Lelouch had plenty on his mind that night, and he found that sleep did not come easily to him. Even when sleep finally claimed him, it denied him a respite from his anxieties.

He first found himself in what appeared to be the Aries Villa, but the entire area was enshrouded in a thick fog, making it impossible to see anything clearly. A ticking sound, like that of a clock, could be heard softly echoing through the Villa, but it had no obvious source.

The relative quiet of the Villa was broken by Nunnally's voice, suddenly calling out for help. Unlike the clock, he could ascertain the direction that her voice was coming from. It was retreating away from him, so he ran after her without a second thought.

Peering through the fog, he glimpsed an indistinct shape, moving furtively through it. Was it the unknown assassin who had murdered his mother and crippled Nunnally? Quickening his pace, he saw flashes of light scattering through the fog, punctuated by the noise of submachine gun fire. Was he already too late?!

Of course he was. This was all in the past.

Yet as he came to the villa's great staircase, where his mother's lifeless body should have laid, cradling Nunnally in her arms in an act of self-sacrifice that he now knew to be counterfeit, he could find neither of them, nor the assassin.

Glancing around frantically for anyone who could help him, he noticed a girl by the columns on the sides of the staircase. She was only visible in silhouette at first, but he could tell that she wasn't Nunnally.

Drawing closer, he saw that it was not just one girl there, but two; the silhouette had belonged to the taller of the pair, who he now saw to be Anya Alstreim, as he had seen her at Ashford Academy. The smaller girl's features were far less distinct to him, but instinctively he recognized her as Anya as well, namely her six-year-old self, whom he had forgotten.

Given the impossibility of the teenaged Anya being there at the same time as her younger self, he could be sure that this encounter wasn't a real memory rising to the surface. Yet his subconscious had placed both of them in his dream, near the site of his mother's murder. Nemo had already debunked the idea that Anya could have killed their mother, but clearly he still had lingering suspicions about the girl who had become the Knight of Six.

"Anya?" he asked cautiously.

"Why did you forget?" the teenaged Anya asked, her voice almost as emotionless as ever, yet unmistakably carrying a note of accusation. The younger Anya remained silent, but looked up at him as if to ask the same question.

He couldn't answer her. His memories had probably been tampered with in the same way as Nunnally's, but he still had no idea why the cult would choose to conceal Anya from them, nor what exactly he had forgotten, besides her presence at Aries Villa.

"Mother, you were so cool!" Nunnally's voice suddenly echoed through the hall, breaking the silence once more. It seemed to be coming from beyond the top of the staircase.

"Oh, dear Nunnally," his mother's voice responded. "You thought that violent behavior was cool? You make me very happy."

It was a total disconnect from the logic of the dream so far, given that the assassin should have already killed her, but then again, dreams were not known for their self-consistency.

His mother's voice then laughed, light and airy at first, but the longer he listened to it, the higher and more wicked it became.

The younger Anya took several steps back, clearly unnerved by his mother's laugh. But then again, the young girl was but a projection of his own subconscious. Did that mean... he was now afraid his own mother? Or perhaps he was afraid of what she might do to Nunnally. He knew that his sister could take care of herself now, but for her Shadow to hate their mother... what exactly had happened between them?

The teenaged Anya's reaction was markedly different. She turned her head in the direction of the voices, as if beckoning him to follow them, her lips curving into a mysterious yet slightly malicious smile, befitting one who knew far more than she was letting on. But like her younger self, she was also a product of his mind, mixing his desire to know the truth with his fear that the Knight of Six was toying with him for some unknown purpose.

Still, nothing would be gained by remaining where he was, so Lelouch left the two Anyas behind and began running up the great staircase. Yet no matter how he tried, there seemed to be no end to the steps. And all the while, the unseen clock continued to tick relentlessly in the background.

"Distortions in the cognitive world... so Ragnarok begins once again?" his father's voice boomed, coming from the same place as his mother's voice, which began laughing again, as if to taunt him.

After who knew how long, the scene of the dream shifted. Somehow, he had left the stairs behind him, and the Aries Villa with them. He now found himself accompanied by his teammates, a fact that should have been comforting after his eerie trip through the fog. But quickly, he sensed that something was wrong. He felt something cold and metallic digging into his arms, and looking down, he saw that a set of golden chains had materialized around them. But unlike the chains that manifested whenever he entered the Velvet Room, they connected not to a heavy metal ball, but to three of his companions.

