Chapter 227: Clash at Ground Zero Part III – Him

He was there, yet he wasn't. His body was moving, but he was still. He spoke, yet his mouth never opened. His surroundings shifted constantly, yet his reality was unchanged. Was he floating or was he drowning? The conflicting sensations of weightlessness and compression left it unclear. He couldn't tell where he was or what he was experiencing, but he knew one thing: he would remain immersed in Nihil until it swallowed Nyarlathotep whole.

Visions raced through Minato's mind once he refocused on his target. He saw his own body overtaken by Nihil, running amok along the streets of Port Island in pursuit of Nyarlathotep, his target contained as he wanted him. Despite the massive clash of Nihil's rampant energy with the looming Shadow towers attempting to intervene, Minato focused solely on Nyarlathotep. He had only one target, and Nihil needed to know that.

Nyarlathotep skid backwards, the black aura radiating off of his body flaring as it shrugged off lingering bits of Nihil left from his last clash with Minato. With a flick of his hand, three streaks of purple energy rained down on his pursuer. Minato seemed to glide across the street rather than run, the emotionless white silhouette his body had become showing no reaction to Nyarlathotep's attack other than a slight shift in route. Swerving around the first two blasts was easy enough, but the third one curved downwards without explanation. The beam tore through Minato's arm, reducing it to little more than a trail of white goo dripping off of his body.

The wound only served to give Minato another angle of attack, his body whipping around as a stream of white goo erupted from where his arm used to be. He stained the nearby buildings white, the rest of his body breaking down into goo and following suit to maximize Nihil's spread. Nyarlathotep swore under his breath as eyes emerged all along his body, each one preparing small blasts of energy to destroy the stained areas as quickly as he could. The moment they fired, thousands of white hands snaked out of the staining Minato created.

Despite the interruption of Nyarlathotep's bombardment, Nihil continued forwards. As the leading hands were blown away, those that followed began to coalesce, forming into strange limbs that looked less like hands and more like massive tree roots. Left with no choice, Nyarlathotep ascended as quickly as he could, watching Nihil's white mass sink into the street as if the roads were nothing but shifting sand. "You've gone silent, and your moves are starting to make less and less sense…. Losing your grip, boy?" Nyarlathotep taunted as the white silhouette of Minato rose upwards atop a spiraling mass of Nihil.

Both figures erupted from the strange flower-like covering that Nihil and the sprawling Shadow towers had formed above Port Island, Nyarlathotep coated in black energy as Minato seemed to become the very center of the swirling chaos they fought in. The strange energy surrounding Nyarlathotep shot towards Minato and blew past him like some kind of wind, seemingly doing nothing to his strange body as he raised one arm. Behind him, Nihil swirled upwards into the sky in a strange pillar before taking the distorted form of a massive arm, reaching out to the moon for a moment before going for Nyarlathotep.

"Aren't we holding back a bit too much?"

"Let loose already. Show him his place."

"We don't need to do anything else. Just let Mother's gift do it for us."

Minato felt a shudder through his entire being. A vision had been outright imposed upon him, and his surroundings lost most of their calming aspects. He felt as if he were being crushed when images began to register in his mind, and he found himself staring down a long table floating in an almost blindingly white liquid. Yet the most disturbing part of this new vision came from the familiarity he faced, not the alien sensations he had yet to come to grips with.

Seated along one side of the table were white silhouettes of himself, looking like his Nihil possessed body yet completely devoid of life. In a sense, the objects were little more than statues staring at their counterparts, almost completely humanoid versions of himself staring back through the eyes of a Shadow's mask. Those strange beings that showed themselves when Ryoji had been ripped from his body had reappeared once more, the twelve incarnations of each Shadow watching the figures across from them with an unsettling intensity. If he had to describe the looks on their faces, the only word that came to mind was 'predatory'.

The arm reaching for Nyarlathotep extended out even more, dragging with it a slowly forming humanoid form. Its faceless visage slowly began to solidify into a more discernible appearance as Nyarlathotep continually launched what appeared to be ineffective attacks at the core of Nihil, the black energy he sent doing little but passing over the strange substance. A second arm followed the rising torso coming from Nihil, a malformed blob bubbling up like some kind of amorphous mass before parts of it audibly began popping, shrinking the limb down into a usable shape. Each popped bubble sprayed small chunks of Nihil outwards, dissolving random chunks of the nearby Shadow towers on contact.

"We need not worry about the insect alone. Let us walk this world as is Mother's wish, and erase everything," the Hierophant said, leaning over the table and seemingly looking down upon the figurine in front of him. For a moment, Minato felt as if he were that figurine, watching the imposing figure flicker between the masked version of himself and the Shadow's actual body he had fought in Shirakawa as he loomed overhead.

