4/20 Wed
On the way to school, I managed to grab a seat.
“Hey, we actually get to sit down today!” Abigale exclaims quietly. “And don’t you have a book you haven’t finished yet?” She reminds me, nudging ‘Memoirs of an Assistant’ into my hand, so I can finish it.
After a couple of minutes reading, I notice Abigale deep in thought, but decide to focus on my book. After a while longer, I manage to reach the end.
“Wow, so you’ve finished reading ‘Memoirs of an Assistant’.” Abigale says, smiling. “Tasukete sounds amazing, going to extraordinary lengths just to help someone, and always knowing how to do it too.”
“I bet reading it helped you learn a thing or too as well.” She points out, and she’s right, I do feel a bit smarter.
“You know, isn’t ‘Tasukete’ the name of your Persona as well?” She asks, to which I nod. “Huh. I wonder if that’s a coincidence or not…” She mumbles, as the train rolls into the station, allowing me to continue on to school.
---------------------
While walking to the school gate, I overheard another conversation.
“Ugh, I spent way too much on new clothes this month. Now I’m broke…” A girl who sounds like she loves fashion, groans in disappointment.
“Guess you’re getting yourself a job. Those job magazines they have at the train station are useful.” A much more mature looking girl mentions, probably trying to help her friend.
“Maybe I’ll swing by the Shibuya underground and pick one up after school.” The fashion girl says. “Then again, work’s for losers. I hope I find something easy.”
After that, I just continue on to class.
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During class, my phone goes off. ‘This is going to be a thing now, isn’t it?’ I think to myself, pulling my phone out.
<Man, we need some cash.> Hayai starts us off, while I listen to the rain outside.
<Why are you bringing that up now?> Rirī asks.
<Well we can get all sortsa weapons and meds and shit now…> Hayai comments. <But we can’t actually buy any of it without some dough.>
<We’ll just need to earn some cash. As well as hope we’re lucky with Yen drops from Shadows.> I mention.
<Don’t make it sound so easy. I think you get more than us too.> Hayai says, but I ignore it for now.
<Why don’t we get part-time jobs?> Rirī suggests.
<I dunno, I don’t really feel up to it…> Hayai groans in protest. <Oh, shit.>
<I’m in class!> He continues. ‘Did he only just remember?!’ <Sorry, I gotta leave the chat for now. Seeya!> He finishes, before we all sign off for now.
---------------------
When class finishes, Abigale pokes her head out of my bag.
“We could probably sell the useless loot we finish in the Palace, so we can make some quick scratch for the war funds, but…” She starts. “Like Rirī said--a part-time job might be the better bet.”
“I recall some girls mentioning some job magazines at Shibuya Station, right? Maybe you should take a look at some point.”
“Yeah, perhaps. And we might get some opportunities to learn more skills too.” I point out, before deciding to return my book. While walking though the hallways, I notice Hayai off to the side by one of the staircases, and wave as I go past. There are also a pair of volleyball team members gossiping, and a school newspaper member. I end up deciding to talk to her.
“...Hmm? You know, I don’t know why you’re just casually coming over to me, it’s not like we know each other…” The newspaper girl mutters.
“It’s not too big of a deal, I just know that as a member of the newspaper club, you probably know more about this school than anyone else.” I explain.
“That is true, I guess… You do know that angering Kikku was a bad idea, right?” She asks rhetorically, before going quiet, so I go on my way to the library.
When I get in the library, I notice a diligent-looking student studying at one of the smaller, round tables in the room, before talking to the receptionist student behind the desk.
“What do you need?” She asks, before I pull out ‘Memoirs of an Assistant’.
“I’d like to return this book, Miss.” I explain, place the book on the desk.
“So you're returning ‘Memoirs of an Assistant’? Alright, I’ll mark it as returned.” She says, doing so. “Do you need anything else while you’re here?”
“I’d like to borrow a new book, if that’s okay?” I ask, hoping there are some available.
“Sure thing. Here is the list of books available that you may like.” She explains, sliding the list over. Looking it over, I eventually decide on ‘Struggles of a Pitcher’.
“Ohh, that’s an interesting one. It’s about a baseball player who was struck by lightning while holding a metal bat in a storm. When he awakens from the short coma as the result, he ends up being told by everyone that he will be unlikely to play again, but he ends up proving them all wrong, and manages to win his team the whole season.” She explains, sounding passionate.
“That sounds pretty motivational. I’ll take it.” I say, smiling.
“Of course, just let me stamp it.” She says, doing so before passing it to me, after which it’s in my bag. After saying bye to the receptionist, I decide to head up to the hideout, even though it’s raining pretty hard, and send Abigale to fetch the team.
After a couple minutes, likely because Abigale is trying not to be seen, Hayai and Rirī arrive, and we end up speaking just under the small bit of roof which is over the entrance to the roof, keeping us dry as we talk.
“Alright team, I’m sure you all know, but our deadline is May 2nd.” Abigale explains.
“So we just have to go to the castle and steal the Treasure from Kikku, right?” Rirī asks.
“Um, I’m kinda curious, but what would the Treasure even be? I wanna know before we do anything.” Hayai explains.
“The Treasure is the physical form of the Palace ruler’s distorted desires.” Abigale explains. “In other words, it’s the core of the Palace. Once we steal it, the Palace will crumble… I think…” She mutters uncertainty. “Having said all that, even I don’t know what Kikku’s Treasure is going to be.”
“Do you have any idea where we will find it?” Rirī asks, sounding curious.
“There’ll be no way of knowing until we go in and find out.” Abigale points out. “But if I had to guess, I’d say he has it locked up somewhere in the depths of the Palace.”
“Eh, I think I get it now. So we go in, find our way through until we locate the Treasure?” Hayai confirms.
“Pretty much. We don’t know much, so this is the only way forward.” Abigale agrees. “In any case, our objective is to find the Treasure’s location somewhere in the Palace.”
“Let’s make sure we go about this with time to spare so we can avoid any unforeseen circumstances.” Abigale finishes. “...I’m expecting big things from us, guys.” After that, we take a few minutes to relax, before I lead everyone down to the alleyway, and we go into the Palace.
---------------------
“But daaamn…” Hayai says, looking Rirī over.
“Hm? What’s up?” She asks, looking at him. ‘She probably forgot about her outfit.’ I think to myself, noticing that her mask covers the top half over her face, almost looking like it connects to the small devil horns on her head, while being the same colour as them, dark magenta. The mask has what looks like light magenta eye shadow around the eye holes, which perfectly match Rirī’s eyes. There isn’t much more detail than that though.
“Uh… N-Nothing. I was just thinking we should think up a code name for you too.” Hayai blurts out, but makes a good point.
“A code name?” Rirī asks, sounding curious.
“I’m Slugger, he’s Joker, and that’s Gale.” Hayai explains.
“Judging by your costume…” Abigale mutters, also looking her over, but in a different way to Hayai.
“I mean, she’s got that tail and wings, so…” Hayai mutters. “Whadda you think, Hexan?”
“Dancing Demon?” I suggest, not having thought about it.
“Wait! Is that what you plan to call me here!? I’m so not down with that name!” Rirī exclaims.
“What would you wanna be called, then?” Hayai asks her.
“Um, something better than just a regular demon…” She mutters.
“Maybe… ‘Succubus’?” She finally says, after a bit of thinking. “That sounds like a match, doesn’t it?” She asks.
“I guess it does, but are you cool with being called something like that?” Hayai asks.
“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t.” She points out.
“Alright, we have that settled.” Abigale agrees.
“More importantly, Kikku…!” Rirī starts.
“Oh, right. Let’s get going!” Hayai says, and we walk over to the courtyard in front of the castle.
“Alright, let’s start fresh and get goin’!” He says.
“It’s game time from this point forward!” Abigale agrees. “I’ll teach you guys what I know about Palaces as we go.” She finishes, then we go to walk in, before I see a flash of blue light to my right. Looking over there, I notice a tall, blue, transparent, cell door, with Justine beside it.
“My master would like a word with you.” She explains, causing me to nod and follow her in.
---------------------
When I get through, I’m back in the Velvet room’s cell, with the twins and Igor outside.
“The prisoner, Hexan Tronic, has returned.” Caroline says, in her now usual forceful manner.
“Well done. It seems you remembered my words…” Igor praises. “You truly make it worth rehabilitating you.”
“What does ‘rehabilitation’ mean?” I ask, because of an odd feeling I get each time he says it, and he just chuckles, before speaking again.
“I am not attempting to withhold information from you.” He explains. “The essence of the rehabilitation that you must complete will be explained in due time.”
“Once you encounter friends who share your aesthetics and discover your place in reality…” He begins. “...Only then, will I explain more.”
“Such a day should not be too far off.” He finishes.
“This time, I wish to introduce you to the aid we are providing.” He explains.
“What kind of ‘aid’...” I ask, a bit warily.
“Due to your potential in wielding the power of the wild card, you can handle more than one Persona.” He continues. “That power holds infinite possibilities. We will assist you in nurturing that potential.”
“...To that end, we must execute your Persona.” He finishes, shocking me, as well as I think Tasukete.
“Do not be alarmed. Personas are personalities that exist within you…” He continues with a chuckle. “Thus, you will only be discarding old personalities to have them be reborn as new ones.” He finishes, before Justine holds up her clipboard for me to see, and I can see a list of my Personas on it.
“By discarding your old identity, you give way to a new one. Hence, we call that process ‘execution.’” Igor continues to explain. “Think of it as the fusion of your Personas.”
“Now then, let us try an actual Persona fusion.” He finishes, gesturing to Justine.
“To start, select the first Persona to fuse.” He orders. I select Jack-o’-Lantern by pointing to it’s name on the list.
“Now, before you select the second Persona, allow me to tell you something greatly important.” He says. “Do you remember how I mentioned forming bonds with Confidants?” I nod, showing I do. “Personas are the power of the heart… The stronger these bonds, the stronger your Personas will be.”
