Monday. April 25th, 2017.

During the past week the two Wild Cards were pretty much busy with their own business.

Akira started befriending a doctor in his neighborhood, interacted with Sojiro in the after hours, bought some equipment, hung out with Ann and Ryuji, made tools for infiltration with Morgana teaching him, and infiltrated deeper into the castle up to the point where he had found where The Treasure Morgana mentioned was located.

Meanwhile Minato was just chilling around. He went to the batting cage until late night, rented some movies to watch, studied at the school library and at home, did laundry, learned how to cook, went around Tokyo as on his way home, went to Mementos and the Velvet Room to level up and create more Personas respectively.

He also found out that Konoe and Tony's plan of snooping around the volleyball practice had failed since Mr. Kamoshida caught them in the act. It ended up with them looking pretty banged up after Mr. Kamoshida forced them to join the volleyball practice as punishment. They were lucky to not get expelled since they didn't make any kind of threats to him. Nevertheless, it wasn't going to stop them from reporting it to the police, even though they haven't acted on it yet.


That Monday, there was a ruckus in front of an announcement board before the first bell as the students seem to be paying attention on something stuck all over it which caught them in the eye.

"What's with this weird logo? And who're these Phantom Thieves of Hearts people...?"

Akira, Ann, Ryuji, and Morgana who watched from afar looked around to see how everyone would react.

"...It got everyone excited, so it's all good, yeah?" Ryuji asked.

Suddenly, Kamoshida himself came up to the announcement board, looking pretty angry at what he'd seen. "Who's responsible for this!?"

"Look at that. A predictable reaction for someone who knows what we mean by distorted desires." Morgana smiled.

"I think it's hittin' him pretty hard." Ryuji followed.

"Did you do this!? Or was it you!?" Mr. Kamoshida started accusing students standing around the announcement board, which scared them away. "..Was it you two!?" He came up to the group of Akira, Ann, and Ryuji.

"What're you talking about?" Akira asked.

"What garbage... Eh, it's not a problem. You'll be expelled soon enough anyway."

The school suddenly changed to a distorted form and Kamoshida changed into his Shadow self from the castle. "Come... Steal it, if you can!"

"Was it you!?" Kamoshida asked a blue-haired student as he turned around the corner, to which the blue haired student declined.

"Judging from Kamoshida's response... I'm sure we had an effect on his Palace!" Morgana explained.

"Does that mean The Treasure's appeared!? We'll be able to get it today, right?" Ann asked.

"It's not just 'today'. It's ONLY today. The impact of seeing a calling card doesn't last long, and it cannot be repeated. This will be our one chance to steal The Treasure."

"One day's more than enough for us! Let's do it after school."

Minato was the last person Mr. Kamoshida accused as he approached the announcement board. He picked up one of the calling card and read it while leaning behind a wall as he overheard a group of students and someone who sounded like a talking cat in the distance. As the group of students left, he processed what he just heard.

"Calling card? Palace...? Steal the treasure...?" Minato thought to himself. He finally found a solid lead he could follow. He decided to return to his classroom as the first bell rang.


"Suguru Kamoshida..."

"Shujin Academy..."

"Pervert..."

"Castle..."

"Destination found. Beginning navigation."

Minato decided to tail a group of students he overheard earlier after he saw a bunch of calling cards posted on an announcement board, assuming they're the Phantom Thieves of Hearts they claimed themselves to be. After three attempts, he finally succeeded inputting the correct keywords to what he assumed to be a separate world from Mementos.

Shujin Academy's building in front of him changed to a really big castle with the school's name written on the gate. Weirdly enough, his outfit didn't change in the slightest unlike in Mementos. As of that moment, Minato was only wearing his school outfit without carrying any weapons, nor the mask. He already prepared himself in case something like that would happen and put on a pair of fingerless biker gloves with reinforced knuckles he bought the other day in case he wanted to fight without weapons. As for summoning his Personas, he always had his Evoker ready just in case the mask failed him.