"Doesn't matter, doesn't matter. How we are now, nothing matters. We are singular, yet we are we," the Hermit said as his body beat against the table nonsensically, his arms crossed in front of him as if he were bound in some kind of strait jacket despite no such clothing being present. Like the Hierophant, Minato watched his form flicker with each beat against the table in front of him, the writhing Shadow splaying itself out in its monstrous form and threatening to cross the table with each hit.

"What do we need, other than this? To go forwards is to lose ourselves. To go backwards is a return to weakness," the Hanged Man said, haphazardly slumping forwards in his chair and practically drooling as he stared at the figurine of Minato. Every time his arms twitched, his body swapped between Minato's strange posture and the Shadow's almost true body, its slump barely supported by a floating ring overhead that seemed to falter every few seconds.

Nihil's lumbering humanoid figure had completely taken on the appearance of Minato's naked upper body, the creature floating atop its strange flower-like base and clawing at the nearby Shadow towers, wiping away most of them in slow, deliberate movements. The barrage of black energy at its core drew the massive creature's attention, and it turned in Nyarlathotep's general direction once more. With a guttural howl, the strange Nihil creature opened its mouth and unleashed a torrent of itself in Nyarlathotep's general direction. The white liquid spilled forwards like some kind of sudden flood, forcing Nyarlathotep to stop his attacks and fly away once more to find another angle of attack.

"Good boy! Get mad at everything for me!" Nyarlathotep said as he launched a few stray attacks at the Nihil creature. His blasts did little but pop off little chunks of its chest, but that was more than enough to elicit a ground shaking roar in response. As the creature's last attack tunneled clean through a section of Port Island and made a hole leading to the sea below, the damaged portions of its chest suddenly expanded greatly before another massive humanoid figure popped out, this one reaching out with one arm and outright lunging at Nyarlathotep. He vanished in a flash of purple light to the opposite side of the creature, only for the air behind him to shatter. Turning around, Nyarlathotep was suddenly grabbed the hand of the massive figure that appeared to catch him. The very touch of the creature began to eat away at him, and he looked back in time to see the strange off shoot's faceless mouth with nothing but a gaping opening awaiting him in the white dimension it erupted from. Shedding the outer portions of his skin, Nyarlathotep shot upwards as the arm retracted, the break in the air closing as what he left behind was immediately swallowed whole. He saw what remained of the torso's off shoot falling back down onto the flower underneath the main creature, its surface rippling like water as the offshoot crashed down and became one with the now growing flower.

"Why are you here again? I thought I was done with you," Minato thought, his voice reverberating as if it came from every one of the figurines spoke in unison.

"Because you are a liar," the Priestess said, the mask wearing version of himself sitting rather calmly with its chin resting on the back of its hands. It tilted its head to the side, and the Shadow's true form seemed to flash for a moment, showing its long hair-like appendages flowing wildly behind it before returning to the copy of Minato once more. "If you are who you said you were, why would you act like this?"

"Who was it, who shut our Mother out to act as they saw fit? Who is it, who now bends to the whims of those closest out of fear?" the Fortune asked, its head bobbing left and right in slow yet erratic and jerky motions. Every time the head stopped, the Shadow's golden horse head flashed into view, a small hand ticking as its wings went up and down with each noise before returning to the copy of Minato once again. "Who is this, acting so strangely with us in tow?"

"There's no reason for this, other than to make you feel less like yourself," the Lovers said, resting its head in its hands as it stared more at the table than the figurine in front of it. It sighed, a small tremor crossing its body as the copy of Minato warped into the blob-like heart Shadow it truly was, the tiny heart shaped head resting in its fleshy wings before another breath returned the creature to its previous form. "All of a sudden, you didn't like what you were. All of a sudden, you wanted to be something else. Something that felt better."

"Is that everyone?" Mitsuru asked, the members of SEES regrouping in the remnants of Port Island Station.

"Minato's Shadow is still unaccounted for, but I'm sure it knew to run away," Fuuka said with a grimace. Her eyes were fixed on the amorphous white mass that was beginning to blot out a section of the Dark Hour itself. Nihil had gone far beyond the boundaries Elizabeth recommended, forcing everyone to retreat to Fuuka's location to avoid a stray hit. She could see buildings slowly collapse without any accompanying crash, as they were simply swallowed whole by Nihil's rampage before they could hit the ground.