“In other words, the effects of your bonds on execution… or fusion, if you will, are quite substantial.” He continues. ‘Wow, does he love to talk.’ I think to myself as he continues. “When you fuse a Persona that shares its aracana with one of your bonds, it will gain great power.”
“This will be a guiding principle for your dorays into fusion… Try not to forget it.” He finishes explaining that part. “Moreover, there is one thing I must warn you about.”
“You will be unable to create a Persona that is stronger than your own heart.” He explains, while I notice a number near the top of Justine’s clipboard flash, which I guess is the numerical number for my heart's strength, being 5. “This is because the resulting Persona would be too powerful for you to handle effectively.”
“Now then, check the fusion results and choose a Persona that suits your stature.” He finishes. After he finishes speaking, I point to Pixie on the list, which makes the clipboard generate a hologram of the result, I guess. It appears to be Incubus. “This is the form you new Persona is expected to take after fusion.
“When fusing a new Persona, you can select skills for it to inherit from the base Personas.” Igor explains. “By making use of this, you will be able to grant Personas skills they normally could not obtain.”
“But of course, there’s no need to think on that now. For the time being, select whichever you want.” He finishes. After looking over my options, I look over at Igor.
“While all of these are interesting options, I can only fuse one Persona with what I have. And to be honest, I’m not really interested in fusion what I have right now. Would it be alright to hold off until I’m stronger?” I suggest, hoping he will agree.
“But of course. It is up to you to decide when and what to fuse. If you think what you have will suffice, then that is fine. I will take the time to explain a few more things, of course, before you go.” Igor explains. “Make time to gather new Personas, and bring them here. Gather a great many, execute them, and continue to give birth to even stronger Personas.”
“Developing your powers as such will play an integral role in the stand against ruin.” He finishes.
“So that your rehabilitation goes well, we have a variety of rituals to choose in regard to executions.” Justine explains, in her usual, emotionless tone..
“And depending on the effort you put in, our master might consider further development of new rituals.” Caroline explains in her own, confident voice. “Cry your tears of joy, inmate!”
“Your heart is steadily gaining the strength of rebellion.” Igor explains. “It seems your rehabilitation is proceeding smoothly-a joyous fact indeed…”
“In anticipation of this, I have a gift prepared for you. I hope that you shall accept it.” He finishes. ‘I guess I’ve deepend my connection to Igor.’ I think to myself. “That is a thief’s skill, allowing one to tap into their sixth sense and see what is hidden in the dark.”
“I believe you can handle it now. May you continue devoting yourself to further rehabilitation.” He finishes.
“...Now then, if you have any requests, we will heed them.” Justine says. After a few moments to think, I decide I’m done and head back to the Palace.
---------------------
When I walk out I head the door close behind me, and notice my team walk over.
“Is something wrong? You were just standing around all of a sudden.” Abigale asks, looking concerned. ‘I guess to them I wasn’t moving…’
"Why’re you spacin’ out like that? ...It’s kinda hard to tell what you’re thinkin’ sometimes.” Hayai points out.
“Either way, we’re counting on you, Joker!” Abigale finishes, before I get ready to tackle the Palace.
Now that I’m ready, I activate my Meta-Radio and climb in though our entrance, the team right behind me. When I get inside, I decide to attempt using the skill that Igor gave me. After focusing for a moment, everything around me dims, while a nearby urn glows a slight golden colour. So I go over and smash it open, and find what appears to be a fruit?
“Huh? What’s that Joker?” Slugger asks, wondering why I did that.
“Some form of fruit, I think. Since it comes from this world, maybe it’ll help us?” I suggest, stashing it in my bag, then heading through the same door as last time. Inside, I don’t see any Shadows, and decide to try the skill again, noticing a glowing vase this time, and smash it, revealing a crushed shield? ‘Huh, guess this is just random junk or items.’ I think to myself, stashing it away in case it’s got value. Once I’ve stashed it away, I lead us to the corridor that lead to the room we rescued Succubus.
After a moment of thought, I decide that we’re done in there, and continue on, hoping to get some training. The Armory has three Shadows in there, and I quickly amush one, revealing a pair of Mandrake. It’s over quick as me, Gale, and Slugger beat one down with melee, and Succubus burns the last with Agi. Slugger points out how easy it was, as I turn and Ambush the second one.
During my attempt, I get noticed, not quite used to this place yet. After a moment of thought, I try running back to the room that had the vase, but I don’t hear anything chasing us. Once I think it’s clear, I turn to apologise to my team.
“Sorry for being sloppy there. I didn’t expect him to turn around.” I admit, rubbing the back of my head.
“It’s alright Joker, we’re all mostly pretty new to this, so it’s alright to mess up every now and then.” Gale says, then once we’re rested, I return to the armory, where a new Shadow has replaced the one we killed, so I decide to deal with it first, being more careful this time. This time it’s a pair of Incubus, which I quickly gun down, leading to us using an AoA on them.
Continuing to be careful, I sneak up and ambush a second Shadow, revealing a pair of Jack-o’-Lanturns. After a moments thought, I slash one, then order Gale to use garu on the both of them, killing them off. Then I sneak around and ambush the last Shadow in the armory, which is another pair of Incubus. I use my pistol to almost kill one of them, then decide to try out the Baton Pass, giving Slugger a high five, after which he uses his shotgun to kill the injured one, but missed the other. Then Gale takes a turn, knocking the last one out of the sky and we surround it. After a moment, I make a decision.
“I’d like some money, thanks.” I say, then it nods.
“Sure thing, you already have one of me in you, so I’ll give you a bonus too.” He says, tossing some money, then taking off. Once that’s done, and I’m sure the room is clear, I head into the next hall, which leads to the safe room, where I notice a Shadow now patrols here. Ambushing it reveals two more of the pumpkin ghosts. After a quick two shots into one of them, I pass the baton to Slugger, and he finishes it with two shots from his gun, killing them both.
Once that’s done, I head into the safe room. Once inside, Succubus notices the rooms odd nature.
“Hey, what’s wrong with this room?” She asks, a bit concerned.
“This is a safe room.” Gale explained simply.
“Yeah, still not getting it.” Succubus says.
“It is a bit confusing.” Slugger admits. “Uhh, basically it’s some kinda spot where Shadows can’t find us.”
“Huh… I wouldn’t expect a place like this to exist here.” Succubus admits. “So, what do we do in a ‘safe room’?”
“Take a break, of course. Oh, and we talk about how far we think we are.” Slugger explains.
“Huh… Those sound useful.” She admits. “Guess I’ll rest for a bit too then. Let me know when we’re ready to head back out, Joker.” After that comment, they all take a seat, in their own way, around the table. After a moment of thought, I take a seat too.
“So, do you think the Treasure is close or far off?” Slugger asks.
“Didn’t we just get in here? Based on how the castle looks, we still have a long way to go.” Gale points out.
“I’m still having trouble believing a phone app took us somewhere like this.” Succubus admits.
“Well, not all of us need that app, y’know… Gale can come in on her own.” Slugger points out.
“That is true, though I would prefer to go in with you guys.” Gale says, while sitting on a small stack of books on the table.
“So wait, what’s the deal with those soldier things that are serving Kikku?” Succubus asks. “They transform into weird monsters whenever we fight them…”
“You’re talking about the Shadows, right?” Gale asks, to confirm.
“What are Shadows…?” Succubus asks.
“Yeah, I’ve been wonderin’ about those guard dudes too. What’s their deal?” Slugger asks.
“I can try to explain it… but it’ll be complicated. Do you want to hear?” Gale asks, leaving the decision to me.
“It’d be good to know. The more we know of our enemy, the better chance we have of winning.” I point out.
“Alright. Deep in the innermost depths of every human’s heart lies their true personality-their Shadow.” Gale starts explaining. “So it’s not that the guards are transforming into those things… Those are their actual forms.”
“The reason they look like god and other mythical beings is because they spawn from the human psyche.” She continues.
“Wh-Whoa…” Succubus mutters. “But wait, what are they doing in Kikku’s castle to begin with?”
“It seems like large distortions like a Palace draws them in.” Gale continues. “Once they’re here, their forms change and they become underlings for the Palace ruler.”
“When you think about it, the Palace ruler is just the Shadow of whoever owns the Palace…” She continues. “Maybe these places have something to do with the worlds in our minds, or the collective unconscious…”
“Oh, alright. That kinda makes sense.” Slugger agrees.
“Either way, we don’t need to think about it too hard. As long as this Palace exists, these Shadows will serve Kikku and attack us.” Gale finishes.
“Got it. Think we’re rested enough everyone?” I ask, getting up, as well as getting agreements from my team.
With that finished, I lead my team through the new door.
“Keep in mind that we haven’t explored past here yet. So try to keep an eye out for anything suspicious as we go.” Gale reminds me, as I notice a Shadow walk out from behind a pillar. After quickly sneaking up and ambushing it, I find a pair of Mandrakes. So my team quickly attacks one with melee, then Succubus burns up the second, killing them both.
When that’s over with, I sneak ahead and find the second Shadow in the room, and ambush it, finding a Bicorn. I decide to just beat it down with melee until it dies, but not after a few missed attacks from my team, as well as Slugger taking a lunge head on.
Now that the room’s clear, I back track a bit, going down the other side of the long table in the room, where, after using Thief Vision, I find two glowing objects, a wooden box, and a barrel. While the box only had another crushed shield, the barrel held a pearl. Looking around the room from on top of the shelves where the barrel was, I notice another set of shelves, with another glowing barrel, so I quickly go over and smash it open, getting a strange looking lanturn.
With the room clear, I head to the next door and head through it, finding a hallway, with sofas, and a Shadow, which turns out to be a single Bicorn, after I ambush it. I end up taking a hit while it’s on its last legs, then pay it back by slashing it with the blade of my cane, after we all have a turn beforehand.
