Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Persona: Wings of Liberation

Chapter 12

Infiltrating the Castle

4/18

Kamoshida's Palace

After School

Kazuya and his group had gotten into the perimeter of the castle. They stopped behind Ren's group to see what looked like a temple. The temple had the pattern of a butterfly on the floor. They saw a butterfly fluttering by it. It flew to Mishima and landed on his nose and stayed there for a brief moment before it flew off to the shrine and fluttered around it.

"That was not there when we last came to the Palace." Sophia said.

"Yeah… It wasn't there at all." Shiho said, "Kazzy-kun-oh... I mean Detective, you don't think…"

"Let's find out." Kazuya said.

"Uh… why should we even approach it?" Mishima asked.

Kazuya turned around and looked at Mishima with a curious look.

"Wait, you can see it?" Kazuya asked.

"Yeah…" Mishima said, "Why are you asking?"

"Follow me and see for yourself."

The group went over to the shrine and there was a white flash. When the flash was gone-!

They were back on Philemon's Tower.

"Huh?! How did we get here?!" Mishima asked.

"It's just as I thought." Kazuya said, "Guess bringing you here was a good idea after all."

"What do you mean by that?" Mishima asked.

Philemon appeared before the group. Mishima let out a panicked scream.

"Who is that?!" Mishima asked.

"Calm yourself, Yuuki Mishima."

"And how does he know my name?!"

"Because while you may not have a bond with Kazuya, you are a necessary ally for which he will need on his journey through this conflicted world." Philemon said, "I am Philemon, master of this realm that slips in between the conscious and unconscious."

Mishima was confused for the life of him. Kazuya began to explain everything to Mishima about his knowledge of Philemon and all of his encounters with him. After explaining it all, Mishima began to understand what was going on.

"Ok, so in summary: the guy in the butterfly mask is a very chill guy who gives you cool powers and you also get stronger from having bonds with other people and that you can basically have more than one Persona." Mishima said. "Am I getting the picture?

Kazuya nodded.

"And now your brother who is definitely evil is working for an even more evil eldritch abomination who is supposedly named after an actual eldritch abomination is dead set on destroying the whole world and it's up to us to basically foil his nefarious plans." Mishima said. "Am I right so far?"

"That's the gist of it." Shiho said.

Mishima took a deep breath. He exhaled.

"Man, this seems like a plot ripped out of an anime." Mishima said. "Not that I'm saying you're crazy or anything. I just find it to be really… uh… it just reminded me of this one anime I watched. I won't bore you with all the details, so—"

Kazuya cleared his throat.

"Still, I can't believe your brother would just abandon you like that." Mishima said, before he looked down. "You really had it rough when he abandoned you. I mean… you trying to kill yourself to make all the emotional pain end, only to back out of it at the last second… your relatives left helpless in helping you… you not having any friends from your old school... I'd really lose any sense of humanity left if that were me."

"It's really tragic when you think about it." Shiho said, looking down in regret, looking sad when she thought back to what had happened three days ago. "If I really had killed myself, he would have relapsed. No… He would have turned for the worst…"

"And I'd blame myself for having to tell you that Kamoshida wanted to see you…" Mishima said, "... and I'm glad that Detective—I mean Yanagisawa-san picked up on the signs of you wanting to commit suicide."

"Yeah…" Shiho said with a nod. "I am grateful for that and I owe him a lot for saving my life."

Mishima looked at Kazuya with a sympathetic look on his face.

"You and I are the same, but on different levels." Mishima said. "I'm glad I found someone who could relate to me."

Kazuya felt a faint bond forming between him and Mishima.

I am thou. Thou art I.

Thou hast established a new bond…

It shall transform into the wings of liberation

That taketh flight from conflict and stagnation

With the power of the Moon Arcana,

I have obtained a new power

That shall bring forth liberation…

MOON RANK 1

"Ah, a new bond." Philemon said. "I am sure that this will further your growth, and so will this."

"Huh?" Kazuya asked.

Philemon snapped his fingers and a red butterfly flew to Kazuya. The butterfly was absorbed into Kazuya. Kazuya felt a new power in him.

