Disclaimer: Persona 5 Characters except Ryuunosuke Katsuo belongs to Atlus; this fanfic has no commercial purpose.
Alibaba: What are you doing?
We got a message from the hacker on the last day of the month. It was early in the morning, and I wasn't even ready to leave my bed just yet.
Ann: It's her again!
Alibaba: How much longer are you going to make me wait?
Alibaba: Do you not care about me reporting you to the police?
Ryuji: Whoa, slow down! Just give us a little more time.
Alibaba: I can't do that.
Makoto: We're trying our best here.
Yusuke: If you truly cannot wait any longer, go ahead and report us.
Ryuji: Hey!
Katsuo: Look, Alibaba. We have been doing some progress, but if you could give us just a little bit of preparation, then we will be able to fulfill our part of the deal without issues.
Alibaba: Hmph. Maybe I can give you a little more time.
Ryuji: Maybe!?
Katsuo: Shut it, punk! I appreciated your consideration. We will be in contact soon.
The conversation was shorter than usual, but she was getting rather anxious about the situation. Akira immediately sent us another message on the group chat. He told us to go to Leblanc ASAP. I left my bed and went to the shower before heading to our hideout. If I'm perfectly honest, I was ready to go to her Palace anytime.
I rode my bike while going straight to the hideout without interruptions. Of course, I had to go on the moderated speed to avoid any pigs from traffic. I parked my bike, somewhere I hope, I couldn't remember where but I'm sure no one would notice my baby on my absence.
I entered the coffee shop, but Boss wasn't anywhere to be seen, probably errands or something. It was the perfect chance I walked upstairs, and I saw everyone already in the attic.
"Yo!" Sakamoto was the first to greet me. Everyone waved their hands as I took the chair next to the desk with tools. We were around the table while Morgana jumped to the center of it. "When're we gonna charge into Futaba's room? There's no point thinkin' it over now." The punk talked to everyone while handing the calling card over the table. "Well, I got the calling card, so lemme know when you decide."
"This is different from past cases. We'll be handing the calling card directly to Futaba herself. Once we give it to her, we'll head straight into her Palace." We heard the cat's words, clear as crystal. "There won't be any time for prep work in between, so make sure you're ready beforehand."
"I understand it perfectly," Akira replied with confidence.
"Are you sure we're ready to go? Once Futaba sees that calling card, we'll need to head straight into her Palace. Is that OK?" Morgana asked again, in case our leader had any second guesses. It wasn't the case, though. He replied a simple nod.
"Ooh, so you're set on doin' this?" Sakamoto asked with a big grin on his face.
"Looks like it's my turn to unlock the entrance. Forgive me, Chief." Morgana said with an apologetic tone. I didn't blame him, I never liked to trespass his house either.
"How will we convince Futaba to let us into her room though? Even Boss is forbidden entry." Yusuke asked Akira.
"We'll be honest," Akira replied, couldn't get simpler than that.
"Yes, that is the best course of action." Makoto was easily agreed with that.
"You know a method?" That artist was curious.
"I think it's quite straightforward. Futuba doesn't know what we're doing inside her Palace, correct? Hence, if we tell her we've come to steal her heart, she'll surely open the door and let us inside."
"Wait… That's it?" Ann asked with surprise.
"But do you think is a good idea? She wouldn't like it if we do that." I was a little skeptical with the method.
"Futaba wants to have a change of heart. After all, she contacted us for that express purpose. That desire should lead her to open the door as well."
"…You're right. Our feelings should get through if we just try and talk to her." Ann didn't have any objections about Makoto's explanations.
"All right, I believe in Futaba! C'mon, let's get this done!" Surely that punk was awfully excited to let this thing to start. We nodded in agreement and headed straight to Boss' home. Morgana started to lockpicking the front door while the rest of us looked around in case Boss or the neighbors were around. I still didn't like to get inside someone's house, but there was no point to argue. We waited for a full minute for the cat doing his job, Akira should be the one doing that instead. Maybe it might look more suspicious if any of us did it, too bad we don't have a master of unlocking in this team. Yes, I said that, shut up.
"Alright everyone, get in quick," Morgana said to us after he was done with the door. I closed it while looking behind, as a good measure. We walked carefully without making any noise until we reached the door to Futaba's room.
"We're sorry for sneaking in so many times, Boss." Makoto said remorsefully, there was nothing to apologize about it until this point.
"There's no mistaking it. This is the same door as in the Palace."
"I hope this will work out." I said to the cat. I was pretty anxious for the heist.