"Elizabeth, are you certain that being is still Minato?" Aigis asked, the blonde ASW standing atop the nearby theater building to get a good look at the situation. She could faintly make out a small black figure in the sky battling against Nihil, but the struggle of both sides seemed futile as Nihil simply kept growing and Nyarlathotep kept attacking.

"… I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that," Elizabeth said, seated on the edge of the roof next to her. She sat with her Compendium resting in her hands, her gaze firmly fixed on where the core of Nihil should have been. "Minato is in there… what's become of him, I can't say."

"Trying to keep favor is a folly you no longer need follow," the Chariot said, banging its fists on the table. The impact sent a little shake that warped Minato's copy into the odd tank-like body it had taken on in reality, the treads on it practically burning with how quickly they spun before it too returned to its humanoid form. "What is there to gain? You know their work with you is for survival, nothing more!"

"To call yourself the guilty party in all cases is in of itself a falsity," the Justice said, glaring right at the figurine in front of it. It straightened its back, and for a moment, seemed to lose its body as its face became the winged turret the Shadow had once been. Its barrel took aim at his heart before its form reverted, his copy once again simply staring him down. "For that assigns guilt to a truth you cannot forget. Blame to that which you inherently are."

"These actions so recently taken… how many pieces are you trying to pick up?" the Emperor asked, lazily resting its cheek on one fist. Despite the creature having no discernible eyes, something about how it looked just seemed to seethe the feeling of disgust. That very feeling was made palpable by the creature taking on its strange, almost toy soldier-like form in its chair, towering above the figuring it sat across from and shuddering almost non-stop before it returned to being yet another copy of Minato. "Was the game you once lost so enthralling you forgot you were a player and not a piece?"

"I am only the harshest judge of myself," Minato's voice echoed, the strange white liquid the entire meeting was submersed in bubbling up randomly.

Nyarlathotep watched as Nihil began to crawl along the outside of the Shadow towers he had prepared without restraint, the central white figure of Minato melting as the strange substance spread like slime across anything it could reach. Above the blanket of white that threatened to cover the remnants of Port Island like some kind of gnarled plant, Nyarlathotep's aura boomed. "There we go... let's have you take the time of your life right here!" he said as he raised his arms, strange purple numbers appearing around his back in a circular fashion that vaguely resembled a clock. "Wheel of Time!"

With two consecutive snaps of his fingers, Nyarlathotep sent the strange purple numbers at his back berserk. Though they appeared to be little more than glowing sigils behind him, they suddenly created a strange field between them and began to descend into the core of Nihil, practically dancing through the sky into Nihil's core. They began to glow brighter and brighter with each passing moment, even beginning to emit odd sparks as their size seemed to increase. Their strange dance seemed to intensify as Nihil reacted to their presence, the sopping remnants of the giant Minato's hand re-emerging from the wide core to try and grasp them. As Nihil neared, the numbers suddenly shot downwards, breaking their formation entirely as they each launched strange purple rays downwards. In moments, these rays began to bend and intersect, forming a strange cover above Nihil that made the singular grasping arm collapse on itself.

"Then judge yourself into inability, and continue onwards," the Fool said from across the table. Unlike the other Shadows, it sat relatively calm, and didn't seem capable of showcasing its true form. As it spoke, the white bubbling liquid began to pulse with odd hues of black and purple, a sickening feeling beginning to permeate what was otherwise a dream-like space. "Continue to move, tap after tap against the ground. We will sit here with you, when there is nothing left around."

Minato felt as if his insides were churning, and tried to force his attention back to Nihil's actions. Yet no matter how hard he concentrated or willed himself away from the strange situation, he could only watch the various copies of himself sitting in strange positions in front of him, their masks slowly chipping as the space around them seemed to turn against them. "Why did you do it?" a familiar voice asked, dragging Minato's attention back to the table. His gaze shifted from the various figurines lining one end to the Shadow representations on the other before settling on the speaker directly across from him. The unforgettable bird-like helmet seemed to look straight through him as the ephemeral black body loomed much higher than it should have been able to. "Why did we do it?" Death asked.

Nyarlathotep couldn't help but snicker as he watched Nihil seemingly choke, the white liquid gurgling in the center of the strange flower-like mass it had created. The substance's spread had already stopped, the Shadow towers having already been consumed, and an almost uncanny stillness resided over what had just been a chaotic battlefield. The black aura surrounding his body slowly died down, Nyarlathotep's body hovering a slight distance away from Tartarus as he took one final check of the area. His snickering died down quickly, being replaced by annoyance when the sudden realization of Erebus' fate hit him. "... Stupid dog," he muttered, turning his attention to the only people left on the island. "This Dark Hour still has some time left… let's see if I can do better than equivalent exchange."