From his end of the bridge leading to the castle entrance, he spotted a group of guards patrolling on the other side, which meant breaking in through the front door was not an option. He had no weapon other than his fists, so bulldozing through them was out of the question. He looked around, then up, and found three banners hanging to the right of the entrance. He jumped off the bridge into the water and climbed up one of the banners as soon as he reached it. He didn't forget to mark his entrance point before he started traversing the castle, in case he needed an exit.

Navigating the castle proved to be challenging, but not something he couldn't do. All he had to do was slip by the guards, which was new to him as he never had to be as stealthy before. The larger hallways were easier to go through because they provided a lot of hiding spots, but he was forced to fight in the narrower areas where he had to defeat the guards to progress.

Even then, with the fighting he's been doing inside Mementos, it wasn't much of a challenge. At first he didn't know that he had to take the guards' masks off to get the jump on them. Still, to avoid alerting other guards, he eventually got the hang of it, even though his way of unmasking the guards were still quite rough as he had to strangle them down with all of his strength before removing the masks. Once the masks were off, they're met by his fists and kicks without reply.

As he's progressing along, he noticed he hadn't been using his Personas at all because he didn't feel the need to since the ones he fought were the same ones he had encountered in Mementos, aside from the mask not appearing. But once again, for the sake of stealth, he opted against using the Evoker should he be forced to summon his Personas since a pull of the trigger actually emitted quite the loud bang which wouldn't go unnoticed. Therefore, he concentrated on trying to make his mask appear. After a few seconds, he succeeded as he could feel the same colorless mask he had been using to summon his Personas attach itself to his face.

As he arrived in front of an open door leading to the Throne Room, he saw something coming out of the door at the back. He stood beside the open door to avoid being seen. Then he saw someone coming up the stairs, which made him retreat to a room nearby. After a minute of not being seen, he got out and walked back to the open Throne Room. The oppressive atmosphere he felt even before he stepped in front of the open door was a sign that he had to hide, so he climbed up one of the statues which resembled a female body and got up the terrace of the Throne Room. He peeked through one of the fairly huge railing posts and saw three people wearing extravagant clothing and a little cat figure confronting who looked like the king of the castle embracing a beautiful female wearing minimal clothing while holding a crown.

From the calling card he grabbed earlier, Minato thought it was safe to assume the four people standing before the supposed king were the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Moreoverly, he recognized one of them, wearing a black trench coat, as the frizzy-haired second-year transfer student people had been speaking ill about. As he the confrontation heated up, he tucked himself back behind the massive railing covered by bushes and concentrated on eavesdropping.


"What a selfish misunderstanding..."

"How is it a misunderstanding!? You were doing things that you kept in secret from others!"

"The people around me were the ones who kept it secret. Adults who want to share in my accomplishments, students who have the drive to become winners... They willingly protect me so that we all may profit from it."

"Profit!?"

"There are too many imbeciles who don't understand that! Including naive brats like you and the girl who tried to kill herself!"

"True, she's a total idiot...letting you manipulate her, trying to commit suicide... And I'm even more of a dumbass for not realizing that! But no matter what kind of fool someone might be... They don't need permission to live their lives!"

"Drop the attitude, you mediocre peasant! There's no wrong in using my gifts for my gain!" "I'm a cut above all other humans!"

"Above...? You mean beneath! You're a goddamn demon obsessed with your sick desires!"

Shadow Kamoshida chuckled, and a nasty red aura began gathering around him. "That's right. I'm not like you... I am a demon who rules this world!"

The king suddenly transformed into a gigantic pink hideous-looking four-legged, four-armed figure with its long tongue sticking out. It's holding a knife, a fork, a glass of wine with the fake Ann swimming in it, and a stick in each of its hands, accompanied with chained slaves and a golden chalice with females inside of it. The look was completed with the same crown it was holding earlier. It called itself Asmodeus.

The sight of it grossed out the Phantom Thieves standing before them.

"I'm allowed to do whatever the hell I want!"

"Look! The Treasure's over there! We should catch him off guard and steal it! Let's attack him and wait for that opportunity!" Morgana pointed at the sparkling crown.

"Arsene, Eiha!"

"Captain Kidd, Zio!"

"Zorro, Garu!"

"Carmen, Agi!"