At the back of the hallway, I find a small set of shelves, with a volleyball on it, which glows in my special vision, so I break it open, finding a dull sword, then head through the door to the right of it, finding a somewhat broken staircase going up. Noticing a wooden box, I break it open, finding a third crushed shield.
Heading up the spiral staircase is pretty easy, even though it’s collapsed partway up. The rug certainly helps. At the first doorway, the stairway is too broken to continue up, so going through the doorway is the only path forward, after smashing a barrel of course, getting some silver cutlery.
When we get into the hallway from the stairs, I notice another Shadow, with it’s back to us.
“Damn… There’s one here too…” Slugger says, sounding a bit annoyed. “Oh well… Guess we just gotta ambush it from behind again…”
“Well sure, if you want to do it the normal way. But there’s a more stylish route!” Gale says, getting my attention, without getting the Shadow’s. “You see those sofas on the sides of the hallway? Try hiding behind those so you can get closer to the enemy.”
“Once you’re in range, jump on it and rip it’s mask off!” Gale says, leaving it to me.
“Whoa… That does sound pretty damn cool…” Slugger mutters.
“Hey! This isn’t a movie!” Succubus reminds us.
“Joker, with your skill, you should be able to pull it off. Give it a go!” Gale says, staying back with the others.
When I get behind the sofa, I notice a look a bit darker while doing so, maybe a side effect of the Palace. I also notice a nearby sofa I can reach, so I quickly move over there. From the second one, I can reach the Shadow and jump up, ripping it’s mask off.
This time, it’s a pair of odd little blue gremlins, in jugs with a six pointed star in a circle. After my turn, trying my cane on it, Gale tries garu and knocks them both down, leading to me ordering an AoA, killing them both. With the Shadow dead, I turn around and smash the urn beside the door I passed, getting another dull sword, but the door is blocked, so we move on.
Down the hall, and passed the corner, I find another Shadow, and hind behind another sofa, ambushing it when it gets close. This time it’s another new Shadow, which look like a green skinned woman with long, somewhat messy green hair, which is tied back by cloth. She is wearing a long, red silk dress which covers her feet.
Deciding to try something new, I call out one of my Personas.
“Incubus, Life Drain!” I call out, the demon appearing behind me, draining some of the health from the right shadow, and giving it to me, healing me a bit. Gale then tried garu, but it doesn’t knock them down. On Slugger’s turn, he hits the hurt one with Zio, killing it, then passing the baton to Succubus, who hits the final one with Agi, killing it as well. With the battle over, I move back a little and break a volleyball on another shelf, getting another shield, then move on. Down the hall, I find another ball and smash it open, finding another of the fruits, then go through the door, finding a room with the center caged off.
“Look! There’s something in there.” Slugger points out, and looking in the caged area, I notice a table with paper on it. “But the bars’re blockin’ our way in…”
“If Kikku’s protecting it this securely, it has to be important.” Gale points out. “That means there should be a way in and out of there.”
“Joker, go you think you can solve the mystery of this room?” She asks. “I’m sure you observation skills will help you get through, considering all those brakables you found.”
Taking her advice, I activate my thief vision, then notice that one of the two black, metal ram heads is glowing blue, with footprints on the floor, leading to it, then around the cage. So I walk up and pull the chain leading from its mouth, then head around, finding a second pair of ram heads, with the footprints leading to another glowing head, so I some using my vision, and pull the second chain, opening the center up to us.
“Whoa…” Slugger mutters.
“As expected from you, Joker!” Gale compliments. Then I walk in and look over the papers on the table.
“What the hell? He had it all locked up and shit, but it was just some old map…?” Slugger asks, sounding disappointed.
“You’re not wrong, but you have missed the point. I hope you know how vital a map of this place can be for us.” Gale says, looking it over. After a moment, she points out areas we have been, as well as areas we haven’t. “Having this will give us a better grasp of the topography of the Palace.”
“It’s a true necessity for a phantom thief. This should make securing a route much easier.” Gale explains.
“Wait, does it say where the Treasure is on there?” Succubus asks.
“Oh… Actually, it seems this map is incomplete… There might be another one around somewhere…” Gale mutters, a bit disappointed.
“Mkay, let’s start checkin’ what we can. We’ll prolly find another map along the way somewhere.” Slugger points out. With map in hand, I head on to the other door out of the room, behind which I find a Shadow, but get behind a sofa and ambush it, only finding a Bicorn, so I just slash it down with my team, no one missing a hit, causing it to perish without getting a hit in.
Further down the hall, past the corner, I find another Shadow, which I proceed to amush, finding a pair of incubus. After shooting one till it’s almost dead, I pass the baton to Slugger, who finishes the job with his gun. Near the door that was behind the Shadow, I find a ball with an onyx in it, then head through the door.
Once through the door, the first thing I notice is big chandeliers hanging right in front of a balcony.
“Whoa… Those are pretty big…” Succubus mutters, and looks over the balcony. “Hey, isn’t this the central hall you mentioned going through before?” I have a look over a nod.
“Yeah, I think it is. Guess we’re on the second floor of it now.” I reply, then look around. I first notice that the normal way around is blocked by bars. Then I notice some shelves we can climb, as well as a glowing vase and urn. The vase had a dull sword while the urn had another fruit.
Once up, we carefully climb around on the structures attached to the ceiling, until we reach some round wallways around the chandelier chains. Jumping over, they seem to be pretty sturdy. The second one had a hidden Shadow, which I attacked quickly, managing an ambush, revealing two more Bicorns. After me and Gale slash one with our weapons, Slugger uses zio on them both, clearing them out.
After the battle, the second walkway only leads to a third, which I jump to, then we finally reach the other side. Walking around the higher area we reached, I noticed an open window and climbed through it.
“Wait… ain’t this the entrance? So it’s connected to here…” Slugger mutters, looking around from the foothold outside the window.
“It looks like you can get down from here too… This would probably make a good infiltration point.” Gale suggests. Taking my time, I climb down, using some wooden structure to reach some stairs. Those stairs lead to a wooden area with barrels and boxes, which lead to the entrance courtyard we always enter from.
Once we’re down, I suggest taking a break, which we all agree on.
With that decided, we take a seat on some of the smaller barrels that sit around the castle’s gate. Everyone is mostly just relaxing, but every so often, I feel my gaze slip over to Justine, by the transparent, blue cell door that leads to the Velvet Room. She appears to be just standing around, looking at her clipboard every so often, but mostly just doing nothing. ‘Perhaps she is just there to let me in…’ I think to myself, keeping an eye on the timer I managed to set on my phone.
After ten minutes, the timer goes off, and I get up and stretch. “Alright team. Let’s get back to work.” I order, and watch the others climb back up the way we came, after which I follow. When we reach the window we left from, I turn and wave to Justine, who just nods, and I walk in too.
Once inside, I lead the team down from the ledge, to the floor, where we can see another set of bars that are blocking us from the central hall.
“I guess he really doesn’t want us down there…” Gale mutters.
“Yeah, but I think we’ll probably make our way there at some point.” I reply, and head through the open door to our right. This room has tables, chairs, as well as a glowing, locked chest. I head over to it and look it over.
“Ooh! A locked chest…” Gale says, sounding excited. “Since we don’t have a key, why don’t we use a lockpick instead?” She suggests. I nod and pull out the tool.
It takes a few minutes, but I managed to crack it open. When I open the chest, Gale is sitting on my shoulder, probably to get a good look in there. All that’s in there is a shiny, golden breastplate, and an onyx. Looking it over, I decide that the breastplate isn’t much good, and put it with the rest of my loot.
Looking at the other side of the room, I notice a distorted door and head right through.
“Another safe room!” Succubus exclaims, before the team checks it out for a moment, before sitting down.
“So, how’s our progress?” I ask, standing beside the table.
“Pretty good, but uh, Slugger… What are you smirking about over there?” Succubus asks.
“Oh, sorry ‘bout that. I was just thinkin’ back to how we crossed over those chandeliers earlier.” Slugger says, smiling. “I mean, don’t all this just make you feel like we’re real thieves?” Succubus just sighs.
“You know we still have a long way to go, right?” She asks.
“She’s got a point. Even looking at this optimistically, there’s still a lot ahead of us.” Gale comments.
“I know, I know… Don’t worry, I’m gonna keep giving’ this shit everything I got!” Slugger exclaims.
“Anything else, Joker? Or are we good to head out, now we’ve marked this room down?” Gale asks, looking at the map, where she has marked each safe room this far.
“Nope, let’s get back to searching.” I order.
“Alright, let’s go!” Slugger says, as we head out.
Once out of the safe room, I noticed a glowing volleyball on a shelf, with my special vision, and breaking that just gave us another of the crushed shields, so we head to the next room.
“If the map’s right, we still get a long way to go…” Slugger comments.
“Hey… Look to the left… There are some Shadows here too.” Gale points out. “Now, we can’t just keep blindly rushing into fights. First, we should ascertain how strong they are.”
“How’re we supposed to do that?” Slugger asks.
“Well, we’ll need to observe the enemy’s actions and get some insight into their skills.” Gale continues. “That should be easy for you, Joker, since you seem to notice things easier than us.” I just nod.
Deciding to use my special vision, I notice that the Shadow on the balcony has a soft, yellow glow around him. Heading down the stairs, I find another Shadow, and checking again, it also has a yellow glow. When I ambush it, it reveals two floating, green horses, with only a pair of front hooves, but no back.
We start off by me having Gale use garu on one, followed close behind by Slugger hitting that same one with zio, killing it, and allowing him to hit the second one with a second bolt of lightning, knocking it down into a hold up.
“Would you mind lending me your power?” I ask, while pointing my gun at it.
“...Then, let’s talk. Once me think me understand you better, then me lent you my power.” He says.
“Me not understand… How did a human outsmart me?” he asks. “Me not understand in what was you superior to me…”
“If I had to guess, I’d say I’m better at small talk.” I reply.