"I should be better than what I was," he thought, the feeling of a trusting hand on his own lingering in his mind. That hand waited there yet again, but he couldn't take it.

"They deserved more than me," he thought, a repugnant and disgusting frustration welling up in his chest as he wore the smile he knew meant nothing. Try as he might to swallow the sickening feeling or express his discomfort, all he could do was wear the same empty smile.

"This world wasn't to my liking," he thought, a deep rooted exhaustion belying an almost childish response to boredom. His head felt like it was hanging, but he couldn't bring himself to move or do anything other than bathe in the empty feeling.

"I'm scared," he thought, his iron-grip forged to stop the shaking. He wanted to relax, to put the blade down, yet his hand had been sealed shut.

"Playing God sounds fun," he thought, an exhilaration that was nearly indescribable pulsing through his body. It was all he could feel, and in time, the sensations grew numb, leaving him paralyzed.

"He believed in me," he thought, his brother's eyes searing themselves into his back. He saw through those eyes and saw what his brother had become, his eyes searing themselves into his brother's.

"Why did we do it?" Death asked again. Minato found himself seated at the table once more, staring at himself yet again. His white hair was still, and he couldn't even be bothered to wear his empty smile. He simply sat there, gazing back at himself without expression.

"… To live," he thought, his gaze shifting to the distraught world around him. The table he was sitting at was in ruins, and the white bubbly liquid was caught in some kind of current that made the world feel as if it were swirling around nonsensically.

"Why?" Death asked, its voice seemingly coming from his own mouth.

"… I don't know," he answered. He tried to reach out, but his hands settled on the cage he once despised. He threw his arms down, and beat upon the boy that dared torment him. He shook in disgust, and found himself bound in something he had no hope of moving in.

"Why?" Death asked again.

"… I didn't want to die," he answered. The feeling of slitting, prodding and piercing burned his mind as much as it did his body. He wished with all his might to inflict that same feeling onto others, so he wouldn't feel it again. Yet it returned, time and time again. So he reset himself time and time again, until he found something had broken. He didn't feel the burning anymore. His only indication that it was real came from the reaction of those he burned. So unsure of what he had become, that confirmation became the only standard of what was real. It became the only proof that he was still alive.

And yet, like an old machine whose parts had been cleaned and put back into place, his broken mind moved again. Reality became something more than what he could make of others, more than the confirmation he could take before they gave way. He wanted to see whether or not it had become something better than what he knew, but his body refused to move. It was as if hands held him in place, hands refusing to release him from what he knew. Those hands refused to budge, and held his arms and chest back. Those hands gripped him the more he thought about them, as if trying to burn his mind back to what it once was. Those hands, he soon realized, were his own.

"Tell us… how do we live?" Death asked.

This time, Minato reached across the table. He slapped the copy of himself in the face, and watched as the white dust gave way to an empty shell. The world around him began to flash and fluctuate, but that didn't concern him. He flipped the table and threw the copy down, standing amidst the white liquid that was slowly becoming still once more. "… I'll show you," Minato answered, his mind clearing. He focused on one thing alone, and in an instant, felt himself moving.

The members of SEES readied their weapons near the entrance to the old remnants of Port Island Station, watching as Nyarlathotep dropped down to the street below. "… This fight isn't over," Aigis said, watching Nyarlathotep size up the members of SEES readying their weapons. Elizabeth simply stood near the back, seemingly deep in thought despite the impending threat.

"Nobody likes a draw, after all," Nyarlathotep said, taking a step towards the members of SEES.

"… I don't think she was referring to your quarrel with SEES," Elizabeth said with a smirk. Before Nyarlathotep could retort, a massive crack formed in the sky between the parties. Nihil seeped out for a moment before a blob dropped to the ground, the strange opening sealing itself almost instantly as the blob began to break apart. Surely enough, Minato awaited within, the man staring at the floor on his hands and knees.

"Well, look who's here. I forgot one of the reasons I thought copying you made sense was to steal some of that ridiculous persistence of yours," Nyarlathotep said, his eyes carefully trained on Minato. Minato's body was no longer enveloped in Nihil, but the blob he descended in had not vanished completely. It remained floating around him like a cloud of dust, with specks lingering on his skin, clothing, and hair. Unlike before, his breaths were loud and clear. But what Nyarlathotep was most interested in was the small red gleam he had in his eyes, a sign that the attacks he used to drive Nihil wild had reached the user. Seeing that faint glow, he couldn't help but grin. "You must be here looking to fight again… or maybe you just came here to kill? There are a lot of people who wronged you, all gathered round."