"I give you the Eyes of Truth." Philemon said, "In addition to helping you look for clues to solve puzzles and mysteries and items of interest that you may find lying around, you will be able to discern the truth of your enemy's level of strength depending on the aura you see around them."

"I see…" Kazuya said, "Know how strong your enemy is and decide what to do with said enemy."

"That sounds like a cheat if you ask me." Mishima said. "Then again, if we ever get put in some puzzle, I'm sure we'd solve it with our hard-boiled detective."

"And it's so convenient." Shiho said. "I mean, we might even find some hidden passage or something like that!"

"And what if we find some secret chest lying about?!" Mishima said, before smiling and putting his arms over his nape. "I mean, there's gotta be loot in that castle, right? Sure, it may not be some treasure, but think about the weapons and armor we'd find in there!"

"We'll be able to roughly gauge the enemy's power level." Sophia said.

Mishima looked at Sophia with a bit of a curious look.

"Wait, you watch that stuff too?" Mishima asked.

"I have done so with the Detective." Sophia said, "I still cannot get over the inconsistencies that blatantly come up within these shows you humans watch."

"I just watch sports related stuff." Shiho said, "That and Neo Featherman."

"Wait, you watch Neo Featherman too?!" Mishima asked.

"You watch that show too?!" Shiho asked.

"Hell yeah!" Mishima said before striking a pose. "The wings of justice…"

"... always take flight!" Shiho said as she struck a pose with Mishima.

"Huh?" Kazuya asked, "What are you two doing?"

Mishima and Shiho looked at Kazuya with shock in their gasps. Their jaws went slack and dropped down.

"Dude, have you not watched Neo Featherman?!" Mishima said as his face became tense. "Maiden, when we get back to the real world, we are SO gonna make him watch Neo Featherman with us!"

"Agreed." Shiho said as she had tension on her face.

"I… was more into detective tv shows. Less drama, more realism." Kazuya said.

"That ain't an excuse to miss out on the one thing that every kid growing up associates with their whole childhood!" Mishima said.

"What is Drifter talking about?" Sophia asked.

"It's just some tokusatsu show that every kid except me would watch." Kazuya said, "I was just interested in my studies and detective books and shows."

"Your parents were no fun, were they?" Mishima asked.

"Ahem," Philemon said. "I believe you all still have a Palace to search through."

"Oh yeah… the elephant in the room." Mishima said, "We should probably go."

"Uh-Huh." Shiho said.

"Come on, Kazu-chan, we have work to do." Sophia said.

"One more thing." Philemon said, "Kazuya, an aspect of yourself will soon surface."

"Huh?" Kazuya asked, "An… aspect of myself?"

"Yes." Philemon said. "When it appears, it is imperative that you listen well to it and try to understand it. Doing so may yet help you fully awaken your Wild Card abilities."

He felt his bond with Philemon becoming stronger.

RANK UP!

AEON RANK 3

"I'll keep that in mind." Kazuya said.

"Good." Philemon said, "I shall now send you back to the Metaverse."

"Send us back… how?" Mishima asked.

There was a sudden flash and they were back at the Palace entrance.

"What the heck?!" Mishima exclaimed.

"We came back…" Shiho said.

"It would seem so." Sophia said.

They spotted Ren. But he was just standing there. Ryuji and Morgana were looking at Ren while Ann came up to Kazuya.

"What happened to you guys?" Ann asked, "You just vanished and suddenly came back."

"Taka-I mean Panther! You're not going to believe this, but we were transported onto this tower and-!"

"Drifter? Are you-?"

"It's nothing." Kazuya said, "We just ended up in a pocket of space in between the Metaverse is all."

"Really?" Ann asked.

"Yes." Kazuya said, "Now mind telling me why Ren stopped moving?"

Ren was looking at Igor. The long-nosed, bizarre old man gazed as Ren with his bloodshot eyes. He wondered why the man wanted Ren to come to the Velvet Room. What was so important that he had to be called here.

"It would seem you have formed a link with the contractor of my master, Philemon." Igor said.

"Your master? Contractor?" Ren asked.

Ren looked to the Twin Wardens Justine and Caroline, who did not give Ren a chilling remark and a berating remark. They were just as confused as Ren was.

