... This chapter may be a bit on the short side so... sorry for its shortness, and enjoy, readers~
In SONG Headquarters, the Symphogear Users and Phantom Thieves entered the command center, where they saw Genjuro and the others speaking to a man with a goatee and glasses on his face, wearing a suit.
Lavenza was the first to notice the group's return. "Trickster, Realizer. You and your comrades have returned." At her words, everyone in the room turned to the returnees.
"Zenkichi!" Oracle called out to the man, whose face brightened up at the sight of half the group.
"You kids! You're all actually here!" he exclaimed, rushing up to the Phantom Thieves. "Man, am I glad we finally found you!"
"That's our line, old man!" Skull retorted. "We've been looking everywhere for you and Sophie! Where the hell were you?!"
"We've been here," Sophie answered.
"He means before. Where were you guys the past few days?" Panther elaborated.
"Like I said, we've been here this whole time."
This response confused everyone.
"I think it's best if you start from the beginning," Genjuro advised. "Truth be told, I'm still trying to take in how you and that girl got in here undetected."
Those words caught the Gear Users' attention. "What do you mean?" Kanade asked.
"Well, when whatever happened to the city came to be, those two were already here," Aoi explained.
Her response raised more confusion, in which Zenkichi noticed. "I'll explain everything to the best of my abilities. Truth be told, I'm still trying to rack my head around this, myself. And I've been in this world for only a few days..." He then turned to the Symphogear Girls. "And I assume you girls are the Symphogear wielders Genjuro-san spoke of. Nice to meet you. I'm Zenkichi Hasegawa, a police inspector from my world."
"Y-Yeah. Nice to meet you," Hibiki greeted back.
"So there are two adults amongst the Phantom Thieves, then," Chris said.
"Not true. Although we told him of the Metaverse, and even brought him to a Jail, he is not one of us, per say," Fox corrected.
"Huh? Then he's a civilian- death?!" Kirika asked.
"No, I'm a police inspector. Though, I guess that wouldn't matter much in the Phantom Thieves' business, or this situation in general," Zenkichi corrected.
"So what happened to you and Sophie after we left the Jail that day?" Kong brought up once more.
"Before you explain, I want to get out of my outfit, first, if possible. I really need to properly recover," Lioness spoke.
"She's right. We do need to recover our strength," Joker agreed.
"Our relics may need a bit of maintenance as well," Tsubasa added.
"And we also need Elfnein to look into the relic Lioness has," Maria added on to that.
"Okay. Everyone hand me your relics so I can give them a check up. I also need someone to bring me a list of documents about the relics so I can find out what the new one is. Lioness-san, I would like you to come with me as well. I want to give you a check up to see if there are any side effects to having a relic in hand, when you already have your Persona powers," Elfnein said.
"Got it," Lioness answered, to the other's surprise. The lion-masked girl noticed the expressions and asked, "What?"
"Nothing! It's just... Well..." Skull trailed off.
"You rarely easily oblige to... well, anything," Noir finished for him.
"I've never felt so tired in all my life. Not even when I first awoken to my Persona powers. Plus... I have some questions that needs to be answered, regarding these relics," Lioness explained.
When she puts it that way, it made sense to the Phantom Thieves why she was okay with going along with the young alchemist. That said, the group managed to undo their transformation, and the Gear Users handed Elfnein their pendants. The alchemist then left the command center with Guren in tow.
As soon as everyone was seated, Zenkichi began telling his tale. "When the Phantom Thieves attempted to return to the Real World, Sophia and I ended up at the rooftop of another building, instead of the island in Okinawa."
"Just like what happened to you guys," Shirabe compared.
"Except, we tried looking for you and... was it Sophie or Sophia?" Genjuro asked the AI.
"In this form, it's Sophia," she answered.
"Yes, right. When we tried looking for you two using the satellites, the only new faces we caught were the Phantom Thieves; there was no trace of either of you two."
"That's because we didn't end up in the Real World version of this world."
Her response served to confuse all of SONG even more.
"Uh, what? So wait, you were in our world, but not really in our world? What do you mean?" Hibiki asked.
"For once, I'm with the idiot here," Chris agreed ever so rarely.
The Phantom Thieves, on the other hand, understood what Sophia meant. "They were in this world's version of the Metaverse," Mia elaborated, much to their bafflement.
"Correct," Sophia confirmed.
"Hang on! I thought there isn't a Metaverse in our world," Maria spoke up.