"Hello, Futaba?" Makoto started to gently knock Futaba's door. "You're there, aren't you? Please answer us." As expected, there was just silence.
"I doubt she'd answer…" Morgana said in disappointment.
"Alibaba, we know you're there. It doesn't matter if it's through chat messaging. Just answer us." Makoto was being persistent about getting any response from that girl. Naturally, Akira's phone started to receive a message.
Alibaba: You should've told me you were going to come here.
"Weren't you the one who ordered us this morning!?" I replied with annoyance.
"In order to steal your heart, we need you to open this door. We can't change your heart otherwise. Please let us in." Makoto talked through the door, we hoped if Futaba wouldn't chicken out on this.
Alibaba: I'm not mentally prepared!
Akira: You have to this.
Alibaba: That's easy for you to say…
"The other you within your heart told us to have you open it. Deep down, you want to open this door, don't you?"
Alibaba: The other me?
"I don't think she understands what you are talking about, Makoto." I commented since this isn't a simple thing to explain.
"I got this." She whispered to me. "Yeah. We're trying to uphold our promise, but you're the one resisting us." She kept doing some pep talk to the isolated girl. I crossed my fingers.
Alibaba: Give me some time.
"Ten seconds."
Alibaba: That's too short! At least minutes. Please!
"Fine. But if Boss comes home, we'll kick down the door and enter if we must." Makoto was done talking as we waited a couple of minutes. We were tapping the floor and doing some random stuff until we waited long enough. "Time's up, Alibaba."
Alibaba: All right, I'll open it now.
Alas, another second or I would almost start destroying that door like the Big Bad Wolf.
"We need to change her cognition. Better to be completely safe than sorry." Makoto commented.
"So she has to be the one to invite us in…"
"That's the case, Yusuke." I replied.
"Futaba, please open the door." Makoto spoke through Futaba's door. She didn't send another message or else. So far, we heard steps as the doorknob was turning, making the door to open by itself. We were surprised that Futaba really complied.
"All right, let's go in…" Sakamoto said with a serious tone. Without any objections, we entered her room one by one. I was the last one to get in.
Once inside, we started to look around and let me tell you, that place was a total mess.
"What is this…?" Yusuke asked in confusion to the messy room.
"Medical science, information technology, biology, psychology… These are all technical books…" Makoto commented while examining Futaba's desk.
"What kind of teenager reads that stuff?" I said to myself until I remembered that she was a hacker, it would be natural that she would know that kind of information. "Huh?" something caught my attention.
"Is there something wrong?" Ann asked me.
"It is nothing." I replied to her. Where the hell did she get those Feathermen figurines? I have been looking for them since December. It didn't matter for the moment, though.
"She keeps herself cooped up in a room like this all the time…?" The blond girl asked while making a long face. Of course, something felt odd until Yusuke pointed out for us.
"Where's Futaba?" He asked for everyone.
"Where could she be hiding…?" The punk was wondering as well. We were looking at our surroundings until we heard noises.
"The closet!?" Makoto said in surprise.
"She'll shut herself into the bitter end, hm?" Yusuke commented with disappointed eyes.
"Even if that door's opened up, we'll get stopped again inside." Morgana was right, this wasn't enough to get her permission. "I bet a fence or something formed right in front of the Treasure now."
"Good grief, why is she making things harder for us!?" I said with my palm on my forehead.
"Th-This makes no sense! Explain yourselves!"
"Who, she talked…" Sakamoto said in amusement.
"No shit, Herlock." I replied while raising an eyebrow.
"We needed to change your cognition. Unless we do so, we can't steal your heart."
"I highly doubt she would understand it even if we explained it to her…" Yusuke and I thought the same thing. Makoto's technicalities wouldn't help us in any case.
"So basically, my cognition is being a hindrance, keeping you away from the core of my cognitive world?" Or so we thought.
"Huh? She understood it?" Ann wasn't the only one with the surprise either.
"Why do you know about that? Who are you?" Makoto kept asking questions to the hacker in the closet. Futaba replied with a sigh.
"Why'd you call yourself Alibaba and make things more complicated?" Sakamoto asked too. "If you wanted help, you could've just asked for it."
"…was..rrsassed." She mumbled, much to our confusion.
"Huh? M-My bad. I didn't catch that." The punk asked again, she replied with a groan.
"…'Cause I was embarrassed."
"I think I get it." Ann commented. "Asking someone for help isn't that easy…"
It never is, especially when you feel guilty.
