That's Why It's Called Falling... (Closed RP)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel had looked up as it began to snow. He'd blinked at the sight, and then looked away. He couldn't really remember the last time it had snowed like this. That last year in the human world had been rather warm, after all. It was a shame it hadn't happened until now, though. The snow finally fell on the day the world was meant to end.

He looked up as he saw Yuugi and the others approaching. He gave a smile toward Yuugi, and really only Yuugi.

"I was wondering when you guys were going to show up! It's nearly time," Abel said.

Amaterasu grabbed Issun in her mouth and glared at Abel before walking over beside Souji. She sat down and spat Issun out.

"Ugh! Hey!" Issun complained. Souji ignored him, though he had to wonder why Amaterasu had suddenly moved over to his side... No, he could guess a few reasons. Though that look the wolf had given Abel also indicated that something had gone down while they were taking their time getting here.

"...Where's Minato?" Atsuro asked.

"He left for the tower two days ago," Naoto stated. She had worded it carefully, making sure that it didn't make them look any weaker for their loss. With what K1 had become and the incident with Nyarlathotep, she couldn't be sure that things wouldn't eventually turn south between their groups.

"We should get ready," Souji said, looking over toward Anzu and Jounouchi as he spoke.

[mugenginga]

Jounouchi was staring Abel straight in the eyes. After what Atem and Yuugi had told him, he'd put Abel up around Kaiba's level. Yuugi considered him a friend, but given what he understood of the situation, the blond couldn't. Especially given some of the vibes he'd gotten from Atem. There was a chance Abel was playing Yuugi. Kaiba had played them all when they'd first met him, after all. Then Death-T, and continued insults to his skills as a Duelist. Even worse, the son of a bitch was apparently now completely ignoring Yuugi because he was a coward? Anzu had given a smile towards Abel despite his apparent standoffishness, but she noted Jounouchi's expression. She elbowed him, causing him to jerk and frown at her.

The blond teenager had stopped and blinked at the white wolf after being elbowed. A... white wolf? Or was it some kind of mixed breed dog? It sure seemed tame enough. He almost facepalmed as he remembered what had been said. Right, Amaterasu. He still had a bit of trouble with the idea of all these gods running around though. As it was, even the realization only partially revealed the markings and flame on Amaterasu. For all his talk about the goddess of luck, Jounouchi had never really believed in gods. Anzu saw her as she was just fine, and gave a polite bow to her seperate from the one she'd given to Abel's group. He jumped a bit as Issun spoke, though. For everything he knew, the guy still looked like a bug.

Yuugi turned his gaze away from Abel's group as Atsuro asked where Minato was, his expression depressed. Atem looked almost pissed, but it didn't seem directed at the question itself. His eyes went to the top of the hotel, which even at its height didn't reach as tall as Tartarus soon would. Anzu hung her head at hte question. Jounouchi just glared at Abel. All in all, the reactions didn't do much to support Naoto's attempt to keep it neutral. Cain smiled at the reactions of Yuugi's group, turning his gaze to Naoto. She was easily the most observant of them. The silver haired man knew she'd be aware of her attempt being noticed and failed by her words. Cain didn't doubt the overall abilities of the group, but the fact was that Minato shared the position of strongest with Souji. Kaido and Seth had said nothing.

Anzu nodded and pulled out her deck. She hesitated between two cards for a moment before raising one up. In a flash of light, Black Magician Girl materialized by her side. She was floating a fair bit off the ground. She looked around at the group and then at the hotel, holding her wand close. Atem had an odd but hard to read expression at her choice of cards. Yuugi seemed a fair bit surprised, but gave a smile about it. Jounouchi pulled out a card and in a flash of light Red Eyes Black Dragon appeared. Due to the layout of the group, the dragon had appeared behind him. It also seemed to be regarding Abel with displeasure, actually.

Yuugi pulled out his COMP and flipped it open to check the time...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Abel noted the reactions of the others. Even with Naoto's neutral response, the others had such negative reactions to it that Abel could guess what had really happened. Minato had abandoned them and gone to Tartarus. Most likely he hadn't left Tartarus either. Well, that explained the look on Souji's face. Souji had been looking like his dog died since he'd gotten to the Hotel, which implied something had happened. Looked like this was it.

