When it comes to Skills in a persona, they follow the rules of what is known as "Skill Inheritance Types". These types are Phys, Fire, Ice, Elec, Wind, Nuke, Psy, Bless, Curse, Heal, Ailment and Almighty. All of these are classified as categories that tells you what skills your persona is capable of learning. Though with the way the types are represented, it's more that they tell you what skills your persona is incapable of learning, rather than what they are capable of learning.
For example: if the persona has the inheritance type Fire, it means that they are incapable of learning any skills that belong to the inheritance Ice, the same goes the other way around. All elemental inheritance types follow this pattern of opposites, Fire vs Ice, Elec vs Wind and Psy vs Nuke.
The rules of the other types are a bit more complicated: Phys is incapable of learning any elemental skills, including Bless and Curse.
Bless is incapable of learning Phys, Curse and Ailments.
Curse is incapable of learning Phys, Bless and Heal.
Heal can't learn Phys and Curse.
And Ailment can't learn Bless and Heal.
Then there's the type Almighty which is capable of learning any skills no matter the type.
There are skills that don't matter what inheritance the persona has and can be learned by anyone. These types are Almighty and Support, as well as most Passive skills. There is also the Gun type, but skills that belong to that one is compiled with Physical skills.
Another way that determines what skills a persona can learn are what I like to call "Body inheritance". This is a catergory of inheritance that shows skills that can be learned depending on the persona's body type. These types are Thrust, Claw, Bite, Weapon, Mouth, Wings and Eye. If a persona is missing any of these body parts or possess something that hinders the other, then they are unable to learn any skills that is performed by that part of the body.
"Now," Minato finishes his presentation on the blackboard, "are there any questions?"
Currently Minato is holding a presentation for the Dazzling Sisters and Daybreaker. He has created a large blackboard, that is attached to the trunk of the Moonlight Tree, and is using different coloured crayons to represent the inheritance types as he draws.
As he turns around and asks his question, he sees all of his "room mates" sitting on school desks created from the tree, with all of his personas standing right behind them and giving their looks of acknowledgement and admiration for their Master. Adagio is resting her chin on her left palm, looking bored out of her mind. While Sonata, who's to her left, is somehow smoking from her head, and Aria on the left side of Sonata has fallen asleep. The only one that is giving Minato all of their attention is Daybreaker, who's sitting to Adagio's right, though her mind seems to be focused somewhere else on Minato rather than on the blackboard.
Seeing this, Minato frowns and proceeds to drag his fingernails over the blackboard, resulting in a screeching sound that causes everyone in the entire Velvet Room to cringe and waking up Aria which causes her to fall backwards with her arms flailing.
"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!" Minato shouts in frustration.
"Yes! Yes we are!" Adagio shout back as she rubs the inside of her tortured ears.
"But it's pretty difficult to understand anything that you're teaching us when we have yet to awaken our personas!"
It was true, despite the fact that the sirens had been in the Velvet Room for quite some time now, they had showed no progress in awakening their personas. From what Minato understands about the awakening process, one needs to accept reality and admit that they are flawed, or reject what the world sees as wrong. However, despite how many times they've tried, nothing has happened.
Minato knows that the sisters are capable of becoming persona users, but despite how much they've talked and confessed about their flaws and mistakes, they showed no sign of awakening. It only seemed to make the Dazzlings feel worse about their past, rather than helping them. Hoping to save time, Minato has been putting their awakening on hold while he teaches them the basics on what personas and shadows are and how they work.
"I don't understand," Minato mutters out loud, "there must be something that you're still neglecting, something that you aren't letting out."
"Well so far, while you have managed to give us a place to feel safe, you've also only made us feel worse. If I didn't hate myself before, I definently do now." Aria begins with a sarcastic and mocking tone as she gets up from the ground.
"Maybe if you spent a little more time and some of your godlike powers to figure out a way to escape from this place, then maybe we wouldn't have to feel like such a waste of infinite time and space."
"And I keep telling you that you're anything but a waste of time. I want to help you and I will help you." Minato stated sternly.
"Maybe we don't need or want your help." Aria keeps going.
"You're not making sense right now. You're speaking out of anger and frustration, you aren't thinking logically."
"And what makes you believe that?"
"One, if we have infinite resources then it is physically impossible for you to be a waste." Minato said holding up a finger, which follow with a second as he continued.
"And two, from your older sisters breakdown when we first met, it seemed like you were on death's doorstep."
"Well maybe you should've just let him open the door and we wouldn't have to waste your time."
"DON'T YOU DARE BELIEVE SUCH A THING!" Minato suddenly shouts catching Aria offguard.
Everyone in the room were shocked over Minato's outburst, as no one knew what should be said or if they should say anything at all. Aria was about to speak again, but before she could open her mouth she was hit with a realisation that made her pupil shrink to pinpricks, as she realised what she had just suggested.
Minato was the only person for more than a hundred years that was willing to waste his time in an attempt to help Aria and her sisters. And her thanks to that, was to suggest that he should have just let them die.
Tears began to form in her eyes as Aria covered her mouth with both her hands and turned around to run towards the direction of the pond. Adagio and Sonata cast a quick apologetic look towards Minato before they run after their distressed sister.
Minato sighs deeply as he turns around and walks the opposite direction of the Dazzlings. He stops at the edge of the platform and looks up towards the permanent solar eclipse of the Velvet Room. He feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to see Daybreaker.
"What am I doing wrong Day?" Minato ask with an emotionless face.
"Nothing, you're doing nothing wrong." Daybreaker answers with a caring smile on her face.
"Doing your best and what you think is right is all you can do. Like you explained before, you can't rush this like you did with me. It will take time."
With a soft smile Minato says, "Thanks Day, I'm glad to have you by my side, you're a good friend."