"Futaba, can you tell us more? How do you know about the cognitive world?" Makoto started to ask again, we hoped if the hacker got enough strength to reply to us.
"…'Cause I knew about it."
"Well, that doesn't explain much." I sighed.
"Oh… That reminds me. Boss was talking about 'cognition' or something before, right?"
"You think this is related to how he was getting' grilled by that one lady?" Sakamoto asked the blond girl. I started to wonder about that connection as well.
"Perhaps her mother was researching this cognitive science that was mentioned?"
Cognitive psience with a PSI in front! Less science, more supernatural. That's important." Futaba corrected Makoto, she sounded more comfortable about explaining the topic.
"Well that certainly got her attention… It seems we're on the right track." Yusuke added.
"So, cognitive…psience? Futaba, what was your mother working on?" The hacker remained silence to Makoto's question. "Please tell us. What happened?"
"She's not answering." Yusuke said nonchalantly.
"Shouldn't we do this later? She seems to have gone through some shit in the past…"
"True…" Makoto replied to the punk. "She did say things like 'die'…" We were in a tight situation, I gulped of how sensitive the topic was. I couldn't come up with anything to say since I wasn't comfortable to follow the conversation. That is until I saw Ann with a fierce expression.
"Hold on." She said while facing at the closet. "Futaba-chan. Did you really kill your mother?" She was blunt, probably more than any of us in the room.
"Whoa, you moron…!" Sakamoto called her out.
"Wasn't her death an accident? What actually happened? Maternity neurosis? Is that really true?"
"Ann." Yusuke muttered
"We saw what your heart is like, but we still can figure anything out. The mother that Boss told us about is completely different from your cognition." After the blond girl was done talking, we heard Futaba's groans within the closet. "We want to hear the truth from your mouth."
"…M-My mom… was…" The hacker stumbled between her words. I never thought Ann would be so direct on asking all this. "The… one who killed her… was… Nngh…" We could hear her struggling, it was painful for me to hear her like that.
"It's possible that she can't remember because her heart has become distorted." Makoto said with sad eyes. We weren't sure if it was a good idea to keep talking about such painful memories. Ann started to look at the closet with a solemn attitude.
"I'm so sorry, Futaba-chan. I, um… A lot happened, so… I'm sorry." She tried to apologize. The moment became quiet, melancholic. It must take enough strength to face such things engraved on your heart.
"I guess we will return another time." Before I could go to the door, something unexpected happened. We heard the door of the closet opening up in a sudden manner that made me jump of surprise. Something that caught us off guard when we saw Futaba leaving the closet without warning.
"Th-There! Now steal it!" She said with her eyes shut and open arms. We weren't sure of what was going on anymore.
"…What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" Sakamoto asked with shock.
"C-C'mon, hurry it up!" Futaba said with a demanding tone, much to our confusion.
"Uhhh…I don't think that's how it works." I commented.
"We did come to steal your heart, but it's not really done right here at this moment…" Makoto tried to clarify things up. She wasn't sure how to react. "All you really had to do was open that closet door…" Futaba started to open right eyes, much to her confusion. "…I'm sorry we made you jump to conclusions. You don't have to be like that…"
"I-I see…" Futaba understood. However, after she grasped the situation, she stepped back to the closer and shut the door in front of us.
"She went back in!" Ann said in surprise.
"…Wh-What's the meaning of this!? Did you guys trick me?" Futaba said in disappointment. I was more disappointed by the fact that she took it literally despite knowing how cognitions work.
"No! Please listen! There's a reason we had to do this!" Makoto said with a serious tone, it didn't matter for the hacker.
"She's aware of the cognitive world, but it seems she doesn't understand how a change of heart occurs." Morgana said with a frown.
"Um, Futaba, how much do you know about the cognitive world?" Makoto asked Futaba once again.
"I know that there's another world based on cognition. But I don't know how to get there." She said nervously. I did nothing but to rub my eyes in desperation. "Can you guys go there? You said you 'saw my heart' earlier."
"Yes, that's right." Makoto nodded.
"How do you do it?" Futaba kept asking us.
"We use a smartphone app."
"An app?"
"Yes. By entering the required information, we can go to the cognitive world."
"A name, a place, and a distortion- those three." Sakamoto added. "So in this case, 'Sakura Futaba,' 'Sakura Sojiro's house,' and-" Before he could continue, Makoto interrupted him with another interesting question.
"Futaba, you don't happen to have this app, do you?"