"Your… master?" Justine asked.

"Master… has a master?" Caroline asked. "Who is this Philemon you speak of?"

Igor chuckled.

"He is the one who gave me life." Igor said. "He is a being who seeks to have mankind rehabilitated and has delegated that task to me."

"So… he put you in charge of having me rehabilitated?" Ren asked, "Is that why I am here?"

"He did not name you specifically, but he tasked me to find a suitable individual who would become the Trickster." Igor said, pointing a finger to Ren. "And that individual happened to be you."

Ren was starting to get the picture now, but that left one question.

"Why didn't you just tell me about him?" Ren asked.

"Yes master, I too wish to know why me and Caroline were not informed about the existence of this Philemon." Justine said.

"You'd question our master?!" Caroline said, smacking her baton onto Ren's cell bars. "It probably wasn't important to bring it up, seeing as it has nothing to do with the Inmate's rehabilitation!"

"That is enough, girls." Igor said. "My master is burdened by his fate to stand against a great evil."

"A great evil?" Ren asked.

"Yes, his ancient foe has returned from his banishment." Igor said. "Even now, they wage an eternal war against one another, hoping to decide mankind's fate."

An ancient enemy… It made Ren think about his current situation. Perhaps this rehabilitation, if anyone would be willing to call executing supernatural beings rehabilitation, had some role in this "war" being fought over mankind's fate.

"My master sees that humanity is capable of rehabilitation and enlightenment while his enemy believes that humans will guide themselves to ruin and will destroy both themselves and the world they live on." Igor said. "To decide this war, my master looked for his Chosen Messiah who will not only aid in the Trickster's rehabilitation, but will also lead an effort to rehabilitate and enlighten mankind to the upper echelons of existence. His foe searched for one who wishes nothing more but to bring about ruin and enslave mankind to its distorted desires while sowing the seeds of distrust and deception to guide mankind to its ultimate ruin."

"That sounds very serious." Ren said, taking this as best as he could.

"True indeed." Igor said. "As the Trickster, you must also work with my master's Chosen Messiah to ensure complete rehabilitation not only for yourself but for mankind as well. Without him, all will be lost to ruin and your rehabilitation will have been for nothing."

Ren knew how serious all of this was.

"Still, I hope you continue to strengthen your bond with him, for it in turn gives him strength." Igor said.

Ren nodded.

"Well, guess I should go back now." Ren said.

"Very well then." Igor said. "Until we meet again."

Ren got onto the bed and closed his eyes. A door opened and there was a light. He found himself back in the Palace. He saw Kazuya walking up to him.

"Ah, Det." Ren said.

"Det?"

"Well, Detective sounds like a long name, so I thought about abbreviating it." Ren said. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have bizarre dreams or anything, right?"

"Huh?" Kazuya asked, one brow lifted up.

"Nevermind." Ren said. "It was probably just me."

Kazuya looked at Ren with a bit understanding.

"No, I think I know what you're talking about." Kazuya said.

"Hm?"

"I have the dreams you were talking about." Kazuya said. "Guess we both are one and the same, right?"

Ren was silent.

"Am I making this feel awkward?" Kazuya asked.

"Uh… no." Ren said.

"Good. I just wanted you to know how similar we are despite some of our differences." Kazuya said. "Regardless of those, I am glad that you and I are both friends and partners in this."

He felt his bond with Kazuya becoming stronger.

RANK UP!

JESTER RANK 3

"Come on Joker! This castle isn't going to investigate itself!" Ryuji said.

"Coming." Ren said, looking at Ryuji before Ren glanced at Kazuya. "Follow us through a vent."

Ren headed over to a vent and the whole group went through. They emerged through a hole and found a group of Shadows by the front entrance.

"What are they standing there for?" Mishima asked.

"Probably because he thinks we'd smash his front door again." Ryuji said.

The group followed Ren through a door and went down a hallway.

"So, Joker, you wouldn't mind telling me something, right?" Shiho asked.

"What is it, Maiden?" Ren asked.

"Well… it's about Kamoshida's Shadow." Shiho said, "If I remember correctly, when I accepted my Shadow, it was surrounded by a white light before it just vanished and well… became my Persona."