“You saying you very talkative? Me not want to be better than you at that. That all you.” He says. “..Humans not seem satisfied to only capture beasts. Me know you use us for other reasons too. If you capture me, what you going to do to me?”
“Not that I am, but if I had to choose, I think you’d make a nice coat.” I answer.
“Me think that kind of morbid, but also pretty interesting idea.” he replies. “Me remember talking to you before… Hrm! Me remember now…!”
“Me am not a Shadow that belongs here. Me exists in the sea of souls of humans!” He replies. “Me am Kelpie. My power is your power… Use it how you want.” He finishes, before turning into a mask. When the process finishes, I feel a pain in my chest.
“Joker! Are you okay!?” Succubus asks, running over.
“N...Not really…” I answer, clutching my chest.
“Maybe he hit his limit?” Slugger suggests.
“That makes sense. He hasn’t had his powers long, so he probably can’t hold too many right now.” Gale replies after a moment's thought.
“How can I deal with it then?” I ask, the pain growing a bit.
“If I had to guess, release one of your Personas.” Gale replies.
“But what would happen if I did that, wouldn’t they fall back under Kikku’s control?” I ask, a bit worried about releasing them.
“But if you don’t then I don’t think you can continue…” Gale mutters, worried.
“A...Alright. Let’s get back to the safe room first though, alright?” I suggest, and Slugger helps me up, and carries me back to the nearest safe room.
Once in the safe room, I feel inside myself, closing my eyes, and notice that I can feel seven Personas. After thinking for a moment, I grab at the one I recognize as Bicorn and pull it out, and I can feel a mask in my hand. Once I open my eyes, I notice that I’m holding what looks like my mask, but coloured like Bicorn. I place it on the ground, and after the usual blue flames, Bicorn is standing there.
“So, you’re choosing to release me, kid?” He asks. I shake my head.
“I don’t want to, but what choice do I have? If I choose to hold all of you, I’d just tear myself apart.” I reply.
“That’s not necessarily the case.” He replies.
“Huh?” I ask, while the others just watch.
“While that would be the case out there, in here the ruler has no power. If you left my mask here, I would still be yours, but you wouldn’t be holding me. Perhaps, in time, you may even be strong enough for some other way, but for now, this is the best bet.” Bicorn explains.
“So, I have to return to a safe room after capturing a new Persona, so I can offload?” I ask.
“Well you could go about it like that, or you could leave the ones you mightn ot need here, and just continue with a lighter heart.” He explains.
After a moment, I nod, and search myself, pulling out Incubus and Mandrake’s masks, placing them by Bicorn.
“So I just have to remember to come get you all before I leave, right?” I ask, to which they nod, and begin talking amongst each other. I go and sit with the team.
“Well. That's just another odd thing about your power.” Gale comments, to which I nod.
“I wish there was someone who could explain what I can do.” I reply. “So, we heading back out?” I ask, and with a trio of nods, we head on out, back down the stairs.
Heading around the corner, I find a second corner, and around that, I find another Shadow. When I use my vision on this one, it has a red glow, which makes me feel wary, before I ambush it.
When it reveals itself, we find a red horse, with a knight riding it, a golden trident in its hand. With our advantage, I order Gale to shoot it, which doesn’t do much. Next I order Slugger to use zio, doing a bit of damage, while I have Succubus use agi, to little effect. On my turn, I slash it with my cane. After which it confusion from being ambushed wears off, and it cleaves Gale, knocking her right out of the fight, following it up with a slash at me, that I barely survive, while a final attack knocks Succubus out.
On the following turn, Slugger has his Persona lunge at it, doing good damage, while I feel something odd, and tug it, a two word command coming to mind. “Evil Touch!” I order, a faint silhouette that looks like Incubus appearing, and using the skill, making the enemy look fearful. In the back of my mind, I hear something. ‘That was a one time use, I’m outta juice.’ It sounded like Incubus.
Because of it’s fear, our enemy is too scared to do anything, allowing Slugger the chance to get another lunge in. After which I send in Kelpie with a lunge of my own, which appears to hit a weak point, killing it off.
With the battle over, me and Slugger take a moment to heal up Succubus and Gale with some medicine, then I eat some of the fruits we’ve been finding, which takes some of the pain away. When she comes too, Succubus uses a quick dia on her and myself.
“That was a really tough one…” Slugger remarks.
“I guess that’s what red means…” I mutter, recalling the outline it had before I ambushed it.
“Hmm? What was that Joker?” Succubus asks.
“When I focus on the Shadows, I can see a faint, coloured outline, most of the ones we’ve encountered have had a yellow one, but that one was red.” I explain.
“Hmm, perhaps it’s a kind of mental warning. Yellow must be about our strength level while red is much stronger than us.” Gale theorizes.
“Yeah, maybe. I’ll try to have us avoid any more reds, if I can help it.” I say, before leading on.
Down the hall, I break an urn and get another dull sword, then head up the stairs, where a yellow shadow awaits. Ambushing it reveals another of the green skinned women, and a pair of Incubus. I quickly knock the two Incubus down with a pair of gun shots each, before baton passin to Slugger, who finishes them both off with a shot each of his shotgun. After which Gale guards and Slugger hit’s the woman with a Zio, knocking her down into a hold up.
“Let’s chat for a bit, perhaps you’d like to join me.” I say, while holding her at gunpoint.
“If we must, but only if you’re to my liking.” She says. “Hmm… You can’t take a hint, can you? I’ve been sending you serious ‘don’t speak to me’ vibes.”
“But it’s possible that we may never meet again…” I reply.
“To be honest, if you were to stop coming here, that would be preferable to me.” She replies. “You know, I’ve heard that human men have a proclivity to tease the woman that interests them. Is it not possible for this series of events involving you and me to be attributed to that?”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, sounding even to myself like and idiot.
“You’re far too obtuse. But, well, about that…” She replies. “That’s all I have to ask, and to be honest, you remind me of myself, which has helped me remember.”
“I am thou, thou art I. As I originated in the humans’ sea of souls, I think it best I return to a human.” She says. “My true name is Silky. From here on forth… I am yours.” She finishes, becoming my mask.
Searching behind where the Shadow was, I break another ball, getting an onyx. After that, I head down the hall, and turn the next corner, finding a large dining room. Hiding on the dining table, I quickly ambushed the nearest Shadow, which was yellow after I checked, revealing a Pixie, and two of the pot goblins.
Recalling their weakness, I have Gale use garu on one, then have her gun down the Pixie with her slingshot. Afterwards, Gale, Slugger and Succubus guard, and I slash the undamaged Shadow with my cane. After they get a few zios off on me, Slugger and Succubus, Gale uses garu to kill one, and knocks the other into a hold up, where I ask it for power, and after some simple, somewhat childish questions, I get a new mask.
Looking down the other end of the room, I notice another yellow Shadow, which I quickly ambush, revealing four Incubus. Gale quickly knocks them all to the ground, and we do an AoA, almost killing them all, then we just hit them with our weapons. Slugger smashing one with his bat, Succubus jumping up and gracefully kicking one in the head, me slashing with my cane, before the final one uses Life Drain on me, and Gale knocks it back down with her slingshot. I decide to ask for money, and after giving it to me, it takes off.
A nearby volleyball on a shelf hides a dull sword, and I notice Gale looking into a nearby room.
“Joker, a treasure chest! Let’s open it!” She says, and when I open it, I find an odd item. It appears to be a part solid, part gas object. “Oh! I was wondering when we’d find something like this.”
“Like what?” I ask, curious.
“I call these soul items. There are a fair few varieties, from the simple drop, to a full meal. Each one restores a bit of stamina, the bigger it is, the more it restores.” Gale explains.
“So this one’s…. What?” I ask.
“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a snuff soul. It’s a pretty good one, but not as good as a Soma.” She explains.
“A Soma?” I ask, tilting my head.
“A Soma is the most powerful one of all. No matter how tired or battered you are, it will heal you up as if you’d never been hurt, and make you feel like you just had a long rest.” She explains.
“Wow. I hope we can find one at some point. Sounds useful.” Succubus comments, and we head on our way.
Heading out of the small room and over to the other half of the dining room which is separated by bars, with an open spot at each other, I find a third yellow Shadow, which becomes a pair of Silky after an ambush. After having Gale guard, I have Slugger use zio to knock one down, then he baton passes to Succubus who uses agi to kill the other, letting us hold up the remainder, who I get some extra yen out of.
Down the hall, I find the last Shadow in the dining room, which is another yellow, and when ambushed, revealed to be a pair of Kelpie. After Gale skips her turn by guarding, Slugger uses zio, knocking one down, but he looks fairly tired after doing so. After so when he baton passes to me, I give him the snuff soul, making him look better. After a few turns of guarding against the Kelpie’s garus, as well as them summoning more of themselves, Slugger gets his shot, and uses zio on them all, getting us into a hold up, where we use an AoA to kill them.
Heading into the next room, which appears to be a kitchen of some form, I find a single yellow Shadow, which is just a Pixie and a pair of Agathion. It’s simple enough to knock them all down and get an AoA that finishes them off.
Searching the kitchen like area, I only find a single glowing item, which was a barrel that held an onyx. Heading into the next room we find a yellow Shadow, which becomes a Silky with a pair of Incubus, which Succubus quickly clears through, with an agi on the Silky, and using her tommy gun on the Incubus.
After an AoA, one of them is still standing, but is quickly knocked down again and after a second AoA, is turning to ash as we walk away. After trying to go through the door, and finding it locked, I notice that the storage room we’re in has a bit of a draft, and after climbing up a shelf, I notice a vent, which I crawl into. I exit the vent on top of another shelf, in a room with a chest, and a Shadow.
“Look, a treasure chest! Let’s take whatever’s is in there too!” Gale says, sounding excited.
“But uh, there’s a guard there…” Succubus mutters, after having joined me on the shelf.
