The darkness still dominated the sky under the pale green moon.
Tamamo, her long hair waving to the rhythm of the static wind of the Dark Hour, watched with wide-open eyes the titanic structure that rose where Kuoh Academy had once stood.
Tartarus.
A tower that defied logic.
An amalgamation of living, deformed architecture, fueled by something much older than any magic Tamamo had ever felt before.
Her ears bristled.
—Daniel-sama... that tower... —she murmured—. It's alive. And the magic emanating from it... is like that of the Holy Grail, but darker! Deeper... more evil... it's as if all the malice in the world were concentrated there!
Her words trembled.
Tamamo took a step back, but clenched her fists with determination.
—We cannot let this continue! We must destroy it before it releases something worse! I can cast an area sealing spell if I get close enough to its core!
—No! —Daniel immediately interjected, firm, decisive.
Tamamo looked at him, confused and hurt.
—Why are you stopping me?! Can't you see that thing is a curse upon this world?! It could be worse than the Grail!
Daniel nodded, his expression somber.
—I know. Precisely because of that we can't just go in like this. Tartarus is not just a tower. It's... a catalyst. A prelude to the end.
Tamamo fell silent upon hearing Daniel's tone.
—I know what it is, Tamamo. I've seen this before. In another world. In another game... —he raised his gaze toward the tower—. Inside Tartarus are shadows... creatures born of the unconscious. And at its peak...
...the incarnation of the end awaits us.
Nyx.
Tamamo's eyes opened wide, paralyzed.
—T-that entity... —she murmured, bringing a hand to her lips—. That... that is a primordial deity of the night in many cultures! That is in there?!
—Not yet. But if we don't do something, it will come. And we won't be able to stop it. No one will.
Tamamo trembled. Her tail wrapped around itself. She was scared.
—Then... we are cursed, aren't we? If we enter, we accelerate that thing's arrival... but if we do nothing... the world will be lost anyway!
Daniel approached and firmly held her hand. His eyes were resolute.
—There is a way. In the other world... there was a person. Someone who stopped it. A true hero. Makoto Yuki. The Wild Card. He sealed Nyx... sacrificing everything.
Tamamo looked at him with hope.
—And... is he here?
Daniel lowered his gaze.
—...No.
Tamamo recoiled. As if emotionally stabbed.
—W-what...? What do you mean he's not here?
Daniel gritted his teeth.
—This world is a mix. DxD, Fate, other worlds... but he... doesn't exist here. There are no signs of his soul. He's not reincarnated, nor summoned, nor hidden. He simply doesn't exist.
Tamamo fell to her knees. Her face pale.
—Then... who will seal Nyx this time?
Daniel knelt before her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
—I don't know yet... but if no one else can... —he closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled—. Then I will do it.
Tamamo looked at him with crystalline eyes.
—Daniel-sama...
He smiled sadly.
—But first, we need allies. Persona users. People with the potential to resist the Dark Hour. And we still don't know who they could be. We must search... carefully.
Tamamo nodded slowly, her confidence recovering thanks to him.
She hugged his arm tightly, determined not to separate from him again.
—Then let's begin. Before time runs out.
And so, under the sinister green moon, Daniel and Tamamo took the first step toward the approaching tragedy.
The clock of the Fall had finally begun to tick.
The world began to move again.
With a subtle sound, like the creaking of an old clock restarting its movement, the Dark Hour came to an end.
The pale green moon slowly faded, replaced by the usual night sky.
Before the eyes of Daniel and Tamamo, Tartarus began to crumble like smoke caught in a wind current.
Its distorted columns, its living and unnatural architecture, its walls plagued with impossible symbols, dissolved into particles of darkness, vanishing into the air without a trace.
—...So for now, it was just a warning —murmured Daniel, with a furrowed brow.
Tamamo clenched her fists, her breathing still agitated.
—But one we cannot ignore. That tower... that phenomenon... was not an illusion. It was real.
—Yes —Daniel nodded gravely—. Very real.
Both remained silent for a few seconds, until Daniel turned his gaze toward his house.
—Let's go. We must check if everyone is okay.
In Daniel's room, time also began to flow again.
The dark coffins that lay on the bed began to crumble as if they had never existed.
Hikari, Hibiki, Alya, and Sakura, who until a moment ago were prisoners in that supernatural prison, regained their human forms, their bodies falling softly onto the mattress.
At that very moment, Raynare, still with eyes half-closed from sleep, resumed her path down the hallway toward the bathroom, muttering as if nothing had happened.