"Huh? You saw your own Shadow?" Mishima asked.

"Uh-Huh." Shiho said. "Ever since she and I became one, I've been starting to feel better."

She sighed.

"And yet I feel like I might just drag Panther down…" Shiho said.

Ann looked back at Shiho with concern.

"So what's that got to do with Kamoshida's Shadow Self?" Ryuji asked, "Wait, are you into something?"

"I think I am." Shiho said. "Would it be possible for us to convince his Shadow to leave his Palace?"

Morgana looked at Shiho as he pondered at the thought.

"Convincing his Shadow to leave his own Palace?" Morgana asked.

They all began to ponder that thought.

"What would that even do?" Ryuji asked.

"I don't know." Ann said. "What about you, Mona?"

"I'm not sure how it would affect the real Kamoshida." Morgana said, "I guess there are some things in the Metaverse that even I don't understand."

"Then how come you know so much?" Mishima asked.

"From experience, amateur." Morgana said.

"Sophie, how about you?" Shiho asked. "What do you think?"

"I don't know." Sophia said. "I do not have any data on this subject."

"Well, what about you, Det? Got anything to add?" Ann asked.

Kazuya was pondering as well. A lightbulb went off in his head.

"I think I have one idea." Kazuya said, "I think that if we were to let his Shadow go back to its real self, it might trigger a change of heart."

"Really?" Ryuji asked.

"Yes, quite possibly, but without the guilt." Kazuya said, "The person might slip out of their distorted beliefs."

"So… what?" Ann asked.

"A less forced change of heart?" Mishima asked.

"Huh… interesting." Morgana said.

The group stopped in a room where two Shadows were patrolling.

"Let's take them both down." Ren said, "Detective."

"Right." Kazuya said.

He looked to Shiho, Mishima, and Sophia and signaled them to follow him.

"So… exactly what are we doing?" Mishima asked.

"Call it a trial run." Kazuya said.

He jumped into the air and landed on the Shadow's back before he yoinked the mask off it. The Shadow turned into liquid before monsters began to emerge from it. Mishima was shocked to see the Shadow split itself into monsters. There appeared a bedside brute, a twilight prostitute, a beguiling girl, and a dirty two horned beast.

"Whoa! Are those monsters?!" Mishima asked.

"Actually—"

"That's what happens when a Shadow is confronted." Kazuya said. "The first move is ours now that they are disorganized from the mask being torn off."

The Shadows themselves were truly disorganized. They didn't know what they were doing. It was like they had no idea what was going on around them. They did not know what to do in this situation. This leaves them open to attack.

"I'll go first!" Shiho said, "Persona!"

She summoned Boudica.

"Bufu!"

Boudica summoned an ice cube and hurled it at the girl. The girl was hit and fell to the ground.

"Certain enemies have certain weaknesses to certain elements." Kazuya said, "Once you find out their affinity, it becomes easier to take down."

"Wow…" Mishima said.

"Alright Drifter, you're up!" Shiho said, tapping Mishima's hand.

Mishima was instantly confused by the sudden hand touch.

"M-Me?" Mishima asked. "Alright then…"

He took off his mask and summoned Aladdin. Mishima set his sights on the brute.

"Agi!"

Aladdin aimed the lamp at the brute and a fireball was shot out of the lamp. The brute was burned by the blast and fell down. Mishima looked amazed at what he was capable of.

"W-Wow! I knocked it off its feet!" Mishima said.

"Now pass the baton to me." Sophia said.

He looked to his hand, remembering when Shiho touched his hand earlier. He began to get the idea of why she did that and what passing the baton meant. He slapped Sophia's hand.

"All yours!"

"Roger." Sophia said.

She summons Pithos. The Persona fired beams of white light at the prostitute. The woman fell down with a pout.

"Det, this is all yours." Sophia said.

She passed the baton to Kazuya, slapping his hand with her hand. Kazuya unsheathed his cane sword. He slashed diagonally from the left and right before he backed away. He pulled out his pistol and shot the beast in the head, knocking it down.

"This is a hold-up!" Shiho said.

