Beta by Crossovernaru


IMPORTANT NOTICE (9/18/2017)

Puerto Rico will be hit by a strong hurricane this Wednesday. It'll probably turn into a category 5 as it passes and it'll pass on slowly over the island, with reports saying that it could take 10 to 12 hours before leaving the island.

Just wanted to let any reader know of the situation that is about to reach Puerto Rico and for all you not to be surprise if there are any delays with the story. This will be a though one, but that's nature for you.

Anyways, please enjoy the chapter.


Shirou blinked through heavy eyelids, as he slowly regained consciousness. He groaned as he noticed that his body felt trapped and in pain. His left cheek felt cold, and when he finally opened his eyes, he realized that it was because he was face down on the lavishly tiled floor. His eyes darted rapidly left and right in alarm. He caught sight of red curtains covering the walls, making the room glow red with an erotic vibe. He groaned uncomfortably as he caught sight of the weird sexual devices scattered around the room.

He looked down at the tentacle that was wrapped around his body, stifling a gasp as he felt it squirm and twitch.

"So, this is the impostor that is posing as the princess?" A muffled gurgling voice asked. The redhead immediately tensed as he tried to look behind from where he heard the strange voice.

"Yes, we determined that her appearance was a lie as she failed in her duty as a woman when she dared to reject the King's love. The other woman is disgusting, for she dares to dress up in the same image as the rebel who fell before the might of his majesty." Another similar voice informed his companion. "The impudent peasant there, he's the worst of the bunch, for he betrayed his majesty's expectations."

He groaned and ignored the voices commenting about him and the girls. He struggled fruitlessly against the bonds that held him as he looked around to try and find the girls. He managed to catch a small glimpse of Shiho and his desire to break free burned with fervor. After a while, Shirou stopped struggling, as the tasked seemed impossible. Instead, he chose to trace the bizarre and wet limb back to its source, midway he saw that the tentacle had been stabbed by two spears to keep it in place and—

Shirou froze as he saw the tentacle's point of origin. The sight nearly made his stomach drop at the twitching mass that was behind the steel cage.

It was a creature the likes of which he had never seen before. That thing could've only existed in the deepest depths of the ocean or in the mind of the most twisted person. It was just a mass of tentacles, that twitched and writhed excitedly, and a round mouth. The mouth was filled with rows and rows of sharp and pointy teeth that wouldn't let go of their prey and would grind their victims down to nothing, but a bloody mush if someone was unlucky enough to fall into their 'gullet'.

Fortunately, the cage had the thing trapped and it was sturdy enough that it made sure to keep it that way. Only a handful of its limbs had enough freedom to move and slip through the bars. Four of which had him, Shiho and Ann captured.

Shirou took a deep breath, as he felt the blood drain from his face when he saw the creature drool hungrily at him.

"Emiya-kun… are you okay?"

His eyes widened at the familiar voice. He craned his neck upwards to look at Shiho and he caught sight of her confused, worried and fearful expression. Beyond her, he also saw Ann. The girl flinched as the tentacle shuddered violently, forcing the blond to let out a small whimper as she tried to wiggle herself free. He gritted his teeth, ready to assure her that everything was okay and to promise the blond that he would get her out—

"Humph, so these pieces of garbage have finally awakened."

The three teenagers froze at the disdainful and disgustingly familiar voice that regarded them. The redhead turned his head and stared in shock as a man in brown sole shoes, a pink speedo and cape plastered with hearts with a small golden crown atop of curly black hair swaggered forwards with a sneer on his face. The man turned fully towards them and grinned as he stared at the two bound girls.

His leering yellow eyes made all of them feel a cold chill down their spine.

"Kamoshida!" Shiho grounded out, anger fueling her as she stared at the man who nearly raped Ann.

"Y-You son of bitch…w-w-what are you…?" Ann's voice whimpered as she caught sight of the man who had tormented her. Shirou turned his head towards the shaking blond. Baring his teeth, he resumed his struggle against the grip the tentacle had on him.

Kamoshida just grunted in disgust at the words. "How dare you refer to your King in such a manner! Disrespect like that warrants an execution!"

Shirou's eyes went wide in shock at the words. Execution? What was this man even playing at?

No, it didn't matter, he was just exerting his ego about being a king… he understood what those words meant. He was going to beat them and then rape them—

He couldn't let that happen.

"Leave them out of this Kamoshida! If you want to take your anger out on someone, then do so with me!"

The man who fancied himself a king froze, then turned slowly towards him with a furious expression.

"What did you say you piece of shit?"

"I said to leave them alone!" Shirou repeated with narrowed eyes. "If you wan—!"

"Guards!" Kamoshida interrupted loudly as he looked at something beyond the redhead's field of vision. "Get the restraints off of the Hentai Beast."

Shirou stared incredulously at what the man had said, the king wannabe just sneered at him. He was about to respond towards the almost naked teacher's bizarre words, but stopped when he heard metallic steps thundering near him.

He turned his eyes to the side just in time to see an armored foot crash down near his face. He went crossed-eyed as he stared at the tip of the armored foot and looked up to see a man dressed up in silver knight armor. The knight looked down at him, it's cold and expressionless face shaped helmet made the redhead shiver at how creepy and lifeless it looked.

Behind the knight an identical armored man walked forward, his thundering steps echoing until he finally stopped and grabbed the spears that kept the tentacle in place. The other knight looked at him and tore both weapons out—

"—Whoah!" Shirou grunted when suddenly the long, wet limb shuddered violently and started thrashing around. He was taken off the floor and then tossed like a rag doll through the air by the powerful pulls of the limb. The air left him with each pull, and he felt his bones creek and shake. He was fearful that from the way the tentacle was tightening around him, it would make him vomit his organs out. The tentacle then curved up and slammed him headfirst against the ceiling—hard. "Gaagh—!"

His vision went dark for a couple of seconds, and he felt something wet and sticky roll down his head. He could distinctly hear the cries of worry from Shiho and Ann. Unfortunately, he couldn't confirm it in his current state. He was dizzy and his vision grew darker with each hit. He was only aware of the tentacle that was crushing him in its deadly grip and the way his body was being dragged through the air. He cried out as he felt his body jerk forward and crashed against something hard and cold. It was there that his vision began to clear—

He regretted that it did as he was met face to 'face' with the tentacled creature.

"—!" Shirou gasped in fear as the monster lunged forward and crashed against the cage, its mouth opened wide and ready to eat him. He pulled back with a scared expression as the creature's teeth nearly pierced his face. Spit and dribble splattered on his face and he had to hold back from recoiling as it felt that his skin was melting from the strange substance.

"Graagh—!" He grunted in effort, bending his body unnaturally backwards just to try and prevent himself from being pulled into the cage and eaten. He bared his teeth as the tentacle tightened its hold on him even more and slowly squeezed the air out of him.

He wasn't going to hold…

He was about to die—!

"Enough! Cut off my Hentai Beast's arm off…" Kamoshida voice called out with sadistic glee.