“That’s OK. Hey, Joker, do you think we can ambush it from here?” Gale asks. “It should be the same as hiding and jumping toward an enemy. Give it a try.”
Taking Gale’s advice, I jump down and rip the Shadow’s mask off, revealing an Incubus. Deciding to give it a break, I signal to the others to just use melee. After we all have a go, it’s just barely hanging on. What surprises me is that instead of attacking, it seems to surrender.
“Hey… C’mon, what do I have to do for you to let me live?” He asks.
“How about giving me some money, that might help.” I order.
“Alright, sure thing.” He says, tossing a good amount of yen at my feet. “This’ll satisfy you, yeah? Remember me when you use it.” The Incubus finishes, before taking off.
“You know, I didn’t really realise that even Shadows would beg for their lives… That’s fairly surprising.” Succubus comments.
“Shadows have emotions too, you know. Of course they’ll be afraid if you corner them like that.” Gale replies. “It might be worth purposely creating such situations to get them begging for their lives.” Gale finishes, and I open the chest, which just has an anklet in it.
Heading through the only door in the room, I find a short hall. Walking down it, I notice the other side of the locked door from before, and find the mechanizm to unlock it. Then I break one of the urns at the end of the hall, getting a candle stand, with wax dripping off it. All that’s left is a door, which opens up to a spiral staircase upwards. But first, I raid the wooden box on this floor, which had another shield in it.
Heading up the stairs, we find that on the first landing we find, the way upwards is blocked by bars, but we can go out into a hall, which leads directly to a safe room.
“All right! Looks like this place is safe.” Slugger comments, as the team takes a break.
“Alright team, how’s our progress so far?” I ask, standing at my usual place at the table.
“Phew… Well, there are definitely a shit ton of enemies ‘round here…” Slugger comments. “Hey Gale, how far in are we?”
“This still feels like the beginning stages. I don’t sense that the treasure is anywhere near here.” Gale replies, updating our map.
“I guess we still have a long way to go…” Succubus says, sounding a bit tired.
“Alright. Well let’s take a twenty minute break. We can afford that much, after that tough enemy a while back.” I say, taking out my phone and setting the timer, before just relaxing to the regular music that my Metaverse radio plays in safe rooms.
---------------------
Once the timer goes off, I get up and lead the team back out of the Safe Room. Outside the room, we quickly hide behind some sofas, because of a nearby Shadow. After ambushing it, we find another Silky, as well as another of the horse knights. I didn’t take long to use bufu with my own Silky, then guard through to Succubus’s turn, where she used agi on the enemy Silky, killing it, then, rather than going into an AoA, I order us to pull back, and Succubus passes her turn to me with a baton pass, before I slice the enemy down with my cane, finishing the knight off.
Down the hall after that, we go around a corner, to find a T intersection, and I choose to go straight, ignoring the Shadow that was down the right turn. Down this path, we find a room with a bookshelf in it. Before going up to it, I smash an urn, getting a helmet with a hole in it, before looking over the books, with my special vision. One seems to stick out to me. ‘What is this…?’
“Something catching your eye about that book, Joker?” Gale asks. “Hmm… I guess we should take it with us, if you think it’s important.” So I do just that, noticing it’s called ‘The Slave Book’.
Heading out of the room, we find that a Shadow has appeared along our path, and ambush it, finding a trio of Agathion. It’s a tough battle, largely thanks to an Agathions endurance, but we manage to come out of it with only Gale getting knocked down.
Going back to the T intersection, we turn down the side path, and ambush the Shadow, releasing a pair of Silky, with an Incubus. It’s an easy battle, but I can tell my team’s starting to get tired.
Heading down the only path forward, we go around two more bends, and defeat another Shadow, a pair of Kelpie, and find a door, which leads to another set of halls. Heading straight from the door, we find a barred door, with another of the ram head chain switches.
“Hey, haven’t we seen this before? Don’t we just have to pull the ring?” Slugger asks.
“Wait, there’s a round indentation underneath… It looks like it won’t move unless we fill that.” Gale points out.
“So we need a key… I wonder where it could be.” Succubus comments.
“Let’s go look for it, Joker!” Gale suggests. I nod and step away, then while looking down the hall to our right, I notice another Shadow, which is only a Pixie and a trio of Agathion. It’s a difficult fight, and I think we’re beginning to slow down a bit too.
Down that same hall, passing through a cross section, I notice a vase, which I smash, and reveal another fruit, which Slugger eats. Heading back a few steps, I find and go through a door, to find a room with two tables, some chairs, and a bookshelf. Heading over to the bookshelf, I find another book that catches my attention.
“This one as well, Joker? Okay, let’s take it with us.” Gale says, as I stash it away, the title being, ‘The King Book’. Seeing there is nothing else in the room, we leave it, and head to the cross section that we passed through. This time, we turn left, heading down to find another T intersection, which we also turn left at, seeing as right would take us back to the start. Down the left hall, we find a ball with another onyx, and a door to a room similar to the last, but with a Shadow, some Silky and an Incubus. After the battle, I found a third book.
“What, you curious ‘bout that too?” Slugger asks. I nod and take it, noticing it’s called ‘The Queen Book’. Leaving the room, we return to the cross section, and look down the last hall, which holds a Shadow, a door on the left, and a locked chest down the end. Sneaking down the hall, I ambush the Shadow, finding a pair of Kelpie. The battle is quickly finished by Slugger, ending in an AoA.
After the battle, I walk over to the chest and look it over.
“It seems we can’t open it right now, since we don’t have any lockpicks on us…” Gale says, sounding a bit discouraged.
“It’s alright Gale, I’ll remember it, and come get it before we’re done here.” I promise, before turning and going to the door.
Walking through the door, we find a library, with the walls stacked with books, as well as ladders to reach the higher shelves, and tables and chairs for reading. I hear a cough behind me as we walk in.
“How dusty is this place? It’s like it’s barely used, or something.” Succubus comments.
“A library, huh? This definitely seems suspicious.” Gale comments.
“Whaddya mean?” Slugger asks.
‘Come on, it’s a library in a castle. There has gotta be some kind of secret mechanism in here.” Gale points out. “Let’s look around in here, Joker.”
Looking around the room, I don’t notice much, but when I use my thief's vision, I notice three glowing spots, the closest being to the right from the entrance. I head right over.
“Hm… Wait a second. The books on this shelf seem familiar.” Gale says, looking them over.
“These’re the names of the football team members!” Slugger realises. “Wait, what the hell!? All of the titles are boys from our school!”
“‘Hayai Tama: The Vulgar Ape.’ There’s one here for Slugger.” Gale reads aloud.
“That bastard! Who the hell does he think he is!?” Slugger yells out.
“Wait, didn’t we find a book earlier? What if we use it here?” Succubus suggests. I nod, and pull the three books out. Looking them over, I end up sliding ‘The Slave Book’ onto the shelf. Nothing happens, but I decide to look over the other two spots I noticed. Crossing the room, I find another open section.
“There are all sorts of books here… The titles don’t have any rhyme or reason to them.” Succubus says, looking them over. “Huh? This book… has Hikui’s name in the title…”
“Wait… It’s not just this one! All the books here are about female students!” She exclaims.
“‘Rirī Bēru: The Charming Doll.’ Holy shit…” Slugger mutters.
“What the heck is this…!?” Succubus exclaims. I end up sliding ‘The Queen Book’ onto the shelf, and head to the last open point.
“Let’s see here… ‘The History of Kikku’...” SLugger begins, reading their title. “‘Tracing Kikku’s Steps’... ‘Kikku’s Heroisms’... ‘Kikku’s Law’...?”
“What the hell!? All these goddamn books’re about Kikku!” He yells, as I slide ‘The King Book’ into the open gap. After I do, we hear a rumbling behind us, and turn to see one of the bookshelves slide back, and around a corner, revealing a hidden room.
“Whoa, it opened up!?” Slugger exclaims.
“You got it, Joker! Let’s take a look inside!” Gale says. As I go to do so, the spinning globe in the centre of the library pops open, and an object is glowing inside. “Ohh! I wonder what that is…” She says, hopping up and looking side, before gasping.
“Guys! This is a great find!” She says, holding up a strange crystal that appears to be glowing a soft purple and teal colour.
“What’s that Gale?” I ask curiously.
“It’s a Soma!” She says, hopping in place.
“Wait, you mean one of those things you mentioned before?” Slugger asks, looking it over after grabbing it.
“Yup! This should really help us out!” She exclaims, sounding excited.
“I agree. I have noticed that we appear to be getting sluggish.” I point out.
“Yeah, I have been feeling a bit tired, now that you mention it.” Succubus says.
“Why don’t we use it now? I mean, nows a good a time as any.” Slugger says.
“I agree. The sooner we get through this place, the sooner we take Kikku’s Treasure.” I say, taking the Soma. “So, how do we use it?”
“We stand around you, and you crush it, the energy inside should seek us out and fill us up.” Gale explains, hopping down from the globe and standing beside me.
“Alright then. Here we go.” I say, as Succubus and Slugger stand beside me, and I crush the Soma, watching in fascination as the teal and purple energy flows into our bodies. “Whoa…”
“That felt both weird and good at the same time.” Succubus says while stretching.
“I wonder if Doctor Ishi could recreate one…” I mutter to myself, decide to see if she can, next time I get one. “Alright team, let’s investigate that room.” I order, before leading the way in.
The sight of the room isn’t very pretty. The room is full of barrels, books, stockades, and another of the metal ‘X’s that Succubus was on before her Awakening. Oh, and a large stylised painting of Kikku surrounded by photos of Hikui.
“Ugh… The hell is this room? There’re tons of pictures of Pitchi in here!” Slugger exclaims. “Wait… It’s all pics of her…?” Succubus looks troubled by the room.
“Don’t worry, Succubus. We’ll make him pay for everything he’s done.” I promise.