First was Kallen. Her usual thief attire was replaced with tattered black clothes that had seen combat damage, but revealed no wounds, and a matching headband. Demonic wings had sprouted from her back, but more disconcerting was the fact that the end of the chain was fastened to a collar around her neck. She may have indeed seemed a demoness of the battlefield to her enemies, but the collar was a reminder that her power was fettered to another's will - his own - a fact that brought feelings of guilt back to the surface.

Shirley was next. She wore a white dress, adorned with pink ribbons that would have made her look even prettier than she usually did, had they not been elaborately knotted into restraints that turned into chains halfway along their length. She had angelic wings, marking her as a pure soul, cast from the heavens and tossed into a tainted world because of her love for a sinner.

Like Kallen, Leila was also bound by chains, but they wrapped around much of her body, restricting her movements far more than the others. She was further constrained by the formal wear demanded of her position as a noble, and her arms were tied behind her to a pole that bore the Breisgau coat-of-arms, a white wolf. With a start, Lelouch realized that her chains were blackened, as though they had been exposed to soot and smoke too many times, creating the horrible impression that she was about to be burned at the stake. That vision passed just as quickly as it had come, but all three of them remained bound to him.

It wasn't just Leila who was in danger though; he already knew how committed to him the three of them were. But now, as they approached the inevitable confrontation with Cornelia, he couldn't help but worry that he was going to drag all three of them down into perdition with him if things went wrong. They deserved so much better than that.

He tried to persuade them to let him release them from their bindings. He couldn't recall exactly what words they exchanged in the dream, but to his dismay, none of them wanted to be released. Well, that wasn't quite true. Leila had no objections to him freeing her from the bonds of her nobility, but none of them wanted to be released from him. Indeed, Kallen seemed to grow angry at the mere suggestion of it, and both Shirley and Leila appeared to be hurt as well.

Truth be told, he desperately didn't want to see them go either, but if it was the only way to protect them-

"Aren't you forgetting about me?" a familiar voice said, clearer than the others in the dream.

It was Milly.

She stood before him, wearing a flowing white gown, vaguely reminiscent of a bridal dress. It had little in the way of unnecessary adornments, but it was elegant in its simplicity nonetheless. It was very much unlike Milly's usual flair for over-the-top costumes, yet at the same time, it paradoxically made her beauty harder to ignore.

Milly broke into a beaming smile, and to his horror, she held out her wrists to him, as if asking to be handcuffed.

At once, Lelouch heard a clattering as a new length of chain materialized and began to slither toward her, as if it were some kind of serpent about to jump and bite.

Lelouch knew he had just moments to act. Maybe it was too late to release the others, but he could still save Milly, letting her live a life where she wouldn't be pulled down with him, should he fall. He grabbed the chain before it could ensnare Milly, though it continued to writhe furiously in his hand.

At once, the smile on Milly's face faded.

"Why can't I?" her voice echoed in his mind.

"LELOUCH!" his father's voice suddenly roared from nowhere. Their surroundings took on the flashing red ambience of a dangerously high security level, and the ground itself began to rumble. The Palace was collapsing? They hadn't even taken his Father's Treasure yet! But that didn't matter in a dream, or more accurately, a nightmare.

The floor underneath him gave way, and just as he had feared, the chains promptly began pulling Kallen, Shirley, and Leila after him. He had to do something! Could he cut his chains to free them? No! They were already on the brink! Only Milly would survive.

Yet none of his girlfriends bore him any blame on their faces.

As he fell, he glimpsed a golden shape above him: a trio of interlocked winged goddesses, wrapped around a ticking clock...

It was then that Lelouch woke up with a start. He found that he was drenched in sweat, and breathing raggedly.

Norn... the combined form of the Norse goddesses Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, respectively representing the past, present, and future. That was another of his Personas, and just like Lilim before her, Norn had given him an unusually vivid dream... or should he say a vision? Its content had been obviously symbolic, but was it meant as a warning of things to come?

He wanted to demand answers from Norn, but before he could do so, he was distracted by a female voice beside him.

"You were having a bad dream."

Turning his head, more with weariness than surprise, he saw that Tsu was beside him in his bed. Once again, she had helped herself to one of shirts, which she was wearing, partially unbuttoned. Perhaps she was just hoping to get a reaction out of him, just as Milly had for so long. Could she also-?

He cut off that line of thinking right away. He didn't need to be inventing new complications upon a love life that was already more than complicated enough, especially when dealing with someone who could be as inscrutable at times as Tsu.