—...Huh? Wasn't I already in the bathroom...? How weird... —she said, rubbing her eyes as she walked.
In the room, the sudden impact caused the girls to wake up confused.
—Huh?! W-what... happened...?
—Where are we...? What was that?
Alya brought a hand to her head while Sakura blinked with a lost expression.
Hikari and Hibiki looked at each other, noting they didn't remember falling asleep.
—...Weren't we chatting...? —whispered Hikari.
—I... remember wanting to hug Daniel before sleeping —said Hibiki, confused.
Meanwhile, outside, Daniel and Tamamo could see the city lights turning back on, the paused cars resuming their movement, and the wind blowing naturally again.
—Everything returned to normal —said Tamamo, letting out a sigh that mixed relief and tension.
—Yes... but now we know the truth —added Daniel, closing his eyes for a moment—. This was only the first time.
And it won't be the last.
Tamamo approached and took his hand.
—Then we will prepare. Together.
Daniel nodded with a slight smile, not letting go of his gaze from the sky, where the moon had already regained its natural color.
The night had returned... but something in it had changed forever.
The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon when Daniel and Tamamo returned home, crossing the main door with tired but firm steps. Both had exhausted bodies and souls still laden with tension from the experience.
However, before they could even take off their shoes...
—WHERE WERE YOU?! —Hikari's voice thundered from the second floor.
Within seconds, Alya, Hibiki, Hikari, and Sakura came running down the stairs, with alarmed... and jealous expressions.
—Why is Tamamo all disheveled?!
—And her kimono is fastened wrong!
—Daniel, explain!
—DID YOU RUN OFF TO DO INDECENT THINGS WITHOUT US?!
Daniel's eyes opened wide with pure terror.
—What?! No, no, no, it's nothing like that!!
But before he could defend himself... Tamamo smiled mischievously and hugged his arm, pressing her chest against him while letting out a playful laugh.
—Ara~ Ara~ Do you really want to hide it, Daniel~?
—Last night was the best night I've had since I was summoned~.
Daniel's soul almost left his body right then.
—TAMAMO DON'T SAY THAAAAAT!!! —he shouted in desperation.
The room turned ice cold.
The girls looked at him with a murderous aura never seen before. Hibiki was already summoning her naginata, Hikari was glowing with electricity, Alya was igniting a spell in her palm, and Sakura... already had a katana half-unsheathed.
—So the best night, huh? —murmured Alya with a dark smile.
Tamamo, of course, was still enjoying the chaos.
—Ara ara~! What passionate rivals I have~ You should get excited too!
—TAMAMO, STOP, I'M GOING TO DIE RIGHT HERE!
Finally, after a sea of shouting, jealous expressions, and not-so-subtle threats, Daniel managed to calm the chaos by seriously explaining what happened:
The coffins, the disappearance of Tartarus, the Dark Hour phenomenon, and how only he and Tamamo remained conscious to face the creatures called Shadows.
The girls, still annoyed, understood the gravity of the matter... though they didn't let pass what they thought was a "stolen opportunity."
—...So nothing happened —said Hibiki, crossing her arms.
—Of course not! We were fighting for our lives! —Daniel exclaimed, with cold sweat.
Tamamo clicked her tongue in disappointment.
—A shame... it would have been nice if it had happened~.
The girls looked at him in silence... and then, they approached one by one.
—Even so —began Alya, with a serious expression—. This made us think about something.
—We don't know when something like this might happen again —said Hikari.
—Or if there will be a tomorrow —added Sakura.
—So... —continued Hibiki—. When everything calms down... we want you to make us a promise, Daniel.
—A promise? —he asked, swallowing.
Alya was the first to approach and stroke his face.
—Promise us that, when we are ready... and we're not surrounded by supernatural chaos...
—...you'll make love to all of us —they said in unison.
Daniel blushed to the tips of his ears, but seeing the sincerity in their eyes, he nodded gently.
—I promise. When the time comes... and you are sure... it will be something special.
The girls smiled, and one by one, they approached him to kiss him sweetly. A kiss for love. A kiss for a promise.
Tamamo, of course, also joined in with an amused smile.
—I just hope that moment comes soon, my sweet master~.
Daniel sighed, knowing the battle against the Shadows had only just begun...
...but also, that his life had become brighter thanks to them.
While Daniel's house was experiencing a romantic moment full of affection, laughter, and promises between him and the girls around him, in a hidden and austere room, away from daylight, tension could be felt in every corner.