Abel frowned as Yuugi opened his COMP to check the time and lifted up his MP3 player to check the time. For all of the tinkering Xiu had done with it, it still displayed the time just fine. 11:59. In less than thirty seconds, the time switched over to midnight, and the world turned to green, and Kaido, Atsuro, Jounouchi, Anzu, and their Ka turned to coffins. There was a low rumbling noise as Tartarus rose from the ground where the Hotel once stood.

However, the most obvious, and probably the most morbid change was in the bits of white fluff falling from the sky. As the time changed over, they had slowly changed from white to a red color. Abel grimaced.

"It's snowing blood," Abel said. Souji closed his eyes and looked away before turning to Teddie.

"Teddie, see if you can call Jounouchi and Anzu into the Dark Hour," Souji said to the bear.

----------------------

By this point, Minato was practically wading in the black sludge that made Shadows up. They all wanted to make it to the roof, to their mother, and they'd kill him to get to Nyx. He was breathing heavily as he looked up and watched the fog finally fade away from the staircase. He tightened the scarf around his neck before running for the stairs. If there were Shadows pursuing him, he didn't care.

I'm coming, Ryoji! Minato thought to himself as he finally came up onto the roof, the scarf billowing behind him in the wind. He gave a moment to glance around at the falling red snow. So, it finally started snowing...

He grasped his blade tighter. This was it. His last chance.

[mugenginga]

Seth's face had paled some at the realization of what was falling. There were memories attached to that. The first night he'd been in this world, before things had completely fallen apart, it had rained. It had rained blood. He didn't look comfortable standing there, but it was clear he didn't want to move away from Abel. Cain caught a flake with one hand and rubbed it between his fingers, forcing it to melt. It seemed the Dark Hour didn't care that blood froze at different temperatures than water. The demons didn't seem all that bothered by the falling "snow", but that was likely a surprise to no one. Atem glanced over to Yuugi and pulled off his jacket, covering the shorter teenager from the majority of the snow. He didn't react to Yuugi's nervous embarassment as he looked over to Souji.

"Those of us not involved in this should head inside," Atem stated.

Teddie looked nervous as Souji told him to call them in. He walked over to Anzu's coffin and hesitantly held out a hand. Was this supposed to be instinctual? He put one hand on the coffin and stared at it hard for a few moments. Honestly, the bear looked a bit constipated. Not that it wasn't unusual when he was concentrating.

"Anzu-chan? Um... Anzu-chan?"

He almost fell over when his hand passed through the cyrstalline structure with a sort of melting ripple. It looked like the area just around his paw was made of the same black sludge known to make up Shadows. He tensed up and yanked his hand out. Rather than being just his paw, Anzu's hand came out of the coffin. Teddie let out a surprised sound and the entire mess ended up with the bear on the ground and Anzu on top of him. Those not overly distracted by that chaos would realize that as soon as Anzu had appeared and the coffin had disappeared, Black Magician Girl's coffin had dissappeared in a thick black ripple. She blinked and looked around in surprise when she saw Anzu trying to get off Teddie.

"Mistress!" the Ka floated over and grabbed Anzu's waist with both hands.

There was obviously some effort involved in pulling the brunette to her feet. Black Magician Girl's legs flailed for a bit, but she finally managed to get the teenager upright. Atem had noted the Ka sounded a fair bit like Anzu. That wasn't the voice he knew Black Magician Girl to have. Her voice had been almost identical to that of one of his friend's in Ancient Egypt. Did the summoner effect the Ka...? For that matter, he couldn't think of any other explanation for Black Magician Girl having appeared when Anzu was pulled into the Dark Hour. He shook his head and went back to waiting for an answer from Souji. He could think about the specifics of the Ka in the modern world after tonight.

Anzu's eyes looked a bit distant and she looked around. She noted the snow gathering on her coat and paled, "Thi-this is the... this is the Dark Hour...?"

----------

There was a very good reason no one had expected the Fall to be tonight until the news about the Death Clocks had reached the group. The moon was only three quarters full. Another week before it was full, another week before the Fall should have come. When Minato reached the rooftop, the entirety of the Island concealed by the clouds (or was it fog at this point?) the moon was far closer to full than it should have been. If he stopped to look at it, he'd realize something unsettling. He would be able to see it filling up as he watched. And odds were he had stopped to look at it. He knew where what Ryoji had become was set to come from, after all. And in front of the moon, large enough that one could only assume the Fall drew it dangerously close to the planet, was the shadowy shape he had expected to see.

