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[img]https://i.imgur.com/SLW8zWT.png[/img]

[b][color=darkred]Level 1[/color][/b] - (10/10) EXP
[i]Level Up! - New Power: [color=darkred]???[sub]working out with GM[/sub][/color][/i]
[b][color=darkred]Level 2[/color][/b] - (2/20) EXP
[b][color=darkred]Location:[/color][/b] Scrapyard, Bridge
[b][color=darkred]Word Count:[/color][/b] 1,058

[sub][b][color=darkred]Leader[/color][/b][/sub][/center]
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The utter obliteration the Bastion gave to Tora and his cover further wove fear into Minako's mind, prompting further stillness, as though breathing itself could give away her position. Seeing Tora so utterly destroyed by gunfire, barely alive from the looks of things, in spite of being so lively just moments ago... It was a pain Minako thought she'd never have to revisit. There was no doubt in her mind now:

This world? It was Hell.

She could almost chuckle, if not for the paralysis that had taken her over. Hell? After saving the world from destruction? What a downright insulting way to thank someone. What a genuinely [i]brilliant f*ck you[/i] reality decided to deal her. Do it again. Do it again and watch your worst nightmares play out before your eyes, is what it was trying to get her to do. Do it again, because doing it once is not eno-

Gunshot! Hide!
She was holding her mouth now, suppressing a scream. It sounded like it came from Linkle's direction...

[color=darkred][i]'No... No no no, no... No way...'[/i][/color] Unable to even take a look beyond her cover, Minako was left to fear the worst. Gunfire drowned out any screams Linkle may have made, or any words she might try to communicate, leaving the red-haired teen with nothing but terror. Visibly, her whole body shook, yet beneath the surface a kind of revelation was being made. As her eyes turned up to meet the little yellow bird above, it took note of something else beyond, up in the sky: a majestic blue butterfly. It disappeared as soon as it had come, fading seemingly into the sky itself, yet something about it helped the teen's inner workings kick into gear. Suddenly, she didn't feel so scared anymore. Of death. Of anything. It was the realisation that she didn't [i]need[/i] to care about others. She didn't even need to care about herself! If she was in Hell, what point was there to caring for imaginary creatures and stupid robots? What point was there to speaking with her fellow man, if they were all along for the ride anyway? This world would drive them all to insanity.

So, why not try to embrace it?

She knew just how edgy it sounded. Being the outgoing loner, it was practically a part of her being. Socially unfulfilled, most people her age would develop that kind of mindset. But in her case, when she was with S.E.E.S, there was an outlet. Several, in fact, both people and places. Her mental state would remain healthy due to the bonds she formed, and would never truly be alone. But in this new world, something had changed inside of her. An emptiness left behind from the old world, and the problems that came with it. The only way to deal with that emptiness, in her eyes, was to hide it. And the best way to hide it? 
Embrace heartlessness.
Though the thought was subconscious, its affects were anything but, represented by her casually standing up and walking out of cover just as Bastion was finished repairing. Time was drawing to a crawl again, Minako hyperventilating, her eyes wide with something that wasn't quite terror nor desperation, but a mix. The six long barrels acted as her abyss, and as she stared the abyss stared back, tracking her body and preparing to fire. [color=darkred][i]'This is what you wanted, right? It'll be painless. And fast. And brutal. You deserve this, Minako. You deserve to die. It's all. Your. Fault.'[/i][/color]

[color=dodgerblue][i]'Yet is it truly so?'[/i][/color] Doubt echoed in her mind, taking the form of a [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/megamitensei/images/9/9e/P3_Phaos_Render.png/revision/latest?cb=20160515220828]small boy[/url], whose blue eyes mirrored the layers of the ocean water. [color=dodgerblue][i]'Don't you remember? No one can escape time, it delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes.'[/i][/color]

While she couldn't see the little devil, he was somewhere. Maybe as a part of her mental landscape, or maybe as a part of reality only she could see. It felt... familiar. Yet distant. Like an echo of a memory on the verge of discovery, yet forgotten. [color=dodgerblue][i]'It's actually quite funny. To think that you're the one who can't remember me, in spite of all we've been through.'[/i][/color]
Bastion's minigun had finished spooling. He wasn't going to hesitate.
[color=dodgerblue][i]'Now isn't a great time, it seems like. But I'll give you a little hint: Put your gun to your head...

... and pull the trigger.'[/i][/color]

Reflex kicked in like a starter pistol, and in a fashionable display of dexterity, her Evoker went from thigh to temple. There was no time to waste. Only enough room to say one word:
[color=darkred]"PERSONA!"[/color]

A golden light filled her eyes, a sigh of unorthodox and cathartic pleasure, as the force from the gun knocked her head to the side. Yet, no blood came of it. Streams of blue wind and silver glass exited opposite the Evoker's gunshot, which fell loosely to her side, Bastion firing straight at the exposed team leader. The first of many, many rounds hit the silver glass forming in front of her, moulding into a shape as bullets were deflected by it. Not all were deflected. Several rounds hit her left arm and shoulder, and a few found their mark on her right side, though with the distance between them his inaccuracy played to her advantage. The silver glass and blue wind forged the shape of a humanoid, bearing coffins tied together with chains, as a resounding roar echoed far and wide.

[center][hider=Thanatos][img]https://mfiles.alphacoders.com/668/668442.jpg[/img][/hider]
[color=black]"I am thou. Thou art I. I come from the seas of thy heart. I am the God of Death... Thanatos!"[/color][/center]
His body, much larger than Minako's own, acted as a shield to protect her from the damage. Rounds that made contact would ricochet off, burying into the dirt or finding other materials to bounce off of. Some still tore their way through, but for the most part, her Persona was soaking up the damage. Yet, in her broken state of mind, Minako wasn't exactly going to be thinking through her actions. Mentally she wished him forward, to which Thanatos obliged, even if he was likely to fall to the barrage. She just wanted to cause that Bastion pain, and bury Thanatos' sword through his turret - there was always the option of summoning him again if he fell.

It was only as Thanatos rushed ahead that she noticed Bowser and his minions, too caught up in her own head to have heard his arrival. Maybe he'd be fine, so long as she kept the larger turret off of him. She refocused the gun to her temple again, ready to fire and summon her Persona should it fall.