"A-Ah-!" Ayato was caught of guard as he felt several cut wounds suddenly appear under his clothing, mainly on his right arm and chest. 'Jesus, so the Physical skills literally damage me by creating wounds. Definitely not freaking ideal...'

The attack didn't take an incredible amount of health from him, especially since he still had plenty to spare, so the wounds weren't fatal from what Ayato could tell. After Dagda delivered the hit, he disappeared as Ayato ran towards the Magician who was still recovering as he raised his Evoker to his head once more.

"Sati!" Pulling the trigger, the goddess soon emerged onto the field beside Ayato. He then pointed towards the Magician. He had a plan in mind and he hoped that it would work, he didn't want to prolong this fight any longer than it needed. "Use your flames to surround the Magician, Maragi!"

『If that is your command』Sati nodded as she flew up before crossing both hands in front of her chest, she then threw them outwards as the flames that came off of her body shot forwards. The flames crashed down onto the Magician as it gave a cry of pain.

'Nice, it has the same weakness to fire as the Cowardly Mayas!' Ayato nodded with a smile as the flames that crashed down stayed present even after Sati disappeared. The flames surrounded the Magician as it flailed around in agony at the centre. Ayato knew that it could jump out, so he quickly acted and jumped up and over the flames. "Power Punch!"

Ayato grimaced a bit when he felt a few more wounds appear on his body, he then swung his fist down towards the Magician. Unfortunately, the Magician used four of its swords to block the hit, although with difficulty as it then smacked him out of the air and away.

He was sent crashing and sliding across the ground, though Ayato quickly flipped back onto his feet and dug his hands into the ground to stop him from sliding. The power behind his punch was weaker than Dagda's, but only by a small margin.

"Okay, that stung." Ayato rubbed his chest a bit as that was where the Magician had smacked him, he then backflipped away when the Magician leapt out from the flames towards him. It was definitely angry though as it immediately jumped at him and slashed, Ayato widened his eyes and raised his sword to block.

With gritted teeth, Ayato pushed back against the blade that was sent towards him. The Magician used another of its swords to smack Ayato's blade away though before slashing at him. Ayato quickly dodged and jumped back as quickly as he could to avoid the barrage of slashes.

After getting some distance, Ayato summoned his sword back into his hand before shooting himself again with the Evoker. "High Pixie, Diarama!"

『Understood, master!』

High Pixie held both hands on Ayato back as he felt a wave of energy wash over him, the stinging of his wounds fading away quickly as he looked to see his health heal pretty much back up to full. Nodding in thanks, Ayato dismissed High Pixie back into the Sea of Souls.

"Dagda!" Ayato quickly called the god back to the field, watching still as the Magician seemed to enter a state of rage, even more so than before. It definitely didn't seem to be thinking properly. "I have a plan to finish this, when you have the chance, I want you to use Power Punch again. Make sure to aim for its mask."

『What are you planning exactly?』

"Something a bit risky, but it should give you the necessary opening."

『I hope you know what you're doing』

"Don't worry, just stay here and wait for the opportunity!" Ayato smirked before dashing forwards towards the enraged Magician. The Magician didn't take long to notice as it roared before stabbing all of its blades towards him. "Heat Riser! Heat Riser! Heat Riser!"

The effects of the stacked skills took immediate effect as Ayato's speed almost tripled as he quickly approached the incoming beast, he then jumped before kicking all of the blades down into the ground, resulting in them impaling into the ground.

Ayato then landed on said blades before runing along them before leaping over the Magician and landing behind it, he immediately kicked against the ground back towards the Magician as he slid to a stop directly beneath the Magician's large body.

'Hopefully this works!' Ayato raised both hands and placed them under the Magician's body, his hands then started glowing for a second with a bright orange glow. The Magician was vulnerable to Fire, so he could definitely make use of that weakness. "Rakunda! Maragi!"

Instantly, flames erupted from Ayato's hands. The Magician was obviously unable to dodge as Ayato was already touching it when performing the attack, thus the flames hit the Magician directly. The result was the Magician crying out in pain as it was forced to let go of its swords.

"Now, Dagda!"

『Alright!』Dagda shouted as he flew and appeared above the Magician, his fist already glowing with energy as Ayato already felt a few cuts appear on his body. Dagda then narrowed his eyes before throwing his fist forwards towards the Magician's mask.『Hyaah~!』

Realising that its blades were still in the ground, the Magician attempted to block the attack with its limbs, though the power behind Dagda's attack destroyed its limbs as his fist drilled its way towards and onto the mask. Once the fist made contact, the mask recoiled back before immediately shattering.

After the mask was destroyed, the Magician body of sludge lost its form and turned into slimy liquid as it collapsed onto the ground as a pool of black ooze. Dagda landed on the ground in front of the puddle as the energy around his fist vanished.

