47 Skull

Surrounded on all sides by shadows, Akira was the first to react. He dashed towards the closest shadow with Arsene following closely behind. Morgana, Axel and Ryuji didn't lag too far behind as they quickly chased after him.

The shadow didn't even get the time to speak as it was met by claws, a sword, a fist and a metal bat.

The boys continued to rush the shadows but no matter how many they defeated, there always seemed to be more. It was as if they were endless.

15 minutes into the fight, Akira and Ryuji were sweating and panting while Morgana appeared better off as his breathing was only slightly sped up. Axel mentally thanked Olivia for training him into what he is today as he was barely tired.

However, even though he was better off than the other 3, the situation started to worsen.

The attacks from Arsene and Zorro started to weaken as the fatigue from constantly fighting started to pile up. Ryuji was aimlessly swinging his bat around while Akira and Morgana staggered as they tried to keep standing.

Axel knew that the boys were reaching their limits and decided to push himself. Axel leapt high into the sky as flames started to appear around him. Everyone stopped and stared at Axel, stunned at the sight of Magna's magic.

Even Kamoshida stalled as his mind couldn't process what was happening.

Everyone knew that Magna was a street magician but they didn't think he could use REAL magic, they thought they were nothing more than tricks and slight of hand.

The fire surrounding Axel slowly started to condense into 5 fiery spear. With a fierce glare, Magna focused on the 5 shadows infront and roared, "FIRE SPEAR!"

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The spears launched towards the shadows and exploded in a fiery vortex of flames. Seeing his friends standing still in shock, Axel yelled, "What are you waiting for? Fight!"

His words managed to bring them back as Akira and Arsene glared towards a giant shadow that looked like a knight on a horse. The small flames that burned inside Arsene's helmet roared in wrath as Akira yelled, "Arsene!"

A creepy chuckled leaked from Arsene as he snapped his fingers. The giant shadow suddenly became engulfed in a black and red flame. It slowly collapsed as it twitched in pain before it disipitated in shards of light.

Morgana was stunned seeing Axel and Akira but he didn't stay still for long as he grinned and shouted, "Don't think you can out do me, rookies!"

Taking a deep breath, Morgana swiftly dodged the incoming fist of a Jack-o-lantern as he nimbly landed on the floor and said, "Come! Zorro!"

Blue flames burst out from the floor as the figure of a man appeared from within the flames. Zorro slashed the flames apart with a lightning quick flurry of slashes from his rapier. The slashes sent out a strong gust of wind that slammed into the unsuspecting Jack-o-lantern, sending it flying into a wall.

Ryuji was slightly pale as he panted in exhaustion but he still raised his bat and swung it at the shadow, knocking it backwards.

Axel nodded in surprise at how well they're holding their own in a fight. He honestly didn't expect them to actually fight this well. Grinning widely, Axel laughed happily as he smashed his fist coated in ice magic against the face of a demon, sending it flying a small bit away before it burst into fragments of light and ice.

Even though his mana was low, Axel didn't care as he continued to launch magic-coated attacks. Small explosions of fire and ice trailed behind Axel as he continued forward.

Suddenly, Axel notice that something seemed odd. Just a couple seconds ago, he had his sights locked onto Kamoshida just in case. However, he seems to have just disappeared.

As if on cue, Ryuji let loose a violent scream of pain. The fight came to a complete stop as Akira, Axel and Morgana turned towards Ryuji and froze in horror.

Kamoshida was pressing the heel of his foot down against Ryuji's head as he drove a sword through Ryuji's arm.

Ryuji had tears in his eyes as he tried to struggle but his effort was for nothing as Kamoshida just increased the force he was using to step on him.

Rage built up inside Axel but he didn't let it cloud his judgement as he glared at Kamoshida and kept his distance. He wanted to rush over and help Ryuji but he knew from the look in Kamoshidas eyes that if he moved towards them, the sword in Ryuji's arm might just end up in his chest.

Kamoshida's hand harshly grabbed Ryuji's hair as he dragged his head off the ground. Ryuji tried to struggle but Kamoshida stopped him as his free hand wrapped itself around his neck and started to choke him.

"What's wrong, Sakamoto? Not feeling so well? GOOD!"