Despite Daybreaker's soft and reasuring smile, she felt like she was just stabbed through the heart and the inside of her head was filled with nothing more but, "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Sitting in a fetal position, Aria cries at the edge of the pond that her and her sisters arrived from. It's hard to explain but for some reason this place brings the sirens to some form of inner peace. Whenever they feel like they need to let their emotions out, this is the place to do so. The Mitama floating around the pond are also good company, since each one of them represent an aspect of the soul and an emotion. Depending on how the sisters are feeling, they sometime talk to the Mitama whenever they feel like talking to someone else but Minato and Daybreaker. But right now, Aria wants to do nothing more than cry over her own stubbornness.
"Why do I always mess up when it really matters?" Aria says between her weeps.
"If anyone here has messed up it's me." Aria turns to see Adagio sitting to her right. She leans her shoulder towards Aria as she continues.
"If I hadn't suggested that we use the Siren Hearts to spread strife around Equestria, we wouldn't have to suffer like we did."
"It's not your fault," Aria interupts, "I was the one who supported the idéa and made most of it happen."
"It's not just you two," Sonata jumps in and sits to Aria's left, "I should have said something instead of just going along with what you two were doing."
All three of them sit quietly and think back to all of their mistakes. What could they have done instead to avoid all that hardship? What could they have done to get along with the rest of Equestria? Where could they have gone were they would be accepted? And why did they have to be sent to that cursed magicless world that was even worse than their home world? If it could even be called their home anymore.
The more they think, the more they realise just how much of their lives have been one giant mashup of mistakes stacked on top of each other. And it makes them all feel like nothing more than a trio of failures.
"I wonder how long it will take until Minato gives up on us?" Aria mutters loud enough for all nearby to hear.
"Master would never do that!" Dahlia along with the Mitama say at the same time.
The sirens jump slightly at the new voices and look up to see the concerned faces of the Pixie surrounded by the Mitama.
"The Master is too kind to let others suffer like you girls have." Saki Mitama says with a caring voice.
"Have some faith why don't ya!" Ara Mitama exclaims aggressively.
"You girls need to enjoy yourself more, the Master will not let anything happen to you as long as you're by his side." Kusi Mitama says with a smooth elderly voice.
"Don't forget that we and the others are here as well, we're all connected to the Master and his will is our will." Nigi Mitama explains with a soft and relaxed voice.
Dahlia flies forward and places a hand on Aria's knee as she looks into her eyes.
"We all care about you girls and we want to help you." Dahlia states calmly with a smile.
"Not because we have to, but because we want to. So no more tears, let's all be one big happy family."
That word. That one word that hold so much warmth. The word that represents everything that they've wanted, despite not always being aware of it. The thing that the sisters have been searching for all this time. A family. For the first time in a long while, something that wasn't a selfish act made the Dazzlings smile with joy and warmth.
Following Daybreaker's advice, I decided that me and the Dazzlings should take a break from trying to awaken their personas and go back to experimenting with my own personas. Amongs the things I discovered, I noticed that phys attack are devided into two sub-catagories of damage, Slash and Strike. Both of these catagories are technically the same, but they are performed differently. Slash is phys damage delivered by a blade or sharp object, like swords, knifes, axes and claws. Strike is phys damage delivered by a blunt object or surface, like a punch, kick, bite, whip, mace, and hammer. What this means is if a Persona does not possess a blade or sharp object of some sort, then they cannot perform phys skills that deal slash damage. And if a Personas main weapon is a sharp object, they cannot perform phys skills that deal strike damage.
After this discovery, I became curious over what other elements and catagories were considered the same.
Spending some more time reading through the Le Grimoire and doing some personal experiments with my personas and Daybreaker, we discovered that Gun = Pierce and Needle, Ice = Water, Wind = Force and Blast, Psy = Gravity, Bless = Light, Expel and Holy and finally Curse = Dark and Death.
Ailments are divided into four different types, these being Elemental, Magical, Nerve and Mind.
Elemental includes: Burn (small amount of dmg to self on every action), Freeze (prevents all action) and Shock (prevents movement).
Magical includes: Charm (attacks allies or cast healing spells on enemies), Poison (small amount of dmg to self on every action), Mute (prevents the use of magic), Stone (petrifies target and will insta-kill if followed by a Wind or strong phys skill) and Happy (Overjoyed and may not attack).
Nerve includes: Dizzy (decreases aim), Bind (prevents all action), Paralysis (prevents movement) and Stun (lowers agility and defense).
Mind includes: Sleep (falls asleep and recovers small amount of HP and SP with time), Brainwash (attacks allies or cast healing spells on enemies), Panic (prevents all action except regular attacks), Fear (may not attack and might run away), Confusion (makes one do weird actions like throwing away money), Forget (forgets how to use skills), Despair (Drains SP every turn and cannot move) and Rage (lowers defence, increases attack and will attack anyone).
Many of these are very much the same, but each one has something that makes them different from eachother and some are more effective and will land more often than others. The main things to remember however, are that Elemental can be followed by a Nuke skill to deal technincal damage, while Mind can be followed by a Psy skill to deal technical damage. You can also deal technical damage by following the dizzy ailment with a Wind skill. Technical damage is just a follow up attack that will deal more damage to a target if followed correctly.
Some ailments can be followed by phys skills to always land Critical Hits, these are Freeze, Shock and Paralysis.
There are Healing skills made specifically to fix each ailment, but since I have access to Salvation (fully restores HP and removes any ailment), I don't think I'll need to bother with any of them.
Another discovery we made was how personas perform skills differently depending on their body types. Animal shaped personas like Orthrus will perform elemental skills by releasing the element out of their mouth. While more human shaped personas will perform the same skills by doing some hand movements and then release the element. If a persona is holding an object, then they will release the element from the object instead of their hands.
The same goes with regular attacks as well. Regular attack will always deal light phys damage, but the type changes from slash and strike depending on the body, Orthrus and Nekomata for example deal slash damage since they use their claws to attack.