All four Phantom Thieves attacked one after another in hopes of finding a weakness. Each of them managed to chip the boss' health away, but none managed to knock it down.

Asmodeus ordered its slaves to attack the Phantom Thieves, releasing a flurry of volleyball spikes directed at each of them. Akira and Morgana dodged most of them, Ryuji batted away some of the spikes before taking minimal damage, and Ann gave Ryuji twice the work with her taking cover behind Ryuji resulting in Ryuji getting some of his health chipped away.

"Skull, focus on attacking! Panther, prioritize healing! Mona, attack or heal as you see fit! I'll fill the gaps..."

Akira gave commands to his fellow Phantom Thieves which was complied in unison.

"Mokoi, Tarukaja!"

"Take this! Captain Kidd, Lunge!"

"Hang in there, Skull. Carmen, Dia!"

"Ha! Zorro, Garu!"

Akira increased Ryuji's attack power seeing that he had the potential to deal the most amount of damage. Ryuji kept attacking and managed to do just that even though it's still miniscule compared to Asmodeus' health pool. Ann went ahead and healed Ryuji so he could keep using physical attacks without depleting his health. Mona also kept attacking with his Wind spell. The second round of attacks had managed to reduce Asmodeus' health by a good amount. Even though it took quite some time to chip away damage, it looked like the scales were tipping to the Phantom Thieves' side. Asmodeus again ordered his slaves to attack the Phantom Thieves which managed to deal slightly more damage than last time but it wasn't really the end of the world, all things considered.

Suddenly, Asmodeus stuck its knife and fork into the golden chalice, grabbed one of the females inside, and ate it. It immediately restored its health, reverting everything back to square one.

"Nnnnngh! I need healin'! Come at me, you pieces of shit! I ain't lettin' you sleep tonight!"

"What!?"

"Now this is bullshit!"

"Calm down, everyone!"

Ryuji and Ann looked nonplussed. Akira acted and calmed them down. He didn't see that one coming either but it's not the time to complain.

"He healed himself...? Is it because he ate those inside there...?" Morgana's eyes widened as he witnessed what just happened.


Up in the terrace, now hiding behind a makeshift cover made out of nearby wooden boxes he put together, Minato had further elaborated his plan. He planned on rigging the battle in favor of the Phantom Thieves without anyone knowing, even the Phantom Thieves themselves. He knew it's going to be a challenge, but he's one of the most confident man around whenever he's faced with adversity. He cycled through his Personas as he's choosing the best course of action.

"Hua Po... Rakunda..."

He quickly reacted and silently summoned a Persona after seeing the boss heal itself. As it commanded its slaves to attack the Phantom Thieves, he directed a defensive debuff spell at the golden chalice so the Phantom Thieves below could quickly destroy it and prevent the boss from healing again.


"Focus on the Trophy of Obsession!"

"Sure, just in case he tries that again!"

"Berith, Double Fangs!"

"Persona! Captain Kidd, Lunge!"

Akira and Ryuji combined and managed to deal a good amount of damage to the chalice, putting a lot of dents on it.

"Hey!" Asmodeus gasped. "You don't know what this is worth, so stop touching it! Don't do it anymore, got it? I've warned you!"

"Eff you and that trophy, asshole!" Ryuji replied.

"When someone tells us not to do something, it makes us want to do it even more!" Morgana followed.

"You seem to know a thing or two about youth, Mona..." Ann also followed.


"The new Wild Card..."

Those words hadn't left Minato's mind since he first heard it. He had suspicions on the frizzy-haired boy when he saw him in a group of three and heard a talking cat sticking out of his bag at school. As he witnessed the fight and the frizzy-haired boy's ability to switch Personas, his suspicions were finally confirmed. He had found the new Wild Card who's taking part in a game where he's already at a disadvantage; the second-year, glasses-wearing, timid-looking, ill-spoken, Akira Kurusu. He could breathe a sigh of relief as he found that his decision to follow the frizzy-haired boy and his friends into the Metaverse was a good one.

All of a sudden, his objective became clearer. Still, he's not allowed to be seen so he couldn't just jump down. He decided to stick to his plan.