"This…" The hacker replied with a quiet tone. "…I don't" We felt relief about hearing that. I wouldn't want her to be with us in the first place if she had the app.
"Thank goodness… OK then." Makoto sighed.
"Can you take me with you too?" Futaba asked.
"No." Akira replied bluntly.
"Are you kidding? We can't allow that. This is something for professionals." I said it with assurance, everyone nodded to that.
"I gotta agree. Just leave this to us."
"I'll leave it to you then." She replied it to the punk.
"Good. And you better not forget about our promise, all right?" Sakamoto said while Ann and Yusuke were the first ones to walk out of the room. The punk followed them but stopped next to the closet. "Oh yeah! Almost forgot! The Treasure's not gonna appear if we don't have her read this!" He pulled the calling card out of his pocket and sledded it through the closet's gap.
"Hm? A calling card?"
"It's the one you prepared. Read it." He replied Futaba.
"… I can't read it. It's too dark."
"You could just come out…"
"… It's embarrassing." She said with her usual nervous tone. What a complicated girl.
"I'll make sure she reads it, so you guys go on ahead." Morgana said as he was looking somewhere to hide inside the room.
"Futaba, make sure you read it, okay?"
"Okay." The hacker replied Makoto. We started to walk out of the room without much rush. It was a strange experience meeting Futaba in person, and I had no words to say about it. We were outside of the house, waiting for Morgana's cue.
"Do you think it will work?" I asked the others.
"This is something we will find it out soon." Akira replied, he was awfully quiet, but then again, cool guys never break silence unless is necessary. "Don't worry, we will save her." He said while putting his hand on my shoulder. It gave me some sense of security as to how reliable this guy was.
Minutes later, we saw Morgana leaving the house. "She read it. Let's go!" She yelled while jumping out of the window.
"Ready everyone? It's Show Time!" Our leader said while activating the Metaverse App. We were transporting instantly to the other world.
"The Palace's security level is so high I can feel it from all the way out here…" Panther said a soon as we arrived at the Pyramid.
"Futaba seemed totally up for gettin' her heart stolen… What's up with this?" Skull commented due to how heated the whole place felt.
"Hm… Something about this place really is unusual."
"That's what makes me uneasy about this place, Mona." I commented on the state of the Palace. I had a bad feeling about there.
"Either way, there's only one thing for us to do now that we've sent the calling card!"
"Hell yeah! No matter what we gotta face, we're gonna take that Treasure for sure!" Skull was impatient to start the heist. Everyone was in fact.
We began walking towards the Pyramid's main entrance. Step by step, we began climbing through the stairs until Joker stopped me for a brief moment.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"Hey, how're your chains?" He asked about my weapon.
"Well, this thing isn't on great shape. I think I busted it when I was punching the Shadow since our last visit." I said while looking at it in a decaying state. "Why, though?"
"I got you a new one for you." He showed a long chain and double hooks with strange engravings on it. It was odd, but for some reason, it emitted a powerful aura on it.
"Heh, thanks for that. I hope to give it a better use before breaking it." I said while ditching my old weapon. I didn't bother to ask if he got it from Iwai since it looked weird.
Back to the heist, we kept walking to the long hallway which led us straight to the Treasure. We were standing exactly since the last time we stopped at. The door didn't look any different as it still had the signals on it.
"I hope she read the calling card." Panther asked while looking worried about it.
"I mean after all the trouble we went through, she damn well better've read it!" Skull added. That didn't take too long for the door changing form, finally letting us go through there. "All right! It's open!" The punk exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"Well yeah, Futaba-chan opened the door herself." The blond girl said with a smile.
"Anyway, the Treasure is up ahead! Let's finish this!" Without further ado, we walked towards what appeared as an 'ancient elevator' with Joker pressing the button. It lifted us to the top of the place. The ride wasn't too long, but my heart was beating pretty fast. I was taking some breathing exercises to concentrate. Once on the top, we began looking at the whole giant room. There were floating digital screens with data and information like a computer.
"So," Queen spoke as she was looking at our surroundings. "This is the place that represents Futaba's room." At least looks cleaner than her actual room.
"Yup, this is the heart of a hacker all right." Skull added. "Anyways, where's the Treasure?"
"I'm getting a strong signal from above us. The Treasure had definitely manifested." Mona said while pointing out our objective. It was pretty far from us, though.
"There's no knowing what may lie ahead, so let's be vigilant as we push toward the Treasure."
"Why things can go easy for us?" I expressed unenthusiastically on Queen's warnings.