『Nice job, kid. Kicked that bastard's ass again』

"Yeah, thanks for the help. This is disgusting..." Ayato groaned in disgust as he stood up from his position. Since he was directly under the Magician when it was killed, the black sludge got all over him. Strangely enough, he wasn't poisoned. "Dia."

With a quick spell, any small remaining wounds he had were healed.

『Level Up』

『Kuragasaki Ayato felt a surge of energy inside』

『Your Hit Points and Skill Points have increased』

『You are now able to create Personas up to level 25』

『You are now able to create Personas up to level 26』

『You are now able to create Personas up to level 27』

『Dagda has levelled up』『x2』

『Your Strength has increased by 3』

『Your Magic has increased by 2』

『Your Luck has increased by 2』

『Jack Frost has levelled up』

『Your Magic has increased by 2』

『Your Endurance has increased by 1』

『High Pixie has levelled up』

『Your Magic has increased by 2』

『Your Agility has increased by 1』

『Sati has levelled up』

『Your Magic has increased by 3』

After the array of notifications, Dagda disappeared back into the Sea of Souls as Ayato shook off any of the sludge that was still on his body. After doing so, Ayato looked to see another notification pop up, this time telling him of his completion of the dungeon.

.

『Magician Arcana Dungeon - Complete』

Difficulty Mode: Hard

Objective: Defeat the Magician Arcana at the end of the dungeon

Rewards:

● Random Magician Arcana Persona [Level 25-40] [Rate: 2%]

● 25,000 Balance

● Magician Badge [One Time]

.

"No new Persona, huh? Well, can't always be lucky." Ayato shrugged as he didn't see any notification for him getting a new Persona. It was only a two percent chance of him getting it, so the odds weren't really with him on that one. "Though, that means I have almost three million Mora to my name now. Won't be running out anytime soon I guess."

Aside from getting Mora though, he was more interested now in the badge that he had just been rewarded. He went into his menu before checking the inventory, and from the looks of it, it didn't seem to be any kind of physical item, at least one that wasn't present in the inventory.

After searching for a bit, he entered into his main character stats and took notice of a new section that had just appeared. It was locate directly at the bottom, underneath where his status told him about what his Arcanas were.

.

『Character』

Name: Kuragasaki Ayato

Age: 16

Level: 27

Balance: 54,680

Hit Points: 575/592

Skill Points: 212/388

Soul Weapon:『Onimaru Kunitsuna』

Current Psyche:『Dagda』

Arcana:『The Fool』『The Universe』

Badges:『Magician』

.

『Badges』

● Magician Badge - [Can only be obtained after defeating the Magician Arcana Dungeon on Hard mode. When in possession of this badge, the rate of SP drainage while a Persona of the Magician Arcana is summoned is reduced by 30%]

.

Ayato nodded his head in satisfaction with that, while it could definitely have been better, he wasn't going to complain with it. He had noticed how whenever he had a Persona summoned to the field, his SP would gradually go down even if he wasn't using any skills.

Of course, the stronger the Persona that was currently summoned, the faster the SP would drain itself. Having something that reduced that rate of loss would definitely help, especially in the future when he managed to get his hands on stronger Personas.

.

『Do you wish to select and continue to another dungeon or return to the real world?』

『Continue』『Return』

.

When the notification popped up, Ayato decided to return to the real world for now. He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been in the two dungeons, but he was feeling really damn hungry right now, so he'd head back to Liyue to get something to eat before trying the three easy dungeons.

Since he had managed to clear both the Normal and Hard mode dungeons, the Easy mode should be pretty quick and simple for him to pass. He probably could get some new Personas as well, while most likely not strong ones since it was Easy mode, it would still be good to build up his roster. Especially to see if he could use them for fusions.

For now, it was time to get something to eat.

.

.

.

『Current Personas』

● Dagda - [Arcana: The Fool] [Level: 17] [Inherit: Curse] [Resist: Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind] [Weak: Bless] [Strength: 26] [Magic: 20] [Endurance: 12] [Agility: 14] [Luck: 11] [Skills: ⓘ] 🟢

● 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: ⓘ] 🔴

● Jack Frost - [Arcana: The Magician] [Level: 16] [Inherit: Ice] [Block: Ice] [Weak: Fire] [Strength: 8] [Magic: 18] [Endurance: 11] [Agility: 11] [Luck: 7] [Skills: ⓘ] 🟢

● High Pixie - [Arcana: The Priestess] [Level: 12] [Inherit: Ice] [Block: Ice] [Weak: Wind] [Strength: 4] [Magic: 10] [Endurance: 5] [Agility: 1] [Luck: 10] [Skills: ⓘ] 🟢

● Sati - [Arcana: The Magician] [Leve: 22] [Inherit: Fire] [Block: Fire] [Weak: Ice] [Strength: 10] [Magic: 24] [Endurance: 10] [Agility: 14] [Luck: 15] [Skills: ⓘ] 🟢