"Orpheus..." He summoned Orpheus, who immediately crouched beside him and watched the fight behind cover.

"Marakukaja..." Orpheus grabbed its lyre and played a soft tone.

He decided to grant them a huge gift, a defensive buff spell, seeing that the boss' attacks don't seem to follow any of the elements. Judging from their Personas, he could at least identify what elements the four of them were strong against.

As the battle progressed, another idea to rig it suddenly crossed his mind.


"Panther, try attacking the chalice alongside Skull. I'll be covering alongside Mona."

"Zorro, Dia!"

"Come, Carmen! Agi!"

"Mokoi, Tarukaja!"

"Persona! Captain Kidd, Lunge!"

Ann and Ryuji's attack landed on the chalice as they scramble out to dodge the slaves' flurry of spikes.

"I'll finish the chalice! Berith, Double Fangs!"

Akira summoned Berith to finish off the trophy. However, only one of the two hits managed to deal damage. Nevertheless, the chalice was on its ropes, and Ryuji stepped up to attack it with an Electricity spell.

"Captain Kidd, Zio!"


"Succubus, Zio...!"

It turned out the one idea which suddenly popped into Minato's mind was to momentarily amplify one of the Phantom Thieves' attack by synchronizing the timing of his summoning to theirs. However, he couldn't just do it recklessly. He had to do it on a matching elemental spell, and match it with someone under the effect of Tarukaja, which increased the attack power, to make it believable.

He concentrated hard and synced his Zio with the blond-haired boy's Zio. Both Electricity spell managed to hit the chalice at the same time, reducing it to dust. He quickly called back his Persona and went back into cover.


"Holy shit! That came out stronger than I thought!" Ryuji had learned a bit of what his Persona could do, including some of the stuff the others could. But it was still a surprise for him that the effect of Tarukaja could be that powerful.

"Nice job, Skull!"

"Now there's just him to deal with..."

"...Ack! No way... This was from when I won the nationals..." Asmodeus had been knocked down for the first time.

"All right!"

The Phantom Thieves quickly surrounded Asmodeus, pointing their guns at it.

"You think you can get away with doing such a thing? Do you realize who I am!? I am Kamoshida! I'm the king! Don't you get it!?"

"So?"

"You're seriously lame right now..."

"We came all this way to steal that! Just give up and hand it over!"

"Silence! I won't let the likes of you have this!"

"You still have the energy to say that...?"

"I'm the king! If not, then who is!?"


"Whatever..." Minato murmured from behind cover.


"Let's have him!"

The Phantom Thieves jumped in and pummeled Asmodeus, which managed to chip away some of its health. Morgana felt it's not going to be enough to defeat it, so he came up with another plan.

"We won't get anywhere with brute force... Time for Plan B."

"What's the Plan B?"

"See that terrace? One of us will have to climb up and knock the crown off while the others distract him." Morgana pointed at the terrace. "Joker, decide on who you think is best for the job. Let's steal The Treasure without him noticing!"

"Alright..." Akira thought about who to send for a few seconds. "Skull, you do it. We'll distract him."

"Okay! Here I go! Cover me!"

Ryuji left the battle and climbed onto one of the pillars on the left.


This was an interesting development according to Minato's point of view, who's hiding on the other side of the terrace, near the gap where he sneaked in from. As he watched the blond-haired boy climb up, he knew he didn't have time to admire the strategy. He still had a battle to rig, after all.

"Hua Po... Rakunda."

He cast a defensive debuff spell on the boss then watched to see whether the people downstairs could pull off their plan.

Much to his dismay, it didn't happen. They couldn't distract the boss long enough for it to not notice someone climbing onto the terrace. The blond-haired boy was forced to rejoin the battle and almost got his head chopped off by a knife in the process.


"Sorry, he noticed me..."

"No problem, Skull. We'll try it again when it's safe enough."

Despite failing knock the crown off, they were actually doing quite well. No one took severe damage although Ryuji needed to be constantly healed since he used up his health to do physical attacks and acted as the meat shield against the slaves' attacks.

