As Keiko, Mallory, Ryuji and Morgana ran back into the front entrance of the castle, they gasped and stopped running when they saw Shadow Kamoshida standing in the middle of the room with a group of 6 knight shadows (one of them is a golden-coloured knight with 2 red-coloured feathers at the top of his helmet and holding a slightly larger sword and a red, white and golden-coloured shield in his hands) standing behind him.
"… You knave and wenches again? To think you three'd make the same mistake again. You're all hopeless!" sneered Shadow Kamoshida as he glared at them.
"Oh, goddammit!" thought Mallory as she glared back at Shadow Kamoshida and his knight minions before she quickly stepped protectively in front of Keiko.
"The school ain't your goddamn castle!" exclaimed Ryuji firmly at Shadow Kamoshida as he took a few steps forward. "I've memorized each of their faces real good. You're goin' down!"
"It seems it's true when they say "barking dogs seldom bites"." said Shadow Kamoshida before he smirked evilly at them. "How far the star runner of the track team has fallen."
"The hell are you getting' at!?" yell Ryuji as he glared at Shadow Kamoshida.
"I speak of the "Track Traitor" who acted in violence, ending his teammates' dreams. Oh, I can only imagine the pain of the others who were dragged under with your… selfish act." said Shadow Kamoshida in a taunting tone of voice to Ryuji.
"Ngh…" grunted Ryuji as he flinch and look away from Shadow Kamoshida.
"Track Traitor"? "Silent and cowardly self"? What does he mean by that, Sakamoto-kun?" asked Keiko as she, Mallory and Morgana glance in confusion at Ryuji.
"What he meant is surely not good judging by how Sakamoto react to it." thought Mallory to herself.
"What a surprise. So you 2 accompanying him without knowing anything at all?" said Shadow Kamoshida mockingly at both Keiko and Mallory. "Sakamoto betrayed his teammates and crushed their hopes, yet he still carries on as carefree as ever."
"That's not true!" yell Ryuji in denial at Shadow Kamoshida's words.
"What tragic fates you 2 have… blindly trusting and following this fool who led you 2 to your deaths … But fortunately for you 2, I still wanted you 2 alive and all for myself, pretty transfer students with criminal records." said Shadow Kamoshida as he ignored Ryuji and leered at both Keiko and Mallory (who glared in anger and disgust at him) before he raised his right hand to gestured to the knights standing behind him. "Go, capture those 2 alive and kill the idiot and the cat. I don't want my castle and those 2 girls be tainted with their foul stench." Shadow Kamoshida ordered his knights.
"What did you just say!? Like hell I would let myself and also Keiko be captured by your damn knight minions!" exclaimed Mallory in more anger and disgust at Shadow Kamoshida (who only laughed evilly at her).
The knights obeyed Shadow Kamoshida's orders before they take a few steps forward, shake and burst apart in a shower of black and red liquid and reveal 5 red-eyed, dark purple-skinned horses with green horns, white manes and tails on their heads, necks and behind them.
"Goddammit…" growled Ryuji as he narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth in helplessness and frustration when he saw the knights burst and change into shadow horses.
"Ryuji, get back!" ordered Morgana as he and Keiko run forward in front of Mallory and Ryuji to shield them, summoned forth Arsene and Zorro as they prepared themselves for another battle against the shadow horses that's slowly surrounds them. Both Keiko and Morgana uses Eiha and Garu skills on the horse shadows and only managed to partially injured them before the horse shadows charge and rammed their horns several times on both Keiko and Morgana (which make them yell out in pain) and knock them both down onto the floor. Once Shadow Kamoshida saw his knights take down Keiko and Morgana, he approach Morgana, raised and pressed his foot down on his back.
"Rgh… You piece of-" grunted Morgana angrily at Shadow Kamoshida (who glance and smirked silently down at Morgana).
"Morgana… Agh!" said Keiko before she yell out in pain when she felt one of the knights roughly grabbed a fistful of her hair and pull her up from the ground.
