The sound of racing footfalls echoed through rain soaked woods under a dark red sky. A figure garbed in a hooded jacket swore under his breath as he ran uphill through black puddles of water, unsure if he'd make it on time. The gunshot up ahead solved that dilemma in a heartbeat. Gritting his teeth in anger, the figure sprinted up the rest of the muddy pathway as the smell of gunsmoke and blood grew closer and closer.

Skidding to a stop at the entrance of an ancient shrine, the figure lowered his hood before taking out a pistol and aiming it at a taller, masked figure.

"Take your finger off that trigger," Akechi ordered in a tone as cold as the icy rain falling around him, "Or I'll make a canoe out of your head."

The masked figure seemed to pay no regard to the threat, keeping their revolving flintlock pistol aimed right at the injured teenager crumpled in a heap at their feet.

To any passerby it would've been a peculiar sight. The assailant was clothed in a Victorian era carrick coat, the bright yellow color of which did little to offset the spatters of blood along the frilled sleeves. Stranger still was the featureless mask made from a mirror-like material that covered the entire face. The ensemble was quite literally topped off with a black top hat which kept the rain from falling onto the mask beneath.

"Feel free to fire to your heart's content," they said in a reverberated voice as the wounded teenager beneath them lost consciousness, "My work here is done."

Akechi narrowed his eyes before walking right up to the figure, intent on putting the barrel of his gun right against their head. He made it two steps before being taken off guard as his clothing changed to his darkened Metaverse attire.

In that split instant, the assailant let loose another round into his victim's abdomen.

Akechi emptied his pistol's magazine into the figure's head, only to find every bullet stopped by the chitinous hand of a persona protecting its master. Ripping off his mask, Akechi called for his own persona as he leaped backwards.

"Hereward!"

A large, black armored persona wielding a compound bow the size of a car appeared behind Akechi before knocking an arrow and aiming it at his master's foe.

The yellow clad figure responded with a persona of their own, different from the one they had just used to protect their head.

"Yoshitsune!"

The legendary samurai persona appeared between Akechi and his prey just as Hereward fired an arrow. Faster than the blink of an eye, Yoshitsune drew his blade and cut the arrow in two, deflecting the attack.

"A showoff, huh?!" Akechi snarled as a red aura began to envelope him, the tone of psychotic rage seeping into his voice, "Two can play at that game!"

Hereward's form swelled as Akechi's red aura spread from him to his persona, giving it the strength to knock an arrow and pull the string back unnaturally far.

A reverberating chuckle echoed around the surrounding woods as the figure responded, "As much as I'd like to play, I really have more pressing matters to atten-"

"FUCKING DIE!"

Akechi's scream barely reached his target's ears before they found themselves sailing through the air and pinned to a tree by an arrow the size of a man. Before they could even muster words of their own, Akechi was on them. Using his crimson, serrated sword, he hacked and carved into his prey like a modern day Jack the Ripper.

In his furious blood craze, he failed to notice that not a single one of his strikes were cutting into flesh, nor did he notice the colossal persona beginning to block the rain from above.

With lightning like speed, the figure shot their hand out and caught Akechi's wrist mid strike, using their other hand to point upwards. The psychopath's red aura dissipated as his gaze followed the finger up into the sky.

Akechi grit his teeth and backed away as he beheld a persona the size of a skyscraper, pointing it's divine pistol down right at him.

He was no longer the predator, but the prey.

"Satanael," the figure spoke as they pulled the arrow from their chest and fell to the ground, straightening their black cravat before walking past Akechi and continuing, "To think, you actually thought you were his equal, yet he had this under his sleeve the entire time."

Akechi began to tremble, and he couldn't tell if it was from anger, or fear.

Reaching into their coat pocket, the figure produced a playing card before flicking it to land face down on Joker's motionless chest.

"Be sure the Phantom Thieves get my calling card."

With a roar, Akechi turned around and swung his blade towards the assailant, intent on cutting them in half, but his sword only found thin air. The attacker, along with their arsenal of persona, had vanished.

His metaverse garb dissipated, and Akechi clenched his fists as the red sky returned to a starry night, the supernatural black rain ceasing to fall. Kneeling down to his rival, he shoved the card into his pocket before ripping apart his jacket to use as a tourniquet. With a look of disgust on his face, Akechi ripped off Joker's shirt and rolled him over to check for exit wounds; there were none. Swearing aloud, he tore off his glove and checked for a pulse. After a long moment, he felt the faintest of beats beneath his fingers.

Tightening the makeshift tourniquet around Joker's abdomen, the Ace Detective's mind began to race through his options. First and foremost, he had to get the bleeding under control. A tourniquet could only do so much, and a hospital would do little good if he lost too much blood before getting there. His eyes darted around the shrine, he had a knife in his pocket he could use, but nothing to heat up the blade for cauterization. Looking back over his rival, he noticed his skin was growing pale, fast.

"God damn it, wake up!" Akechi yelled as he smacked the teenager's cheek, "Or are you really going to let something this trivial kill you?"

In the desperation of the moment, Akechi failed to notice another presence approaching from behind.

"Hey!" a familiar voiced cried out, "Get away from him!"