After a while, Asmodeus decided to show another trick up its sleeve. It drank the wine it's been holding, which raised its attack power, then decided to up its game.

"Slaves! Bring over you-know-what!" He commanded the slaves to leave the battle, "Time for my killshot when I was active and rockin' it! Killshot...as in I make the kill!"

"Take this! The spike that conquered the world! Gold Medal Spike!"

"Shit...!"

"Guys-"

Asmodeus launched himself high in the air and spiked a gigantic volleyball towards the Phantom Thieves as they scramble to protect themselves. The spike was so strong if formed a thick cloud of smoke as it landed like a bomb.


Minato didn't expect that out of the boss. He too had to take cover from the attack even though it wasn't directed at him. When the smoke partly cleared, he saw the four Phantom Thieves still standing, but they took the full brunt of the assault which left them severely hurt. He himself was fine, and his makeshift hiding held up.

"Orpheus... Cadenza!"

He wasted no time and casted a spell which was unique to Orpheus as it had to be done in combination with another Persona. However, it had solely become Orpheus' skill. The skill, Cadenza, was directed at the Phantom Thieves. It managed to heal them about halfway through, and granted them an agility boost which was necessary if they wanted to survive.

"Tarunda..."

He wasted no time and quickly commanded Orpheus to reduce the boss' attack power. He called back Orpheus and ducked back into cover as the smoke fully cleared to avoid anyone noticing.


"Still standing, huh? Quite tenacious, aren't we? You want to see my killshot again, don't you?" Asmodeus sat down after spiking the world out of them.

"Is everyone okay!?" Akira looked around and checked on his friends.

"This bastard isn't playing around... We're still standing, by the way." Ryuji gasped for breath.

"Good, let's heal each other first, then prepare in case another one is coming."

They healed each other using a combination of items and Dia to full health. As they finished healing, Asmodeus repeated his previous pattern.

"It's gonna do the same! Everyone, brace!"

The Phantom Thieves put themselves on guard as another spike was bombing its way to their direction.


"Marakukaja!"

Minato summoned Orpheus again and quickly raised the defense of the Phantom Thieves, then braced for his dear life behind the cover while hoping his makeshift hiding would withstand the force like before.


"Still standing again!?" Asmodeus looked nonplussed as the smoke cleared to see the Phantom Thieves still standing like before.

"What's that? That didn't hurt one bit!" Ryuji taunted.

"Huh?"

"You heard me, asshole! We're still standing!"

"...We still need to keep healing just in case, Skull..." Morgana reminded Ryuji.

The second attack did less damage than before even after drinking the wine again. This enraged Asmodeus, but it wasn't about to lose its cool.

The fight went on to a bit of a stalemate as the Phantom Thieves and Asmodeus traded blows. With the battle on a stalemate, Morgana deemed it safe to execute his plan again.

"Let's do that plan again!"

"For real!? Is it safe enough!?"

"This has to be done, otherwise we're getting nowhere." Morgana narrowed his eyes. "Joker! Send me up! Time to show you my skills!"

"Alright. Go, Mona!"

"You better not screw this up! We'll cover you!"

Mona quickly left to climb up to the terrace. Meanwhile Akira decided to cast Tarukaja on Ryuji while Ann was on the receiving end of Ryuji's Tarukaja.

Asmodeus hadn't done the same attacking pattern for the time being, instead resorting to its weapons and tongue to try hit the Phantom Thieves. It managed to deal some damage, but not to the point of critical health.

"Panther, Skull, attack him. I'll make sure he doesn't move around..." Akira commanded Ann and Ryuji. "Obariyon, Sukunda!"

"Get wrecked! Captain Kidd, Lunge!"

"Hi-yah! Carmen, Agi!"


"Hua Po! Agi!"

Minato decided to amplify the girl wearing red's Fire spell using Hua Po instead of Orpheus. Orpheus, whose Fire spell was a level higher in Agilao, would've overdone it. He synced his summoning with her, and the Fire spell managed to deal big damage to the boss and he got away with it due to his immaculate timing. Satisfied with the result, he got back into cover.


The significant amount of damage Ann and Ryuji dealt to Asmodeus had managed to distract it. Akira casted Tarukaja on himself for good measure should he decide to attack.