"Let's go everyone." Joker was the first to walk ahead of us. The place reeked trouble as not only was confusing, but we weren't alone. Shadows were lurking on the area, we tried to use cover to hide from danger. However, there were some mummy dogs which blew our cover. We didn't want to waste time, but those were blocking our way.
"Out of our way, assholes!" I said while trying to summon Hannibal. That is what we got the awful realization. "What the hell? Where's Hannibal!?" I said while grabbing my mask.
"What's wrong, Faust?" Queen asked me.
"I can't summon my Persona!" I said while taking cover from the Shadows.
"This place, it seems that emits the same behavior as the box we were trapped before." Fox commented while trying to use his katana to slice our enemies.
"Oh crap…we have to reach the top without using magic?" Skull said as he was bashing heads with his bat with nails.
"It seems that we have no choice. Listen, everyone, try to not use too much ammo on them. We might need them in case." Joker ordered us to fight while saving the arsenal.
"Alrighty, time to test this baby." I said with a devilish smile across my face. I extended the chain and swung it to various Snakewomen on our way, they began acting weird as they looked lost. "Oh, now this is much better." I admired my new weapon as it caused the Dizzy Ailment. I thanked Joker for it.
"Move!" Queen began charging heavy punches and kicks that threw two Shadows off the edge. They fell from a long height. "Faust, on your left!"
"Got it!" I said while rapidly turning to where Queen told me. I grabbed a Bearer of Scales from the neck with my left hand and started punching it with my fist wrapped in chains like a brass knuckle. After a few punches, kicked it off the platform too.
"Duck!" Panther told to everyone as she pulled her submachine gun to spread lead on the rest of the enemies. We avoid the bullets, but we wished that she could improve her aim at least.
"Are we done?" Fox asked Mona.
"No, I can still sense more ahead of us."
"I'll handle it!" Joker started to swing his knife with swift moves before using his gun to kill one Shadow. There were still more, but I was sure that he would like some help.
"Joker!" I yelled while taking cover and my sawed-off shotgun on hand. "Would you like to finish those suckers?"
"Faust, on position!" That was his cue, I jumped on the scene as both of us were covering each other's backs and aiming with our guns at the enemies. "Fire!" We shot at them without mercy as black goo went flying over the place. And with that, our path was finally clear of Shadows. "Good job, everyone." Joker congratulated us as we were reaching the top.
"Man, I knew there would be another trap here." Skull commented while catching his breath.
"At least we are close to the Treasure without wasting magic." Panther stretched her arms and legs due to the long battle.
"That's right, the Treasure is right past this point." Mona pointed at the door next to a lever.
"What may await us within…?"
"I'm not so sure, Fox. Nothing good I believe." I said while cracking my knuckles and my shoulder.
"No matter what it is, we need to be ready for it!" Mona was looking at our leader, expecting a quick answer.
"Let's do this!" Joker began pulling the lever, allowing us to get there with another elevator behind the door. We ride it once more by taking us further to the top. After a couple of minutes, we reached our destination, and our expectations weren't exactly what we were hoping.
"The hell? This ain't what I was imaginin'! Skull criticized to the empty room.
"Were you expecting a mountain of treasure or something of that sort?"
"That would be nice, though." I commented to Fox.
"There IS that over there." Panther pointed at the sarcophagus on the room. It was made of stone and not one with encrusted jewels. Just a dirty old one.
"That's it…?" The punk asked in disappointment.
"The Treasure must be inside." Queen commented as she carefully examined that thing.
"All right, let's take it!"
"Hold your goddamn horse! What if is another trap?" I said to Skull while grabbing him from the shoulder.
"It would be fine, we already reached the top. I will check it for you, alright?" He replied to me with confidence. He walked towards the sarcophagus while watching his step.
"Be careful." Fox said at the punk.
"T-Treasure…!" Mona was getting excited as usual. He leaped towards it, but that was when things went downhill for us.
"There's something here…"
"I got a bad feeling about this, Fox…" Skull stole the words right out of my mouth, I didn't like one bit of it. We were confused as the whole place was shaking as if something was causing it. After the sudden earthquakes, some bricks of the Pyramid fell off, leaving a hole which sunlight was illuminating us.
Of course, that's when I realized at that moment… we were screwed.
"FUUUUUUUUUUTAAAAAAAAAABAAAA!" Something screamed in anger while it looked at us through the hole. We only saw an eye from it, slowly getting close to us. Its voice was irritating and enough to make me rip my ears off.
