A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

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Asuna Yuuki is the fastest and most agile of the four in the team. Even Asagiri, who is equipped with the Human Shura, is slightly inferior to her.

"This is really stressful."

With Asuna Yuuki moving so fast, Asagiri didn't even have time to take out the black gun-shaped summoner, let alone complete the pre-summoning animation for Shura. However, his control over the Persona ability had long since reached a level where he could skip the summoning animation by consuming extra mental energy.

"come out……"

"Human Asura".

59

Chapter 59 The Unruly Persona User.

Seeing the Shura who suddenly appeared and blocked her and Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna subconsciously stopped her sprint. The crystal rapier in her hand gleamed with a bright light, and a sharpness emerged in her eyes.

"Sword technique, like flying stardust!"

Asuna Yuuki was well aware of Asagiri's strength. Since this was a practical exercise, the competitive Asuna had no intention of losing the match. The moment she faced the human demon, she used her strongest attack sword technique at this stage, apart from "Flash Thrust".

"Ding,"

In an instant, the rapier flashed and thrust out eight times in succession, each strike aimed at the human asura's chest.

However, to Asuna Yuuki's surprise, the Stardust Splash she used, despite the risk of wrist pain, did damage the human demon, but not the kind of wound that penetrates the body. Instead, it only left eight holes a few centimeters deep.

Because they were still, Ashikaga Miwa, who was watching the game, saw clearly what was happening in the arena. She raised her hand, pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses, and muttered to herself thoughtfully.

"It seems Asuna hasn't fully adapted to integrating the new job passive into her fighting style yet..."

As a tactical mastermind, Ashikaga Miwa immediately recognized the mistake that Yuuki Asuna had just made.

Very simple.

Asuna Yuuki shouldn't stop.

Due to the passive ability of her special class "Shining Blade," Asuna Yuuki's strength, defense, stamina, and other stats are all enhanced when she is in a high-speed movement state.

However, she was forced to stop when faced with the sudden appearance of the human Asura, which caused the destructive power of her Stardust Splash to be greatly reduced, barely managing to penetrate the surface defense of the human Asura.

"broken."

At this moment, Yuuki Asuna saw Shura swing a palm towards her. Having just used Stardust Splash and not yet being able to fully retract the force, she had no time to dodge.

Just then, a cloud of black particles, like grains of sand, drifted rapidly in front of her and then quickly coalesced.

"boom!"

Asuna Yuuki's body flew back several meters, and she almost fell when she landed because she was unsteady on her feet. However, thanks to the barrier of the black particles, the force of the Asura's attack was greatly reduced, so she was unharmed.

"Thank you, Necro."

"a piece of cake."

Kotoko Iwanaga responded smugly, raising her left hand to manipulate the black particles. Her purplish-blue eyes flashed, causing the black particles to quickly condense into a humanoid creature. As the black humanoid grabbed Shura's shoulders, her right hand also rose, pointing towards where Shura was standing, and she whispered.

"The Grip of the Underworld"

A pale, gigantic demonic hand emerged from the void, mimicking the movement of Kotoko Iwanaga's right hand, its five fingers rapidly clenching towards the human demon, attempting to crush it.

The next second, Shura, who was standing there, suddenly disappeared, followed by the crisp sound of metal colliding.

"clang!!"

Kato Megumi used her deep purple dagger to deflect the rope dart that Asagiri threw at Iwanaga Kotoko, and stood directly between Iwanaga Kotoko and Asagiri.

Among the four members of the team, Kotoko Iwanaga has the weakest close-combat ability, even weaker than the average player. This means that as a warlock, she needs teammates to provide cover in this situation. Megumi Kato is well aware of this, and she also knows that Asagiri is well aware of this, so she has already taken precautions.

Asagiri, who was already in battle mode, stared directly at Kato Megumi's face without saying a word, and quickly crushed a phantom tarot card.

"Persona, Mita".

"Ta-da! The hat's here!"

The moment Hat Mita appeared, she swung her oversized inflatable toy hammer, sending Yuuki Asuna, who was trying to come to the rescue, flying. However, Yuuki Asuna herself was also sent flying backward by the force of the collision.

"Switch."