Nyx Avatar's back was turned to Minato as he stopped on the rooftop. The four main wings were extended to full length while the fifth one hung down in a manner that concealed its legs. The long sword that the entity still managed to wield with one hand was sticking straight up. In a way, the pose was similar to what it would have taken to activate its Moonless Gown ability. Some of the fingers as far as they existed on its hands were in front of the blade. Minato wouldn't be able to see that from his vantage point, but it did seem the entity was actually focusing power. Given the visible speed at which the moon was changing phases at, it was entirely reasonable.

None of the falling snow reached Nyx Avatar. It wasn't visible, but one could almost feel the energy repelling it from around the entity. Agonizing seconds passed before the moon reached full. Nyx Avatar lowered its arms and turned around. Its wings went with the momentum as would be expected, and it wasn't until the entity's body was fully facing Minato that the wings flared around again, righting themselves. The sword was raised to an angle to prevent it from hitting the ground as the wings drew in a bit, and Nyx Avatar set its feet upon the tower. The gentle way it did so was a contrast to its very appearance. The difference in height forced the entity to incline its neck just a bit in order to see Minato. Unlike the first time, which likely had itself snapshotted in Minato's nightmares, its smile didn't widen. It merely regarded the blue haired teenager with silence.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji had followed Teddie over to the coffin, and was actually surprised at how easily Teddie had been able to do it. That had gone better than he'd expected, though neither himself or Teddie had obviously expected what happened after Teddie had stuck his hand into the coffin. As Anzu fell on top of Teddie, Souji had jumped away from the two of them to keep from being caught up in what seemed to quickly be turning into a literal domino effect.

Abel observed for a moment before giving an affirmative nod. "Make sure you get Atsuro and Kaido too, Teddie," Abel said before heading into the tower. He ran on in, followed by his Cerberus. Amaterasu lingered outside the tower for a moment before giving a surprised yelp. She was staring up at the moon, which was changing to a full moon.

"The moon's changing to a full moon!" Naoto breathed.

"What the hell?!" Kanji yelled, taking a step back as he did so.

"Ryoji must have already descended. We need to hurry!" Souji looked around at the others before running into the tower. Amaterasu gave a bark and ran through the door as well, heading into Tartarus.

------------------------

Minato had started staring up at the moon as soon as he made it to the rooftop. That had been where it had appeared once before, after all. But his eyes had widened as he realized what was going on. The moon was becoming full, and in front of it was that familiar black winged creature. He'd know that being anywhere. He saw it in his nightmares at night. He'd seen it in the flesh twice. He'd fought it once. And now it was here.

He clenched his sword tighter, and continued staring up at the being, as it finished filling the moon to capacity and finally turned around. Minato was focusing on only one thing as it finally turned around. That mask it wore, the mask of Ryoji. Its mouth didn't widen as it spotted him this time. The being only seemed puzzled.

Minato closed his eyes and looked down for a moment before looking back up at the being. "Well? Aren't you going to say anything?" Minato finally chuckled. It was an anguished chuckle. It almost physically hurt to be here, like this.

[mugenginga]

Seth's eyes widened as Abel ran off. Over the last months, he'd understood he needed to keep his distance more. However, he'd managed to get used to being near Abel, whether for purposes related to his current nature or not. He quite clearly was about ready to run after his twin when Cain took a step forward and put his hand out. He glared at the older man, but Cain shook his head and indicated the coffins belonging to Kaido and Atsuro. Seth gave a nod, clearly not approving of things but deferring to Cain's orders. Cain gestured to the two demons he had summoned and went into the building after Abel.

Teddie blinked as Abel and then Cain ran off. He frowned after the blue haired teenager and waddled over to Jounouchi. He was wondering if it made him really mean, but if something happened to prevent him from saving everyone, he wanted to pull Jounouchi before Abel's allies. And Atsuro before Kaido, the bear had gotten the order all worked out. He was in the middle of pulling Jounouchi into the Dark Hour when Amaterasu yelped. It lead to a pretty similar chaos, but Jounouchi was on his feet a bit quicker. He was white as a sheet as Red Eyes, Black Dragon carefully helped him up. It hadn't taken him long to realize it was snowing blood, even though he was having trouble concentrating on much of anything. Anzu was having trouble forming words, but she had looked up and her eyes had gotten wide as the moon far too quickly changed phases to full.