"Normally, there shouldn't be," Lavenza confirmed. "Unlike the world we come from, there isn't a Metaverse here. The erosion of the world is caused by the Metaverse in our world, being forced to blend in with this world."
"I guess that's to be expected from another world... Sophia even said that the 'Jail' we were in felt different from the previous ones, and the Shadows were even peculiar compared to the ones you guys fought," Zenkichi pointed out, the second half to the thieves. "Wait, then where we were, if that's true?"
"You also said that the Shadows you faced in the other world were peculiar. Can you explain how?" Lavenza instead asked.
"Well... When Sophia was hit by one, she got this strange infection, like some digital plague or something. Thankfully, we had some items that healed her condition."
It didn't take long for the group to realize what the 'Shadows' were.
"You fought against Alca-Noise in there?!" Tsubasa gasped.
"Assuming that is what those odd Shadows were, then yes," Sophia answered.
"You sure it ain't cognition of them or something?" Ryuji asked.
"That can't be possible," Ren said.
"Ren's right. If they were cognition, they wouldn't be able to carbonize Sophia," Morgana pointed out.
"Then where were they if not the Metaverse?" Ann asked.
"Probably... the home of the Alca-Noise?" Maria guessed.
"Those things have a home?" Makoto gasped.
"Well, they gotta come from somewhere, I guess," Haneru pointed out.
"It wouldn't be surprising if there was. There was a dimension, a world full of the regular Noise, and a relic that brings them to this world," Genjuro pointed out. Maria and Chris both grimaced slightly at the reminder of Solomon's Cane.
"So what happened after? What happened when you arrive in that other world?" Yusuke asked, bringing the topic back.
"The moment we arrived in that world, we knew something was off. It was one thing to end up on another building instead of the island, but the atmosphere of the area was quite similar to that of a Jail," Zenkichi said, continuing the story. "Since you guys weren't around, Sophia and I decided to search for you first, and maybe find out clues as to where we were, whose Jail we suddenly ended up in."
"And since we were in a Jail, or at least thought we were, there were many of those peculiar Shadow. And as Zenkichi lack a Persona, I had to do most of the fighting, especially ones that are inevitable."
"It must've been though for you..." Ann said sympathetically.
"You have no idea..." Zenkichi spoke up. "For the past few days, because we were in an area we knew nothing about, filled with enemies that would definitely outnumber and cream us, Sophia went full AI mode on me during the whole time..."
Now that... That one left the others in disbelief, for two different reasons.
"Hang on... You mean Sophia actually went and broke down on you?!" Haneru asked.
"I did not 'break'," Sophia retorted. "I just needed to tone down any unnecessary functions I had in order to utilize my combat skills the best I could. As we were limited with supplies, I could not rely on my powers as much as I would've liked. Even healing was limited."
"That's practically equivalent to saying you broke on him," Morgana stated.
"Hey... Why are you guys talking like Sophia here's some robot?" Chris asked, quite curious with the AI talk.
"Hm? We never told you?" Futaba asked back.
"Tell us what?" Serena questioned.
"Sophia's really not human; she's an AI," Ann informed.
The bomb she dropped left the group flabberghasted.
"Huh?! An AI?!" Hibiki gasped.
"You mean the ones in the sci-fi movies? The system that takes on human appearance? That 'AI'?" Miku asked.
"Why yes. That's exactly the one," Haru confirmed.
"But... She's standing right here! And she's definitely a real girl, isn't she?!" Kanade questioned.
"That's only in the Metaverse," Futaba explained. "And since this world is getting mixed in with it, it'd make sense that Sophia would be real here, too. If it weren't for the erosion, she'd probably be in Zenkichi's phone, if she isn't in Ren's."
When she said that, a thought came to some people's mind. "If what you say is true... then wouldn't that make the search for Sophia hopeless earlier?" Sakuya dared ask.
A moment of silence fell onto the group. Indeed, as he said, since Sophia was an AI residing in another's device... there'd be no facial recognition to be found.
"... So what else happened during the past few days?" Yusuke asked Zenkichi, changing the subject.
"Y-Yeah! Surely you two found some sort of safe room somewhere in that other world, right?" Ann said, pushing for the topic to continue.
"Hey, don't ignore me!" Sakuya shouted.
"Unlike the Jail, there weren't any safe areas to stay and recuperate in, and the Alca-Noise don't have a fixed area to patrol in," Sophia answered. "Since I've no need for sleep as an AI, whenever Zenkichi needed rest, I was always on a lookout."