A glint of madness shimmered in Kamoshida's eyes as he arrogantly added, "I always hated you and the track team…"

Ryuji's face became distorted, not from pain but from anger as Kamoshida started ranting on about all the things he did to make sure the track and field team would disappeared.

Once Kamoshida finished speaking, Ryuji had veins puffing up around his body as he boiled in anger and hatred. Even Morgana was shaking in anger as he learned how Ryuji lost his ability to run thanks to Kamoshida breaking his leg in the name of 'self-defence'.

Don't even speak about how Akira and Axel were fairing at the moment. It took everything they had to hold themselves back from rushing at Kamoshida.

Kamoshida seemed to derive pleasure from the anger of everyone as his face became flushed as his face adopted an expression of pure ecstasy. His mouth curved into a demonic smirk as said, "Before I kill you, I might as well torture you."

With a wave of his hand, the shadows dropped their defence and dashed towards Axel and his friends. They only managed to destroy a couple before they found themselves pinned to the ground.

Morgana and Akira were being malicious stomped on as they attempted to stand up and fight. Axel, on the other hand, was surrounded as every shadow that tried to get close was met with his fist in their face.

Axel stared over at Ryuji as he noticed something odd. Tears endlessly poured out of his eyes as confusion and sorrow painted his face.

Turning towards Akira, Axel hoped he could help awaken Ryuji's persona but the shadows didn't give him even a second of free time.

Left with no other choice, Axel decided to try and help Ryuji. He dashed towards the shadows and jumped. Using it's face as a platform, Axel put as much strength as he could into his legs and launched himself towards Ryuji.

Sadly, he didn't get close enough to free him from Kamoshida's grasp but this was far enough.

Taking in a deep breath, Axel turned towards Ryuji and roared, "RYUJI!!! ARE YOU JUST GONNA LET THAT SCUMBAG DICTATE YOUR LIFE!!! MAN UP AND RESIST!!! FIGHT UNTIL YOU CAN'T FIGHT ANYMORE!!!"

Axel's roar echoed through the room, causing everyone, shadow or not, to cover their ears to shield them from the sound.

Clearly enraged by Axel's speech, Kamoshida smirked maliciously as he glared at Ryuji and said, "This is why you will always be trash. Because you hang around with MORE TRASH!!!"

Like pouring oil into a fire, Ryuji's eyes burned with anger as he pointed at Kamoshida, stared him dead in the eyes and yelled, "Stop lookin down on me with that stupid smile on your face!"

Suddenly, Ryuji collapsed to the floor while clutching his head. Axel showed a small smile as he noticed the changes happening to Ryuji, or more specifically, his bright yellow eyes.

"You made me wait quite a while. You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact." Said a rough and roguish voice.

Flames started to manifest around the struggling Ryuji as the roguish voice continued, "Since your name has been disgraced already, why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc...? The "other you" who exists within desires it thus... I am thou, thou art I... There is no turning back... The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!"

Once the voice finished speaking, Ryuji slowly stood up from the ground. Then, without the slightest hesitation, Ryuji kept his bloodshot eyes locked onto Kamoshida as he tore the black skull mask from his face.

A pillar of blue flames exploded upwards, accompanied by Ryuji's roars of pain. Kamoshida absent-mindedly gazed at Ryuji, then turned towards Akira. His gaze didn't linger on the two for too long as he maliciously ordered, "Kill them all!"

Before the shadows could even move, bolts of lightning flew out from the vortex of fire and struck them. The shadows collapsed to the floor before shattering into bits of light.

Ryuji slowly walked out from the fire vortex, his clothing completely different from when they entered the palace as he wore a black jacket, matching pants with knee pads, a red ascot, combat boots, a pair of yellow gloves, and a skull mask.

A confident smirk on his face, Ryuji ignored the surprised looks he was getting as he said, "Right on... Wassup, Persona... This effin' rocks! Now that I got this power, it's time for payback... Yo, I'm ready... Bring it! Blast him away... Captain Kidd!"

The tornado of flames burst apart, revealing a skeleton pirate standing on a miniature ship. The flames inside it's eye-socket burn brightly as bolts of lightning flew around its body.