Without hesitation, Asagiri canceled the summoning of Hat Mita before her rope dart clashed with the dagger in Kato Megumi's hand. What appeared next was the real Mita, whose puppet-like head instantly extended and bit towards Iwanaga Kotoko who was standing there.

"boom!"

Just a second before the prototype Mita was about to bite Kotoko Iwanaga, the dark green ring on Kotoko's finger flashed with an eerie light, and then a dark green shield appeared in front of her, blocking the prototype Mita's attack.

It wasn't until this moment that Asuna Yuuki finally regained her composure. Without thinking twice, she thrust her sword directly at Asagiri, who was standing there, from a distance.

"Sword Technique: Piercing Light!"

The moment the thorns appeared, the original Mita disappeared. Asagiri switched her Persona back to Human Shura, dodging the sharp light extending from the tip of Yuuki Asuna's sword, and creating a distance of nearly ten meters between herself and Kato Megumi and Iwanaga Kotoko.

"Huh...huh..."

Having finally gotten a chance to catch their breath, Kato Megumi, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Yuuki Asuna looked at Asagiri, who stood there without a smile on her face, only calm expression and steady breathing, and a thought involuntarily surfaced in their minds.

This guy……

Is it a monster?

Asagiri's unique talent has a clear weakness: once his Persona is destroyed, he, as the user, will lose a large amount of mental and physical strength, making it impossible for him to sustain himself for more than a few rounds. But the problem is...

He cancels his Persona before it is destroyed and then summons another Persona. How should we deal with this?

Indeed, there is a gap between switching Personas and resummoning them; as long as you seize that gap...

How could anyone possibly catch it?!

Asagiri is an unruly Persona user, not a true summoner. His own combat ability is stronger than the Personas he summons!

When he only had Alice and Shura, and his mastery of the Personas wasn't that high, he wasn't this terrifying. But now that he has two combat Personas, Shura and Mita, he keeps switching back and forth. How could anyone find his weakness or try to destroy his Personas?

He just canceled the summoning of the Human Asura, which meant that Kotoko Iwanaga's series of attacks, including the Dark Particles and the Grip of the Underworld, were all in vain.

"That's it for now."

Ashikaga Miwa, who had watched the whole thing, called for a halt and, while reviewing the slow-motion footage, said calmly.

"Yuki-kun, it seems you haven't yet integrated the passive skill of Flash Blade with your fighting style. With such a class passive skill, plus your exclusive talent, your fighting style is obvious: no matter what the situation, you must never back down or dodge. It's a style of seizing the initiative and charging forward without hesitation."

At this point, Ashikaga Miwa raised her head and looked at Yuuki Asuna, who was standing there, her right wrist holding the sword trembling slightly from using Stardust Splash, and then changed the subject.

"However, you need to get the rest of your team members to keep up with your fighting rhythm. If you coordinate well, with you as the main attacker and Kato supporting you from the side, you can force Utsunomiya to use Human Shura to block your attacks and prevent him from switching to another Persona. Then Iwanaga can use his skills on him. Perhaps then you might have a chance to succeed."

Asagiri nodded slightly, agreeing wholeheartedly.

"Master Ashikaga is right."

"Is that really true?"

Kotoko Iwanaga puffed out her cheeks and muttered softly.

"You're trying to fool me. Do you think I don't know? Besides bullet resistance, you also have curse resistance. All my skills deal curse damage. Even if I manage to hit you, the effect won't be very good."

"Since you know this..."

Asagiri walked slowly to Kotoko Iwanaga, reached out and gently stroked the top of her head. Seeing that she raised her hand to adjust her beret, with an expression like a sulking kitten, she smiled and spoke.

"Then why don't you set up a battle plan before you start, and let Asuna or Megumi be the main attacker to deliver the decisive blow? At this stage, I don't have any resistance to swords or axes."

Kotoko Iwanaga opened her lips, unsure how to respond for a moment.

"You still have a lot to learn and improve."

After watching the slow-motion battle, Ashikaga Miwa walked over and looked at Yuuki Asuna calmly.

"Yuki-kun, what you need most right now is to improve your control over your speed. If I'm not mistaken, in the previous battles, you always attacked at full speed and never thought of deliberately slowing down, right?"