"Anzu, Jounouchi-kun, head inside!" Atem stated.

"We'll be right in!" Yuugi exclaimed. Atem looked annoyed, but he said nothing. Yuugi wanted to wait for Atsuro and Kaido. He wasn't going in until Yuugi did.

----------

Abel was headed straight up the stairs. Odds were he either didn't realize there was a teleporter there or he hadn't thought anything of it due to the condition it was in. It was the same reaction Cain had, more or less. He was able to surmise the former function of the device in several pieces, but it looked like something had rammed into it from above. Given the abilities he had seen from the group and his knowledge of attacks, it had likely been that God Hand move. In any case, it meant they were going to have to run at least part of the way. Another thing Cain didn't miss was how very still the air was. It seemed that the Shadows weren't gathered at these lower levels at the moment...

----------

Again with the extended pause. Nyx Avatar merely watched as Minato chuckled. Continued chuckling, as in the passing seconds he didn't stop. The time was indeterminate. It was only broken when the large entity turned its head towards the moon for a moment before turning back to Minato. It was a slight flick of the wrist, and the large blade it carried moved to the side as Nyx Avatar made a point of flaring his wings. It seemed annoyed as it spoke, that voice that seemed to twist and echo from Ryoji's own.

"You understood what it meant to come here at this time... you understood what it meant to let my former self live," Nyx Avatar let both the wings and its sword return to their original position, "Death will come to you before this night ends. Make your decision. Die here or at the hands of the children."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji was having a hard time keeping up with Abel and Cain. The fact that the two of them and their demons had just rushed for the stairs annoyed him, especially since there was a teleporter in the lobby. Was being the key word, Souji realized as he headed in to the building. Something had smashed it to pieces. It didn't take much of a leap to figure out exactly who.

But before Abel could head into the main section of Tartarus itself, Amaterasu gave a very loud bark to get his attention. She walked over to the broken teleporter and swiped her tail in the air a few times in a few very distinct strokes.. Surprisingly enough, ink manifested in midair, filling in the space the teleporter had occupied before Minato had destroyed it. There was a flash of light, and the ink disappeared, and in its place, an unbroken piece of mysterious technology.

"Good as new!" Issun spoke. "Come on! We goin' up there or what?"

"How did you..." Souji started, but stopped himself. Head goddess of the pantheon he was apparently part of due to being an avatar. Best not to question. He looked back at the door.

"Sempai, Atem said to go on," Naoto said.

"Right, let's go," Souji said. He quickly moved over to it and put his hand on it, adjusting a dial on it to select a certain floor. He turned it until it stuck on some number in the 250s. It looked like it went up higher, but it looked like something had jammed it. Even Amaterasu's abilities couldn't fix something like that, it looked like. He let go of the dial and stepped into the teleporter before disappearing.

------------------------

It had been the words "former self" that had truly made Minato stop. It had been like a switch had been flicked and he stared Nyx Avatar in the face.

"That's where you're wrong. Ryoji's still there. He's the voice you use now, the face you're wearing. The man known as Ryoji, my friend, is still in there," Minato growled. "Ryoji had a choice. He never believed it, but he's still got that choice!" His voice had raised as he went on, and he was now yelling.

"Don't you even think about starting all of that 'it's useless' crap with me, either! If this Fall was so inevitable, if we were all meant to die like this, then why am I still here?! Alive!?" Minato continued. "Why did Ryoji come back, if he was supposed to just fade away like a shell!? Answer me that!"

[mugenginga]

Cain had stopped as Abel had. In fact, seconds before. A case of body language, but it was a little eerie. He stepped back down the two steps he had come up. Hecate and Norn had been a bit above him. A missable flick of his hand and they had headed down after him. He stepped to the side of the stairs to allow Abel past if the unlikely need for him to arose. Anzu and Jounouchi came in and both stopped and stared at the place. Anzu seemed a bit on edge, Jounouchi looked like he was trying not to swallow his tongue. He was working past it well, but he'd never handled this kind of thing well. It was necessity and what he'd been through in the past year or so that allowed it at all. Red Eyes, Black Dragon had been forced to tuck its wings in to get in, but it had flared them back out just as Amaterasu pretty much summoned ink. He blinked and stared as the teleporter fixed itself. He didn't say anything as Souji activated the teleporter, but he had no intentions of leaving Atem or Yuugi alone with the rest of the Bel Court.