“Yeah… Definitely.” She agrees. “I feel even more motivated to do this now…”
“I know this’ll feel awful, but we should search this room.” Gale suggests. “There has to be something in here if he was hiding it with such an elaborate trick.”
Looking around once more, I notice a shelf that catches my eye. Heading over, I notice what appears to be an award medal, which I take.
“Is this… a medal?” Succubus asks.
“That size, and that shape… I think that’s the key we need!” Gale remarks. “Remember that round indentation awe saw back near those bars?”
“Wait, under where the medal was, isn’t that a map?” Succubus asks, lifting the papers up.
“Oh…! Yes, and it’s a different map from the one we grabbed earlier! This is lucky… Let’s take it with us!” Gale suggests. “Aha! Our map’s complete now!”
“So is it gonna tell us where the Treasure is?” Slugger asks. After looking it over for a moment, Gale answers.
“Yeah, look. It has to be here...” She says, showing us an odd, upside down ‘U’ shape, with a rectangle coming from the top.
“That’s a weird-shaped building… Could it be a tower or something?” Succubus suggests.
“Considering our current position on the map… I’d say we’re about halfway through now.” Gale points out.
“All right! I guess if we got here on most of our energy, that Soma should carry us to the end.” Slugger suggests, and I nod, leading us out of the horrid room.
Exiting the library, we quickly make our way back to the barred door. Moving to the switch, I insert the medal, which fits perfectly, and the goat head slides down, allowing me to pull the chain, which unlocks the door.
“Sweet! looks like it worked.” Slugger cheers.
“Now we can keep going!” Succubus adds. Heading through the door, we find a staircase downwards, which leads to a Safe Room, an urn, which has some silver cutlery, and the path forward. After a quick stop in the Safe Room, we head out to continue raiding the castle.
The next room isn’t much of interest, but there is an urn with a strange, aqua coloured gem, that Abigale called a Life Stone, which she quickly explained that it heals us a good bit. After finding that useful item, we head into the next room, which appears to be a cathedral?
It’s a very large room, with stained glass windows, pews, large candle stands, as well as hanging flowers.
“Hold on, Joker!” Gale suddenly calls. “This place is huge… yet there are now guards? That seems suspicious to me…”
“But isn’t the Treasure up ahead? We don’t have many other choices but to keep goin’.” Slugger points out.
“I guess that’s true… but we should make sure to be ready before continuing.” Gale continues. “Do you think we should keep going Joker?”
“Yeah, I think we’re as ready as we’ll ever be.” I order, before leading the way. Part way into the room, I notice a large statue of Kikku at the end of the room. That’s when we see something else overwrite the cathedral.
“Wait, was that… the gym…?” Succubus asks.
“I get it… The gym’s some kinda holy place for him. He’s a god there.” Slugger comments.
“I can’t believe he can think like that… especially after what he did to Hikui…” Succubus continues.
“God, that bastard makes me so freakin’ sick! Just you wait, Kikku…!” Slugger declares.
“I see… so you’re the ones who tampered with the library.” A voice says, from someplace we can’t see. “It seems my time waiting here has paid off…” That’s when one of the golden Guards appears from the ground.
“Just as that ape there said, this place is a holy ground for our great King Kikku.” The guard continues. “It is preposterous for miscreants like yourselves to come waltzing in like this.” It finishes, before revealing it’s true form, that of an armoured knight, with large, red feathered wings coming from it’s back.
“I knew this would happen! Well, we don’t have a choice! Let’s take it down!” Gale orders, as we prepare for battle.
With it’s initiative, the knight seems to prepare itself for something.
“Look out! It’s trying to do something!” Gale points out the obvious. We should make sure it doesn’t hit us unprepared!” With that advice, we all quickly shift to defensive stance. But even that doesn’t save Succubus, who is taken out with a single cleave of the knights sword, and she collapses.
When I get a chance, I switch to Silky, and use Dormina, without success. After Slugger has his Persona lunge the knight, Gale uses a heal to awaken Succubus, who unloads her gun into it.
Realising I’m in for a long fight, I order my team to guard when it charges up, and just use physical skills to whittle it down. Eventually, we manage to defeat it, but not without having to use our one Revivadrin.
“Didn’t realize those things could be that tough…” Slugger says, panting hard from the tough battle.
“Yeah… it looks like he’s making a concerted effort to stop us now.” Gale comments, resting against one of the pews in the room. “Joker, I’ve given assistance every now and then, but there isn’t any more time for lessons.
“I’ll write up a booklet in my spare time, with some useful info. I’ll let you know when it’s done.” She finishes. That’s when more guards appear, luckily they are the normal kind.
“Crap, more of ‘em…” Slugger mutters.
“What should we do? Head back?” Succubus asks, looking tired from the fight.
“No, the Treasure is definitely up ahead, and there has to be a path to it somewhere.” Gale mutters, looking around. “Let’s search around, Joker.” With that over with, I quickly hide on the pews, and make my way to the edge of the room, avoiding the guards. Unfortunately, just as I find a way to a higher floor, I’m noticed, but make it up before they can catch me, and begin searching the upper floor.
Using the outcroppings on the square pillars in here, I make it to another area, where we find a chest, which has a dirty bit of armour in it.
“That looks disgusting. Wait, isn’t there a laundry near the cafe? Maybe it could be of use, once it’s clean…” Gale mutters, looking at it in disgust. After that, I use the pillars, and some scaffolding that’s hanging from the ceiling to cross the room, where I find another chest. This one is guarded, so I sneak up behind it to open it, to find some wood clappers, then quickly return to the pillars to head to the last corner of the room.
Before I hope down, I notice a side path that leads me up near the Kikku statue, to a box, where I find another fruit inside. With nothing else to do, I hop down and go through the doorway. The doorway leads to a new hallway, with only one guard, around a corner. After giving Slugger the fruit, and crushing the life stone for myself, I amush the shadow, revealing a pair of the horsemen.
Since I already know they are weak to ice, I quickly take one out, with two bursts of ice .The others get some good hits in, before I knock the second one down with another burst of Ice, after which I let them mop him up.
After the battle, I check each door down the hall. The first on the left is locked, the second, on the right, has a chest, containing a sash of some kind. And the final room holds a Shadow, which I quickly ambush, which reveals a pair of Silky and an Incubus. After Succubus guns down the Incubus, Slugger uses Zio on the Silky, killing them both, and letting us AoA the Incubus.
Heading down the hall, I find another T intersection, and turn left, which leads to a spiral staircase, going up and down. The downwards spiral leads to a locked chest, while the upwards one leads to a door, which leads to an open rooftop. When look outside we can see the large tower we saw on the map.
“Hey, take a look at that!” Slugger remarks.
“Oh! That seems to match up with the map. There’s no doubt that’s the tower we’re headed for.” Gale confirms.
“So the Treasure’s up there!” Succubus cheers.
“Hell yeah, we did it! So… where’s the entrance?” Slugger asks. “All the way up there…?” That’s when a group of Shadows appear over the area, radiating strength. “Ugh, not again…”
“It’s no surprise that security would be tight around here.” Gale comments. “But as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained! Let’s go, Joker!”
I decide that before we go taking everyone out, we should check what we’re up against. So I ambush the closest one, revealing two Pixie’s, and a pair of the cavalrymen. After I use Bufu to knock the horseback men down, I pass my go to Succubus, who guns down the Pixies. An overall simple battle. I decide to take out two more, then move on.
When I get the chance, I break the one interesting box on the roof, which just has another helmet in it, then, finding that the door is locked, notice another way around, and begin climbing. Climbing up, I found two barrels, one with a candle stand, and another was yet another shield. Jumping along, we end up scaling the sides of the roof, to reach the base of the tower.
Getting inside the tower is simple. There was a large open window, which leads to a small room, containing a vase with another dull sword. The next room is much more interesting. Bits of floor are either lower, or higher than the rest of the room, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting the things on those pieces of floor.
“Wh-what’s going on!?” Succubus asks, surprised.
“The distortion is getting stronger… The Treasure has got to be nearby!” Gale exclaims. Looking around, I quickly break open an urn that was holding yet another sword, and continue down the only available path, down a short hall that has sculptures of what appears to be the torso of women, or young girls, no heads, while the arms appear to be inside the walls. All that’s visible is their chest, and stomach.
“Well, this is disturbing…” Succubus mutters as we walk, then she sees the next room, which has statues, similar to the ones we just saw, except they are wearing the uniform of the football team, as well as being used to hold up pillars. “This just makes me want to steal his Treasure even more.” She declares, then we continue on. I lead the team through a doorway to my right, which leads to an odd room.
“Huh… what’s this…?” She asks.
“Looking at it, I’d have to guess an elevator. Let’s wait until we have a rest before looking into it.” I suggest, turning around. The next room around this circular tower holds a guard, and a locked chest. ‘Guess I’m gonna need a few lockpicks before we take his Treasure…’ I think to myself, before ambushing the guard.
This guard turns into a new type of Shadow. She appears to have webbed wings, the inside being a reddy brown colour, while the limb is a more blue black colour. She is wearing black leggings that reach halfway up her thighs, and a leotard that barely covers her privates, as well as matching gloves, that reach halfway up her upper arms. I honestly get the same feel from her, as I got from Incubus, which makes me concerned.
I decide to feel out their attacks, going with only physical. Then they use a skill which makes Succubus and Slugger act odd. I figured it would be mentioned in Gale’s handbook, so I didn’t ask. When they get the chance, Slugger attacks Succubus, while Succubus attacks me, and I gotta say, her shoes hurt…
I end up finishing both enemies off, which seems to lift the odd effect from my team, who apologise for their momentary actions. Heading into the next room, I ambush the Shadow that was behind the door, which reveals the same Shadow that challenged us in the Cathedral, except this one feels weaker.