Shirou opened his eyes as he stared at one of the knights approaching him. It raised a sword—he panicked and closed his eyes—and swung it down, severing the creature's tentacle. He flopped down onto the ground, the cut-off limb tightened up around him.

Not a moment later, Shirou felt the wet and harmful appendage being ripped off of him, only to be replaced by the cold and dead feeling hand of the armored knight. He was forcefully pulled up to his feet and roughly pushed forward. He stumbled and fell to his knees right before the grinning king. The redhead's breathing was haggard and his heart pumped at insane speeds as he tried to regain control over himself.

He gritted his teeth in frustration and looked up at the sneering Kamoshida.

"I should've let my beast eat you up. That's what a retarded piece of shit like you deserves for what you have done to me." The man spat out as he grabbed the redhead by his neck with one hand and lifted him up until his feet dangled in mid-air. Kamoshida looked up at the girls with a perverse gleam in his eyes as Shiho stared at him with fury and Ann bared her teeth in hate at her near-rapist. "But I have other ideas for you actually…"

"You son of a bitch, were you the one who sent us into this place?!" Shiho raged out towards the man. Kamoshida just grinned savagely in response, his hand squeezed Shirou's neck which brought a pained gasp from the weak and injured young man.

"Now why would I want trash walking all over my castle? It's you walking cunts and this brain dead retard that walked all over my property. And you dare get angry with me?" Kamoshida questioned incredulously.

"Go to hell!" Ann roared this time, her fear for her tormentor being replaced by her hatred for him. "You're still going on about being a king you piece of shit! Why don't you grow a brain you arrogant waste of space!"

Kamoshida gritted his teeth at her words. "You…"

"OOOoooo… could this… could this truly be her…?" An unknown voice questioned. It spoke with a drawl and sounded eerily like that of a performer. The room seemed to drop some degrees as the sound of distant footsteps came closer. "Could this be the reincarnation of the Holy Maiden…? Is this the one from the true world and not that dribbling parody that you have conjured into being, Master?"

Kamoshida turned back and looked at the shadows in the corner of the room with a raised brow. "Ah, my Court Wizard how very weird it is to see you out of your play room? Did these peasants catch your attention, hmm?"

From the shadows emerged a bizarre man, dressed in garments that were odd and queer. His luxurious robes were of ancient design with sanguineous scarlet patterns that adorned the pitch-black fabric. The dyed crimson red on the clothing looked more like blood stains rather than just any design choice, and the smell only helped to confirm that point. The figure walked, or more like glided forward as his robe obscured his feet. The man was incredibly tall with two pale arms that stuck out of his clothes.

His features were dreadful, and his skin was sickly pale, like a corpse. However, his large and bulging eyes told a different story. They stared down with freakish focus at Ann, making her recoil back, as she glared at the bizarre man. Said man seemed to have taken this as a good sign as he gave her a smile that was worthy of a saint.

"OOOOoo…" The bizarre wizard squirmed at the sight. "It is truly her! That appearance of hers, there is no mistake that it is my Saint!"

Kamoshida just looked at the man with an expression of disbelief. He then snapped his fingers as he stared to the side. "You mean this pathetic excuse of a woman? How can you call that a holy woman and not my Princess?"

"Kamoshida-kun~!" A ditzy girl's voice called out and ran up to the man. Dressed in a skimpy bikini, she threw herself onto him and hugged him. Her exaggeratedly large breasts squishing against his body and her lips peppered his chest with kisses. She turned around to reveal—!

"M-Me!?" Ann cried out in indignation as she watched her look alike look down at her. "Are you that desperate you son of a bitch?!"

"The only desperate one here is you~! You're like, totally the one who told Kamoshida no when he was trying to shove his big and manly, manly D up our puss~" The ditzy doppelganger mocked and her chest bounced with each movement she made. Kamoshida grinned lustfully as he fondled her breasts.

"What… is this? Kamoshida, you're a sick bastard!" Shiho grounded out as she struggled to free herself from her bonds.

"OOOooooo, this spirit… yes, this the spirit of the Holy Maiden, such righteous anger!" The bizarre man crooned as he watched the real Ann with a smile. The blond shrunk back at the intensity of the look.

"Huh, Bluebeard, are you really that desperate to have that holy maiden of yours back? Listen, I don't have any problems sharing my Ann with you." Kamoshida said as he brought the ditzy blond forward, who giggled at the mistreatment.

The court wizard gave the teacher a stony face and shook his head. "How could I possibly bring the memories of my Holy Maiden back with that broken doll you keep around? How can you possibly compare the most holy of saints to that drooling pig who lacks the radiant light that could pierce through the thickest of darkness? No, no, no, no, no! A broken doll like her cannot possibly reach such light like that! But this one… her cleanliness, her cuteness, her modesty, her purity…! She has it all! It is because of that that I must have her…!"

The wizard screamed with joyous abandon as his arms pulled towards the air. Kamoshida just shook his head.

"Holy shit, what an insane wizard I have in my castle, but your usefulness is too great to be ignored. So I can forgive your lapse in sanity." He then brought the doppelgänger Ann closer to him and grinned. "But if you want to have that pathetic bitch, then go head, I already have my princess here. Do whatever the hell you want with her!"

"Ooh~! Kamoshida-kun, you're like, totally the manliest man ever!" The ditzy blond crooned happily. Ann bristled at that, her lips curling up into a snarl.

Kamoshida was about to say something, but stopped—and looked down in shock at the hand that had been placed firmly on his forearm.

Shirou gripped the arm that effortlessly held him up in the air by his neck. His grip was hard and it surprised the man to feel the strength even though he looked pale and out of air. The redhead bared his teeth and glared at him all the same.

"You're… you're pathetic Kamoshida…"

"…What?" The surprise on the man's face melted into a blank expression.

"You're pathetic Kamoshida…" He repeated, his golden-brown eyes fired up greatly in defiance for the man who had tormented his friend and had nearly raped someone in selfish abandon.

Kamoshida stared at him with those unearthly and cold yellow eyes for a second. Then he threw the ditzy blond towards the floor and—!

"YOU RETARDED FAGGOT!" The roar that came from the 'king' was ear shattering, as his face contorted into an animalistic snarl and unleashed a devastating punch to Shirou's face.

"Ghoa—!" Shirou's entire head shook, his jaw fell loose and blood poured from his mouth and nose. Before he could even recover from the blow, he received another powerful punch.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

And then another.

And one final blow that had him rolling across the floor, sliding painfully and leaving a smear of blood on the floor in front of Shiho and Ann. The two girls watched in horror as the redhead lay limp on the tiled floor. Shirou coughed up blood and had difficulty breathing with his now broken nose from which blood gushed out like a fountain.

"SHIROU—!" Shiho's horrified scream made Shirou open a single eye and stare at the distressed girl through his now swelling and bloodied face.

Kamoshida shook his fist and glared hatefully at the fallen young man. He spat in his direction and stared at the wizard beside him with a huff. He scratched his curly hair furiously as he ignored the ditzy blonde that giggled perversely as she crawled toward his legs.

