With their pincer movement attack successful, the shadow's guard broke away like a literal glass vase. As Rui capitalized on the moment with his persona, Sato kept slinging spells at it. His persona danced around him, throwing blasts of wind left and right. With everyone else's attacks combined, the shadow was eviscerated by the barrage of spells and strikes, leaving nothing but a husk behind as it died. There were a few straggler shadows littered about still, but they were hardly of concern as the barricade blocking the door behind them broke away, as if the lights turning on wasn't a big enough sign already that they had won.
Rui lead the group through the door, bringing them into another wide-open room, a runway stage in the middle of it. Cherry blossoms, bubbles, and glitter flew through air and through the spotlights wandering the walls and floor. This time, however, instead of mannequins or shadows, it was filled with only two Shizukas. Not a shock, but still alarming nonetheless. It felt sickening to see someone Sato personally knew, as if he himself had been targeted again. It felt a little conceited to think that way, but... it was hard to otherwise describe the feeling. He had to resist his urge to rush forward, as he knew that would do the exact opposite of help.
It was as Sato bit his lip that the shadow, malicious yellow eyes betraying the mahou shoujou costume she wore, pointed to the group of teens that had barged in on whatever freakshow was being held. Shizuka shouted out to Matt, a connection Sato wasn't sure if he remembered. Regardless, shouting out like that was a mistake, as the shadow immediately spun more probably scatching remarks about it. He cocked his head when he heard Matt had confessed to her, but Sato shook himself back to the main point of that she was facing her shadow and all. Dating sim rambling, pretentious laughter, and that familiar heart-ripping sarcasm fell out of the shadow's obnoxious mouth.
The disturbing laughter the shadow let out was a prequel to the real attraction of the show, in which Shizuka said... those words. As soon as she said it, a thick silence fell over the room, before the shadow underwent what seemed like some kind of magical girl transformation sequence. Ribbons and orbs surrounded her-- it?-- before exploding into a cloud of sparkles from which emerged the shadow's 'true form'. Or, in other words, some weird garish fox demon thing popped out from behind the smoke and mirrors.
Like always, their first priority was making sure Shizuka was safe, which was (fortunately) a task better suited for one of the more physical members of the team. Or the more dedicated. He fully expected Matt to rush to her side as fast as he could, but Sato was more preoccupied with himself to really watch. Tracking the fox shadow carefully, Sato stood to its flank. It felt too risky to try to make the first move, in case it had some kind of wild trick up its sleeve, so Sato summoned his persona and set up a Marakukaja shield around the party.
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