At that, Minato slowly rose up, the red in his eyes growing brighter as Nyarlathotep silently incited the madness within him. "Hey, that red is-!" Yukari said, noticing the odd glow coming from Minato. Before she could continue, Minato suddenly swung his arm towards Nyarlathotep.

Nihil's dust followed Minato's arm like an invisible blade, carving through the very air and creating a massive gash in the Dark Hour that let even more Nihil seep outwards in rapid explosive pulses. Nyarlathotep barely had time to react, leaning his body in an outright inhumane manner to avoid a direct hit. The bursts of Nihil consumed his right arm almost immediately, the entire limb turning a sickly white as it began to dissolve. "Don't you know when to quit?!" Nyarlathotep snapped, his shout unleashing a blast of purple energy from his mouth.

Minato shielded himself with one arm, Nihil's dust floating a few feet in front of him to create a shield against the incoming attack. Instead of exploding, Nyarlathotep's attack was caught in what appeared to be some kind of mouth that only grew with each moment. With a grunt, Minato stomped forwards, the mouth holding Nyarlathotep's attack suddenly expanding into a copy of Thanatos' head large enough to cover his whole body. The head let out a silent cry as it dispelled Nyarlathotep's attack, fading away as Minato charged forwards.

Already clad in a veil of black energy once more, Nyarlathotep watched as Minato ran his hand through the closing gash in reality he had just created, Nihil solidifying into a sword as he approached. "When'd you learn these tricks, boy?!" he asked, a portion of his very being erupting from his wrist and forming a gnarled black sword. He caught his balance and met Minato's swing with his own, their blades seemingly digging into each other as they clashed. Both fighters were forced back from the exchange, getting the slightest bit of distance before swinging yet again.

Energy pulsed through Nyarlathotep's purple tattoo, highlighting its path into the blackened blade he wielded. The weapon glowed as his sword struck Minato's, a concentrated explosion breaking the Nihil sword's blade into little more than shards and throwing Minato backwards. As he fell backwards, Minato focused solely on Nyarlathotep's arrogant face. With a strained breath, the falling shards of his destroyed weapon suddenly darted towards his target. Nyarlathotep, in the midst of preparing a follow-up attack, took three shards directly before he was encased in a black sphere. Seething with rage, black energy flew out of his damaged eyes and forehead, destroying the shards completely before he re-emerged.

Tumbling over before he managed to catch himself, Minato was only visible to Nyarlathotep for a moment before a cloud of Nihil burst forth from the area between them, obscuring both fighters from one another completely. "... You should all get back," Minato whispered, the cloud of Nihil slowly moving to envelop him. Wordlessly, the members of SEES retreated into inner section of Port Island Station, each of them looking more than relieved to see Minato was still on their side.

Staring into the pulsating white cloud in front of him, Nyarlathotep grit his teeth. Spiked black tendrils slowly emerged from his lower back, each pulsing with purple energy as he tried to track Minato. He saw a silhouette moving near the edge of the blob, and launched a singular tendril towards it. It pierced through the body and exploded, the energy near the tip serving as a makeshift bomb. The blast launched bits and pieces of what looked like Nihil covered limbs into the air, each one suddenly pulsing before they began spurting Nihil out like smoke and covering the battlefield even more.

As the gas spread, Nyarlathotep caught sight of multiple silhouettes rushing out into the spray in front of him, one of them outrunning the gas itself and leading the charge. It looked like Minato covered completely in Nihil as he was before, sword in hand with its target in sight. Nyarlathotep took a step back and lashed out with the tendrils on his lower back, breaking the clone apart with ease. Its body exploded into even more Nihil gas, the substance beginning to creep up Nyarlathotep's tendrils and take hold of him once more. "Still using these damn parlor tricks?! You should know better by now, boy!" Nyarlathotep yelled, the black aura on his body suddenly flaring upwards. With a swing of his sword, the aura itself rushed forwards and slammed into the incoming wall of Nihil, forcing it backwards along with the numerous clones rushing through it. "Call this White trash all you want, I'll get rid of it every-!" he continued, but was cut short by a flash of blue light directly in front of him.

Minato appeared in front of Nyarlathotep with his Evoker drawn, the last of the Nihil dust lingering around him rushing into the open barrel. With a small spin and flick of his wrist, Minato leveled his Evoker to Nyarlathotep's head as the barrel slid back into place, the gun's faint clicking barely audible between the two as Minato fired. "Nihil."