This reminded me that I need to know how Weaknesses and Critical Hits work. For safety reasons we decided to only use skills that deal minimal damage in order to avoid serious injuries, and after performing some attacks on both myself and Daybreaker this is what we discovered. If a shadow or persona is hit with an element they are weak against or hit with a crit, it will cause them to stumble and fall. The fall doesn't hurt, unless you fall from really high up, and the only consequences is that you are unable to perform skills during the fall and before you've regained your footing.
Speaking of damage, another thing that we had to check was how powerful some attacks really were. The damage is measured as (from weakest too strongest) Miniscule, Light, Medium, Heavy, Severe and Colossal. Miniscule is like being slapped, it hurts but doesn't do much. Light is more like a punch to the face, hurts, might leave a scratch and suprise you. Medium is were you'll likely start to see bruises and bleeding, Heavy is were bones easily break, and finally we reach Severe and Colossal.
For this I thought that it was time to take some more serious safety precautions.
"Is this really necessary?" Adagio asks with a deadpan expression.
Minato had used his powers over the Velvet Room to expand the platform to the point were he could no longer see the edge. He also created a bombtest bunker for extra safety precaution in order to make sure that he and the girls would not get hit by the attacks, the bunker was in a box shape, three walls and a roof with the open backside towards the tree and five small windows for them to look through.
"Yes it is necassary." Minato answered with a deadpan back at Adagio.
"Last time an attack that delt Severe damage was used I took serious damage and only recovered as fast as I did because Messiah was resistant to that element and he knew a heal skill. I promised that you would be safe and unharmed, so that is exactly what I'm gonna do."
As Minato finished his explaination, Daybreaker turned away from the rest of the group to hide her face that was currently beet red from embarrassment and shame.
"I'm pretty sure we can handle being pushed and shoved around from some explosion." Aria said with a confident smirk.
"Yeah but can you handle the potential ricochet of divine lightning spawned from the high heavens that strikes with the force of a point blank five ton cannonball?"
"..."
"Yeah thought so. Ok are the targets ready!?"
"Yes Master!" multiple voices shouted in the distance.
From afar stood 4 entities that Minato had summoned for the sole purpose of being punching bags for this experiment.
The first was a green blob with red eyes named Slime.
The second, a grey lanky looking imp named Ukobach, with blond hair and pink lipstick, carrying a big burning spoon.
The third, a green doll with pearl white eyes named Mokoi, holding a boomerang.
The fourth and last was a naked, dirt brown skinned, silver haired, lanky looking humanoid with a beer belly named Preta.
"Any reason why you chose those four to be the targets?" asked Daybreaker curiously.
"Yes actuelly," Minato answered with a happy tone, "One, each of them only have one resistance. Two, they only have one weakness. Three, they're cheap and easy to summon. And four, I hate them all."
"..."
"What?" Minato asked confused over the girls wide eyed silence.
"Just... shocked. I've never heard you speak out of malice in such a way before." Daybreaker answers as she recovered.
"Why exactly do you hate them?" Sonata asked curiously with a headtilt.
"One, I hate how they look. Two, they're incredibly weak and useless. Three, as shadows they're annoying to fight because they always gather in groups. And four, all of their origins are horrible."
"They're origins?" the girls say with raised eyebrows.
"A Slime, also commonly called Ooze, are common type monsters in many fantasy genres that have become popular as weak monster in modern culture. This Slime in particular is based on the slimes that are the result of failed demonic summons and are nothing than pure corruption in the form of molting rotten flesh that secretes acid. They have no brains and dissolve whatever comes into contact with them."
The girls cringe at that explaination and are starting to worry what the others are.
"Ukobach is a lesser-class demon from Hell based from Abrahamic Mythology. He has no sense of free will and so will only follow the commands of higher-class demons. He is in charge of maintaining the oil in the infernal boilers and will often torture the souls trapped in Hell by throwing burning coals on them. His only ability is to start fires."
That one made the girls feel more disturb because of how pathetic Minato made it sound.
"Mokoi are evil spirits from Australian Murngin folklore that live in the jungle and move at night. They are the reincarnation of the "shadow soul" of humans and kill those who use dark magic. They would kidnap and eat children at night, they are also sometimes responsible for causing wars between mortals."
That one made Daybreaker's blood boil, the idéa of a child eating monster that is responsible for wars was a enough for her to loose all sympathy she previously felt for these creatures.
"Lastly, Preta is a spirit that originates from Buddhist and Hindu texts. Generally, they are the spirits of greedy, jealous or corrupted people who have become demons with an insatiable appetite for a particular substance, that can vary from corpses to anything bizarre. In the traditional religion of China, they are beings driven by intense emotional needs in an animalistic way. In the modern Japanese language, spoiled children are called "gaki," as a reference to this demon."
Suddenly, non of the girls felt bad over the idéa of these things being absolutely obliterated.
"Well? What are we waiting for?" Aria said with new found glee, "Let's blast these filth!"
"Alrighty then!" Minato shouts, "Messiah, Maria, Shiva! Are you ready!?"
"Yes Master!" the three shouted back from the danger zone.
For this experiment, I had equipped Messiah and Shiva with the selected skills that I wanted to try for this test. The reason why is because Messiah inheritance is Almighty and he has the most resistances of all his personas, so if there is a chance that he gets caught in the crossfire he won't be affected that much.
While Shiva is immune to Ice, Bless and Curse, he reflects Electricity and absorbs Psy. This is made even better considering he has no weakness, making him one of my strongest personas with the most immunities. Though I still find it odd that despite his inheritance being Elec, one of his innate skills is Magarudyne, which is a Wind skill that deals Heavy damage towards multiple targets.
Finally, the reason for Maria is because of her signature skill Holy Benevolence, which revives all intended targets with all of their HP fully restored.
"Fire in the hole!" Minato yells after giving himself and the girls bright light protection goggles.
Once the experiment was finished, we discovered that even though certain skills are stated to deal damage to only one target, that does not mean that the attacks can't hit others that happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. A better way to describe it would be that the skills only target a small area, rather than a larger one intended for multiple targets.