"Bluebeard, you're French, right? Your full name is Gilles de Rais, I think I read about you in some book or something… anyway what's the name of this saint you want to bring back?"

The man, Gilles, looked at him with those bulging wide eyes and a stoic expression. "Joan of Arc, the Saint of Orleans, Master."

Kamoshida nodded and waved dismissively. "Yeah, her. Listen I'm more than willing to help you with this endeavor of yours to bring that woman back."

Gilles turned towards the man, his mouth agape in surprise. "Would you truly help me with this desire of mine, my Master?"

"Of course, you were always spouting about wanting to see that saint after you saw my princess. And as it so happens, right now, I'm in a very helping good mood so I'll help you out… in fact, I dare say that I know of a way on how to bring that saint of yours back!"

The wizard looked down, clasping his hand together and answered with a sincere expression. "My Master, you truly are a king worthy of your crown!"

"Damn right!" Kamoshida grinned as he looked at Ann with a smoldering look. "Now as to how we get that failed woman over there to reveal her true self… is by raping her of course!"

"What!?" Ann screamed in pure horror as the atmosphere grew heavy around her.

"Kamoshida! Leave her alone!" Shiho struggled once more against her bonds and bared her teeth in fury. She went unnoticed as Gilles looked questionably at the king.

"But my master, how could this possibly help return Joan to me…? By raping her, we would be robbing her of her purity, her cleanliness!"

"Bluebeard, Bluebeard…" Kamoshida shook his head in something akin to disappointment and patted the bulging eyed man in the cheek affectionately. "You are a horrible monster who has made the suffering of people second nature. There could be no better person than you to understand how a man truly feels when faced with those blasphemous acts that you're so fond of implementing in them just to bring out their terror and the most horrible aspect of themselves… but you still don't understand what is needed to bring out the best in a woman Bluebeard-kun."

Gilles leaned in forward with a tilted head, his curiosity now peaked by his words. "What could this be my Master?"

"Rape, is the best way to bring out what lays in the inside of a woman…" Kamoshida looked down with a smug face at Ann who was sweating in panic at the lustful eyes of the man. "Make them writhe in pleasure and you will bring out a surge of happiness, rage, indignation and emptiness! How can you possibly say to me that raping her would rob her of her purity when you are in fact enhancing it further!"

"AAAAAAaaah—!" The wizard leaned back as if reeling from realization. Kamoshida grinned even wider at that and continued.

"Listen to me Bluebeard-kun! We can make her even cuter after we're done with her. We can make her become even purer, more clean after her entire body has been soiled! Can't you see that we have the power to bring out the best qualities in a person by implementing the worst actions on them! You're Joan will come back, even better than before! Ever after all of this! Isn't that why God made women? For us men to bring out the best of them with our authority and power?! So, don't hesitate, there's no need for it in my castle! Let's go and bring your friend back!"

"OOOOoooo—! Aaaaa! Kamoshida-kun, how insightful! Yes, yes! If the best of a person can be ruined and destroyed by the horrors this world has to offer, then it should be obvious that the best way to bring the best of humans is by introducing them to horror once more!" Gilles turned towards Ann and gave her a genuine smile.

"G-Get away…!" The blond recoiled back, but the tentacle around her prevented from moving.

"Don't worry my dear old friend. I will resurface those memories held deep within…" The wizard then grinned in joy as a book covered in human skin materialized in his right hand and his bulging eyes lightened up with ecstasy. "By putting you through every sacrilegeous and cruel mistreatment that exists upon your body!"

"W-What!?" Ann gasped as Gilles grinned and opened the book. The tentacle around her body writhed excitedly and dragged her towards him. "What!? No, no, no! Get the hell away from me you creep!"

"ANN!" Shiho desperately cried at the obvious sign of danger her friend was being dragged towards.

"SHIHO! No, no, no, get away from me!" The blond struggled fruitlessly as she neared the wizard and king.

"Good, good, Bluebeard! We'll bring that friend of yours back in no time! After that you can do whatever you want with her, and the other two as well." Kamoshida said as he waited patiently for the blond to reach him.

"But of course, Kamoshida-kun." Gilles replied cheerfully, as he held the book up and five more tentacles sprouted out from it. As they slithered closer towards the now petrified girl, she began to succumb to her despair. Realizing her struggle was futile, she just stared right ahead with wide eyes. "They are your enemies, so I'll be sure to repay you for this incredible service by having their screams echo through the castle for days!"

"Ghihihihihihihihihi!" The king laughed hysterically at that and nodded happily. "Yes, yes very good!"

"No…" Ann leaned back as the five tentacles reached her. The appendages around her body loosened up and let her go—but the girl had no time to gasp in surprise at her freedom or even feel any relief as the five slobbering limbs caught her by her arms, legs and neck. Ann could do nothing but look down at the ground in defeat and shiver in fear as she was brought forward.

"ANN!" Shiho roared once more as she struggled violently against the tentacle around her body.

Shirou bloodied and barely conscious looked up to where the blond was, but only saw the vicious grin on Kamoshida's face and the excited gleam in the bulging eyes of the wizard. He growled furiously at that and tried to move.

— need to save Ann now!

Unfortunately, he failed in his objective, as his body was far too weak from the thrashing the monster had given him earlier and his head felt as if it was going to burst open from the beating the insane man had delivered. He could do nothing but lay there on the ground in defeat.

—need to save Ann now!

By now Ann had stopped resisting and screaming her defiance, as she began to accept the futility of her situation. She had given up, she had stopped—she had accepted what was going to happen to her. But he hadn't given up yet, even if his face was broken and his body failed to obey his commands.

—need to save Ann now!

So even if his body was broken… even if his body failed to answer the call for action… he couldn't let that girl suffer… his father said to never make a girl cry… he had failed at that when he made Illya cry because of his stupidity…so he couldn't fail now. He couldn't let that girl cry while she was being abused by those monsters—!

I NEED TO SAVE ANN NOW!

"About damn time you have chosen to stand up against those pieces of shit, no?"

Shiho Suzui gasped as her eyes pulsed yellow at the sound of the voice.

"Oh, have your patience and tolerance finally reached their boiling point? Have you finally realized that merely standing by in the sidelines and just letting yourself get slapped around is the very epitome of stupidity!"

She gasped and shuddered in pain as the voice mocked her. Her body thrashed erratically against the wet and twitching limb with violent spasms. The creature that held her groaned at the abuse.

"Come on, girl, will you let the one you cherish deep in your heart be used and abused by those impotent pigs! Or will you stand to the side as you've always done and let her get raped!?"

"NO!"

Shiho screamed loudly, as blue fire burned on her face and a mask appeared. A white tiger mask now covered her entire face besides her eyes and lower jaw.

Kamoshida ignored the girl and smirked as Ann finally reached her. "Scream all you want, but I'll be having some fun tonight…"

Beside him Gilles looked at the now masked girl in surprise, excitement began to build up in him as he felt something from her. "This feeling… how can there be two…?"

"The contract has been made then. I am thou. Thou art I. You who have chosen to step up and grind your heels on top of those pathetic pigs that dare to raise their hands against what is yours. Sharpen thy eyes, bare your fangs and get ready to rip their eyes out with your claws!"