"Keiko! Morgana!" yell Mallory worriedly at Keiko and Morgana before she run forward with the intention to helped them both out. But before Mallory could get to them, another knight intercepted her and rammed his shield on Mallory, making her yell out in pain before she fell to her knees on the floor.
"Maly!" yell Keiko worriedly at Mallory.
"Heh, that's what happens to you when you try to be a heroine, Caelum." said Shadow Kamoshida smugly at Mallory (who glared at him while ignoring the pain on her body) before he glance at Ryuji (who's also on his knees on the floors too). "And you, I bet you simply came here on a whim and ended up like this. Isn't that right, Sakamoto?" sneered Shadow Kamoshida.
"No…" said Ryuji as he shake his head.
"What a worthless piece of trash, getting emotional so quickly… How dare you raised your hand at me. Though it was only temporary, have you forgotten my kindness in supervising track practice?" said Shadow Kamoshida as he smirked at Ryuji.
"You're wrong! That wasn't practice-it was physical abuse! You just didn't like our team!" said Ryuji in helpless anger at Shadow Kamoshida as he lowered himself to lay his forehead on the floor while beating the floor with his fists.
"It was nothing but an eyesore! The only one who needs to achieve results is me!" Shadow Kamoshida sneered at Ryuji again. "That coach who got fired was hopeless too… Had he not opposed me with a sound argument, I would've settled it with only breaking his star's leg." added Shadow Kamoshida smugly at Ryuji.
"…What?" said Ryuji as he lifted his head to look up with a shock look on his face.
"Do you need me to deal with your other leg too? The school will call it self-defense anyway!" said Shadow Kamoshida mockingly at Ryuji.
"You bastard…" thought Mallory as she glared at Shadow Kamoshida.
"Dammit… Am I gonna lose again…? Not only can I not run anymore… the track team is gone too 'cause of this asshole…!" said Ryuji in helpless anger to himself.
"So that's why…" murmured Morgana sadly at Ryuji before he let out another pained grunt when Shadow Kamoshida pressed his foot even harder on Morgana.
"How could you do that to him and hurt Maly and Morgana, you bastard… Ugh!" Keiko snapped angrily at Shadow Kamoshida before she gasped in pain when the knight clench her hair more tightly and painfully in his fist.
"Once this thing is dealt with and I've make these 2 criminal girls my newest whores, you'll be next." said Kamoshida smugly to Ryuji before he began laughing in triumph.
"Ryuji!" Morgana yell out to Ryuji.
"You sick bastard! I'll never forgive you if you dare lay your filthy hands on Keiko! Leave her alone and just take me instead!" snarled Mallory in anger and disgust at Shadow Kamoshida.
"Maly, no!" yell Keiko as she glance in shock at Mallory.
"Oh, is that so, you'd sacrifice yourself for your friend, huh? You, bring her to me." ordered Shadow Kamoshida to the knight that attack Mallory earlier and the knight obeyed his order, grab and bring and toss Mallory roughly in front of him. "Now, how should I play with a willing martyr girl like you, Caelum?" chuckled Shadow Kamoshida as he glance smugly at her.
"What are you two doing? Stand up for yourself, Ryuji and don't sacrifice yourself for the sake of protecting me, Maly! Are you two just going to let this bastard get away with this!?" Keiko yell out to them both as well.
"Keiko… You're right and how could I think of sacrificing myself to be this bastard's plaything?" said Mallory as she glared at Shadow Kamoshida.
"… You're right. Everything that was important to me was taken by him… I'll never get 'em back…" said Ryuji.
"Stay there and watch. Take a good long look as this thing die for nothing before I've my merry way with these 2 criminal girls because they sided with a hopeless garbage like you." said Shadow Kamoshida as he smirked at Ryuji.