"Now listen up. This school exists because I'm around. You're the only ones who don't respect me, you know. You're misunderstanding it all! I haven't sexually harassed anyone! They came on to me because they wanted to get on my good side!"

"And I thought the principal's speech was boring enough..."

"I don't know what you're saying, but at least I can get closer to The Treasure."


"Whatever..." Minato sighed.


As the fight progressed, the three of them had finally been able to reduce Asmodeus' health to about a quarter, and they've also managed to keep its attention away from the climbing Morgana. The distracted Asmodeus had failed to notice the Phantom Thieves lacking one personnel in the battle.

"Wait, is there one less of you? I knew it! Someone's missing! Where'd he go!?"

"Too late!"

That was the cue for Morgana. He jumped onto the chandelier and kicked the crown off the king. They finally succeeded executing the plan.

"Nooo! My... my precious...!" The king could only watch as its crown was knocked off to the ground. The scales were tipping heavily to the Phantom Thieves' side as Asmodeus seemed dejected.

"Take this! Carmen, Agi!"

"Captain Kidd, Zio!"

Both attacks landed, leaving Asmodeus on the last ropes.

"Finish him, Joker!"

"Pillage him, Arsene! Eiha!"


For one last time in the battle, Minato concentrated, synced his timing with the new Wild Card's attack.

"Succubus, Eiha."


The Curse spell landed square, finally defeating Asmodeus. It dissolved into nothingness and all that's left was the now weakened Shadow Kamoshida. The crown shrunk back to its original size but Shadow Kamoshida acted quickly and took it as he ran towards an open veranda.

"Nngh..."

"What's wrong? Not running away? Why don't you run? Aren't you a great athlete?" Ann taunted Shadow Kamoshida.

"It's always been like this... All those goddamn hyenas forcing their expectations on me...! I'm doing this all for them! What's wrong about demanding a reward for that!?" Shadow Kamoshida looked out as he poured the last of his feelings.

"Now you're makin' excuses...? We'll do something about that distorted heart of yours."

"Scared...? Right now, you're seeing the same view that Shiho did. I'm sure she was scared too...except she had no choice but to jump... What will you do? Will you jump...or would you rather die here?"

Ann summoned Carmen, rage visible from her face.

"Do you wanna finish him off? It's your call." Morgana looked at Ann.

"No, please wait! I beg you... Just forgive me!"

"Shut up. I bet everyone told you the same. But you... You took everything from them!" Carmen deliberately shot a fireball which just missed Shadow Kamoshida. Shadow Kamoshida only shrieked in fear.

"I...I accept defeat... You want this? Take it." He tossed the crown towards them, which Akira caught. "Go ahead and finish me off. You do that, and my real self will go down too. You have that right since you've won."

Ann balled one fist, and directed the other hand onto Shadow Kamoshida, wanting to actually finish him off.

"Stop! Killing him will kill the real Kamoshida!" Ryuji cried.

Akira stepped in front of her in a yielding gesture. "Panther... We're only here for The Treasure." He glanced at Ann while shaking his head, signaling Ann to stop.

However, Ann didn't flinch and shoved Akira out of the way. She commanded Carmen to fire another fireball.

"Ann!" Ryuji cried again.

Fortunately, the fireball missed the pitiful sight of Shadow Kamoshida seemingly accepting his fate. Fortunately, too, Ann managed to stay her compass. The outcome would've been different otherwise.

"If his mind shuts down, he can't admit his crimes."

"You're kind, Lady Ann."

"Great job at controlling yourself."

"I've lost... You're through when you lose... What am I...What am I supposed to do now?" Shadow Kamoshida fell to his knees and cried on the floor.

"Atone for your sins..." Akira answered.

"All right... I will leave now and return to my real self... I'll make certain that I-" Before he could finish the sentence, Shadow Kamoshida disappeared into the light.


Minato had seen enough. The fight was over, and the king had accepted defeat. The Phantom Thieves had done exactly what they said in the calling card. He sneaked out as they contemplated about what just happened to avoid being seen. He smiled, knowing all had ended well.