The shot blew Nyarlathotep's head backwards, a surge of white spreading from his forehead and racing to engulf the entirety of his upper body. His head was covered almost instantly, his shocked expression frozen as the rest of his body began to writhe. The Fiend's limbs suddenly began sprouting from various parts of his body along with numerous yellow eyes, all spinning nonsensically as they began attacking the area around him and his own head. Minato leapt backwards to avoid the haphazard attacks, watching as Nyarlathotep severed his own consumed head to try and stop the spread of Nihil. With another step back, the area behind him broke apart, consuming him in Nihil before the crack in the air sealed itself once more. Drifting through the white nothingness that Nihil placed him in, Minato focused on his next target and willed himself forwards, breaking through the nothingness around him and reappearing high above Nyarlathotep once more.

Flicking his wrist, Minato flung a number of almighty gems down towards his opponent, the small attacks raining down on Nyarlathotep as he tried to orient himself. The blasts broke apart the Fiend's limbs with ease, letting Minato worry only about striking his target. His body was slowly coated white as Nihil spread over him, and he thrust his hand forwards as he prepared to reach into Nyarlathotep himself. As Minato neared him, a purple pulse blew the lingering gem blasts away from Nyarlathotep as the opening in his torso was sealed by a rush of black mass that rapidly reformed his head.

With a grin, Nyarlathotep swiped his hand upwards, expelling the last chunks of Nihil from his body as a massive black arc followed his movements, like some kind of growing circular blade that ripped through the street and buildings with ease. The blade arced upwards towards Minato as he tried to adjust his course, the attack scraping against his forearm and shoulder as it knocked him into a tumble. It had torn chunks of his Nihil armor and skin off entirely, leaving a small blood trail above him as he fell. "What? Did you forget what your body could do?!" Nyarlathotep asked, purple and black energy sparking around his leg as Minato fell. With a laugh, he jumped up and tried to spin kick Minato away. As he approached, however, the air around Minato broke apart, a surge of Nihil seeping out of the opening he created. Nyarlathotep vanished in a flash of purple light, reappearing a slight distance away from the break with a scowl on his face.

The scowl broke as soon as a flash of blue light erupted behind him, followed immediately by a tackle from behind. Before he could react, Minato tackled Nyarlathotep into the opening he created, the two tumbling through the white void Nihil emerged from. Without his aura protecting him, the simple act of being present in that realm started to eat away at Nyarlathotep, his skin dissolving as bits and pieces of his body started to whiten. He tried to summon his aura to protect him once again, but all he managed to do was haphazardly launch a few streaks of purple and black energy out from a few spots on his body, just barely slowing the degradation process. "Wha-?!" he barely managed before Minato covered his mouth with one hand and grabbed his wrist with the other.

Forcing Nyarlathotep's head away from him while planting one foot onto the back of his shoulder, Minato yanked backwards with all of his strength. A sickening snapping sound filled the white void, Nyarlathotep's arm popping out of place before his skin broke open to reveal innumerable black tendrils tethering the limb to his body. Nihil went to work on trying to chew through them immediately, the seemingly random attacks now focusing on the exposed portion of his body. With an angry shout, Nyarlathotep blasted Minato's hand off of his mouth, a beam of energy following his outburst and almost burning clean through the Nihil coating Minato still had.

Swinging himself around, Nyarlathotep coated his free arm in as much energy as he could, a titanic claw silhouetted around his arm as he went for Minato's head. As he struck, the area around them broke apart, and they tumbled out of Nihil's cloudy void back into the Dark Hour once more. Nyarlathotep's claw dug into concrete around Minato's head, slowing it just enough for the man to get his other foot planted on Nyarlathotep's chest and kick him away before he could finish the attack. Flipping through the air, Nyarlathotep retracted his highly damaged limb to drag Minato with him, the two suddenly crashing into a bloody fountain and shattering its decorative center spires on impact.

Minato could hear the members of SEES exclaiming something about their sudden crash back into Port Island Station, but he didn't register a word they said. The moment he popped back to his feet, Nihil formed a sword in his hands. Nyarlathotep practically matched him, three sharp tendrils shooting out of his back as he pushed himself off of all fours. Minato deflected all three with one swift upwards strike, getting both hands on the hilt of his sword after he struck to prepare his follow-up. Nyarlathotep let the tendrils separate from his body, the creeping Nihil from Minato's blade already threatening to consume them. He formed a blackened blade of his own once more, the crude weapon seemingly emerging from inside of his wrist, and swung upwards in a wide arc to meet Minato's strike. The clash of their blades was accompanied by a loud cracking sound, and Nyarlathotep grit his teeth as he saw the air between them distort.