"Why don't you shut your goddamn mouth, you sickening bastard! The more you talk, the more it makes me sick to the bone!" snapped Mallory angrily at Shadow Kamoshida (who glance and shrugged at her).
"No… That's what you are… All you think about is using people… You're the real scumbag, Kamoshida!" snapped Ryuji as he stood up from the floor and slowly approach Shadow Kamoshida.
"What are you all doing? Silence him now!" Shadow Kamoshida yell at his knights.
"Why don't you shut up yourself, you bastard!" snapped Mallory as she stood up from the floor.
"She's right! So don't you dare look down on us with that stupid smile on your face!" yell Ryuji as he stopped walking, glared hatefully and raised and pointed his finger at Kamoshida.
"Finally, you've shed away the cowardly part of yourself and replaced it with courage and bravery." said a female's voice proudly at Mallory.
"You've made me wait quite a while." said another deep male's voice slightly impatiently at Ryuji.
Soon after both Mallory and Ryuji heard the 2 voices of the unknown male and female spoke to them from somewhere, their eyes abruptly turned bright yellow before they felt indescribable pains suddenly wracked their heads and bodies, causing them to raised their hands to clutch their throbbing heads before they fell groaning then screaming and writhing in pain and agony on the floor.
"That woman and the cat lying at the mercy of their enemies over there risked their lives for you and the young blonde guy. Aren't you gonna save them both?" the female voice asked Mallory.
"Ugh… Of course… I do want to save them." replied Mallory weakly and painfully to the female voice.
"You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact." the male voice told Ryuji.
"You answer correctly, my dear. Then let us commenced with the contract at once." said the female voice even more proudly at Mallory.
"Since your name has been disgraced by him already, why not hoist the flag and wreck havoc…? The "other you" who exists within desires it thus…" the male voice told Ryuji.
"Vow to me now, I am thou, thou art I… The time has come for the seed of rebellion inside you to burst out and grow into a beauteous flower!" said the female voice firmly to Mallory (who stopped writhing and screaming in pain and agony as she felt the pain in his head and body went away) before a white mask with dozens of green flower accents appear on her face.
"I an thou, thou art I… There is no turning back… The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!" said the male voice firmly to Ryuji (who stopped writhing and screaming in pain and agony as well) before a dark grey, skull-like mask appear on his face.
"Hmph. What can the two of you do?" sneered the knight holding Keiko's hair tightly in his hand at both Mallory and Ryuji. "Cower in fear and watch!"
Both Mallory and Ryuji stood up from the floor as they tightly grabbed hold of their masks with their hands to try to pull them away and they managed to ripped the masks off of their faces, causes blood to burst out and run down their faces as they screamed in pained unison before 2 strong beams of dark blue flames suddenly appear and enveloped around both Mallory and Ryuji while a strong gust of wind blow out toward Shadow Kamoshida and his knight minions and send them flying backward and falling on their backs on the floor away from them and both Keiko and Morgana (who stood up from the floor and watched both Mallory and Ryuji awaken to their Personas with silent shock and awed looks on their faces).
As the dark blue flames and the gust of wind slowly died down and reveal both Mallory (whose uniform had change into a different sleeveless emerald-coloured shirt with a matching short sleeve bolero jacket over it, fingerless white gloves on her hands, long emerald pants and knee-length black boots with emerald green accents on it on her legs) and Ryuji (whose uniform had change into a different long sleeve black leather jacket with a long red scarf tied around his neck, matching long pants with knee pads on it, a slightly large grey belt tied around his waist, dark grey combat boots on his legs and a pair of yellow gloves on his hands) with 2 intimidating-looking Personas floating in thin air behind them.