This means that Severe skills like Inferno, Diamond Dust, Thunder Reign, Panta Rhei, Psycho Force and Atomic Flare are "safer" to use in a populated area. It's still not a good idéa since they are so powerful and should be used with caution, but if the situation calls for it they can be used.
However, skills that deal Severe damage and target a larger area are not safe and in all honesty a bit overkill. Blazing Hell, Ice Age, Wild Thunder, Vacuum Wave, Psycho Blast, Cosmic Flare and even Megidolaon should only be used in large open areas.
Phys and Gun skills were a bit more complicated. Severe damage skills like Megaton Raid, Deadly Fury, Death Scythe and One-Shot Kill are safe since they don't cause a giant explosion after use. Even Severe multi-target skills like Vorpal Blade and Riot Gun are safe to use, with a bit of distance.
But Colossal damage is when it starts to get a bit more complicated. Single target skills like Brave Blade, God's Hand and Sword Dance are extremely risque and should be used with extreme caution and confirmation that no one else is around. While the skill Gigantomachia should not be used at all.
Why you may ask?
Well...
"And finally Gigantomachia, fire away Messiah!" Minato yelled as Messiah lifted both of his arms and brought them down to form an earth shatterin-
"ÅH HERRE MIN SKAPARE!!!" (Swedish for "OH LORD MY CREATOR!!!")
Warning: LEWD incoming!
"How is that a Physical skill?!" Daybreaker yells as the Velvet Room is fixing itself.
"Because he uses his fists in order to make the attack." Minato explained calmly as he dusted himself off.
"I'm pretty certain that if an attack strikes with enough force to generate heat that causes an massive earth shattering explosion that can can create the Badlands 2.0, it should be considered a Fire, Nuke or maybe even Almighty." Daybreaker reasoned as she helped Sonata get up on her feet.
"Could not agree more!" Aria shouts as her twin tails are completely undone and her hair's a mess.
"Maybe that's enough experimentation for one day?" Adagio pleads.
"Yeah, you're right Dagi." Minato sighs.
"I'll prepare a large bath for everyone."
Using his powers over the Velvet Room, Minato transforms the large crator into a natural hot spring. With small versions of the Moonlight Tree surrounding the spring, their petals glowing with bioluminescence, lighting up the water with a beautiful glow and creating a relaxing atmostphere.
"Alright just wait one more second and I'll prepare a changing-" *SPLASH* "Room?" Minato thought the last word as he could not finish the sentence before someone had pushed him into the water.
Minato pops up to the waters surface and removes his hair that was blocking his vision. Going wide eyed as he sees all the girls happily stripping down before Sonata jumps into the water with a gleefull "Wheeeeeeee!" Adagio and Aria follow soon after, going into the water much more calmly but still with clear excitement in their eyes.
All three of the Sirens bodies start glowing with magic as they change from their land forms, to their their true Siren forms. Their previously furry tails becoming serpent-like with a fin at the end, their ears also becoming fins and their hands becoming webbed. Now when Minato gains a better look at their bodies he can see a clear difference with how they look compare to eachother. Sonata has the biggest bust out of the three, with smooth well cared skin that shows of her childlike youth. Aria is in the middle of the three when it comes to curves, more well balanced with her chest and hips, but she has much more muscle than the other two, showing that she is not a girl you wanna mess with. Adagio has the smallest bust size, though she still wasn't small by any means. She has much wider hips compare to the other two, with a nice plump behind.
Might as well compare everyones height, Minato is 1.70m and Daybreaker is 2.52m, meaning when standing Minato's head is just under Daybreakers chest. Sonata is 1.74m, Aria is 1.75m and Adagio is 1.76, not counting her hair.
The girls take notice of his staring and gain mischievous glint in their eyes, making Minato turn and look to his right.
"Well~?" Adagio slithers out seductively, "Are you gonna take off your clothes or not?"
Minato's eyes returns to the Sisters and he gives them a smirk to signal "challange accepted" before snapping his fingers and causing his clothes to dissappear in blue flames. Minato's body was not bulky, but he had clear visible muscle underneath his skin. This was both because of his backround with his grand parents, helping them on their farm, and because of his connection with his personas. Some of the previous confidence the girls had dissappeared for a moment, Adagio in particular turned a very bright red, before another feeling took over.
Lust
Minato realises that he might have made a mistake and begins to laugh nervously as he slowly backs away. The girls smoothly swim closer to Minato, like predators stalking their prey. The situation caused Minato to imagine himself dressed like a sheep and the Dazzlings dressed like skimpy wolfs while circling him. It was an image that was just as arousing as it was terrifying.
But before the wolfs could get their claws on him. Something grabs Minato from behind and pushes the back of his head into something incredibly soft. He looks up and meets the affectionate eyes of Daybreaker, who is hugging him protectively with both her arms and wings wrap around him while his head is being pressed towards her chest. She breaks eye contact stare daggers towards the Sirens, giving the very clear message to back off.
"Well someone's a bit possessive." Aria comments with a smirk.
Daybreaker just growls like a lioness protecting her cub while she presses Minato's head deeper into her massive breasts and uses her wings to cover more of his body, completely hiding him from the hungry Sirens.
"Oh come on!" Sonata exclaims with her arms stretched out.
"You've known him the longest, at least let us have a turn."
Daybreaker raises an eyebrow in confusion.
"Have a turn?"
"Yeah, you know... In bed." Adagio says with an eyeroll.
Daybreaker turns red as a tomato as the water around her begins to boil. She starts sputtering and mumbling words uncontrollably as spirals seems to form in her eyes and smoke begins to rise from her head.
"Nice job you two, you broke her." Aria says with a scowl.
While the girls were having their "very intresting" conversation, Minato was trapped in his own thought as he was hidden in the soft darkness.
"Weird, I can't breath yet I don't feel like I'm suffocating. Does that mean I don't need to breath anymore either? Or do I just have really strong lungs now?