----------

Kaido had made a face at the conditions outside as he was pulled into the Dark Hour. Atsuro had been pulled in just before him. Seth looked over at Atem as if waiting for him to go first, but Atem shook his head. This lead to a depressed expression from Seth. The fact was, the Egyptian teenager still didn't trust him or his family. If the situation was reversed, he was sure he would feel the same way. He gestured to Atsuro.

"Go ahead first. I've got Chaos Wave. Atem, I respect it if you don't want any of us behind you. You'll come in after us, right?"

Atem gave a nod. Fact was, he expected Jounouchi to still be there. A stubborn attitude was one of Jounouchi's best and worst traits, and he knew the blond didn't much like Abel. It was possible he was to blame for that. He had held his tongue out of respect for his Partner when the group was told about what happened then, but he would be the first to admit he hadn't made an effort to hide all his dislike. However, before any final decisions could be made, Yuugi had come out from under the coat and ran up beside Seth.

"It's okay, we can go in together. Atem, they aren't going to attack us, do you really think they would during something this important?"

Atem looked straight at Kaido. No, he didn't think Atsuro would. Seth, not under these circumstances. But Kaido was a bit of a loose canon. However, he conceded to what Yuugi was saying. He walked forward and took up a position beside him. Kaido rolled his eyes and went first. They'd all be in there just as the second person vanished via the teleporter.

----------

"Enough."

It had been quick. It had been curt. It had sounded almost as if the entity was angry. It hadn't really been yelled, but there was a slight level of emotion to it. Nyx Avatar lifted its head and looked towards the area Minato had first appeared on the roof in. Some Shadows had gathered there. It looked back at Minato.

"This is the result of the choices you made with your own will. If your decision now is to fight, raise your sword. If you wish to die by their hands, then wait. The result will be the same, even if you choose to make no choice at all."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

The affect of coming into the Dark Hour had been disorienting at first for Atsuro, but once he realized what had happened, he managed to clear things up... mostly. The fact that it was snowing blood disturbed him, but he knew he had to get over it for now. They didn't have a lot of time.

The five of them (plus demons) entered the lobby area just as Naoto went into the teleporter. Amaterasu seemed to be waiting outside it for everyone to head up first. However, the wolf seemed apprehensive about everything, and kept glancing around.

I've never cared for this place, but the energy it is giving off is particularly strong... fitting, considering the Fall is occurring as we speak, Amaterasu said to Issun. I wish these humans would hurry up...

-----------------

Minato closed his eyes and looked away. A tear fell from his eyes before he looked back at the Shadows, and then at Nyx Avatar.

"You're such an idiot...." Minato mumbled to himself before summoning the glowing blue card in his hand and crushing it. The blinding white figure that was summoned held its hands out and formed an orb of energy.

"MEGIDOLAON!" Minato yelled. Messiah lifted the orb of energy into the air and let it explode, destroying those Shadows that had been approaching Minato and rocking the tower with the pure force of the attack.

-----------------

Souji and Naoto had exited the teleporter safely. The entire area was just as blindingly white as Souji remembered, though there wasn't any fog. At the moment, they were waiting for the rest of the group to come through.

"We've still got a long climb," Souji said. "At least, I think so."

Naoto opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment, there was a sound much like an explosion from above.

"What on earth was that?!" Souji asked.

"Most likely Minato. We need to hurry."

[mugenginga]

By the time the group had made it in, they'd all been running. Cain looked up at their arrival, and for once he was frowning. He'd considered the former Pharaoh smarter than this, but he couldn't think of any other reason they would have been delayed. As much as they didn't like each other, the former king had to see their fighting was causing issues. Death meant nothing to him, but he highly doubted any of the rest of the group viewed it so casually. Really, there was no reason to. Even with reincarnations, the them of now was dead. He sent his demons over to the teleporter and they went through. He looked back at Abel and gave a smirk. Well, he had suggested suicide as a way out, hadn't he? His attitutude seemed to be restored as he stepped onto the teleporter and vanished.