The one floating behind Mallory is a white-faced beautiful woman with pale blue eyes, long brown hair down her back with a crown of iris flowers on the top of her head, a gentle smile on her face and wearing a long sleeve pale pink and purple dress with dozens of different flower designs on it while the one floating behind Ryuji is a skeletal-faced, yellow-eyed pirate man standing on and using a dark blue ship like a skateboard with the face of a war head painted on the front of it and wearing a long sleeve blue admiral coat with two swords crossed over each other on the front of his coat, a yellow cannon on his right hand and a yellow glove on his left hand, long black trousers and matching short black boots on his legs with a long red cape billowing behind him, an eyepatch covering his left eye and a black pirate hat with a white skull painted on the front of it on his head. A second later, both Mallory and Ryuji raised their heads to glance and smirked wickedly at Shadow Kamoshida.
"Ugh… These two as well!?" said Shadow Kamoshida as he and his knight minions stood up from the floor.
"Right on… Wassup, Persona… This effin' rocks!" said Ryuji excitedly as he glance down at his gloved hands. "Now that Caelum and I got these powers like Amamiya and Morgana, it's time for payback… Yo, we're ready… Bring it on!" said Ryuji as he clasped and cracked his knuckles together while staring smugly at Shadow Kamoshida and his knight minions.
"So this is what Keiko and Morgana gone through when their Personas awaken from within them back in the dungeon room, huh? Not a bad feeling at all." thought Mallory smugly to herself before she quickly approach Keiko and Morgana (while her persona followed behind her). "Are you two alright, Keiko? Morgana?" asked Mallory worriedly to them.
"Yeah, we're fine, Maly." replied Keiko reassuringly to Mallory.
"Yup! Like Madame Keiko says!" replied Morgana to Mallory (who nodded to them before they turned to glance at Shadow Kamoshida and his knight minions as well).
"Ngh… Don't mock me, you brat and wench!" snapped the golden-armored knight angrily at them before he transformed into a red-armored knight sitting on a purple horse and holding a menacing long spear in his left hand.
"Let's do this, Ophelia!" said Mallory.
"Blast them away, Captain Kidd!" yell Ryuji as he raised his hand and pointed a finger at the red-armored knight sitting on his horse.
"What troublemaker brat and wench that dared bother King Kamoshida with trifle matters!" yell the red-armored knight to them.
"What we do and be responsible for others isn't trifle matters at all! Shall we, Ophelia?" snapped Mallory as she briefly glance up at Ophelia.
"Kamoshida's cognition ain't changin' right? Then I'll act like the troublemaker I am! Let's do this, Captain Kidd!" exclaimed Ryuji as he briefly glance up at Captain Kidd as well.
The red-armored knight shadow scoffed at them as he raised his spear to summoned forth 4 horse shadows then ordered them to charge and rammed them down. Keiko, Morgana, Mallory and Ryuji got into battle stances and uses Eiha, Garu, Aqua and Zio skills on the 4 horse shadows and take them down. They then uses their skills on the red-armored knight and his horse, managed to knock him down before they jumped and attack the knight and his horse swiftly and relentlessly from all sides until they defeated him together.
"I am… a loyal subject… of the glorious King Kamoshida… So why… have I lost!?" said the knight weakly to himself.
"It just proves that Kamoshida ain't anything special at all." said Ryuji smugly at the knight while Mallory nodded in agreement to Ryuji. The knight shadow and his horse then transform back into it's previous golden-armored knight look before he fell on his back on the floor and moved no more while Shadow Kamoshida stared down at him with a disappointed look on his face. As for both Mallory and Ryuji, they panted in exhaustion and take deep breaths of air for themselves since the awakening of their Personas drained them greatly.
"So tired…" panted Mallory.
"Believe me, I know the feeling, Maly. But you'll get used to it slowly." said Keiko reassuringly to Mallory.
"Is that so, Keiko? I hope you're right." said Mallory as she glance and gave Keiko a small, tired smile.
"… How 'bout that!?" yell Ryuji as he weakly glared at Shadow Kamoshida.
"Whoa… So Mallory and Ryuji had the potentials too, like me and Madame Keiko…" said Morgana as he glance in awed at both Mallory and Ryuji.