"I understand!" Shiho roared as a torrent of blue fire burst from her and destroyed the tentacle that had her trapped.

Kamoshida froze and looked at the girl in fright. "W-What the hell!? Another one!? Guards!"

The silver knights in the room moved to intercept the now free girl, but they were ignored as Shiho glared at the king. Her hand went for her mask and she gripped it tightly.

"Let's make them cry."

Shiho smirked viciously beneath her mask. "Yes, let us… Sforza!"

In an instant, Shiho ripped the tiger mask off her face, allowing the flames of rebellion to consume her and obliterate the knights that had reached her.

Shirou looked up in shock at the occurrence and felt a soothing presence as the flames touched him. Ann looked back with wide eyes and confusion overpowering her feelings of defeat as she watched her friend be engulfed in fire.

"Damn it… not again…" Kamoshida ground out in anger as he pushed Ann to the side. Gilles used the limbs to retract Ann beside him and watched the spectacle.

"OOOooo, how cruel of you God… to split the Saint into body and soul like this…"

The torrent of flames disappeared and revealed Shiho, her outfit changed and her stance proud and tall.

Her eyes burned with righteous fury as she glared at Kamoshida. A long white trench coat adorned her body, the collar coated with fur as it extended into a small cape that fluttered softly behind her back as the winds of her anger calmed. A peach button-down shirt was tugged beneath the coat with golden highlights adorning it. Her trousers, which were the same color as her shirt, went down to her ankles and showed off her sharp, black and gold coated designer shoes.

She grabbed her peach colored gloved hands and adjusted them with a sneer on her face as her form became shadowed. It gave the illusion of seeing a western mafia boss from the old days.

Everyone's eyes gravitated towards the tall figure behind her, and Kamoshida took a step back as cold sweat rolled down his face.

Surrounded by crackling chains, a tall spectral woman with light, peach colored skin, long braided blond hair and shadowed red eyes glared with disdain at her enemies. With her single left arm, she showed off her the plates of armor on her left shoulder and forearm. Her long navy-blue dress that cut off by the right side of her pelvis and showed off her right leg fully and enticingly for anyone who wanted to look or wished to grope deep into her womanhood—but whoever did so would be foolish to do so, as on her right shoulder was a living white tiger.

The animal growled and snarled with the same level of disdain and fury as its owner. Only its head and right arm showed signs of being alive as the rest of its body was used as clothing pelt. But even so, the tiger was alive and more than ready to rip the heads off of anyone that dared to step too close.

Shiho extended her arm and opened her hand in a demanding gesture. "Give me Ann, now."

Kamoshida sneered at her words. He brought forth his right arm and snapped his fingers. Ten knights burst from a shadowy pool and stood behind their king.

"Bitch, don't think just because you changed into a stupid thief that you can do anything! TO ME, MY ELITE KNIGHTS! KILL HER!"

The knights behind the man shuddered and shook, they went limp and then exploded into the black substance they had been birthed from. Once the shower of black ceased, it revealed seventeen winged red men, with long noses and even longer strap-ons. They grinned lecherously at the girl and rushed her.

Shiho gave them a disdainful smiled and cocked her hip. "Come and get it... if you can that is."

"Don't underestimate my Incubus fleet!" Kamoshida roared as they closed in on the girl.

"Shiho!" Ann screamed out in worry, but was hushed by Gilles who stood beside her and watched the action with excitement.

"Yes could this be… the divine light of God?"

The Incubi swarmed towards Shiho, all of them pulling their hips back to pierce the poor girl with their long and pointy strap-ons. Their grinning faces turning feral as they humped forward—

Shiho put her left hand on her hip, placed the other on her face and was surrounded by circle of blue fire.

"Grind them to dust, Sforza!"

The womanly figure behind her, glared vindictively at the swarm and the tiger on her right shoulder roared in fury as a bright white light burst from her body and impacted all the Incubi from all directions. The reddish creatures all howled in pain as their bodies were torn to shreds from the light, which had compressed and formed dozens of blessed light spheres that shot everywhere, destroying them in the process.

The tentacle beast stuck in its cage wasn't spared from the onslaught. It screeched in agony when the spheres of blessed light tore it to bits. What remained of the creature whined as it bled pathetically in its cage.

"What!?" Kamoshida roared in fright and took a step back. Sweating profusely, he looked at the excited wizard. "How was the Hentai Beast injured that badly!? Why isn't it healing!"

Gilles paid him no mind as he grinned. "This divine light can only belong to you my Saint! How could I have not seen the obvious signs! That your pureness and beauty could not be contained!? That it had to be split in your new form!"

Shiho paid no heed to the man's words as she pointed at him. Sforza disappeared behind her and her mask burned itself back onto her face.

"Give Ann back!"

Gilles grabbed the blonde by the back of her head and pulled her in front of him. "Yes, yes, come, come, your place is with her, isn't it? You are the divinity that belongs to this body, so come here, and return to your body of origin! Joan, my friend, my Saint, you must become whole once more!"

"Shut up!" Shiho cried out as she charged forward. All of a sudden, her right hand became engulfed in blue fire and a spear appeared on it. "Enough with your delusions! Enough with Kamoshida's arrogance! Enough with all of this! Give! Me! Ann!"

She darted forward thrusting her spear forward, directly at the delusional. Gilles grinned madly as more tentacles sprouted from the book and wrapped around her weapon. Shiho was stopped from advancing further, but used the momentum of her charge to catapult herself into the air, ripping her mask off her face and summoning Sforza once more. The tiger roared with great intensity and blessed light destroyed the wet appendages completely. The wizard grunted in surprise at the sudden action and stumbled back.

Ann fell to the ground, but before she even touched it, her body was pulled up in a bridal style carry by Shiho. The dark haired girl jumped back to where Shirou was and landed gracefully. She looked down at the surprised and awe-inspired Ann, her brown eyes softening as she looked at her friend.

"Are you okay Ann?"

The blond blinked a couple of times. "Y-Yeah… but Shiho, what's up with that get up!? And what the hell is it with you pulling a Stand!?"

"I don't know Ann, but I'm not going to question it either. Right now, I feel like I can protect you and Emiya-kun, and I'll keep doing so no matter what." She looked down at the bloodied young man and winced. "Ann, can you keep him safe?"

"Yeah." Ann nodded resolutely and moved to sit near her fallen comrade. She secured him in her arms and adjusted Shirou's blazer that he had given her earlier as a form of protection. She winced as she got a good look at his face, then turned back towards Shiho. "Be careful, got it!?"

Shiho nodded, turned around and got into a charging stance. Her spear held tightly as she glared at the opposition. Gilles grinned happily as his book glowed and four new masses of tentacles screeched to life. They writhed and squirmed as they began to move towards the teens.

"The time for your resurrection is at hand Joan! I'll make sure to rip that light of yours and keep it as intact as possible when I return it your body! I can't wait to dunk you into all of the debauchery and blasphemous rituals I have learned since my time away from you!"