On one of his turns, Slugger hits it with a Zio, which knocks it down, and lets us know it’s weakness. Unfortunately, it survives an All-out Attack, but since we can put it asleep with a skill from Succubus, it’s a bit easier than before. By the time that Slugger gets to hit a second Zio, we finish him off quickly.
Looking around the room, we find that this is the last room of this floor, and also contains a Safe Room. So, after unlocking a door to the first of the four rooms, we enter the Safe Room to relax, grabbing some loot from an urn as we go.
After the break, we head back to the elevator to investigate. Back in the room, I lead the team onto the strange elevator and pull the lever, taking us down. It takes a while, but we end up in what appears to be a back room.
“H-Hey, where are we?” Slugger asks, seemingly confused. Looking around from the elevator, I can see some exposed gears that are turning, as well as urns and barrels. Clearing the room, I found a pair of helmets, and another opal. Other than that, we found another elevator that was missing, and what appears to be a painting of Kikku.
“What the heck…? This is disgusting…” Succubus says, sounding repulsed.
“Either way… it’s kind of strange that this would be our dead end.” Gale points out, sounding contemplative. Deciding that she is right, I walk up to the painting, and push on it, which reveals that it is actually a revolving door to the entrance hall.
“Huh? This looks familiar… Wait, isn’t this the entrance hall?! How’d we get here?” Slugger asks. “Wait, look. There aren’t any more soldiers around here, but there were tons before.”
Taking the chance, I quickly go and open the pathways to the second floor that were barred before, after which I head down to explore the ground floor of the room. Looking around, I find two chests hidden behind the stairs, one containing a bead, the other a revival bead. After unlocking the door to our main entrance, we head back up the stairs to look around. The only thing of note is a room with a chain, which after being pulled, starts up similar gears to the ones in the back room.
After heading back into the back area, I lead us down to the second elevator, which has risen, and decide to ride it down. When we reach the bottom, we appear to be in some sewers, or something like that. But the more important thing is the large pit in the middle of the area. There is a wooden platform over the pit, and I think I can see hinges, probably to a trapdoor. Looking around a bit more, I can see a viewing platform, where Kikku’s Shadow is sitting, looking bored. I can also see a cell door, similar to the ones in the dungeons.
What is even more surprising is the occupants of the cell, being a cognitive version of myself and Slugger.
“That bastard, what does he think he’s doing with us in that cell?” Slugger whispers, but still sounds pissed off.
“Judging by the rest of the room, I’d say this is an execution chamber. It’s likely that his cognition of whoever he expels will come here and be executed.” After Gale points that out, I notice a cognition of Puroguramu, cowering behind mine and Sluggers cognitions.
“So, what should we do Joker?” Slugger asks, readying his bat.
“Well there are two choices, we either break up this execution and hope the boys have something that may help, or we leave and hope we don’t need anything only they have.” I explain, before nodding. “I’m gonna go with option one.”
“Alright. We’re with you Joker.” Succubus confirms, readying her whip while Gale lifts up her dagger, as we sneak up and I ambush the golden knight beside Kikku’s Shadow.
“You again!? Here to crash my execution eh? Well, I highly doubt you’ll be able to take out one of my highest level of soldier.” Shadow Kikku says, backing away to the elevator as the Shadow knight finishes forming. And that’s when we all recoiled in disgust.
“No no no no! We are not really fighting that, are we!?!” Succubus asks, sounding like she’d rather be anywhere but here. This Shadow is truly massive, being on a large, golden chariot, with multiple blades snapping up and down at the front. The true monstrosity is the rider, if I could even call it that. It’s main body was a large, green snake-like thing, with veins and arms over it, as well as a mushroom cap head, and a gaping mouth. On the other end, are two large fleshy bulbs, as well as numerous tentacles.
“We don’t have a choice here Succubus, but focus on dodging for now, we’ll get our opening.” I order, doing so.
After dodging for a bit, I noticed that it only performed four skills. One that seemed to make it harder and faster, and maybe stronger after coloured energy surrounds it, one where it tries to hit us with its many tentacles, the hit’s resulting in brainwashing for a bit, a skill that has it shoot us with a strange substance, and Charge, which I recall the archangel in the cathedral using, which concerns me.
After dodging for two minutes, we manage to hide by the elevator, which is too small an area for it, but the elevator is gone.
“Damn it, how are we gonna beat this thing?!” Slugger yells in frustration.
“Well, considering what it’s based off, maybe a Bufu…” I mutter to myself.
“What was that Joker?” Gale asks, looking up at me.
“I’m thinking it might have a weakness to Bufu, but considering it buffs itself whenever it needs to, even that might not do much.” I confess.
“Well whatever you're gonna do, hurry it up, I think it’s gonna do that shooting attack again!” Succubus yells, hiding behind Slugger, who looks annoyed.
“Alright then, Silky! Bufu!” I order, pointing at the Shadow, as a blast of Ice crystals hit it, knocking it down. While it’s down, we quickly surround it, and all out attack, resulting in us chopping some of the tentacle/tails from the back off, and one of its arms. After we finish, we go back to hiding.
“Well, how’s it look. Any closer to being dead?” Slugger asks. It does look a bit slower than before.
“Alright, we could try that again, but now it knows I’ve got it’s weakness…” I suggest.
“I think we should. Two or three more times and we got it.” Gale says, looking confident.
“That may be, but I won’t have much energy left for the rest of the Palace at that point.” I remind them, summoning Silky anyway.
“Wait, I’ve got an idea. Maybe we could use Bufu on one of our weapons. Maybe they could knock it down?” Gale suggests.
“Not a bad idea. Bufu!” I say, gesturing to Succubus’s boots, making them glow frosty blue, causing her to sigh.
“Alight, guess I’ll go knock it down…” She says, running out and kicking it’s head, knocking it over for another All out attack, and her boots were still glowing.
When it manages to get up, she stomps on it’s back, knocking back into a third All out attack. When it manages to get up once more, it appears to be drooping.
“This is it, let’s finish it off Joker!” Succubus says, sounding glad to have this be over.
“Silky, Bufu!” I order, before we follow the blast in for the final All out attack of the battle, finishing it off the battle that probably took about half an hour. As the unnamed Shadow fades into ash, Succubus turns to look at me.
“If at any point in our adventure I see you summon that, I will step on you like it did it.” Succubus says, glaring at me, fire in her eyes. I just nod, hoping I don’t end up summoning it myself. ‘She terrifies me sometimes…’ I think as we head over to the caged cognitions.
“What do you want, gonna kill us now like you did that think?” Cognitive Me asked.
“Nope. We’re here to free you.” I say, grabbing the nearby key and opening the cell. Mine and Slugger’s cognitions step out of the cell but Puroguramu’s stays curled up.
“If you say so. What’s the catch?” Mine asks, looking cautious.
“Got anything to help us reach the top of the tower?” I ask, thinking of the staircase higher up.
“Well, from what I know from exploring, the way up the tower is blocked by doors, each needs a key. Luckily, I took the master key from King Douchebag before he caught us. I stashed it in one of the kitchens.” My cognition explains. “If that’ll be all, I’m gonna take these two and get out of here while we can.” He finishes, getting Puroguramu’s cognition up, and heading for the elevator, my team following behind so we don’t have to wait.
Once this elevator reached the top of it’s mechanism, we all hopped off, and headed out the hidden doorway to the entrance hall.
“I hope you make it to whatever you're looking for.” My cognition says, before taking off out the front door. Deciding to grab the special key my cognition hid, we quickly stealthed into both kitchen-like areas, and found it hidden in a crate. With the key in hand, we headed back to the secret back room, and back up the elevator to the tower.
Leaving the elevator room, we took the clear route back to the stairs, which we head up, grabbing another shield and a life stone from some urns on our way up.
After unlocking the way with the key we got, we find that the next room is full of the benches with the lower half of the statues from before, but smaller, and appear to follow you, always pointing their behind at you. I find an urn with an opal, and ambush a Shadow.
This is a new Shadow, being an adult man, with a coloured owl head and wings. Playing on a hunch, I order Succubus to use Agi, which knocks it down, and we use an all out attack to kill it.
Sneaking up to a second Shadow, it reveals a pair of Incubus, with another demon looking woman, wearing a somewhat revealing outfit. They don’t last long, with Slugger managing to crit them all to death, while I take the time to get the new Persona, sharing Succubus’s name, I sent Jack-O-Lantern back to the safe room to wait for later.. We also found another lanturn in an urn.
Going up the stairs by that urn, we find a new chest, which has what is labeled as a Relax Gel. There is another with Baptismal Water inside. Using my thief vision, I find that both Shadows nearby are stronger, but I ambush them, deciding the experience is useful. I find a pair of the red horsemen, and a pair of Pixies. We beat them down with physical skills and crits. I use a life stone to heal up myself, while Gale uses Dia on herself and Slugger.
The other Shadow is radiating rage, but I ambush it anyway. This is another of the angels from the cathedral, as well as some Pixies. We kill the Pixies quickly, but the angel gets a strike in, knocking out Slugger, but a revival bead from Gale gets him up to finish it off with Zio, and an All out attack.
Heading up the stairs near where the raging Shadow was patrolling, I find an urn, and another locked door, which opens with the key we got. Raiding a box with a dull sword, we make our way further up. There are two paths, the first one, around the obstacle, is blocked by distortion, so we have to go over a pit, but the pit has swinging blades.
“Whoa, that was close…! Wait… What is this…?” Succubus asks.
“It’s a classic security measure. My tail might be in danger if we try to force our way through…” Gale mutters, looking concerned.
“Oh yeah, same for Succubus’s. So.. what do we do? No way we’re gettin’ through there as is.” Slugger agrees. Near the swinging path, is another statue of Kikku.
“Yo, you think this controls those swinging blades?” Slugger asks, and I try pulling it, but there is no reaction.
“I didn’t think it’d be that easy. We’ll probably need some kind of key for it.” Gale suggests.
“Wouldn’t the Master one we have be enough?” Succubus asks.