"Is it a Shadow…?" Queen asked with cold-sweat on her face. "No… Then-"
"It's not Futaba!" Fox said with his sword at hand.
"Don't tell me…" Mona looked pale as if he knew something more than what appeared. That thing began crushing the walls with powerful strikes that sent some of the blocks flying away from the top. There were powerful gusts of wind that cleared the room's dust. We covered our eyes from the dirt. I used my cape to cover everyone, but that is when we saw it.
It was sphinx with a woman's head. It was wearing glasses and a red dress. That was NOT okay at all! We couldn't believe what we saw at that thing.
"This is insane!" Panther said with fear in her voice. That thing was flying above us while sending blows with its wings. Skull and Mona rolled on the ground due to the wind.
"If it's not a Shadow, then what is it!?"
"It's a… cognition!" Mona answered Skull's question. "A monster that Futaba's cognition created!" The cat was grabbing some of the gaps on the floor, hoping he wouldn't be flying off the Pyramid's top.
"How can that be!?" Queen asked in fright while covering her face. She couldn't see what was ahead of her.
"Hey, look out!" Skull warned to her as rocks began falling on top of us. I tried to move her out of danger. While I succeeded in saving her, I was sent flying instead. It forced me to hang on the edge for my dear life and hoping not to fall off.
"Guys! A little help here!" I tried to call for the others. Joker and Fox went to my rescue and helped me to get back on the top. Things were getting worse from there.
"Here it comes!" Skull yelled at us about the sphinx's next move. It flew away from us.
"DO NOT APPROACH THE PHARAOH'S TOMB!" It yelled while flying around us. "MISFORTUNE WILL FALL UPON YOU!"
"Great, I never was lucky to begin with." I muttered while wiping off the dust on my cape.
"Ugh, look at it fly about! We can't reach it like this!" Mona said with irritating eyes. "We've got no other option. Let's take it down with our guns and skills!" The cat said while pulling his slingshot at the monster. We were doing the same with our weapons at hand.
"David! Psio!" Joker was the first one to attack. He was able to reach it but wasn't enough to damage it.
"Take it!" Mona started shooting, the pellets didn't do anything either. "This is not good."
"Johanna! Freila!"
"Carmen! Agilao!" Both girls were launching spells at the same time, but the sphinx dodged both attacks. For something that big surely got a lot of mobility.
The monster flew at our direction and tried to slam us with its claw. It was able to damage me with all its weight. The sphinx tried again, being able to catch Skull off guard.
"Fuck! What's the deal with this thing!?" I said while trying to get back on my feet.
"Who cares!? Let's take it down!" Skull said while pulling his firearm. Him, Fox and I aimed at it while still flying on the earth. Bullets and pellets went flying, but those barely made a scratch on the cognition.
"Not enough, eh? Hannibal!" My Persona laughed maniacally by casting Rakunda on it. I was hoping that everyone would be able to damage it with more efficiency. We tried to launch more magical skills on it, but no matter how many times we did, it kept countering us.
The sphinx kept sweeping us with its claws and even using its wings by sending tornados. The more we tried to fight back, the worse things were getting for us. We reached a point where the monster ascended way above us to the sky. It reached extreme heights that we lost from our sights.
"H-How far did it fly up!? What's it gonna do!?" Mona asked in much desperation, it didn't last long until we realized something bad. "Don't tell me… Is it gonna dive attack us!?" We began guarding with our weapons as we couldn't know exactly when that thing would appear again.
That thing full of wrath made us look at the sky with paranoia, it was unnerving. No matter how cautious we were, we got a chill running down on our spines. "Damn that thing… When's it gonna strike…!?" Mona asked once again. We never broke our guards as far we could tell. That thing was toying with us. "Nngh… It' still not attacking?" That didn't last as the sphinx finally dived with its whole body onto us.
We got hurt, badly. That thing was unpredictable and fierce for a simple cognition. How could that thing be stronger than a Shadow?
"Ngh… This isn't good. I can't tell at all when it's gonna attack…"
"What do you mean can't tell!? You gotta tell us, Mona!" Skull wasn't pleased from hearing that.
"I-I can't help it! There are some things that even I can't do!" The cat yelled anxiously.
Our attacks were useless, we were blind for incoming attacks. It was hopeless, there was no way that we could beat that thing with our current power. It was the end of the line for us, right now, our only chance to defeat the cognition would be something that could help us to damage it from a far distance and predict its movements.
We needed a miracle.