"And I'm guessing that's what Zenkichi meant when he said you broke on him," Ryuji assumed.
"Around that time, yeah," the guy confirmed.
"So the past few days, you've been running and hiding from the Alca-Noise without break?" Miku asked.
Sophia nodded to the question in confirmation and added, "That's not all, though. As we hid from these enemies, we also noticed often times that the Alca-Noise got taken away by some mysterious force, not dissimilar to the one that brought us to that world." The group knew she was referring to when they had to fight against the Alca-Noise in the real world. "Each time they left, the portal they used to leave had an odd stench. One similar to the exits we use to leave the Jail."
All of SONG sweat dropped at those words.
"A stench?" Maria repeated.
"I'm pretty sure portals don't leave a smell. Especially not those kinds," Kanade said.
"Let's just say that Sophia has a... unique sense of smell. In fact it's because of that sense of smell that we were able to locate other Jails in our world," Makoto explained.
"I can't even find the words to describe that..." Genjuro said.
"Go on," Ren told Sophia.
"Under the assumption and hunch that those portals were our way out of that world, I had undergone a series of equation to predict when the next portal would appear. However, each time I did, the portal would appear earlier than expected, and sometimes only once." The group held back a flinch, having a feeling that it may be their fault, when they injured Picora's puppets and had it summon Alca-Noise earlier than planned. "But then, a little earlier today, something odd happened to that world."
"'Something odd'?" Serena repeated in a questioned tone.
"Yes. Like the previous times, a new portal opened in that world. Unlike those times, however, it emitted a faint scent similar to a Jail."
"Something you should've told me before I went and dragged you with me to that damn thing..." Zenkichi said.
The AI turned to him at that. "I tried to, but we also had enemies on our tail at the time."
"And then those two suddenly appeared right here in the command center," Genjuro ended.
Ryuji scratched his head at the end of the explanation. "Shit. Sounds like you two really went through hell back there," he stated.
"What of you guys?" Zenkichi asked.
"To say it in shorter terms, we arrived in the reality version of this world, met these people, didn't see eye-to-eye, got ambushed, cooperated with one another, and spent our time looking for you and the one responsible for bringing us here. Oh, and we now have to deal with the erosion that's happening in this world," Futaba summed up.
"That's way too vague!"
"Speaking of, you said you'll explain this 'erosion' thing that's happening once we got back," Shirabe recalled.
"She's right. In fact, we may be limited on time now," Mia stated.
"What do you mean?" Genjuro asked.
The thieves all looked at each other at those words, before turning back to the commander. "Can you pull up cameras of the city? Specifically any heavily populated areas," Ren requested.
"We could try, but we couldn't even connect with you guys earlier when this whole thing happened," Sakuya told him.
"That was before I came back. Scoot over," Futaba said, changing into her Phantom Thief attire, pushing the guy off his seat, and claimed it.
"Wha-?! Hey!"
After a few seconds of insanely fast typing, Oracle pulled up video footages of Tokyo Tower, Lydian Academy, the market streets, and port, to the SONG staffs' surprise. Their surprise turned to bafflement, as they saw lookout Shadows surrounding people. Even the Gear Users and Zenkichi was shocked at the sight.
"Are those Shadows?!" Hibiki gasped.
"Why didn't the alarms activate?!" Ogawa questioned.
"This is just like when those Shadows infiltrated our base!" Aoi stated.
The next thing that happened was all the more shocking, as the lookout Shadows each grabbed a person and plunged their hand into them. The enemy group then pulled out what seemed like a gem of sort from the victims. There were some people who ran, only to get blocked off by the Alca-Noise. On the bright side, the Alca-Noise didn't attack the civilians. On the down side, the lookouts grabbed the blocked victims and repeated the process.
"What...? What's going on...?" Serena gasped.
"Looks like what happened six months ago isn't happening here. That's good," Morgana said.
"'Good'?! How is that any better?!" Chris demanded.
"Six months ago, when the erosion in our world began, the first was the merge. Second is people slowly realizing the true change in environment. And thirdly... people start disappearing," Yusuke explained, much to their horror.
"'Disappear'? You mean that figuratively, right- death?" Kirika asked.
"No... It's literally," Haneru answered. "In fact, we disappeared from the face of the Earth ourselves. And it was... well, something, so to say."
Hearing that frightened the non-thieves even more, plus Sophia.