As the creatures charged her, Shiho shook her head and charged forward with a vicious sneer. "I'll tell you again you bug-eyed creep! I'm not this Joan person you're speaking off! Ann isn't her either! So shove your creepy ass delusions back into that muddy brain of yours, fish face!"

Ann winced as she watched her friend meet the creatures head on, piercing them with her weapon. She then jumped over another one that tried to grapple her and spiked its mouth with her spear. She then ripped her mask off, Sforza appeared behind her and ripped the speared creature in half with blessed light.

"Geez, is this really Shiho…? She's acting totally different…"

"…Frus…tra…tion…" Shirou's gasping breaths brought the blondes attention down and she furrowed her brows as she tried to understand what he meant. Her eyes widened in realization and she sighed sadly.

"Shiho… all this time, you weren't just sad were you? You were really this angry…? I never noticed did I…" Ann closed her eyes and looked down, frustrated tears spilled from her eyes as memories of Kamoshida nearly raping her filled her brain. She looked up with an expression of pure hatred. "I understand just how you feel Shiho! Give that son of a bitch hell! Make him regret ever being a piece of shit!"

"Sforza!" Shiho cried out, Ann's anger filled roar empowered her as she unleashed everything she had and destroyed the remaining tentacle creatures. They burned away under the intense light, their dying screeches echoing around the room. She let out a tired breath from the effort, and the spectral woman behind her disappeared and she turned towards the smiling Gilles who looked at her with brimming joy.

"Only your saintly light would be capable of destroying such impure and mockery creatures of God, Joan. But without your body, you'll never thoroughly shine as you once did! Come, join your other half! Or… are you perhaps giving me the honor of doing it for you JOAN!"

His book glowed and illuminated the whole red room purple, as seven new impure creatures were summoned. They screeched with morbidly, savage delight and once more charged.

Shiho breathed out heavily as drops of sweat rolled down her cheek. The fatigue was already settling in her lungs from her attacks. Though, the sight of more enemies made her straighten her stance as she understood that she was the only barrier between these disgusting creatures and her friends. She ripped her mask off, understanding that physical attacks were not as effective as whatever light she could produce.

She grounded her teeth, a heavy headache took her as she poured more effort than she had previously exerted and roared. Blessed light cannoned in from behind her as Sforza appeared quickly and let out barrage of light spheres as they tore into the creatures, ripping them to shreds.

Shiho then fell to one knee, heavy breaths escaping her fatigued body. She looked at her hands and clenched them tightly.

"Why am I getting tired? I can't get tire ye—!"

"SHIHO!" Ann's frantic cries made the white clothed girl looked up in alarm and just in time to see one of the creatures that had been hit by her attack still charging at her. Its tentacles moved and speared forward, she rolled out of the way in time as they entangled themselves in the ground. She looked up in time to see the monstrosity closed its round mouth and vomit a thick, ink-like substance at her.

"Gragh—!" The liquid substance impacted her right on her chest and sent her spiraling back towards Shirou and Ann. The girl managed to right herself and skid back, coming to a stop in front of them. She winced and grasped her chest, as she could feel the substance burning her.

"Shiho are you okay—!?" Ann's concern went ignored as the two heard the mocking claps of Kamoshida.

"Phew! For a second there, I actually thought I would have to worry over what some cunt could do!? But look at me getting worried over nothing! All you girls are just good at spreading your legs and writhing in pleasure for me! Ghihihihihihi!" The king laughed hysterically. He then turned towards Gilles. "Hey, Bluebeard, what's up with my Hentai Beasts? I thought they couldn't be hurt that badly by anyone? Didn't those other thieves fail to get through because of that?"

The teens all looked at the man with confused looks, other thieves?

The bugged eye man turned towards his Master. "Only the divine light of God is strong enough to kill this mockery of life Master. Only a Saint like her can have such light."

"Huh, well whatever… just make sure to kill them or whatever the hell you want to do with the girls. I'm already tired of all this bullshit." The king looked behind him and grabbed the fallen doppelgänger of Ann, she giggled when he roughly brought her up. "Come on babe, I'm feeling horny… I ain't letting you sleep tonight!"

"Oh! You're such a perv!" The bikini clad girl crooned in perverse delight. Ann gritted her teeth at her look-alike's words.

"You son of a …"

Gilles interrupted her curse as he snapped his book open and let out a high-pitched scream. "Joan, let me make you whole!"

The book glowed in unholy light as multiple tentacles burst out, and went flying straight for the girls. Ann recoiled back, hugging Shirou closer to her as Shiho grunted in fatigue and stood up to shield her friends.

She was aware that she was at her limit and that all she could do was slow the wet monstrosities down.

"Captain Kidd!"

A male voice called out. They all looked up in time to see a pirate in a long blue coat, with a skull for a face and a canon for a hand ride in on a pirate ship with a savage face painted on the front with its fangs put in a permanent smirk. It dove in as if sailing through water and let out a rain of lightning bolts that forced the fast approaching tentacles down to the ground. The skeleton let out a wicked grin at that and disappeared into thin air as it was engulfed in blue fire.

"What th—!?" Kamoshida gasped in surprise at the interference and then his eyes widened in realization as he looked up with gritted teeth and recognized the figure that jumped from the shadows. "You—!"

A young man dressed in a black leather biker outfit dropped in front of the group. With a bent pipe in one hand, he pulled his arms back and took a powerful swing toward the stunned appendages and sent them flying back to the wizard. Kamoshida threw the bikini clad girl once more to the floor and glared at him with a sneer.

"How the hell did you get this far Sakamoto!?"

"Sakamoto?" Shiho questioned in surprise.

"Ryuji….? What the hell!?"

The dyed blond turned towards them, his face obscured by a skull mask. "No time for questions! Just stand back there!"

Kamoshida sneered and roared. "Fuck that!" As five knights burst from the shadowy substance that appeared and then exploded into three Incubi and two skin-tight clothed winged women. The King gestured forward. "Incubi, Succubi bring me their heads!"

They flew towards them, Ryuji just grinned savagely at the attack and looked up.

"All yours Joker!"

From the ceiling, dropped a dark long-coat wearing young man that spun in mid-air with a gun in his red-gloved hands. His frizzy black hair fluttered in the air, his grey steel eyes lightened up with smugness behind his pointy owl-shaped white mask as he took aim.

"You need proper punishment!"

The gun went off, its bullets sailing off and impacting each of the adversaries. The sound of gunfire made the three-rescued teens flinch at the sharpness and loudness of the shots fired. The monsters all gaped in surprise as the bullets tore through them and made them stumble down onto the ground. Joker landed with the grace of a cat, gave the downed enemies an arrogant grin and ripped his mask off.

Similarly to Shiho, a being appeared behind him. Dressed in a fancy red suit with a black top hat, the being would've given the illusion of a gentlemanly figure—except its fiery demonic expression, the long horns, steel talons in his hands and long black wings spread out on its back spoke the complete opposite.

Joker snapped his fingers. "Arsene, ravage them!"