As he made his escape, he commended The Phantom Thieves' effort to restrain their will to kill the king inside his heart. He wondered if he and his friends...Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Fuuka, Aigis, Ken, Koromaru, even Shinjiro would be able to do the same under the same circumstances. He's aware that the Phantom Thieves were dealing with a different thing compared to what he had to go through, but what they did had gained his respect.

Moreoverly, he also gained a lot of new information. Of distorted desires forming separate worlds, of not killing the world's ruler to prevent killing its real self, of stealing its prized possession to change its heart, and of the Wild Card he's going to be helping from that point on. He looked forward to sharing it all with the Velvet Siblings as soon as he visited the Velvet Room.

Admittedly, seeing the Phantom Thieves fight together, even though there were only the four of them, made him think of the old times, and his friends. It had been seven years since his death. He wondered how they're all doing in his stead. He hadn't thought of his friends ever since he was alive again, but seeing and assisting the Phantom Thieves made him miss them. The thought made Minato shed a tear as he glided down the banner he came from as the castle was crumbling.

A/N: Whew, the Kamoshida arc is basically done! All that's left is for him to confess. I'll put it in a small recap on the next chapter.

The boss fight honestly wasn't too challenging, but the emotional build-up was there. It's not everyday you get to get back at a teacher in your school for messing with you and your friends. Defeating him felt good to me personally. In my mind, I also wanted to stop Ann from actually killing Kamoshida. She looked like she might snap for real but fortunately for everyone involved, even Minato and me included, she spared him. As far as boss fights go, this is one of the best out there based on emotional value alone.

I saw threads discussing where the Shadow Operatives were during this game, and admittedly that's a very good question. My guess is that they're probably lacking personnel since the ones fully committed to Shadow Operatives are Mitsuru, Aigis, and possibly Labrys. I'd like to safely assume the rest of them, including the P4 cast who might be affiliating themselves with Mitsuru, are busy with their lives, but would step in and help if it's a pressing matter. I'm also aware that the Phantom Thieves would eventually be too notorious for them to ignore.

I'm still laying out the outlines of the story. When will Minato join the Phantom Thieves, we'll see. But at least for now he can see them work and understand them. Writing this fic has been very engaging for me. There are so much points where I could just insert Minato in, it's crazy. I've also planned to put extra chapters in between. The contents? You could probably guess what some of them might be ;)

Below is the list of Minato's Personas up until the end of this chapter:
Lv32 Orpheus
Skills: Agilao, Cadenza, Tarunda, Endure,
Maragion, Marakukaja, Fire Boost
Lv12 Genbu
Skills: Bufu, Rakunda, Dia, Resist Confuse, Patra, Mabufu, Resist Forget, Defense Master

Lv6 Kelpie (normal fusion Bicorn x Mandrake)
Skills: Lunge, Garu, Skull Cracker (inherited from Bicorn)
, Apt Pupil (inherited from Bicorn)
Next skill unlocked (in order): Resist Brainwash, Sukukaja, Terror Claw
Lv9 Hua Po (normal fusion Mandrake x Genbu)
Skills: Agi, Dormina, Sukunda (inherited from Mandrake), Rakunda (inherited from Genbu)
Next skill unlocked (in order):
Tarunda, Resist Forget, Maragi, Burn Boost
Lv8 Succubus (normal fusion Pixie x Incubus)
Skills: Marin Karin, Rebellion, Zio (inherited from Pixie), Eiha (inherited from Incubus), Evil Touch (inherited from Incubus)
Next skill unlocked: Agi, Dekaja, Brainwash Boost, Mudo
Lv6 Saki Mitama (normal fusion Jack-o-Lantern x Bicorn)
Skills: Bufu, Energy Drop, Wind Wall, Resist Sleep (inherited by Jack-o-Lantern)
Next skill unlocked (in order): Growth 1, Rakukaja, Resist Dizzy

As always, I'd like to express gratitude for reading and supporting this fic. This chapter has been the toughest for me to write so far. I hope it turned out well. Please put this in your favorites tab, follow, and leave a review should you wish to. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading this fic as always.