Grunting, Minato forced the crack between them open, a small surge of Nihil erupting outwards and forcing Nyarlathotep backwards. The strange white substance's stream was broken moments later as Nyarlathotep barreled out of it in a panic, his body struggling to shake off wisps of Nihil as he decided to change tactics. With one quick leap forwards, he flung himself towards the members of SEES as Minato gave chase, a huge grin on his face as he readied his blade once more. "Let's see you fight like that when your-" he began, only to be interrupted by a sudden wave-like beam of Nihil borne from a quick flick of Minato's sword. Nyarlathotep's weapon barely managed to emit a powerful burst of energy that protected him in time, but that energy burst only obscured his vision from Minato's own strike. Their blades clashed once more, the impact forcing Nyarlathotep onto his back as Minato pressed forwards. Before they landed, Nyarlathotep vanished in a flash of purple light, leaving Minato to tumble forwards and hurriedly rise to his feet as the light reappeared behind him.

Letting the Nihil on his body fade completely, Minato thrust his sword behind his back with one arm. The blade barely managed to deflect Nyarlathotep's own, but that left him free to slide open the barrel on his Evoker, the Nihil dust around him flowing into it once more. Spinning the gun around in his hand as the barrel slammed shut, Minato thrust it towards Nyarlathotep and fired. Nyarlathotep ducked his head to the side, but the shot wasn't aimed at his face like the last one. Minato had shot much lower, shooting him opposite to where his heart should have been, blowing a hole in his body that had strands of Nihil seething outwards. Screaming half in rage and half in pain, Nyarlathotep stepped back and swung around with all his might, his weapon growing in size as he spun. Minato tried to block the attack, only to be sent flying backwards into the nearby Screen Shot's sign, crashing through the now dim neon-lighting and a small chunk of the rooftop.

Before the dust even settled from Minato's crash, a thin stream of Nihil jetted off of the damaged roof back at Nyarlathotep. He easily sidestepped the attack, turning his attention to the sudden flash of light behind him. His eyes widened when he was greeted by the Persona Vishnu instead of Minato, but he continued his attack regardless. Energy pulsed through his blade as he swung, detonating against a massive and ornate golden mace. As he and his opponent staggered backwards from the impact, the air directly beneath him gave way, a cloud of Nihil erupting all around him as he began falling into the strange nothingness it presided over. Instinctively, tendrils and tentacles shot out of his body to try and latch onto something nearby, desperate to avoid more exposure to the substance that he was already struggling to contain in his chest. As his tendrils shot towards nearby buildings, Vishnu tossed its lotus flower towards him, the petals on it all glowing as it began to spin. In the next moment, the flower pulsed, unleashing a shockwave of almighty energy that blasted Nyarlathotep clean through the portal and severed everything he shot out to save himself.

Nyarlathotep's tumble was short-lived, as mere moments after he felt his body being assailed by Nihil once more, he felt Minato slam into his side and send him plummeting once more. The duo crashed through what seemed to be an invisible wall, shattering the air around them and suddenly finding themselves in free fall near Port Island Station's roofline. Nyarlathotep turned to face Minato immediately, his mouth opening to reveal a mass of black energy building up inside. The moment he opened it, Minato shoved his Evoker into his mouth and fired. Nihil clashed with dark energy inside of Nyarlathotep's mouth, his face practically bubbling for a moment before everything above his lower jaw was blown away, the only remnants being some kind of Nihil goop that tried to continue down his body.

The explosion had seared Minato's arm, his Evoker sent flying towards the members of SEES as he barely managed to hold onto Nyarlathotep's body. Minato tried to pull himself back towards Nyarlathotep, the lingering remnants of Nihil dust floating around his body coating his fist to continue his assault. Before he could strike, a series of misshapen yellow eyes popped open on the remnants of Nyarlathotep's torso, all glowing for a moment before they unleashed a barrage of small blasts at Minato. The bombardment ranged from the arm gripping Nyarlathotep to his torso, quickly breaking his hold and launching him backwards. He only made if a few feet back before a massive mouthed tentacle shot out of Nyarlathotep's stomach, biting down on his leg before suddenly arcing downwards. Slammed into the floor, Minato found himself getting dragged through brick and concrete for a few moments before Nyarlathotep tried to pull him closer once more. Gritting his teeth, Minato sliced at the tentacle biting him with the Nihil on his arm, severing the head moments before Vishnu spiked Nyarlathotep down to the ground with its mace.