"What are you doing here, Tsu?" he asked softly as he tried to calm himself, though he only managed to stop hyperventilating; the disturbing imagery of the nightmare continued to play itself over and over in his head. "Do you have another reading that you wanted to share with me?" He was still irritated with Tsu for embarrassing Leila during her last visit, but if she had valuable information, it would not do to turn her away.

"Do I need a reason to check on my Inmate?" Tsu asked. "It's part of our contract for me to watch over and guide you, but also to be your confidant. And right now, it seems like you could really use someone to confide in."

Lelouch found himself taken aback by her kindness. "I'm worried about my teammates," he admitted after a moment.

"Once, I might have told you that if you have people you don't want to lose, you should keep them at a distance," Tsu replied. "But that's not possible at this point; too much of your power is derived from them. There's no turning back where your relationships are concerned, and trying to do so would prove catastrophic to your ability to resist your father's designs. Only by seeing your path through to the end can our contract be complete."

"I know... but... what if I'm not able to protect them?" Lelouch asked.

"All things must pass in time," Tsu said. "But time also gave you the chance to meet and come to know them. For as long as you live, you will know pain and loss. But as my sister once told you, one's journey must not be undertaken without hope." She paused. "I didn't believe in hope, Inmate, and my existence was one without meaning. Yet slowly, you showed me how wrong I was." Her voice became stern. "So don't disappoint me now, Inmate."

Lelouch nodded slowly, though he still hadn't fully managed to shake the horrors of the dream from his mind.

Tsu wrapped an arm around him, in an almost motherly manner. "You don't have to pretend that you're alright if you're not, Inmate. False smiles only bring pain to yourself."

Tsu's touch seemed to calm him, and he felt the Death Arcana resonating within him, as if reaffirming their bond and offering him strength to face the trials ahead.

"Thank you, Tsu," he finally said.

There was a gentle knocking on his door. "Um... big brother, is everything alright?" Nunnally's voice asked from the other side.

Had he woken Nunnally by screaming in his sleep? Then again, with how sensitive her hearing had become after years of blindness, he wouldn't have even needed to be that loud to disturb her.

Before he could reply, Tsu spoke up. "Don't worry, Nunnally. I'm seeing that your brother's needs are met."

Of course Tsu wouldn't miss an opportunity like that!

"Nunnally, you know that she doesn't mean those sorts of needs!"

"They're still needs, aren't they?" Tsu smirked at him.

"Men have many needs," he heard Sayoko tell Nunnally. "We should leave them be."

"Thank you for continuing to watch over my brother, Tsu," Nunnally said softly. "And make sure the two of you get some rest. We're going to have a busy day tomorrow."

At least Nunnally was familiar enough with Tsu's antics to know just how wrong Sayoko was... Or at least he hoped that was the case.

There there was sound of a wheelchair rolling and light footsteps behind it, signaling Nunnally's departure with Sayoko, though they quickly became indistinct.

"Do not fear, Master Lelouch," Sayoko said through the door when she returned from bringing Nunnally back to her room. "As I have always done, I will continue to keep your relationship with Miss Tsu confidential; not a word of it shall be spoken outside these walls."

"Thank you, Sayoko," Lelouch said, feeling too tired to bother correcting his maid, and knowing that it would be futile even if he tried.

Do You Support the Black Knights?

Yes: 30.3%

xXx

The Black Knights met that afternoon in one of the districts nearby the Government Bureau, yet far enough away not to attract undue scrutiny. Not only had the Bureau's security perimeter had been tightened and expanded ever since Cornelia had assumed the position of Viceroy, but she had redoubled the patrols and added even more fortifications around the building following Euphemia's kidnapping.

On one hand, there was the possibility that the new defenses could translate into an array of Cognitive hazards around Cornelia's Palace, especially considering how strong-willed its Ruler was. But on the other hand, the enlarged security perimeter would very likely increase the size of the domain considered to be part of the Palace, allowing them a much wider choice of locations where they could cross over into the Palace unnoticed.

The Irregulars had also joined them in the Metaverse, though Xingke was still in the Chinese Federation, and the Glinda Knights were busy quietly investigating a number of leads following the testimony of Toto and the mysterious Eurydice, code name Lyra, while trying to stay far enough under the radar to avoid retaliation for attacking the cult's Cognitive Psience research facility. He hoped that he would be able to meet with Marrybell soon, so he could get a better sense of what they had discovered, and see how she was holding up.