Atem had caught the expression, and he'd even caught the meaning. He'd let Cain break the eye contact first. He turned to Jounouchi and Anzu. The former was dealing a bit better with the disorientation than the latter. He walked over to them.

"Jounouchi-kun, Anzu, go ahead. We can't waste any more time," he whispered the rest to Jounouchi, "I understand where you're coming from, but now isn't the time. Do you want to see the look on Partner's face if we can't rescue them?"

Jounouchi's eyes widened. Anzu was by the teleporter and looking at it closely. She noticed Yuugi was giving a puzzled look towards Atem and Jounouchi. The short teenager shook his head. As it was, the group could go on without any more troubles. Anzu vanished, having figured out the device. This time, Black Magician Girl didn't go with her. The Ka flew over to the device and followed Anzu.

----------

Whether the attack had been expected or not wasn't clear. Nyx Avatar had informed Minato to fight if he was going to, but the entity had actually taken a step back from the force of the attack. Not just flinched or jerked, but a step back. A wave of energy surrounded it, but it wasn't Moonless Gown. Minato would know it well enough, the entity had done it thirteen times the first time he had fought it. The voice came from Nyx Avatar, as was likely expected, and the energy would defend against attacks as it shifted. But it was different. For one, the long speech about the fruit of knowledge was lacking. That was, in fact, the least of it.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Though events may fall out of order, the end is always the same. Along that path exists fate, the bearer of cruelty."

Nyx Avatar came up off the ground after the line that was not only completely out of place, but worded in an oddly different manner. The entity raised on hand into the air, and the symbol that could be seen before it was not the one that Minato would likely be expecting. The symbol was one he had seen a few times before, one Ryoji had carried in his deck. A single eye shining outwards... the Duelist Arcana. It gave a gold flash that wasn't blinding, but it would be enough to force a look away. When he refocused, Minato would realize the symbol was now that of the Fortune Arcana. Nyx Avatar landed after the Arcana Switch and held out one of its hands. The Garudyne shot straight at Minato.

----------

Anzu was almost thrown out of the teleporter giving the timing of the shake and explosion. She caught herself on the wall and jerked towards the teleporter before realizing Souji and Naoto had reacted to it as well. Black Magician Girl came through. She was holding her staff close. More than Anzu, she could sense the energy in the area. Perhaps not as well as Amaterasu, but Ka were manifestations of one's spirit, after all. The Ka looked up towards the roof for a moment before moving to the side so others could go through.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Amaterasu was the last to come through the teleporter. She shook herself and then looked around at the rest of the group.

"Alright, we're all here. Now let's--" Souji was cut off by Amaterasu very quickly running past them and up the stairs. "...go." Without another word, he ran after Amaterasu.

------------------------

Minato had looked even more pained as Nyx Avatar surrounded itself with energy. That energy meant the being was shifting Arcana. But this time, the speech was different. And that was what surprised Minato. Because the speech was so obviously about the Duelist Arcana...

But before Minato could recover, there was a flash of gold light, and he was forced to look away. When he looked back, the symbol was that of a wheel... the Fortune arcana. His eyes widened as Nyx Avatar held out its hand, sending a Garudyne flying right at him. Minato hadn't been able to guard in time before the attack hit him, sending him flying.

"Dammit..." Minato said through clenched teeth. "God Hand!" Messiah rushed toward the winged being and held out all four of its hands, summoning one large golden one that fired at the being.

[mugenginga]

The group had been quiet as they came through the teleporter. Fact was, there wasn't anything left to say. The realization of what they were going after was creeping up on those of it that hadn't yet realized. About the only comfort, and it likely had the opposite effect on some, was that some members of the part were at least trying to keep morale up. Yuugi was forcing smiles at anyone that looked at him. Jounouchi seemed ready enough, and had even stopped glaring at Abel. When Souji began to speak, he was saying what was on everyone's mind. Of course, Amaterasu then shot past them. Everyone followed after Souji. The halls were thankfully wide enough to accomodate their group, and there were enough within who knew about things like formation and battle tactics that there didn't seem to be any issues.

----------

To say the attack connected would have been an understatement. It didn't force Nyx Avatar to take a step backwards this time, but it was hit with enough force that several feathers came off the wings and hit the ground. They lay there as the entity straightened itself up. No expression change existed on its face, but that was understandable. It really seemed as if Nyx Avatar had two expressions. A grin, and a wider grin. Neither of them were very settling, even without the connection between the white mask that served as its face and Ryoji. The expression remained at the usual grin as the familiar aura surrouned Nyx Avatar again. Fact was, Minato's attack had hit with enough force to completely knock out the current Arcana.