"However, judging by what we see now, it doesn't look like we're seeing that happening," Morgana said. "If anything, what we're witnessing is an act of a King."
"Better that than having to face a God..." Ryuji stated.
"Going by what you told us back when we first cooperated, we find whoever the 'king' is, defeat him, and have him return those jewels, right?" Ogawa asked.
"That's what happened in our previous heists," Haru answered.
"Then let us go with you!" Hibiki requested.
"Like you need to ask," Ren answered.
"This is your fight, too, after all. It would be wrong to keep you girls out of it," Yusuke stated.
"Yeah. Besides, we got Guren's new power with us, too. With her playing her keyboard, those Shadows are no match for you all, either," Haneru pointed out.
"It seems we've reached a unanimous decision, then," Makoto said. "Once we've fully recovered our strength, we're heading back out there. This isn't just about getting home, now; we're finding a way home, and steal back the people's wishes!"
"Sounds like a good idea," Genjuro agreed. "All right, Gear Users, here's your new order! After you all rest up, assist the Phantom Thieves in finding the King and getting back those people's wishes! And while you're at it, find a way to restore our world back to normal!"
"Yes, sir!" the Symphogear Users all responded.
With Guren, she was lying in bed in the medical room, getting checked up by Elfnein as the alchemist also checked on the relics, especially the one the patient harmonized with.
"I see no abnormalities on your body. Only signs of exhaustion," Elfnein stated. "You must've really pushed yourself too hard back there."
"Yeah... Guess I did," Guren could only say. "And that relic?"
"Still looking it up... Oh! Here it is! It's called Seidr." At those words, the otherworldly girl slowly got up and looked over the alchemist's shoulder. Rather than a clarinet, however, the girl saw a photo of a violin on the page.
"You sure this is the right one? I'm pretty sure this is a piece of a clarinet, not a violin," she said.
"There's no doubt about it. This is the relic," Elfnein claimed. "Seidr is a relic that takes form of an instrument, depending on the person who wields it."
Guren raised a brow at that. "Relics can change shape? I thought it was only in combat."
"Normally, they don't. But this one is not like most relics. While most relics were discovered via excavation in ruins in their grounded state, this one was found in the hands of a musician. There were records of incidents where famous musicians had died in mysterious deaths. Before they died, there were some who claimed to have been seeing things that many do not see, even claimed that these things happened just days after they retrieved their new instrument. After the mysterious death of a violinist in Japan, the Government took things in their own hands and searched the person's home and belongings, and discovered that this instrument was a relic in its most active state, capable of changing form befitting its wielder, thus dubbing this the most dangerous relic."
As much as Guren wanted to comment on the invasion of privacy, it baffled her even more to hear these things about the piece of the relic she brought back. "Damn... So it's really that dangerous, huh..."
"Very much so. And judging by what was said here about this relic, it's possible that Seidr is truly connected to the Metaverse."
Not that surprised the girl even more. "This thing? When your world originally doesn't have its own Metaverse?"
"I'm saying this as a possibility. Likewise, it is possible that this relic is truly from your world that somehow found its way to ours. There are records of relics other worlds possess that do not exist in our world, and vice versa. Either that or they have yet to truly be discovered in either worlds."
"If that's true, then it's no wonder why I feel extremely tired..." Guren said, getting Elfnein's attention. "This exhaustion I feel, there was another time I felt this tired. And it was when I first awoken my Personas. And like back then, before I transformed, I heard this voice in my head. Both times, they were my Persona, and supposedly the darker part of me that this thing tried to make me out to be. And when I fought and used my Persona in that form, it felt like I was using my more powerful Persona skills. While the part that this thing is from my world sounds iffy to me, the power it has sounds legit enough."
"You're taking this far better than I assume," Elfnein stated.
"May be the exhaustion talking. So, now we know what it is. We going back to the others and tell them what you found?"
"I've already finished the check ups on the other gears. Let's go back." With that, the pair gathered the pendants and the broken relic and left the room.
Back with Picora, the guy was at his hideout, staring down at the many lookout Shadows before him.
"Who are they? I don't think I remember there being this many alchemists left," he said to his accomplice.
"You're right; there aren't. At least, none that I'm aware of," he confirmed. "How to say it...? Think of them as your followers. Unlike the Shadows that you have been summoning, these have higher intelligence level. These 'people' here patrol around the world- your world- and find more followers for you."
"'Followers'?" Picora repeated in a questioned tone.
"Yes. People who are willing to be pawns for what you have planned. After all, you're not going to take that defeat from earlier lying down, are you?"