As his target crashed into the ground below, Minato let Vishnu disappear. He broke out of his tumble and focused, vanishing in a flash of blue light as he prepared to bound forwards. He reappeared in the dust near the disoriented Nyarlathotep and pounced on his target, driving his Nihil coated hand clean through the back of Nyarlathotep's chest. Feeling what he wanted for a moment, he closed his fist inside of Nyarlathotep and let Nihil run loose. He could only track its progress for a moment, a garbled roar signaling Nyarlathotep's sudden and savage counter. Minato stepped back a moment too late, his arm severed in an instant as Nyarlathotep's body lost its human shape entirely in favor of an amorphous black mass that protruded shapes at random, the one to claim his arm being some strange whip-like axe.

Eyes and mouths sprouted all over Nyarlathotep's melting body, nonsensical screeching accompanying his rampage as small spurts of Nihil burst open holes in the odd slime-like body he was confined to. Despite his seemingly nonsensical appearance, his attacks were clearly directed towards Minato, jagged spikes and slabs of his body lashing out only in his direction. Even if he could escape the sheer number of attacks headed his way, Minato had no intention of doing so. Staggering back, he grit his teeth. "Orpheus Deimos," he said, the Fiend appearing over his head and immediately converting one its arms into a lyre.

As Orpheus Deimos began to play, Minato focused the last of his energy calling forth Nihil once more. The white substance burst forth in a frothing cloud behind Orpheus Deimos, but never once came in contact with the Fiend. Rather, Orpheus Deimos' playing directed Nihil into arcing blades that began slashing away at Nyarlathotep's incoming attacks. They severed more and more of Nyarlathotep's body with each attack deflected, the area between the two fighters turning into a chaotic mash-up of black and white substances being flung to and fro.

In the midst of the nonsensical clashing, Nyarlathotep suddenly launched a small beam of energy towards Minato, his entire body opening up for a moment as the energy seemed to seep out of his very being. The blast tore through an opening in their clash and one of Minato's legs, severing it almost instantly. Falling to the floor with a scream of pain, Minato hurriedly tried to push himself back up. He saw another beam about to head his way and raised his hand instinctively, but was blinded by a white flash.

When Nyarlathotep launched his second attack, it seemed to get absorbed by something almost electrical in nature when it neared Minato. Before he could try to launch another, various white stakes seemed to fly into his body, stunning him momentarily. As his numerous eyes tried to find a source for the attack, the beam he launched earlier suddenly rebounded, taking off a chunk of his body with ease.

Shadow Minato stood in front of the wounded Minato, his right arm opened up to look like some kind of launcher that drew in energy from the surrounding area. "Thank you for your assistance. As he is now, I cannot lose," Shadow Minato said, focusing on the white stakes that had been driven into Nyarlathotep's body. They suddenly sparked before Nyarlathotep's body bulged out nonsensically, his form looking almost inflated as his attacks lessened in number and the last of Orpheus Deimos' and Nihil's combined strikes slathered more of the ravenous substance onto his body.

Moving in a streak of light, Shadow Minato sliced upwards with his white sword, a large pillar erupting underneath Nyarlathotep and impaling his bloated form. A sickening symphony of gurgling, screaming, and screeching emanated from the malformed mass he had become, but that did nothing to stop Shadow Minato's assault. "Unlike your previous opponent, I have no intention of completely destroying you," Shadow Minato said as his chest opened up, the mechanical plating giving way to a shining golden key. "I was created to remove you from this world. And so I shall," he continued, the rest of his body suddenly breaking apart to form an odd, cube-like formation that linked itself together with crisscrossing streaks of energy.

The golden key in his chest turned around and connected to the area directly in front of him, energy swirling around if for a moment before a golden shade began to spread between the openings in the energy streaks, easily completing the cube. Nyarlathotep tried to lash out in what little way he could, his bulbous body pulsing at the walls and spewing bits and pieces of himself outwards, but all to no avail. The golden coating simply repelled everything back towards him, forcing him to maintain his wretched and near unusable form that was still besieged by Nihil. His eyes darted around haphazardly before suddenly popping, Nihil striking from within and eliminating the few features his body had left until he seemed to be little more than a black cloud threatened to be stifled by a white one.

With Nyarlathotep forcefully pacified, the cube around his body rapidly began to shrink. Compressed into little more than something the size of a small office cubicle, his body began to burn as an intense golden light enveloped all of Shadow Minato's body and his own. Any cries or noises Nyarlathotep would have made were silenced, the area inside of Shadow Minato's strange containment field locking everything about Nyarlathotep inside. Slowly, the area around the cube became brighter and brighter, a golden sphere illuminating the Dark Hour with light as bright as the day's for a moment before it suddenly vanished without a trace, abruptly stopping as Shadow Minato and Nyarlathotep disappeared. With nothing but silence now filling Port Island Station, the Dark Hour came to an end.