“I doubt it. Notice it’s eyes are missing? We’d probably need at least two keys to continue, and they might have to stay. So let’s keep the master key, and find the ones we need. Probably from higher strength Shadows if my guess is right.” Gale explains, and I nod.
“Agreed. Looks like we need to hunt a few more Shadows guys. Shouldn’t be much longer though.” I encourage, before leading the way back down. When we get down, we see that more guards have replaced the previous. I also notice that Tasukete has learned a new skill and decide to test it out.
“Tasukete, Dream Slash!” I order, and he slashes the enemy Shadow, it puts him to sleep, then on Sluggers turn, he crits, killing the enemy. The rest of the room is pretty easy, except for the golden knight of this room.
If I recall right, it was the Shadow we fought after Slugger awakened. And after beating it down, it dropped an eye.
“H-Hey, that Shadow did have something… But why the hell is it an eye?” Slugger asks.
“My guess is that it’s one of the two keys we need. We just need one more, let’s go Joker!” Gale says, and we head back down to the previous floor to look for more.
“Crap… They all look like high-rankin’ soldiers! Are we gonna have to beat all of ‘em!?” Slugger asks, annoyed.
“That could work, but I bet Joker can find the right one.” Gale suggest, looking at me, and I nod, knowing that my thief vision could probably help, and I notice the right one immediately.
“Let’s go.” I say, leading them down and ambushing the right guard. It was the same type of Shadow as the last, and we killed it just as quick, finding the second key eye on the ground afterwards.
“Sweet, we got both of that bastard’s eyes! Let’s go stop those swingin’ things!” Slugger cheers.
“Sure, but before that, let’s rest in the safe room, after we clear the area of course.” I say, having us do just that, the battles not being too difficult. After the quick rest stop, we quickly returned to the scythe hall. Reaching the hall, I proceed to insert the eye keys into the statue and activate the mechanism, causing the scythes to retract, stopping the trap.
“Alright! We can get across now!” Slugger cheers. Heading across the metal platforms, I notice a chest off to the side, which I jump the small gap to reach, finding a Soul Drop, basically a smaller, weaker Snuff Soul, which I use on myself and continue to the other side of the room. There is an enemy, they get some hits in, but they aren't too difficult, just a pair of the owl men.
Afterwards, I loot the chest they were guarding, holding a Revival Bead. There are some breakables around where the Shadow was, holding another helmet, and another fruit. Then, we head up to the next floor.
This room has many busts of Kikku, which have glowing eyes and follow our movements, as I break an urn and a crate, which hold a fruit and onyx. Then, we walk over to where some stairs should appear, but they don’t.
“Huh…?” Slugger mutters, likely as confused about it as I am.
“Hmph, You are gravely mistaken if you think stairs will appear for you whenever you’d like.” I voice says from behind us. Turning around, we find another of the golden Shadows.
“So, this guy is stopping them…” Gale mutters, as we head over to confront the enemy.
“This majestic tower penetrating the sky represents the admirable King Kikku’s most sacred place…” The Shadow says. “It is nowhere for children like yourselves! Prepare for your punishment!”
“What kind of selfish reasoning is that!? The only one who needs to be punished is-” Succubus begins to say, being cut off as it reveals it’s true form. “A-Ahhhh! Not again!” She yells, stepping back from the slimy beast.
“It’s coming!” Gale says, readying her weapon, as me and Slugger do the same.
I start off with Tasukete using Dream Slash, knocking it out cold while Gale then slashes it for good damage. Succubus kicks it away from her, while Slugger manages to miss. I also miss my next chance, which leads to the slimy creature staring at Succubus. Gale and Succubus manage to connect their next melee attacks, while me and Slugger miss. That results in the beast getting an attack off, knocking Succubus out cold.
Gale quickly uses one of our revival beads to get her back up so she can attack again. Slugger buffs my attack for my next Dream Slash, which manages to connect and knock it out, for Gale to get a good bit of damage in. We repeat our loop for a bit more, Gale and Succubus using their weapons, while me and Slugger use our Personas to physically attack it, my attack knocking it out to set up for Gale. After one or two more loops, we manage to kill it, but are fairly exhausted from the encounter, but Tasukete does feel stronger afterwards.
“Okay…. We can keep movin’ now!” Slugger says, after catching his breath.
“I-I’m so done with this place…” Succubus mutters, a bit wobbly from being taken out.
“Hang in there, Succubus. According to the map, we’re almost at the top.” Gale points out, as we head to the stairs. Heading up the stairs, we find the way clear to the next floor, grabbing a Life Stone from an urn on our way.
On this floor, we find a large doorway, which is closed, with more of those statues of a females like on the previous floors, as well as a pathway around with a Shadow and a chest. Ambushing it reveals a Succubus and one of the red horse riding knights. It isn’t too hard, and we get the chest.
Past the chest, we find a vase with one last helmet, and a Safe Room. After resting for a few minutes, we head out. Since the door to the throne room appears to be locked, I look around, and notice that I can climb up the rear end of one of the statues. Doing so allows me to climb up to a passageway to the second floor of the throne room.
“Okay, we’re in!” Slugger whispers excitedly.
“Quiet down!” Gale orders.
“Oh shit, it’s Kikku…!” Slugger mutters.
“And a ton of soldiers too…” Succubus mutters, sounding tired.
“How have you not captured the intruders yet!?” Shadow Kikku asks, sounding pissed off.
“I apologize, my liege!” One of the Shadows says.
“I bet he’d never imagine we’re in the same room as him. Come on, let’s keep moving.” Gale suggests.
Crouching low to the floor, we sneak along this second floor, to the back of the room, trying to ignore the fact that I can see a woman's legs going into the ceiling, and her chest protruding out above his throne, with a chandelier hanging from them. Around the back, we find a vase with a shield, a box with a life stone, and a doorway. Inside the door, we find a room with just an urn, and a door. The urn holds an onyx, and we head to the door.
“This sturdy-lookin’ door’s pretty promisin’. Let’s head inside!” Slugger says, and we open the door to find a room full of gold coins, and trophies.
“Whoa, what is this place?! Holy shit!” He exclaims. “That Treasure thing’s gotta be in here!”
“Hey, what is this? It’s… floating in the air.” Succubus remarks, as we walk over to a floating, glowing ball of mist or energy. Gale hops up on the giant trophy it’s floating over as she begins speaking.
“Hehe… That’s the Treasure. We finally found it!” She exclaims, sounding excited.
“You’re sure this cloudy thing is the Treasure?” I ask.
“Just relax for a second. I was planning on explaining the rest after we got this far.” She explains. “Simply finding the Treasure isn’t enough. We’ll need to give it a physical form before we can take it.”
“Whaddya mean…?” Slugger asks, leaning against the giant trophy.
“As you probably guessed, desires have no physical form by nature.” Gale explains. “Hence, we’ll need to make the real persona aware that their desires are in fact a Treasure.”
“Once they’re conscious that their desires might be stolen, the Treasure will finally show itself.” She finishes.
“How do you think we should do that?” Succubus asks.
“We warn them. Tell them, ‘We’re gonna steal your heart.’” Gale explains.
“So we’re gonna send a calling card!? That’s totally what a phantom thief would do!” Slugger exclaims excitedly.
“Once we do that, the Treasure should appear for sure!” She finishes.
“Should?” Slugger asks, before shaking his head. “Either way, sounds like it’s worth giving it a shot!”
“Well, our infiltration route is secure.” Gale says. “All that’s left now is to draw up a calling card in reality, then come back and take the Treasure.”
“This is it, huh?” Succubus asks.
“Let’s get this done, and avenge Pitchi.” I say.
“That’s the spirit!” Gale agrees. “Once we send out the calling card, there won’t be any turning back.”
“Just let me know when you’re ready. We’ll head back to the hideout and send out that calling card.” She finishes. “Well, we’ve secured our route… So, what should we do now? Do you wanna head out for today?”
“Sure, I think we’re all exhausted.” I agree.
“Yeah! Let’s get the hell outta here before Kikku finds us!” Slugger agrees. After that, we sneak back to the nearby Safe Room, and use the vent in there to make our way back to the entrance.
“We’ve secured our roubt to the Treasure… Do you want to get out of here?” Gale asks.
“Yep, let’s go.” I agree.
“Mkay, all we gotta do now is steal the Treasure that shows up, yeah? It’s finally time.” Slugger points out.
“But sending out the calling card comes first. When should we do it?” Succubus asks.
“Let’s discuss that later. We all need some rest, and we can discuss it back at the hideout.” Gale suggests, and I nod. “Well done today guys, I know you must be exhausted. I know I am.” Gale finishes as we leave the Metaverse.
---------------------
After leaving the Metaverse, we each head on home, and I decide to relax on the train home, as it’s already around evening.
Upon walking in the cafe, I see Roast-san still working behind the counter.
“I’m pretty exhausted from going to the Metaverse... “ Abigale says, sounding tired. “Let’s hurry and get to bed for some good rest.” As I’m heading upstairs, I get a message on my phone.
<You back home yet? I’m pooped…> Hayai messages. <It hit me like a goddamn ton of bricks right when I sat down…>
<Well, I guess we did walk pretty far in.> Rirī replies. <I’m glad we found that Treasure thing though.>
<So Kikku’ll turn into a good guy if we steal that, huh…> Hayai continues. <Either way, it’s up to you when we send the card, Hexan.>
<Call us over to the hideout when you’re ready.> Rirī agrees.
<Got it. Nice work you guys.> I answer.
<See ya!> Rirī finishes, as we each log off.
“The real challenge is coming up. I hope you’re ready.” Abigale points out, resting on my shoulder from my bag. Before I head up, I decide to check in with Roast-san before heading up.
“I know you’re probably tired, I can see it on your face. But if you’re going to study, you can use the booth. But just remember to clean it up once you're done, okay?” He suggests, getting back to work as I head upstairs to bed.