The group surrounded the Shadows with their guns drawn.

"Uh… look, I know these guys are practically monsters and all, but do we really need to hold them at gunpoint?" Mishima asked. "I mean I know they tried to kill us, but do we really—"

"Give us an item." Kazuya demanded, pointing to the brute.

"I ain't giving you shit!" The brute said.

"Your choice." Kazuya said, "Finish them."

"Whoa! R-Really?!" Mishima asked.

"Let's just get this over with!" Shiho said.

The group unleashed an all-out attack, hitting the enemies from multiple directions. When the group was done, Kazuya tilted his hat down a little.

"Case Closed."

The Shadows bled out before they vanished. The group looked to Ren's group as they quickly defeated the Shadow Ren had ambushed.

"Man… it's like they've been at it for several days…" Mishima said.

"We're improving as well, Drifter." Kazuya said, "Come on."

The group headed to where Ren was.

"Well, it seems like you're still alive." Ren said.

"Yeah." Mishima said.

He fell on one knee. Mishima looked to his knee and realized that his knee felt weak.

"Huh?!" Mishima asked as he tried all his might to lift it up to no avail.

"Seems like the all-out attack has caused the effects of your awakening to kick in." Kazuya said, "But we can't turn back, not yet at least."

"There's a safe room up ahead." Ren said.

"Safe room? What's that?" Mishima asked.

"Simply put, there are pockets of space where the distortions have no influence." Morgana said. "No distortions, no Shadows. That's why it's called a safe room."

"Oh… I get it." Shiho said before smiling. "It's like a safe spot."

They were getting the general idea behind the existence of safe rooms. They went down the hall and made it to the safe room. As soon as they did, the room changed into a classroom before it changed back. Sophia curled up into a ball when she went to the corner of the room, her dress extending to cover her knees and legs. Mishima dropped onto the floor, exhausted.

"I can't move my legs…" Mishima said.

"Do you—?"

"Nah… just leave me here…" Mishima said. "I need some rest…"

"Yeah, we should rest before we move forward." Ren said.

The group began to lounge around the safe room. Kazuya pulled out his diary and started to write in it. After he was done writing in it, he pulled out his investigation journal. He wrote on one page:

The Case of the Castle of Lust

Prime Suspect: Suguru "Asmodeus" Kamoshida

Palace: Castle of Lust

Keywords: Kamoshida, Shujin Academy, Castle

Investigation officially began on 4/18/20XX. Palace first visited on 4/11/20XX.

Suspect has been physically abusing male volleyball team members, sexually harassing female students, and sexually assaulted and attempted to rape Shiho Suzui (who then attempted to commit suicide the following day after attempted rape incident).

Motive for crimes: currently unknown.

Status: In Progress

Investigation Team: Me, Shiho "Maiden" Suzui, Yuuki "Drifter" Mishima, Sophia "Sophie"

"An investigation journal? That is so detective of you."

He turned to see Ann. He avoided looking any lower below her head. He didn't want to look at her breasts or get caught looking at her cleavage. He kept his head clear of such thoughts.

"It is?"

"Yeah, you're just like the Detective Prince, now that I think about it!" Ann said.

"You mean Naoto Shirogane?" Kazuya asked, his face turning red from the compliment. "Come on… don't compare me to her…"

"Her?" Ann asked. "What do you mean by her?"

Kazuya could not believe what he had just heard.

"I agree with you on this one, she is most definitely book dumb." Sherlock said. "She may have the sex appeal of a model, but she has the intelligence of a dodo…"

'Sherlock…' Kazuya thought. "Yeah… Naoto Shirogane… was a girl."

…

…

…

Ann looked wide eyed from what she had heard. How could he blame her for that reaction.

"A girl…" Ann said. "I… didn't know that the Detective Prince… was a girl…"

"Yeah… she dressed up as a boy to pass herself off as a boy so no one would think that she was a girl…" Kazuya said, "I guess she kinda wished she was born as a man."

"Huh… yeah…" Ann said. "How do you know all of this?"

"Well, I heard she attended Yasogami High, the old school I used to go to, when she was helping the police investigate a series of murders involving the victims being hung on telephone poles and mysterious disappearances." Kazuya said, "During that time, she was in this beauty pageant that I heard about. She apparently dropped out of shyness."