Well, since I don't seem to be running out of air I might as well take this time to think about the Dazzlings awakening problem. Why doesn't it work? They've told me pretty much everything regarding their background and admitted to me about their flaws. I specifically spend time with each one of them so that I could understand them better on a personal level. Yet there's nothing. No spark, no glow, no flame or voice inside their heart. Nothing.
What is it that I'm missing?"
Just as that question was mentally asked, the same clicking noise that happened before made itself present in Minato's head. His eye began to glow and through the darkness he saw the auras of the sirens right in front of him. He couldn't see the sisters themselves but he could see their auras in more detail then previously. Within the colorful smoke he saw something that he hadn't noticed before. It was thin, long, red and slithered from the core of each aura, and connected at the fourth aura that Minato had noticed earlier between the sisters.
"What is that? That wasn't there before... or was it and I just couldn't see it? It looks like... a red string."
It was at that moment that all the pieces fell together, the one thing that Minato had forgotten regarding the power behind the persona and the true meaning behind the power of the arcana and the Wild Card.
Now back with the girls, the sirens had realised now why Daybreaker was acting so flustered.
"Don't tell me that the immortal goddess of the sun is a virgin." Aria exclaimed with a look of disbelief.
"Well-"
"I GOT IT!" Daybreaker's sentence was cut short as Minato popped his head out from his heavenly prison.
"Got what?! Air?!" Adagio said slightly startled from Minato's return.
"Breathing is overrated." Minato said with a deadpan as he freed himself from Daybreaker's hold, much to her dissapointment.
"But no, what I mean is I finally figured out why you girls haven't awakened yet. It was because I had forgotten a very important fact regarding the power of a persona."
The girls tilted their heads in confusion and interest.
"The power behind a persons arcana is directly connected with the power of bonds. The power that connects people together." Minato explained wisely.
"..."
Minato releases a loud sigh over the girls silent confusion.
"You girls have had no one else to turn too but yourselves for who knows how long. This has created an unbreakable bond between all of you that connects your hearts on a unique level unlike any previous persona users. In order to prove that bond, what you girls need to admit is not your own flaws, but the flaws you've noticed from eachother, you need to tell eachother exactly what you think of one another."
"That sounds like a horrible idéa, won't we just hurt eachother and the bond we share by doing that?" Adagio asked with clear concern in her voice.
"If you're bond is really what I think it is, then I believe that you all need to hear it and face the truth." Minato said like a sage.
"Think about it. Has any of you ever told eachother what you really feel about one another?"
The sisters stand silently, contemplating over Minato's words. Have they really never told eachother what they feel for one another? Have they never told eachother how much they love and care for one another? Has it even been necessary before now?
Their eyes turn to eachother. Adagio looking between Aria and Sonata. Aria looking between Sonata and Adagio. And Sonata looking between her big sisters. Dread and worry is clear on each one of their faces, all of them worrying over what they are about to say. Despite how tough and responsible the older two always act, the one to speak first was Sonata.
"You're both idiots," she begins, "I know I'm not smart, but you two are not far off. The moment things went wrong, you thought the best course of action was to make more enemies than we already had. Resulting in all three of us being dragged down and getting hurt both physically and mentally."
Adagio and Aria look towards their younger sister in shock, the usually carefree and weak looking siren that they've always know was looking at them with clear anger in her eyes. The guilt that they both felt was near unbearable, seeing their innocent sister like this.
"But... If someone gave me the choice of replacing either of you... I would tell them to walk the other direction and speak their nonsense to someone that doesn't love their family."
The older sirens are left shocked as the anger in Sonata's eyes was replaced with the most angelic and mature smile their sister has ever made. Since when did their weak little sister become so... grown up.
Aria's gaze switches to Adagio before her face scrunches up into an angry scowl.
"You both make so mad," Aria growls, "Adagio is a horrible leader and rolemodel while Sonata is so dumb she can barely count to ten without using her fingers.
Adagio has many times had her sister argue with her, but her voice held so much hatred in it that it started to become extremely difficult to hold back the tears.
"Everyday, I just wanna punch something to take out my frustration. And nothing makes me happier than hearing someone else insult you. Because then, I can finally do just that." her scowl dissappears and is replaced with a confident smirk.
"They can insult me, but if anyone ever dares to insult you two. I'll beat them unconscious and then bury them alive. I'll make as many enemies as I can, if it means keeping you two safe from harm."
Tears fall from Adagio's eyes, she's always known... no, she always assumed that her sisters cared for her just as much as she did them. Was this really it? Have they really never told eachother how they feel? If they can speak to her with full honesty like this, then so can she.
"I know I make mistakes, but I've lost count to how many times it's really been your fault." Adagio glares at her younger sisters with frustration.
"Sonata, you always run around without a care in the world, never thinking before acting. Even when I give you the most simple of instruction, something as simple as a butterfly can make you turn around and leave my side when I specifcally told you not to."
Sonata looks down with guilt, knowing that her sister is right as she recalling the exact moment that she's talking about.
"And you Aria, is it really that hard to keep yourself in check. If it isn't Sonata walking away like a lost puppy, it's you picking a fight with some random poser that looked at us the wrong way. Do you really have to threaten and pummel every snob, until their face can't be recognised?"
Aria's not sure how she should feel hearing that. She always hates it when people look at her and her sisters like they're objects. Even though seduction and mind tricks has always been their strong point, she could never do it as well as Adagio and Sonata. Thinking about it, she might just be more bark than bite.
"Honestly, you both are so annoying in your own right that it gives me a headache 24/7." She closed her eyes and takes a deep breath.
"But... you're headache that I never want to get rid off."
Adagio smiles as she meets the eyes of her little sisters, no longer keeping anything inside and gladly letting it out as tears run down her cheeks.
"Promise me, no matter what I say, no matter how much I tell you to leave me alone. Don't do it, continue to be what you are now. Continue to be the lovable airhead that you are Sonny, and continue to be the unbreakable rebel that you are Ari." she finishes with their nicknames.