At the mention of the previous battle, the alchemist slowly felt rage swell within him. "Of course not... I refuse to rest... until I see to it those girls get what they deserve!"
The accomplice smirked at those words. "Then by all means... after you~" He took a knee and presented to Picora the rest of Seidr.
The guy took hold of the relic, and it willed itself to regenerate its missing piece. With the relic 'repaired', he began to play some notes, causing it and the many lookouts to be surrounded in a dark aura.
After Guren and Elfnein returned to the command center, they relayed their findings on the relic to everyone else.
"The relic is linked to the Metaverse?!" Makoto gasped.
"Is that even possible?" Haneru asked, specifically to Lavenza.
"This is a surprise to me as well, but it would also explain how the mastermind is able to transfer Shadows to this world," the Velvet Room attendant answered.
"So, if Guren plays the relic, will things go back to normal?" Zenkichi asked.
"I doubt it's that simple," Morgana answered. "Besides, she has a piece of the relic. Even if she does use it to send the Metaverse and the Shadows back, that's not going to stop the guy from using his piece to continue the flow."
"And we can't say for sure if it will undo what's happening to the people outside," Ren added.
"In other words, all the more reason to find that bastard again," Guren spoke. "We find him, take him down, take the other half of the relic back, and then we'll see how we can get home."
"The mission couldn't get any clearer than that," Tsubasa nodded in agreement.
"Well, we've definitely stayed here long enough. Time to go back out!" Kanade exclaimed.
Genjuro nodded at those words. "Futaba managed to upgrade our system so that we can stay in contact with you all while you're out. Unlike before, our services may become limited even with the upgrade, but I have faith that you will overcome this obstacle, as you had to all others. Good luck!"
"Right!" the Gear Users saluted, and the two groups all took their leave.
Before she left the room, Guren was approached by Elfnein. "Guren-san, wait! You best take the relic with you."
"Huh? Isn't it better off here?" the pianist asked.
"True, but as we've seen in the previous battle, this relic has already chosen you as its wielder, and it can grant Hibiki-san and the others the extra boost in power they will need in the battle that is to come. They will especially need it if our enemy decides to use his half of Seidr."
Guren couldn't argue with that, as it would be possible for Picora to use his piece of the relic to give the Shadows an extra boost in power, just as she had for the Gear Users.
"... When this is over, I'm handing it back to you," she promised, taking the relic in her hand and left the room.
As she made her leave, Ogawa turned to Zenkichi and Lavenza. "What about you two? Aren't you going with them?"
"Unlike the others, I don't have the power to fight against those Shadows, much less those Alca-Noise things. I'm better off staying here," the police inspector explained.
"I shall remain as well, of course," Lavenza said. "Someone needs to protect the base in case the Shadows return for more."
Genjuro nodded at those words. "We'll need the extra assistance. As for them... I hope they'll be okay."
The moment they stepped out the submarine, the Phantom Thieves suddenly bursted in blue flames and transformed into their other outfits.
"Huh?! Why are you guys already in those clothes- death?" Kirika asked with a gasp.
"Okay... Now this does feel like a Jail," Pixie stated.
"This happens when the king feels threatened," Queen explained. "Once that happens, as you can see, our clothes change."
"So that's what normally happens for you guys..." Shirabe said.
"If we're all done gawking around, let's head out," Guren spoke, facing one direction.
"'Head out'? Do you even know where to? We don't even know where the alchemist or his accomplice is," Maria asked.
"Most likely their hideout," Sophie answered, looking to the direction Guren was facing.
"And where is that?"
"Just find the one place with the biggest change out of everything else," Oracle answered, looking at the same direction as her cousin and their AI friend, along with the rest of the thieves.
This got the Gear Users' attention, as they also looked the same direction, and were baffled at what they saw.
"Wait, for real?!" Chris gasped.
"Where did that come from?!" Hibiki also gasped.
Ways away from them, a tall, malicious tower of sort loomed over the city.
"When was that there?!" Miku asked.
"More like how are we just now noticing that...?" Kanade followed, speechless at the sight.
"It probably just finished manifesting during the erosion," Mona deduced. "Remember, the Metaverse isn't supposed to exist in this world. That mastermind is most likely making a Jail out of this world as time goes on."
"We may be limited on time, as well. We have to hurry on over to that building and stop him," Pixie added.
"Okay guys. It's showtime!" At Joker's call, the group dashed onward to the tower.