Takeharu Kirijo, with a furrowed brow, was reviewing several monitors and documents spread out before him. The latest reports were concerning: the group of young subjects of experiments with potential to awaken Personas... had rebelled and escaped.
—Unacceptable... —he murmured, narrowing his eyes.
The project had been risky from the start, but it was a desperate card in the face of the growing threat of the Shadows. And now, with the Dark Hour manifesting for the first time... time had run out.
Only one option remained: seek natural Persona users.
The problem was that, until that moment, he only knew of one.
—Mitsuru...
His gaze turned to a file showing his daughter: Mitsuru Kirijo, brilliant young woman, strong, trained in multiple fields... and a natural bearer of a Persona. Until now, he had kept her out of all this, trying to protect her from the dark legacy of her family. But the death of Eiichiro Takeba... and his final message... had left him without margin.
"The Fall is real."
"The Shadows cannot be destroyed without consequences."
"Persona users are the only hope."
The weight of responsibility crushed him.
He himself could not invoke a Persona, though he was resistant to the Dark Hour. He was a leader, not a warrior. His daughter, however...
—...is our only card.
He picked up the phone and dialed a direct line.
Mitsuru's voice answered promptly, firm as always.
—Father?
—Mitsuru... I need you to come to the central lab. There's something I need to tell you.
—Does it have to do with what happened last night? With... that tower? —she asked, with a hint of suspicion.
Takeharu closed his eyes. She had already noticed.
—Yes. And it goes beyond that. The time has come for you to know everything... about the Shadows. About our true enemy... and about your power.
Silence for a few seconds. Then:
—Understood. I'm on my way.
Takeharu hung up, letting out a heavy sigh.
The board had been set in motion.
And though Daniel didn't know it yet, in another part of Kuoh, the first steps of a group that would one day be vital were being prepared...
SEES was about to take shape.
Night had fallen over the city of Kuoh, but for Mitsuru Kirijo, darkness was more than the absence of light. Upon arriving at her father's personal study, she found the atmosphere charged with a silent tension. Low lights barely illuminated the ancient books, classified papers, and darkened screens. The scent of forgotten tea still floated in the air.
Takeharu Kirijo was waiting for her standing, his back to the door, looking out the window toward the horizon where, just a few nights ago, an impossible tower had risen during a time that shouldn't exist.
—You've come —he said in a grave voice.
—I couldn't ignore what happened —replied Mitsuru, advancing with a firm step—. It was real, wasn't it? The tower... the Dark Hour.
Takeharu nodded. Then, he turned toward her and gestured for her to sit.
—Mitsuru... it's time for you to know the truth about the Kirijo family. And what we have unleashed in our arrogance.
For the next hour, Mitsuru listened in complete silence.
The revelations fell like hammers:
the project with the Shadows, Kouetsu Kirijo's dark purpose, the desperate message from Eiichiro Takeba just before his death...
And most importantly: the power she possessed from birth.
—You have the gift, Mitsuru —Takeharu said finally—. You are a Persona user. The only confirmed one... until now.
—A Persona...? —she murmured, having already experienced something in the Dark Hour but not fully understanding it—. Then... is it my duty to fight?
—More than fight. You must gather others like you. Those who can resist the Dark Hour —explained her father, handing her a folder with confidential documents—. These people... have potential. But you can only confirm it during the Dark Hour.
—Because those with potential... don't turn into coffins —Mitsuru reflected, connecting the dots.
—Exactly. And among them, not all will be able to invoke a Persona. But we need each one of them. To stop what is coming.
Mitsuru took the documents with both hands, firm, determined. On the first page, a vaguely familiar name stood out:
Yukari Takeba, first year, good physical condition, average grades, daughter of the late Eiichiro Takeba.
—She... —she whispered.
—Yes. She may be the key. But there are more —added Takeharu, pointing to other names—. A second-year young man named Akihiko Sanada, orphan, with a history of street fights and great physical strength.
Another: Junpei Iori, distracted but emotionally strong.
And several others... unconfirmed.
Mitsuru closed the file. She understood the magnitude of what her father was asking of her.
—I will seek those with potential. I will observe. Evaluate. And when the next Dark Hour arrives... I will be ready to act.
Takeharu nodded, with a hint of sadness in his gaze.
—I trust you, Mitsuru. Not because you are my daughter... but because the world has no other option.
That night, Mitsuru returned to her room without a word. While leafing through the files, her gaze kept returning to Yukari Takeba.
"He trusted you, even until his last breath, her father... I will not let your sacrifice be in vain."
The heiress of the Kirijo Group had become something more that night:
The first piece of the team that would face the darkness.