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed.. Though events may fall out of order, the end is always the same. In the face of disaster, there lays a chance for a new beginning."

Nyx Avatar rose into the air. The intro had repeated itself again. It seemed as if something was causing a shift in how the entity was presenting the Arcana. The first part was the same, the middle part was new, and the last part was worded differently, as if there was some special significance to it. The symbol in front of Nyx Avatar was the mark of the Duelist Arcana once again. The light flashed, not blinding but once again too bright to observe. What was present when the light drew in once again was the symbol belonging to the Hanged Man Arcana.

The winged figure threw its hand forward. A swirl of white and purple light appeared above Minato. If he found himself unable to dodge, the Megidola would crash onto him with its Almighty damage. In either case, Nyx Avatar's hand lowered, giving Minato the chance to attack again.

(OOC: I plan to cycle through the Arcana. As it is, the rest of the group is just fighting their way up. I figure we can have a break to cover them on the sixth Arcana. It'll be obvious when they can arrive due to our plans for Minato's injuries. You have to let me run through the Arcana, there's a slight "story" of sorts that I've got set up that needs them to all play out to see. I'll hint at it in the posts, so you won't be left flailing trying to figure it out. XD)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato was watching Nyx Avatar carefully. This was different. Before, the being had gone in order of the Arcana, from Fool to Death. But he could tell that the Duelist Arcana was interfering somehow. That had to be what had changed things this time, the way the symbol for the Duelist Arcana would appear for a moment before the flash and the change to a different Arcana.

Minato looked up and saw the Megidola in time to roll out of the way of the attack. Messiah disappeared as Minato did so, and the blue card appeared in Minato's hand again before being crushed and summoning a grey and red striped giant carrying a flaming blade.

"Ragnarok!" Minato yelled. Surt slashed his sword down, sending a wave of fire as large as Nyx Avatar itself at the winged being. Minato gave a couple exhausted huffs before looking back up at the being. Minato had a feeling the next arcana change would come soon.

[mugenginga]

The Arcana were switching rather quickly. That aura surrounded Nyx Avatar again. The fact was, Minato was stronger now than he'd been before. There were other factors contributing as well, ones not important for Minato to realize but they would explain things. The Fall was in progress, likely needing its harbinger only to perform the final step to occur. But that night had not been a full moon. Nyx Avatar had in fact used quite a bit of energy to force the moon to the proper position. Almost as if it was rushing things...

"The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed... Though events may fall out of order, the end is always the same. Life can be grand.. brilliant... magnificent..."

By this point, the shift from Duelist to another Arcana was likely of no surprise. However, Nyx Avatar was continuing to word things differently. This was one of the most different phrases he'd uttered yet, if only Minato's memory would allow him to realize it. Rather than saying those things were to be celebrated, there was a level of uncertainty in the different wording. As in, it could be, but at the same time it didn't have to or may not be.

Minato was probably expecting the follow up attack. Rather than going with a simple singular attack, Nyx Avatar outreached arm hit the entire field with Mabufudyne. Giving Minato's active Persona and the way it hit the field, it wasn't a good combination. Of small comfort was that there weren't punches being pulled. A few Shadows that were getting dangerously close to the main field were destroyed as Minato was knocked prone by the attack. Nyx Avatar threw its arm to the side and a large block of ice engulfed the prone teenager. This time it didn't effect the whole field, but the Bufudyne would not only be next to impossible to dodge but due extra damage due to his weakness and position. If it did hit, Minato would barely be clinging to consciousness.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato looked a little confused as Nyx Avatar spoke. That had been different... the words and tone had been completely been different. He hadn't had time to mull it over before the Mabufudyne hit him. The force of the attack had knocked Minato off his feet, leaving him unable to dodge this next Bufudyne.

By the time the two attacks passed, Minato was very barely hanging on to consciousness. Shakily, he got to his feet and summoned Messiah. Without an order, the Persona used Salvation on him, healing his wounds. But because of the time it had taken for Messiah to do so, Minato wouldn't have time to attack before Nyx Avatar did.