"I love you both, more than anything." unable to hold it back any longer the sisters all approuch eachother, hugging and crying their hearts out. This is a pain that they've never felt before, a pain from their hearts. But for some reason, they don't want it to dissappear, they want to feel to know that it's real, to know that the bond that they all share is real. The bond that can never be broken.
"Finally you decided to speak with your heart!" a young female voice said as Sonata began to glow in a blue light.
"What a stubborn master I have, but it is a master I'll gladly serve!" a deep voice of autority spoke as Aria began to glow.
"With our hearts finally opened, our songs shall reach both land, sea and the sky." a mature confidant voice spoke as Adagio began to glow.
They distance themselves from eachother as the glow becomes stronger, looking with wide eyes as the water begins to swirl around them and three figures begin to form.
The first was Sonata, the water began to rise and take shape around her. Slithering around her waist before two thin feminine arms hug her from behind. A head with pointy ears, long green and blond hair and red eyes comes forth and rests on her shoulder with a content smile.
"I am Undine the water elemental. From now on, let's be honest with ourselves and always speak with our hearts. I am thou, thou art I."
The second was Aria, the water swirled with more intensity until a large creature burst forth and began to swim through the air like it was still in water. The creature looked like a combination between a shark and a sting ray, with four large fins that made up most of it's semi-flat body, a long thin tail with a shark like fin near the middle of it's length, gills at it's underside and a wide shark-like head with amber eyes and a wide mouth with sharp teeth.
"I am Forneus, a Great Marquis of Hell. Now that I am your mask, the hidden arias of the world shall be yours. I am thou, thou art I."
The last was Adagio, the water swirled and splashed, droplets beginning to rise and smash together and take shape. The figure looked like a beautiful young woman whose right side was like that of a wyvern. The left side had smooth, pale skin, nice curves and blond hair. While the right side was covered in ruby red scales, her right arm had been replaced with a large wing, a long snake-like tail slithered from her back, pitch black hair fell from her head as yellow eyes that glowed like fire shined brightly thanks to the black sclera that replaced the white. A single long black cloth covered her body, hiding her private and giving off a aura of seduction and danger.
"I am Vouivre the flying serpent. Remember it well, as it is the name of the one that shall spread our beautiful melodies through the sky and make us shine brighter than any star. I am thou, thou art I."
As the three personas finished their vows, they burst in blue flames take the forms of their respective arcana. Undine of the Lovers arcana, Forneus of the Emperors arcana and Vouivre of the Devils arcana.
Each of the cards slowly float down towards the sisters opened palms, before they disappear in blue flames that travel into their hearts.
The sirens all smile as they once again hug eachother with tears of joy falling down their cheeks. Minato says nothing as he watches the girls with his own sense of satisfaction in his eyes. He turns to see Daybreaker also smiling, though her eyes seem to hold a different emotion, as well as a clear sense of longing.
"Is something wrong Day?" Minato ask with concern.
Daybreaker shakes her head slightly, as she seemed to have been in some form of trance. While Minato didn't know yet, her mind had gone back in time. To a time were Celestia and Luna would share moments like this with eachother.
"I'm fine..." she begins with a low tone.
"It's just... seeing them like this makes me remember the time me and Lu- I mean, when Celestia and Luna would sometimes argue and then make up with eachother. Though... the last couple of years before her banishment..."
Daybreaker is struggling with the words, as tears begin to form in her own eyes.
"It just made me realise how horrible of a sister I've been. If I had just let her have her way just one time. Then maybe... she didn't have to be- to be..." she covers her mouth with her hand, as she cannot help but openly cry and fall to her knees in the water.
Seeing his friend so distraught, Minato doesn't hesitate to approach and hug her. A hug which she gladly returns as she cries into his shoulder.
I'm not sure for how long I hugged Daybreaker, but considering that the Dazzlings had enough time to recover and also give their own support to her, even though they didn't know why she'd started crying, it was probably much longer than any of us thought.
Now all of us are sitting in a semi-circle together in the water, Daybreaker to my right and the Dazzlings to my left, simply relaxing as all the stress float away in the warmth. Daybreaker is avoiding eye contact with me, seemingly embarassed over her break down earlier. Though it also seems like she wants to say something, but I won't push her.
"Hey Minato!" my gaze turn from my right to my left as Sonata is now only a few inches away from my face.
"Yes Sonny." I answer completely unfazed by her lack of personal space.
"I'm curious over what our arcanas represent, as well as the origins of our personas." Sonata ask with sparkles in her eyes.
"I'm curious as well." Adagio says she leans over Sonata's right shoulder.
"Me too." Aria follows as she leans on Sonata's left shoulder.
"Well, I'll gladly indulge you then." I answer with a smirk as I continue to be unfazed by the girls obvious attempt at seduction. Much to their frustration.
I hold out my right hand as the Le Grimoire manifest in blue flames and opens up. Following soon after I hold out my left hand and the Lovers arcana floats and lands in my palm were it floats in a blue glow.
"Sonata, you possess the Lovers Arcana. In tarot readings, this Arcana initially represented two paths life could lead to, and thus a symbol of standing at a crossroad and needing to make a decision. In modern time however, it is portrayed more of a symbol of love and romantic relationships, although it can also be a symbol of finding agreement with an ordinary friend or even two conflicting elements within."
"Your Persona, Undine, is based on a female creature that the medieval German-Swiss chemist Paracelsus had coined for water elementals. It symbolizes the element of water and is always depicted as a beautiful female, which is consistent with the ancient idea that water is a female element.
They are usually found in forest pools and waterfalls, and their beautiful singing voices are sometimes heard over the sound of water. In one story, an undine married a human who vowed to love her with every breath he took, but when he was unfaithful, she cursed him to stop breathing in his sleep and die."
The Lovers leave my hand and is replaced by the Emperor, the book flips to another page and I continue to read through it.
"Aria, you bare the Emperor Arcana. It symbolizes the desire to control one's surroundings, and its appearance could suggest that one is trying too hard to achieve this, possibly causing trouble for others, as some elements in life are just not controllable."