Asuna Yuuki answered very honestly.

"No, not before."

"Because you are the fastest among the four in the team, sometimes you need to deliberately slow down and wait for the opportunity created by your teammates before going all out to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy. Just now, it was because you were too fast that when Utsunomiya summoned the Human Shura, you had no choice but to attack. Controlling your speed to control the rhythm of the battle is what you need to strengthen through special training."

"As for you, Kato-kun..."

Ashikaga Miwa looked at Kato Megumi, her brows furrowing slightly.

"You clearly anticipated Utsunomiya's actions, so why weren't you prepared to use your 'Throw' skill? You don't lack the ability to judge the situation, but you lack the decisiveness to trust your own judgment."

"Me? Me? Me? Ashikaga-sensei? What about me?"

Upon hearing Kotoko Iwanaga's request for guidance, Miwa Ashikaga first glanced at her sweet smile, then at Asagiri standing there, and shook her head helplessly.

"Your abilities are too supernatural. Utsunomiya-kun has a high talent for combat. I can't guide either of you, so you two should go out and have some fun. Don't interfere with Yuki-kun and Kato-kun's special training."

"Oh?"

Kotoko Iwanaga was stunned for a moment when she heard this. After a few seconds, she suddenly realized what was going on and said something abstract that left everyone speechless.

"I get it, Ashikaga-sensei, so you're a fan of the pairing of me and Asagiri!"

60

Chapter 60: A Date with Kotoko.

Ashikaga Miwa: "..."

"I don't understand your young people's affairs, don't drag me into it."

Ashikaga Miwa wasn't stupid; she could naturally see the very complex and strange atmosphere between the three high school girls—Iwanaga, Yuki, and Kato—and Utsunomiya Asagiri, an atmosphere that even she found hard to understand.

Are all high school students like this nowadays? 奵.

"Well, anyway, Asagiri and I don't need any special training~"

Kotoko Iwanaga, with a smug, girlish look on her face, hooked her chin up at Asagiri Yuuki, who was standing there, and boasted.

"Then Asuna, I'll go out and play with him!"

"Go."

"Eh?"

Seeing that Yuuki Asuna wasn't angry at all, but instead had a relaxed expression as if she had finally been relieved, Iwanaga Kotoko felt a little puzzled.

"Why aren't you jealous at all? Why aren't you criticizing me? This isn't like you."

"Hmph, do you think I'm as naive as you?"

Asuna Yuuki gave a light hum, tied her long flaxen hair into a high ponytail for easy movement, and casually waved her hand.

"Alright, alright, let's go. Don't disturb me and Megumi as we train with Ashikaga-sensei."

Yuuki Asuna appeared calm on the surface, but in reality, she was eager for Iwanaga Kotoko to help her share the burden.

It's really no use anymore.

Friday and Saturday, plus this morning, totaling two and a half days, were filled with sweet dates like going out to see movies and eating ice cream—of course, that happened. But when I was at home…

Asagiri's strength was simply too high. The competitive Asuna Yuuki was no match for her and was completely defeated.

……

Later that day, in a shopping street in Tokyo.

"Hey, have you noticed that my outfit is a little different today?"

Hearing Kotoko Iwanaga's seemingly pointed words, Asagiri turned her head, bent down slightly, and carefully observed the other person. Then, under Kotoko Iwanaga's expectant gaze, she suddenly realized.

"You're not using a cane!"

Kotoko Iwanaga looked speechless upon hearing this.

"What kind of cane is that... it's called a walking stick, okay..."

Asagiri's words are so magical. Iwanaga Kotoko, who always leans on a cane and wears gorgeous dresses, has a unique elegant temperament. With a cane, she gives people a very mysterious feeling and has a unique charm.

But if we change the terminology and call the cane a crutch...

It evokes a sense of hardship and the pitiful feeling of a young girl performing on the street.

Kotoko Iwanaga pays great attention to her demeanor, even when entering a dungeon, she dresses up beautifully, exuding an elegant composure.

As long as she doesn't speak, she is the epitome of an elegant and sheltered young lady.

"Just kidding."