Eurydice, whose appearance had come as quite a shock to Marrybell, had actually joined them for the meeting, arriving along with the Irregulars. As fellow fugitives, they had each taken care to disguise themselves, save for Alice and Nunnally, who were able to hide in plain sight with their Ashford Academy uniforms. In her case, Eurydice had chosen large sunglasses and a broad sunhat to conceal her features, but he could nonetheless see certain similarities to Marrybell in the newcomer.

Firstly, there was her hair, cut shorter and messier than Marrybell's, but the same shade of rosy pink. Then there was Eurydice's general build, slender yet athletic, the latter trait more pronounced in her than in the leader of the Glinda Knights . It was conceivable that the resemblance between them could even be familial, if not for the fact that the 88th Princess's only full sister was supposed to be dead.

He had to admit, that resemblance did leave him feeling a bit unsettled. Julia mel Britannia's survival would be something joyous, but at the same time, it would mean that Marrybell's most fiercely held beliefs were built upon a flawed foundation, turning her resolve into uncertainty. And he certainly didn't need emotions getting in his way either, not when they were about to begin what was sure to be a difficult mission. There would be a time for those emotions later, but for now he had to stay composed as the leader of the Black Knights.

He turned his attention back to Eurydice. While the other Irregulars, sans Nunnally, had all been forced to undergo conditioning in the hope of turning them into Persona-using soldiers, that effort had been left incomplete by their breakout from the Code-R laboratory at Narita. In contrast, Eurydice's stance gave the impression that she was already fully trained as such, a fact that Kallen and Suzaku also seemed to pick up on. But for Eurydice to get so far into the cultist's base by herself suggested an even more highly specialized set of skills than either a typical soldier or Persona-user.

According to Kallen's account, Eurydice had told the Irregulars that she had once been a prisoner of the cult, but Eurydice had never said for how long. It was entirely possible, even probable, that Eurydice had once worked for the cult as some sort of field agent, sent to infiltrate secure facilities via the Metaverse and then conduct covert acts of sabotage, espionage, or assassination. In that sense, she may have served in much the same capacity as the Black Mask, before finding a way to escape from her handlers in the cult.

To be fair, it wasn't as if Eurydice would have had much choice in the matter; the alternatives were to be executed, subjected to further gruesome experiments, or to have her memories selectively deleted, rendering her once more a perfect soldier for the cult. That said, it was fortunate for Eurydice that both the Black Mask and Black Armor were clearly male, since otherwise he would have been even warier around her than he already was.

For a moment, Lelouch found himself wondering if Eurydice had made her appearance when she did as part of some elaborate plot by the Director to insert another spy among the ranks of his enemies, perhaps in response to not-unjustified doubts of Toto's loyalty to him. But after another moment, Lelouch dismissed that idea as poorly conceived. If not for her intervention, the Director would have almost certainly killed Kallen, Arthur, all of the Glinda Knights, and every Irregular except Nunnally, whether directly in battle, or when he caused the base's ceiling to cave in. On top of that, Eurydice had seriously injured the Director, and made off with a valuable 7th generation Knightmare prototype. It was difficult to imagine any plausible scenarios in which the expected benefits of such a costly scheme could outweigh the immediate and very tangible benefits of wiping out almost two thirds of the Persona-users opposing the cult's plans in one fell swoop.

Eurydice gave a curt nod as she approached. "So you must be Zero," she said, her gaze turning toward him appraisingly, before settling on each of the other Black Knights in turn. "Your group is certainly... different than what I imagined. I was sure that you'd have to be a team of professionals to pull off all those heists... but from the looks of it, all but two of you are amateurs."

Lelouch had the strange feeling of almost being able to recognize Eurydice's voice, but was there a certain roughness to it that he couldn't quite place. If he had to describe it, he'd say that she naturally had a high voice, like Nunnally's, but she had lowered it to a contralto, matching her androgynous looks and demeanor. Perhaps it had been hardened by brutal training, or adopted as a means to deter unwanted attention, but it fit right in with her profile as a soldier.

"J-Julia?" Euphemia asked haltingly.

Eurydice regarded her for several seconds. "Princess Euphemia. I didn't expect to find you among the Black Knights. You're not the first to think I resemble someone else. But we've never met before."

"But your voice-" Euphemia started, while Nunnally nodded in agreement. "It's not quite the same. It's older, and who knows how much you've been through... but I'm sure of it!"