"Your Persona, Forneus, is based on the thirtieth demonic spirit listed in the Ars Goetia, according to the writings in The Lesser Key of Solomon. He is a Great Marquis of Hell with twenty-nine legions of demons under his command and appears as a sea monster.
When summoned, he can make someone well-versed in rhetoric, give them a good name, teach them foreign languages, and make them trusted by friend and foe alike. The demon Forneus is primarily a protection demon. Though most people think of demons as evil-doers, Forneus actually protects others from the acts of evil-doers. When he was still an angel, his duty was to help channel positive energy and to ensure that justice and balance is upheld, particularly for those who had been victimized unnecessarily. He continues to work in a similar manner and is one of the demons that summoners look for in the times of danger and injustice."
This caught the girls attention as I explained. The idéa behind a demon of justice that protects innocent seemed particularly bizarre for them. Daybreaker was especially intrested in this concept, as she and her sister have always believed demons to be nothing more than pure evil.
The arcana leaves my hand and is replaced by the Devil arcana.
"Lastly Adagio, your arcana is the Devil. This arcana holds both a negative and possitive aspect. The negative aspect of it represents the urge to do selfish, impulsive, violent things, and being a slave to one's own impulse and feelings. Occasionally, it is also portrayed as a symbol of temptation. The positive aspect, however, represents a healthy bond or commitment."
"Your Persona, Vouivre, is based on the Vouivres, also known as Guivres, from European Mythology. They are described as flying serpents with jewels embedded to their foreheads, which gives them the sense of sight. In the book The Drac: French Tales of Dragons and Demons, it was depicted as a female creature with dazzling scales which emanate a melody-like sound as it flies. The creature in this story stayed in a cave for most of her time, then left to bathe only for a few minutes. For some reason they were afraid of naked humans, and when they saw them, they would blush and look away."
As I read this, everyones eyes slowly turn to Adagio. She notices our stares and takes a quick look behind her before returning to meet our gazes, realising that we were staring at her.
"What?" she says with a headtilt.
"Oh nothing, just checking to see if you're blushing or not." I answer.
"Why would I? I've already seen you naked." she returns sounding a little upset.
"Fair enough." I close the book, letting it dissappear in blue flames and return to simply relax in the water, the Dazzlings begin a discussion over whose persona has the best origin, but I zone them out as I relax.
I only relax for so long though, as I activate my eye and take a look at the girls auras again. All the black and blue have dissappeared, meaning they've succeded and accepted their Shadows. However, the fourth aura still remains, but there is something different about it. The red string that was near invisible before is much more visible now. I think I can see a faint outline of a card, but I don't see what. Well, only time will tell.
My thoughts are broken as I feel someone tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see Daybreaker, looking slightly flustered as she taps her fingers together nervously.
"Is something wrong Day." I ask using her pet name, which seem to calm her down slightly.
"Well, it's just..." she swallows, and is contemplating over whatever she is about to ask.
"Earlier you mentioned that the true source of power to the arcana was directly connected to peoples bonds. So I was just wondering... how far does that go exactly."
"Well," I start thinking over my next words, "that depends on the relationship. But realistically speaking, there is no real way to measure it. Ultimately it comes down to what the relationship is and how real it is."
My answer didn't seem to satisfy her, but she clearly took it to heart and fell deep into her thoughts again. While I myself is also thinking over the next step here. It is pretty obvious as to why she is asking me this and honestly I'm not against it. She is beautiful and is probably one of the few beings that can remain by my side in the future, since I'm pretty certain at this point that me becoming the Master of the Velvet Room has made me immortal. Daybreaker is most likely my best option for a romantic partner. Though the question is: Am I ready to tie the knot... well, only one way to find out.
"*inhale* Day~?" my question catches her attention, as she looks up to see that I've moved closer.
"Why did you really ask that question?"
"Erm-eh-well-you see- I-" she stammers as she repeats and fails to form a sentence.
She swallows hard and asks, "What is our relationship at this point?"
She looks me right in the eye, her face bright red as she begins to tear up.
"Well," I pause, "what do you want our relationship to be?"
I know I'm teasing her alot here, but I feel that she is the one that needs to make this decision.
Her face scrunches up as she closes her eyes, her entire body is shaking as it seems to take all of her strength to get this out.
Her face relaxes as she finally let's out, "I want this." she slides her arm around my back, pulls me in and gently places her lips on my own.
A bit shocked that this is how she wants to confess, it takes me a second to return the kiss. But I'm immediately brought back to reality as I hear her wimper slightly, afraid to open her eyes to meet my gaze.
"She's so scared," I think to myself, "I didn't think it was this bad. Well, good thing I haven't lost my heart."
I gently place my right hand to her left cheek and slides my left arm behind her back. This action make her flinch at first, but she immediately relaxes as I pull her closer, returning the kiss. We separate from eachother, her face is bright red as she opens her eyes to meet mine, looking nothing like fierce sun goddess I saw when she first arrived here. She looks so cute.
"You may not be a real goddess," I smile gently, "but you'll always be a goddess in my eyes. My goddess."
If a smile could emit light, her's would have shined brighter than the sun itself. Tears of happiness falls down her cheeks as she pulls me close into what would be a bone crushing hug if my connection to my personas hadn't toughen me up so much. She nuzzles the side of my head, an action which I gladly return.
"Ahem," me and Daybreaker are brought out of our love trance as we both remember that we aren't alone. We turn around and see our favorite sirens smirking at us.
"Soooo, now that you've confessed your love for eachother." Sonata starts with an innocent tone, "Would it be alright if we joined for the honey?"
Me and Day share a quick glance at eachother, having a silent discussion before we both smile, coming to an aggrement.
"Alright, but let's take this to bed at least." I say as we prepare to leave the bath.
Later in the middle of our love making. I made the discovery that new skills can apparently be created on the spot, as I had apparently learn the Gun skill; Bust-a-Nut.