Arsene obeyed the command with gusto. Releasing a low throaty and sadistic chuckle, it pulled its leg back, showing off its bladed heels and slashed down without any mercy or hesitation. The steel stiletto cut through the monster's throats in one fluid motion.

The dark savior flipped back to stand beside Ryuji as Arsene dissipated into the ether. The blond male grinned and nodded. "You're a show off ya know that?"

Joker grinned and looked back, Shirou stared at him and his eyes lightened up in recognition.

"Ku…rusu…?" Kurusu heard him and frowned as he took a good look at him.

"Don't worry Emiya, we'll get you patched up in no time." Shirou tried to stand up, but fell back down from the pain and disorientation.

"Emiya-kun don't move, your way to hurt for that." Ann called in worry as she tried to put the redhead in a comfortable position. She didn't see the small shadow that creeped up beside her.

"Allow me my lady." A boyish voice said in a gentlemanly manner. Ann blinked in confusion at that and looked up. She paled and pulled back.

"What the hell!? A-A-A Monster cat!?"

"I'm not a monster cat!"

Shiho and the rest of the teenagers turned back to see an indignant—cat. It was cartoonish in appearance, with a big rounded head with a black bandanna over its face and a yellow scarf around its neck, two big and round blue eyes that were currently alight with indignation at the moniker given to him and a body that was more in proportion with the size of its head with paws that were far to small.

In other words, it looked cute.

Shiho reacted accordingly to the cute and most certainly bizarre cat before her—

She turned and went to pierced its head for getting to close to her friend and making Ann feel any sense of discomfort.

"Whoa!" The cat creature flinched back as the pointy end of her weapon nearly went through its head had it not been for Kurusu who grasped the spear firmly. He turned toward Shiho when the girl glared at him, he shook his head and raised a hand in a placating manner.

"Don't worry Suzui, Mona is on our side."

"Mona?" Ann questioned as she looked back at the now frazzled cat being, who quickly shook itself out of its surprised state and narrowed its big blue eyes.

"Right, you can call me Mona for now. I'm the brains of this rescue operation, and—!" He crossed his arms and a torrent of blue exploded around him as tall and disproportionally buffed man with a long and pointy mustache that showed off its confident grin as it swiped its rapier with its too big hands in 'Z' pattern. "—you're personal healer as well! Zorro! Show your might!"

Zorro grin and once more swiped its sword in a 'Z' patterned. Ann and Shiho looked in confusion for something to happen, then they heard Shirou groaning and the two looked down in surprise and worry.

The redhead let out a moan as green energy gathered around him and made the pain go away. Shirou looked up with wide eyes as his injuries had been healed. His face was still bloodied, but the pain and disorientation that had him on the floor dissapeared as the green light worked its magic.

"Whoah…" Shirou looked at his body in amazement as even his body's pain gave way to relief. Mona nodded and looked up with a satisfied smirk.

"Alright Joker, our next move?"

Kurursu looked back at the wizard who pointed at them and at the furious king. "Let's ditch this place for now, Mona smoke them!"

"Nyahaha! You got it!" Mona jumped into the air, gave out an elaborate twirl and revealed in his hand a small object with a cat doodle drawn on it. He then threw it to the ground and a wall of smoke completely obscuring them from the enemy's vision.

Kurusu hoisted Shirou up on his shoulder, while Ryuji offered Ann a hand. Shiho coughed a little thanks to the smoke, but was surprised when Mona offered her his yellow scarf and jumped on her back to tell her where to go.

"Let's go!" Joker ordered.

"No!" Gilles cried out in agony as he stretched out his hands and summoned more creatures from his book to detain the escaping teenagers. "Do not let the Saint escape!"

Kamoshida roared in fury as dozens upon dozens of knights were summoned and gave chase.

But by the time the soldiers had all fanned out to cover more ground and catch their escaping enemies—it was too late as the thieves had escaped from danger.

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4/14 Afternoon, Afterschool

All five students of Shujin Academy breathed out heavily as they leaned against the walls off the alleyway entrance. Shirou looked up, his face still red from the blood and let out a sound of amazement.

"Is everyone okay?" Kurusu asked as he stared at everyone. Shiho nodded and turned towards Ann, the blond just waved her off with a small smile.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

"Still, Ann you…"

"Hey redhead, you should probably clean your face up." The girls stopped their actions and looked around in confusion at the boyish voice that had spoken. Shirou stopped and looked down with a raised eyebrow as he saw a black cat, with a yellow scar and blue eyes staring up at him lazily.

"How… can a cat talk?"

The cat's hair stood on end and growled in indignation. "I'm not a cat! I'm Morgana! An honest to god human and don't you forget it!"

Shirou just sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose as he ignored the surprised cries of the girls. "It doesn't matter if you have name or not. If you look like cat and even act like one… that would still make you a cat, wouldn't it?"

"Y-You—!"

Ryuji cut in with a smirk. "Ah! The guy totally got you there you fur ball!"

"What was that you stupid monkey!?"

Ignoring the argument between the blond delinquent and black cat, the frizzy haired young man walked towards Shirou and offered him a handkerchief from his pocket. The redhead took it with a nod of appreciation. "Thank you, Kurusu."

"Call me Akira, Emiya. I think we're way to knee deep into things to keep things formal between us, eh?" Akira offered with a smirk as he turned towards Shiho and Ann. "I guess, it would be best we get out of here. We got a lot to explain and I'm curious to know as to why that pervert was chasing after you guys."

Ann flinched and looked down with a pained expression, Shiho placed a hand on her shoulder and sighed at the sight of her friend's mood rapidly down.

Shirou pursed his lips and let out a sigh.

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"THAT FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" Ryuji's angry roar gathered enough glares at them from the little clientele in the Big Bang Burger in Central Street. The rest of the group winced at the heated glares and looked at the heated blond male.

"Ryuji you have to calm down, now!" Akira ordered as he saw the restaurant worker arguing with himself over whether to kick them out or give them another chance to stay and finish their food.

Ryuji turned his furious glare at the frizzy haired young man. "Are you for real!? That asshole nearly—!"

"Enough Ryuji!" Ann interrupted with a furious scowl. "Seriously, I don't need you reminding me of that again… I already had enough living through that experience."

Shiho hugged the blonde with a sad expression and shook her head. "Ann…"

"We have to stop him." Shirou said as he looked down at his untouched food. The rest of the table looked at him and nodded in agreement.

"But how?" Shiho asked. "Nothing we do would really have much impact… Kamoshida would just spin a tale about how it was us that started causing trouble and somehow make things worse for all us. It's not the first time he's done it with the volleyball team."

Ryuji still had an angry scowl on his face and shook his head to try and rid himself of his anger. "Yeah… I know how good that asshole lies. He did the same thing back with the Track team…"

"But…!" The voice butted in and they saw the black feline burst from Akira's school bag to look at them. "We have a way to actually stop Kamoshida! It was what I was trying to tell these two bozos about before we had to come in and rescue you three from the Palace."

Shiho looked a little uncomfortable at the fact that a cat was talking to her, still she perked up at the words. "A way to stop him? How?"

