[b]Kotori Shirohane - Crypt of Hopes and Dreams: Floor 1 | After School[/b]

As it turned out, Kotori's wariness had been unfounded - Ayano had been scanning their foe the entire time and quickly managed to further deduce a weakness in the arms; prompting the team to attack at Rui's orders. Whilst keeping an eye out for any would-be retaliation, Kotori summoned another Zio down upon a slowly widening gap on one of the shadow's large arms. Though she doubted her contribution was very significant when compared to the other, far more offensively capable members of the group, it was still enough to collectively break the shield generator within. Rushing against time as the shield was about to go up any time now, they managed to repeat the process with the second arm - just in time, as the shield of swords returned just moments later.

However, without anything to sustain it, Rui could quickly shatter this defence; allowing the attack to continue. Kotori still worried about an unexpected desperation attack; ready at any time to quickly cast healing spells as necessary - but ultimately saw yet more use of Kikuri-hime's ability to call down lightning attacks. Under the weight of the entire group's onslaught, the shadow could no longer hold up and came crashing down as Rui's Askr performed a decisive final attack. With an agonising cry, shadows once again enveloped the creature - before dissipating and revealing the more familiar form of Alexei.

Kotori breathed a sigh of relief at the sight - she'd feared the fight might drag on as long as the last, leaving her completely out of breath. Instead, however, she merely noticed how her breathing was a bit quicker after the exertion, but nowhere near the exhaustion she'd felt previously. Just as she wondered if this fight's apparent quickness had something to do with how recently the dungeon had formed, however, Alexei - the real one - approached the shadow. And much like with Ayano, Kotori felt a little awkward standing there and listening to him talk - even if the same had happened to her not all that long ago.

Still, she couldn't quite help but worry what might happed if Alexei didn't accept his other self - but luckily, that did not come to pass. Instead, he agreed that he did not have to sacrifice himself for his familiy - something Kotori, hearing him talk, was sure they wouldn't want - but instead would do what he could for them. Not because he had to, not because it was his duty - but because he wanted to; without losing anything about himself in the process. A small smile came to Kotori's lips at the outcome, even as the other Alexei began to once again change form - but this time not into a monstrous shadow, but rather a fiery torch-bearing Persona.

However, the smile quickly vanished when Alexei then turned to face the group - and asked them for their help in rescuing his sister. [color=green]"Eh?"[/color] Kotori went in surprise, blinking rather quickly. [color=green]"Dra... uhm, E-Elena-san is here too?"[/color] she asked, evidently not having expected that - but she didn't even have to look over to Rui for him to already agree to aid in the rescue; Kotori quickly nodding in agreement. Worry began to take hold once more - not only for Elena but also Alexei as he most likely would be feeling the same wave of exhaustion that Kotori remembered coming over her when she'd first met Kikuri-hime.

However, she wasn't alone in her surprise when Alexei didn't seem to have any intention of just collapsing like she'd done - instead, he remained on his feet and seemed quite determined to get underway to find and rescue his sister. Taking a deep breath - the brief exchange of words having at least served as a small break - Kotori stepped forward, ready to continue onwards. Luckily, Ayano was once more quick to scan the surroundings and informed them that Elena was not far off - though she couldn't quite shake off her ever-present worries, Kotori still remained hopeful that they might be able to finish things off quickly; even more so with the rather unexpected assistance of Alexei and his newly-gained Persona - whilst any thoughts about the rather strange situation they found themselves in and how it reflected on the cult's kidnappings took a backseat for the moment, seeing as there were far more pressing concerns at hand.