In the distance Minato's personas were looking in a mix of awe and mild concern, as their Master is *ahem* "Putting the wand in the chambers of secrets" as some would say.
"Should we help him?" Setanta asked his fellow personas.
"Why?" Shiva responded confused.
"Because I'm not sure how much more his hips can take."
"We have two of us that possess skills which fully restores HP, he'll be fine." Matador states with a shrug.
"Ohhh, how sinful." Maria says like a scolding mother as she covers Jack Frost's eyes.
"I don't know whether or not I should be happy that we aren't connected on such a level that we can feel what he's feeling right now." Messiah says with a slight cringe as the others seem to agree.
"Grrr, I wanna join!" Dahlia and Nekomata says at the same time. The others just look at them slightly disturbed.
More time has past in the Velvet Room, which means more has changed. Some old faces have changed and some new have arrived.
Jack Frost has become Black Frost after getting involved in a triple fusion with Jack-o-Lantern and King Frost.
And Setanta has evolved into Cu Chulainn.
But these two aren't the only new ones, as Minato has summoned three more personas to be part of their family.
The first is Girimehkala. He looks like a big, fat, blue, anthropomorphic, cyclops elephant. His body is covered in black stripes like a tiger and he wears a black cloth with a large gold medal, covering his crotch. He has three golden rings on his ankles and left wrist, golden shoulder guards and wield a long scimitar.
The second is Daisoujou. He looks like a mummified Buddhist monk, based on the Sokushinbutsu.
Lastly, the third is Alice. She looks like a pale skinned little girl, around the age of seven, with blond hair and golden eyes. She wears a purple dress, a white bow holding up her hair and black shoes.
After some more experimentation, Minato discovered that the effects of Support skills will last until someone has performed three skills. It seems that actions which involves skills are what counts as a turn in this reality. Being exposed to a buff support skill, feels similar to taking an energy drink and painkillers at the same time, full of energy and barely any pain. Each support skill can be stacked up to four times until it reaches a limit, unless the skill itself says otherwise. Support skills are composed of two roots, First Root and Last Root.
First Root include: Taru (Strength), Maka (Magic), Raku (Endurance), Suku (Agility) and De (Negat).
The follow up to these are the Last Roots, being: kaja (Boost) and kunda (Lower).
For example, Tarukaja boost strength while Tarukunda lowers strength.
There is also Ma, which indicate that it effects multiple, if not all targets. For example, Makakaja boost magic of one ally while Mamakakaja boost the magic of the entire party.
The stats of a persona is divided as Strength, Magic, Endurance, Agility and Luck.
Strength determines how much damage Phys and Gun skills will deal.
Magic determines how much damage Fire, Ice, Elec, Wind, Nuke, Psy, Bless, Curse and Almighty skills will deal, as well as how much SP a persona possess.
Endurance determines how much damage a persona can take, or more specifically, how much HP they possess.
Agility determines a personas speed, evasiveness and how often their attacks will hit.
And lastly, Luck determines Critical Hits, the chances of inflicting and recovering from ailments, and the chances of inflicting or evading instant-kill skills.
While every individual possess their own amount of HP and SP, the amount is enhanced by the awakening of a persona. The higher the stats, the more the amount. But these stats can also be enhanced by regular means, HP can be enhanced through normal endurance training like running and doing push ups, while SP can be enhanced through mental and spiritual training, like reading and meditating.
Minato decided that today would be a day of relaxation. He and Daybreaker are currently lying in a royal bed together, with him reading through his book and Daybreaker snuggling at his side. The glow from the tree giving off quite the beautiful scene. Minato's gaze leaves the book as his eyes look towards his lover, seeing her napping peacefully at his side. His eyes travels farther so that he can see what the rest of the Velvet Rooms residents are doing.
To his right he can see Dahlia, Messiah, Black Frost and Girimehkala playing UNO. Black Frost seems to be winning... for the 57th time.
Farther away he can see Adagio, Shiva and Daisoujou meditating near the pond within the flower field, with the Mitamas floating around them silently.
To his left he sees Maria watching over Sonata, Alice and Nekomata as they throw frisbee with Orthrus.
Farther away from them, he can see Cu Chulainn and Shiki-Ouji sparring against Aria and Matador, an epic battle that would be more fitting in a shounen anime rather than a JRPG made reality.
Minato feels an absolute feeling of peace and tranquility as he takes in his surrounding. Seeing the girls and his personas all getting along like this truelly makes him believe that they all have become one big family. This is love, this is happiness, this is...
"Wait, how long have we been in here now?" Minato questioned in his head.
As if it was a signal, a screeching sound of metal grinding against a rough surface stops all activity in the Velvet Room. The sound wakes Daybreaker from her nap, startling her slightly. She yawns cutely as she looks up and sees Minato looking into the distance with wide eyes. She follows his gaze and sees that he and everyone else in the room are looking down the dirt path that leads to the door that previously only lead to a black void.
Now however, the door is opened... and it leads to a dirt path within a dark forest.
Silence covers the entire room, many of them had become so used to living within this dimension that they had forgotten that they wanted to leave in the first place. Everyone eyes turn to look at their Master waiting for him to tell them what happens next.
"Well... I guess it's time leave. Let's make some last minute preparations, shall we?"
Deep within a large dark forest, all was silent. No animals, no monsters, no light. There was no wind, making even the plants completely silent. Through the silence, dark creatures made up of multiple shapes and sizes marched through the dark forest. Black blobs, piles of arms with swords, big headed babies, fat giants and big crawling hands, all made their way through the dark forest. Their hunger directed towards a peculiar town. Why someone thought it was a good idéa to build a town this close to a curse forest that was infamous for being filled with monsters, was beyond even the broken minds of the shadows.
Amongs them was one shadow that stood out from the rest. A large quadruple shape with three heads and six glowing eyes looked towards the town with pure hatred.
It growled "They don't deserve her kindness."
The shadows march towards Ponyville.