Ann looked confused.

"Wait, why would a tomboy attend a beauty pageant?" Ann asked.

"I don't know." Kazuya said. "I asked but no one could give me a straight answer."

"Huh…" Ann said.

Kazuya felt like he needed to change the subject.

"So… what do you normally do as a hobby?" Kazuya asked.

"Oh, me? I'm into modeling." Ann said.

"Modeling?" Kazuya asked. "You must be really confident in your body and appearance."

"That's right." Ann said. "It takes confidence to be a model."

"Uh-Huh…" Kazuya said.

She was rather close to him. As he looked at her, quickly scanning her body, he realized just how similar Ann and Shiho were in the shape of their bodies. His face turned red. Not only that, he began to feel… strange. His right hand was twitching. He knew that whenever he began to feel nervous, began to feel thoughtful, or a response to anticipation.

He knew puberty exists. Hormones exist. Sexual tension exists. Sexuality exists.

He turned his head away, breathing heavily. His eyes tried to make contact with her eyes.

"I… I'm not sure if I should talk to you about this, but… uh…" Kazuya paused. "Have… have you ever… um… uh… have you ever felt… uh…"

She noticed his twitchy right hand. She noticed his heavy breathing.

"I'm sorry… it's just that… whenever I get nervous, my... my right hand twitches." Kazuya said. "Of course… I… I… I…"

He swallowed a lump down his throat. He looked at Ann.

"I… I never had a girl come close to me before and neither did I feel any sort of attraction to a girl… until now that is." Kazuya said. "Y-You know, my parents really told me what puberty would be like when I was in grade school. All they told me is that you get acne, changes in height, and that you'd start to mature. They never said puberty would involve psychological things such as sexuality and/or... sexual tension."

"H-Huh…" Ann said.

He glanced over to Shiho, hoping the feeling would fade out.

This feeling was different from the emotional pain he had felt. It wasn't painful. It was just… stressful. Awkward and stressful. He didn't know how to handle it. He knew it wasn't exactly controllable and he knew that it can become increasingly difficult to control these desires.

"You know… I used to wonder what it would be like to… ever be loved by a girl." Kazuya said. "Platonically, I guess it feels good. Romantically? I don't know and I'm not sure if I will ever find out for myself…"

"Well… I'm sure you'll find out someday." Ann said.

"Really?"

"Really."

Kazuya felt his bond with Ann growing stronger.

RANK UP!

LOVERS RANK 2

The feeling was gone. His hand stopped twitching and Ann walked off to the desk after letting go of his hand.

"Control yourself while we're in here." Sherlock said. "The last thing we need is someone catching you—"

'Can we PLEASE not talk about that?!' Kazuya thought.

He noticed Morgana giving him a glare. Kazuya could feel the jealousy in Morgana's eyes.

The group got out of the safe room. They went down a hallway and found the staircase ahead of them. They began to run up the stairs. As they kept running up the stairs, Ryuji tripped and fell on his face. The group stopped and looked at Ryuji.

"Oh… that's gotta hurt…" Mishima said as he cringed a little, "are you ok?"

"It's been awhile since I ran and my leg is kinda busted anyways…" Ryuji said.

"Here, let me help you up." Shiho said.

She got Ryuji back on his feet.

"Thanks." Ryuji said.

"It's nothing." Shiho said.

The group continued to run up the stairs. When they got to the top of the stairs, some of them were already panting.

"Man… I don't know what's worse… running while being devoid of water or getting smacked upside the head from one of Kamoshida's punches." Mishima said.

"Oh please, you went through both of those things." Ryuji said.

"I know…" Mishima moped.

"You know, this would make for quite the workout…" Shiho said, "... and a little bit of exercise is something that a girl needs to have a nice looking body. Be it a model or a professional volleyball player."

Ann sighed.

"Man, it's good that you're coming back to your usual self, Sh—I mean, Maiden." Ann said.

"You too… Panther." Shiho said.

Kazuya was shaking in his knees. He wasn't a fan of exercise. In fact, he only did the bare minimum when it came to exercise. Ren was panting.