"Even if you apologize to us now… We ain't forgivin' you…!" added Ryuji angrily at Shadow Kamoshida.
"I told you all that this is my castle. It seems you all still don't understand…" said Kamoshida smugly to them as he took a few steps forward before he turned to glance to his right, raised and hold out his hand to gestured someone to come out. The next second, a familiar girl wearing purple leopard print bikini and also wearing diamond tiara with cat ear on the tiara on her head came walking out toward Kamoshida and wrapped her arms and body near Kamoshida. Keiko, Mallory, Ryuji and Morgana gasped and gaped in shock when they saw who the girl is.
"Wh- Takamaki!?" sputtered Ryuji.
"What the? Why the hell is she with him and this is how he see her, as nothing but a bikini girl!?" exclaimed Mallory with a shock look on her face before she glared in disgust at Shadow Kamoshida.
"Oh… what a meow-velous and beautiful girl…!" purred Morgana as he glance dreamily at not-Takamaki.
"What's going on…!?" said Ryuji with a confused look on his face.
"We don't know, Sakamoto-kun. But there's something off about this." said Keiko as she scowled at Shadow Kamoshida.
"Yeah, now that you mention it, Amamiya… But why is Takamaki even here!?" said Ryuji as he glance at Keiko then glance back at Shadow Kamoshida, not-Takamaki and saw Shadow Kamoshida started caressing not-Takamaki's jaw with his right hand. "Hey! Let go of her, you perv!" yell Ryuji angrily at Shadow Kamoshida.
"How many times must I tell you all until you all understand?" said Kamoshida as he glance in annoyance at them. "This is MY castle-a place in which I can do whatever I want. Everyone wishes to be loved by me… That is, everyone besides slow-witted thieves like you all." added Shadow Kamoshida as he let go of not-Takamaki's jaw.
"Takamaki! Say somethin'!" Ryuji called out to her but she ignored him.
"Calm down, Ryuji! It seems that girl isn't the real one. She's the same as those slaves-beings made from Kamoshida's cognition of them!" Morgana said and explain to Ryuji.
"She's not real, huh? Glad to know and hear that, Morgana." said Keiko with a relief look on her face.
"Are you jealous? Well, I'm not surprised. Women aren't drawn to problematic punks like you." said Shadow Kamoshida smugly and mockingly to Ryuji.
"Dammit…!" said Ryuji as he glared at Kamoshida.
"Ignore that sick bastard, Sakamoto. He's just trying to riled you up." said Mallory.
"Yeah, you're right, Caelum. Thanks for telling me about it." said Ryuji thankfully to Mallory.
"Clean them up this instant!" yell Shadow Kamoshida before a group of 4 knight shadows appear between him, not-Takamaki and Keiko, Mallory, Ryuji and Morgana.
"We're outnumbered… Let's scram before we get surrounded!" said Morgana worriedly to them.
"We're not gonna do anything and just run!?" protested Ryuji.
"Stop your protesting, Sakamoto! Let's listen to Morgana and get out of here if we don't want to die." snapped Mallory in annoyance at Ryuji.
"See? Miss Mallory agreed with me! She at least got a level head unlike you." said Morgana.
"They're right, Sakamoto-kun. We should hurry and leave now." said Keiko.
"Ngh… Fine." said Ryuji in reluctant agreement to them. "We'll expose what you really are, no matter what! You better be ready for us, Kamoshida…!" added Ryuji firmly to Shadow Kamoshida (which make him laugh evilly at Ryuji).
"Fine! I was beginning to get bored of torturing the ones here! Come at me whenever you all want, if you don't care about your lives!" said Kamoshida smugly to them before he let out another evil laugh, turned and began walking away with not-Takamaki following behind him.
"Ignore him! Let's go!" said Morgana as he turned to glance at Keiko, Mallory and Ryuji before they turned and run away from them and out of the ballroom toward the room where the ventilation shaft is and quickly climb up and crawled out of the castle.