Morgana nodded and narrowed his cat eyes. "We steal his treasure!"

"…"

"…"

"…what does that have to do with anything?" Ann asked in the akward bit of silence between herself, Shiho and Shirou. The cat groaned at that and shook his head. Akira adjusted his glasses and looked down at the feline.

"I think its best you give them a rundown of things, Morgana." The cat just gave him an annoyed looked and rolled his eyes.

"Well duh! Anyway, listen up, because I'm not going to repeat myself a fourth or fifth time! A treasure is the core of a person's distorted desires! It's what keeps their Palace up and running."

"Wait, wait, wait, what's a Palace? And what do you mean by distorted desires?" Shirou cut in, he received a heated glare from Morgana as an answer. Shirou just returned the look with a sheepish one.

"Ugh, amateur. Fine I'll explain it from the beginning." Morgana gave in and shook his head. He turned towards the girls and narrowed his eyes. "A person with strong distorted desires can manifest a Palace. That place we had to rescue you from? The castle? That's Kamoshida's Palace—in actuality that's your school, but as it is seen through Kamoshida's eyes. So in other words, he sees himself as the king and ruler of his castle, which is your school. The only way to enter into that world is with that phone of yours or whatever."

Shirou brought up his phone and looked at the bizarre app on the screen. "This thing was what let us enter, huh…"

Akira nodded at the admission, while Ann bristled at Morgana's words. "So, he sees himself as the king of the school? What an arrogant prick."

Shiho stiffened immediately as she realized something. "Wait! Is Kamoshida aware of everything we did there?"

The blond froze and looked at her friend. "Now that you say it, I never actually thought about that…"

"Nah." Ryuji dismissed their worries quickly. "That Kamoshida, the one from the castle, is a totally different Kamoshida. They're from literally different worlds!"

"Different worlds?" Shirou questioned with a raised brow.

"Yeah, the Metaverse, It's what that other world is called." Akira cut in. "You use the Metaverse Navigator to go in and out of it. The app with the star shaped eye symbol, that's what we use to jump in and out."

Morgana cleared his throat and caught everyone's attention back to his irritated eyes. "Yeah, yeah, guys let me finish! I'll explain everything so it all doesn't go all over the place! Anyways, Lady Ann, yes Kamoshida sees himself as a king and no Shiho, the Kamoshida of this world won't know what was going on inside his own distorted heart. The Kamoshida from the Palace is what's known as a Palace Ruler. He basically governs the place as Kamoshida's shadow."

Ann shook her head and blinked a couple of times. "Wait what?"

"See, even Ann's confused with all the crap your spouting out!" Ryuji complained as he crossed his arms. Morgana bristled at the words, but calmed down and looked back at Ann.

"In other words, king Kamoshida rules the castle while teacher Kamoshida just teaches at the school and basically wants to live out his desires, but can't. King Kamoshida is all his desires run rampant without any social norm or morality to hold him back. Its why he acts like that. It's also why it's Kamoshida's shadow. It's his real self, the him that he denies, but exists deep within his consciousness."

Ann shook her head. "I didn't see any difference between the real thing or the shadow thing..."

Shiho placed a hand on the blond in comfort and hummed. "I think I get it, his shadow, right? That's what he really is like then?"

"No Suzui-san." Shirou disagreed and got the girl to look at him, he narrowed his eyes. "It's his desires…that, uh, shadow, it's just Kamoshida wanting to act out like that, but represses it because he knows he'll get into trouble if he does anything like that in the real world. We saw what his king version wants. He wants sex, and he even sees acts like physical abuse and rape as acceptable. We basically got to see everything he sees and how he wants to be…we learned all his secrets by invading his mind…"

Morgana let out an impressed whistle. "Whoah, I didn't expect that you would get it… I actually had you pegged to be as stupid as Ryuji."

"Hey!"

Shirou sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "It's what happens when you watch way too much weird anime with your little sister…"

"You have a little sister?" Akira questioned with a raised brow.

"You watch weird anime? Like what?" Ryuji asked too as his curiousity over the 'thug' before him got the better of him. Shirou just raised a hand and shook his head.

"Maybe another time…" Shirou waved the questions dismissively and narrowed his eyes. "So to summarize, a Palace is the place that manifests when a person has distorted desires and their shadows, their true-self, rules as the Palace Ruler?"

"Yep." Morgana nodded with a pleased look, but his eyes narrowed as he continued. "But it isn't just the Palace and the king Kamoshida that we have to worry about. We also got to worry about the Servant too."

"Servant? You never mentioned that Morgana." Akira narrowed his eyes as he looked at the feline.

"What? I never got the chance to talk about it." The cat defended himself with a huff. "But yeah, the guy with the bug eyes? That guy is a Servant and they are something that I'm not that familiar with. What I do know is that their like Shadows, they get attracted to Palaces and serve their Ruler… though unlike Shadows, there's only one Servant. At least from what I have seen before… and can remember."

"Wait so that guy isn't just whatever we've been fighting up until now?" Ryuji asked as he scratched the back of his head. Morgana glared at him.

"Weren't you listening? No, Servants are just… different, okay? They aren't like shadows, their just independent or something. All I know of them is that they do whatever they want inside of the Palaces and have a lot of control there, not as much as a Palace Ruler, but enough to be annoying. It's how I got caught… I couldn't get past those yucky tentacles things that got in the way of the doors and ended up getting captured."

Shiho shivered. "Disgusting…"

Morgana looked at her and his eyes lightened up in mischief. "Nyehehe. True but now we actually found our ticket into Kamoshida's palace!"

"Huh?" Akira looked at the feline with a raised brow.

"I knew Akira had a lot of potential with his Persona and was counting on that to help me go in further into the Palace, but with Shiho awakening her own Persona, I now know what that Servant's weakness is! And it's your Bless attacks!"

Shiho touched her chest, where her heart was and closed her eyes. "So that's what that power is called… Persona."

Morgana nodded. "By having your will of Rebellion burst open, you can awaken to your Persona and do battle against the shadows in the Palace."

"Can anyone activate it?" Shirou asked curiously, Ann perked up and looked at the feline.

"It depends, as long as your rebellious nature is strong, you can awaken to your powers. But I guess you or Lady could have an Awakening."

Ann looked down and pursed her lips, her blue eyes burning with an unwavering fire.

"I can fight against that bastard… if I can awaken?… huh…"

Shirou looked at her worriedly, but focused back on the cat. "So, if you have this Persona you can use it to fight and take the… treasure?"

Morgana grinned. "And by stealing their treasure, the thing that embodies those desires and keeps the Palaces running, we can trigger a change of heart!"

"And by change of heart you mean…?" Shiho trailed off, confused.

Akira answered the question. "We'll turn Kamoshida into an honest man."

"To hell with that!" Ann's furious roared made Morgana and Ryuji flinch back.

"Whoa! Are you for real? Why wouldn't you want that!?"