"You know… I hate physical exercise." Kazuya said.

"We needed the work out anyways…" Ren said.

"Come on guys, this is a world of cognition." Morgana said. "You wouldn't be able to move so quickly from cover to cover if not for the fact that you could simply use your own imagination."

"Well excuse me, I didn't live my whole life in a completely different world…" Mishima said. "At least in the real world, you can tell you're getting tired when your lungs start to feel like they're on fire."

"It is expected of humans to feel tired when they engage in physical activity." Sophia said. "I, being a digital being who has never felt tired, am incapable of feeling tired."

"Yeah… but still…" Ryuji said.

"Let's just keep moving." Morgana said. "We don't have all day."

The group continued to press onward. They went down a hall and took a left turn and then took a right at the end of the hallway to enter a room surrounded by metal bars. They saw statues with switches.

"This looks like a puzzle." Mishima said. "A hard to solve one unless you have a hard-boiled Detective."

Ren chuckled.

"Don't always assume the Detective can solve what he hasn't solved before." Ren said. 'Time to use the Third Eye.'

'Time to unveil the Eyes of Truth.' Kazuya thought.

His vision changed and saw blue footprints leading to a blue statue. He followed the footprints and pulled on the statue's lever. He saw Ren pulling on a lever as well and the bars sunk. The whole group went over to the table.

"Hey, this looks like a map of the palace!" Mishima said, "But it doesn't tell us where the Treasure is…"

"That's because it's only one part of the map." Morgana said, "It's incomplete."

"..."

"Ok, but still, whoever left that on that table, assuming they thought no one could disable the bars, they are dumb as hell for thinking we wouldn't be able to do it." Mishima said.

"I don't even know Kamoshida would leave a map lying around." Ryuji said.

"Yeah… that seems questionable." Sophia said.

"Ugh, let's just get moving." Ann said.

They left the room and went down a long hallway. As soon as they reached the end of it and turned, they ended up on the second floor of the main hall. They saw chandeliers that they could jump onto.

"Guess we'll make our way across." Kazuya said. "After you, Joker."

Ren turned to a statue of what looked like the midsection of a woman's body. The group looked on with silence.

"Why am I not surprised that those things exist?" Mishima asked.

"Is there even a reason to be surprised at all?" Ryuji asked.

"Nope…" Ann and Shiho said.

Ren climbed up on the statue as did Morgana, Ryuji, and Ann. They got up to some platform before they began to leap from one chandelier from the next.

"Alright, we should go next." Kazuya said.

"But do we really have to use the statue?" Shiho asked.

"You can go last, if you want." Kazuya said.

"N-No. I just…" Shiho paused, "... I don't want to drag Ann back or anything because…"

"If it helps, think of it like you're... touching a guy's butt." Mishima said before he winced at the sentence. "And I think I lost some of my manliness points…"

Kazuya climbed up first. Shiho took a deep breath before she climbed up as well. Mishima and Sophia followed them up. They began to move from one chandelier to the next. They made it to the other side and got down.

"Man, that felt kinda good." Mishima said.

"Yeah." Kazuya said.

"We did great!" Shiho said.

"Let's move on ahead." Sophia said.

"Right." Kazuya said.

The group moved on ahead. They kept moving until they saw Ren's group badly injured. Before them was a man wearing a long, silver buttoned black coat with three separated coattails; a black ascot wrapped around his neck, which hangs over a black, sleeveless vest; a pair of black fingerless gloves; a black snakeskin belt; and Versace boots. In his hand was a tachi.

"Who is that and how did he get there?!" Mishima asked. "And just what did he do to you guys?!"

"Drifter… back off… this guy… he's crazy as hell strong…" Ryuji said.

"Panther!" Shiho said as she went over to Ann.

"Maiden?" Ann groaned. "Get out of here… you don't…"

"Who are you?" Kazuya said. "Identify yourself."

"..."

"..."

There was a standoff. There was silence.

"..."

"..."

The man chuckled.

"Well now, this is interesting." The man said.

The man lifted his mask to reveal—!

"Isn't it that right, Kazuya?"

"N-Naoya…"