The blond turned her glare on the blond male and he shrank under the scrutiny. "Because I want him to pay! I want that asshole to rot! Do you know what he did to me? Do you even realize just how close he got…how close he got…"

Ann slumped down on her seat as cold sweat rolled down her forehead and a shaky breath escaped her. Shiho clenched her fist and glared at the table.

"We can't let him get away with this… what he did… his abuse over the team, his demeaning words… everything he did… doesn't compare to what he was about to do with Ann… I can't let him get away with just by turning him into an honest man."

Morgana piped in. "But even if we turn him into a good guy, it doesn't mean that everything he did will just disappear you know?"

"Huh?"

"Kamoshida will feel guilty over what he did…" The feline continued. "Every misdeed, every word, every abuse, every thought of sexually assaulting any of the females in the school or anywhere. Kamoshida will feel remorse for what he has done and will end up confessing everything he did— and that will be his downfall."

The girls both looked at one another and sighed in relief, as the opportunity for payback had shown itself to them. Shirou was the only one who still looked doubtful and disturbed.

"That's mind-control though…"

"Huh...?" Ryuji asked with a tilt of his head.

"That's just… that's just wrong though, isn't it?" Shirou continued, Ann's eyes flared up.

"Emiya yo—!" She was cut off when the redhead raised his hands up defensively.

"Wait, wait, calm down Takamaki-san! It's just that it feels like we're stooping down to Kamoshida's level by controlling someone's actions against their will. Even if Kamoshida deserves it, it doesn't mean that we have to start acting like him just to fight him."

"Except that it isn't mind-control!" Morgana said with lightened up eyes. Shirou looked at him curiously.

"Really?"

"Yeah! By stealing his treasure, we will be forcing a change of heart, a change of cognition if you will. By doing that what we're actually doing is giving Kamoshida something in exchange for taking his treasure—a conscious!"

Akira interjected this time with a pleased look. "Ah, so that's what it is. You should've just said that from the beginning, Morgana."

The cat licked his paws with smug satisfaction. "I can't reveal every secret I have to you guys. I have to keep some stuff to myself."

Shiho turned towards the still thinking Shirou. "Is that okay with you Emiya-kun? Knowing that if we help with stealing this treasure we can make a change for the better."

Shirou just sighed and nodded, he looked at Ann with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, it's just that the idea of brainwashing someone into doing something seems deplorable to me. But I guess giving someone a conscious over their actions is fine, you're not exactly controlling them to do what you want… your just giving them something that should've been there from the very beginning."

Ann nodded at his words and smiled apologetically as well. "Yeah, sorry for snapping like that, it's just…"

"Yeah, don't worry about it Takamaki-san…"

"I think its best we continue this tomorrow or by text later tonight." Akira said to everyone as he looked around. "Entering the Metaverse can be tiring, and having an Awakening of your Persona can be even more exhausting…"

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The redhead stretched his tired muscles as he walked towards his apartment. He winced as he felt heavy all over.

'Kurusu wasn't kidding, entering that other world is pretty tiring.'

He pulled out the keys for the apartment door and stopped, as he narrowed his eyes towards the apartment.

'Right, no talking to anyone about what happened today. This is our big secret… no use in getting Maiya-san worried and then have her call dad or mom just so that they can start asking even more questions…'

He shrugged, it wasn't like he would need an excuse as Maiya was never in to begin with. So he opened the door, strolled in and froze just as he was to put down his school bag on the counter—

For Maiya was there in the apartment, arms crossed in front of the plasma screen tv in the living room…having a live video chat with his father, Kiritsugu Emiya. The man sat inside his car in a darkened spot, which shadowed most of his face and gave him a mysterious edge.

"Dad…?" Shirou asked in amazement as he saw the man turn towards him on the screen. Kiritsugu gestured for Maiya to do something and the woman moved towards the apartment door. The redhead heard her secure the lock of the door and he grew nervous. "Dad… what's up? It's been a while."

"…" Kiritsugu stared at him with passive eyes. He then let out a deep sigh and crossed his fingers underneath his nose. "So you have finally entered into that other world, Shirou."

"—!" Alarm bells went off inside his head as he heard his father say those words. He took a step back and bumped into Maiya. He turned sharply to look at the woman, who returned the stare with her usual aloof expression. He turned back towards his dad with a confused expression. "… what?"

Kiritsugu paid no mind to his question as he looked down. "The information provided by my contact has come true... now that you have entered that world… it means that the operation can finally go into full swing."

"Operation… what are you talking about dad!?" Shirou was incredibly confusec and dread started to filter in as his father turned to look at him with empty eyes. But that couldn't be true, could it? How was it that the man who tended to act far too immature while around his children and whose eyes filled up with warmth and light whenever he played around, could possibly show such empty and cold eyes?

It had to be a trick on the live stream, it just had to be.

"Yes, Shirou… this operation… this is the operation that was made the day I betrayed you and Ilya. The day I trampled upon your lives."

"…" Shirou just stared at the plasma screen with a stupefied expression, his brain far too overwhelmed to understand what was happening.

Kiritsugu continued. "The reason you are here, in Tokyo is because of me Shirou… the reason why you got expelled, why you got treated as a pariah is because of me… the one who allowed for the events to have Illya in placed danger and make her cry was because of me…

I was the one who manipulated your every action, your every move... I was the one that set up your fall, Shirou."

"What?"


AUTHOR'S NOTE

I have returned!

First off, I want to say thank you all for sending out those worries reviews about me being careful during the hurricane. It was really touching and I appreciate it.

Second off, thank you all for all the reviews and giving this story a chance. I was actually expecting this story to fall flat on its face back before I had even published it, but now this story is my strongest and most 'famous' if you will. So really, thanks!

And thirdly... You were expecting that it was Shirou who would awaken, but it was her Shiho!

Let me give out a quick run down as to why I went with Shiho in this and not Shirou, the answer is pretty simple actually. It just made more sense plot-wise. Shirou awakening from Ann's suffering would've been a bad choice and would've made Shiho's awakening in a later chapter be weak and not right. Shiho was the perfect choice here, the redhead's will have to happen in another occasion. When? Who knows, except me.

As for Shiho's Persona it was originally supposed to be Joan D'Arc, but I changed it since Joan didn't feel rebellious in nature. I went with Catherina Sforza as I was contemplating my choices with which Persona I should go for with Shiho, then I remember Assassin's Creed and remembered Sforza. I read all I could from her and chose her because it just fits the way I'm portraying Shiho in this story. And Sforza actually gave me that rebellious flare, a woman who was a tyrant, selfish and violent in a era where it was expected for women to be use as political tools and to bare children? I had to use her.

As for her appearance, she looks like Servant Jeanne D'Arc, it was a holdover and nod to what her original persona was going to be. The difference is the eyes and the giant tiger that she has over her shoulder.

Anyway, next chapter is still in progress since the hurricane threw my schedule out of whack, and by that I mean both for this story and the one from college. So next chapter might take a while. Though finally everything concerning Shirou's situation will be reveal.

Alright that's all for now folks, I hoped you enjoy this chapter. Tell me what you thought of the chapter and until next time. Adios.