Euphemia had spent far more time with Marrybell and Julia as a child than he ever had, and he trusted Nunnally's judgment, but the question still remained: was Eurydice really Julia mel Britannia, seemingly back from the dead? Well, that wasn't quite the right question. Rather, had Julia mel Britannia actually died in the first place? Even without the ability of some of the cult's members to erase memories, Julia would likely have still been among those presumed dead following the bombing of the mel Britannia residence, so few would have questioned her disappearance, especially if the bodies of the victims had been burned beyond recognition. Code-R had already proved that the same basic modus operandi was viable for securing experimental subjects, as Alice could attest.

But that wasn't the only possibility. It was entirely possible that the Director could have found an unrelated girl who happened to bear a resemblance to the late Julia mel Britannia, and had her undergo surgery to enhance that likeness. There could be any number of reasons for such a scheme, but from what Kallen had told him of the Director's personality, the man was cruel and petty enough that he may well have created a fake Julia to psychologically torment Marrybell, well before she ever became a threat to him. The Director may have even hoped to have Eurydice target Marrybell to bring the surviving princess the despair of having to fight someone with her sister's face, only for his intended assassin to break free of his influence first.

There were a number of more fantastical scenarios that briefly crossed his mind. Could Eurydice somehow be a Cognition or a Shadow that had entered the real world, born from Marrybell's feelings of guilt? They now knew that some Personas, like the Director's and Toto's, could partially manifest in the real world. But Marrybell would need to have a Palace or a Distortion in Mementos to give rise to such a Cognition, and as far as he knew, there had been no reason for her to think of her sister as a soldier. Likewise, he didn't know of any Persona-user besides Nunnally whose Shadow retained such a high degree of autonomy. Even then, Nemo could only appear in the real world by temporarily possessing Nunnally.

"I... understand how you feel," he heard Eurydice say, her voice softening for a moment. "I... lost someone too." She straightened herself. "I'm sorry."

"Whether we're actually related by blood or not, you're one of us now," Nunnally said. "We're all here for each other. I... hope you'll come to see that."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Needless to say, many questions remained to be answered about Eurydice, but they had all gathered now, so it was time to begin the meeting in earnest.

"Thank you for joining us," Lelouch said. "We're here today to decide whether or not to infiltrate Viceroy Cornelia li Britannia's Palace and steal her Treasure. She's just launched a crackdown, unprecedented in its scope, in an effort to root us out, but it is sure to wrongly ensnare many who have nothing to do with our activities if allowed to continue. I've already confirmed a hit when entering her name into the Metaverse Navigator, and its real world location is the Government Bureau here in the Tokyo Settlement. Other than a unanimous vote, all we need now is the third keyword to enter her Palace."

"It's as you say" Euphemia said sadly. "There's a Palace here... I know the last keyword as well. If you'd take out your phone, Zero..."

Nodding, he did so, and activated the Metaverse Navigator.

"Cornelia li Britannia. Government Bureau. Temple," Euphemia clearly pronounced.

"Destination confirmed: Temple of Wrath," the Metaverse Navigator announced. "Commence navigation?"

"For just how long have you known the keywords to Cornelia's Palace, Noire?" Lelouch asked.

"I had put my sister's name into the Metaverse Navigator soon after receiving it, and only picked up a Distortion in Mementos at the time. But in the days after I was kidnapped, I became worried about how she was acting, and entered her name into the Navigator again... and that's when I saw that her Distortion had changed into another Palace. Part of me didn't want to believe it at first, but I kept getting the same result." She grimaced. "I got hits right away on the first two keywords, and it didn't take me long to figure out the third."

"The first two are self-explanatory," Shirley said. "But why does Viceroy Cornelia see the Government Bureau as a Temple?"

"It's because Cornelia's is known as Britannia's 'Goddess of Victory'," Lelouch scowled. "And where would a goddess reside but a Temple? Clearly, she's let that epithet go to her head."

"I don't think that's quite fair to my sister, Zero," Euphemia said softly. "She takes pride in that title, yes, but she has little patience for flattery, and has never been one for vanity."

"She has another nickname though," Kallen grumbled. "Those she's trodden upon call her the 'Witch of Britannia'."

Euphemia grimaced. "I can't deny that far too many people suffer under my sister's rule... and as Zero said, who knows how many innocents will be caught up in her crackdown?"

"Turning ourselves in is NOT an option," Leila added.

"I don't want Cornelia to end up like Clovis," Nunnally said. She turned to Suzaku, making her beautiful violet eyes as large and ingenuous-looking as possible as she did so. "Please, Knight, let us change Cornelia's heart, and help us save her from herself."

"Clovis had been almost completely taken over by his Shadow by the time we found him in his Palace," Lelouch explained. "The kind half-brother that Nemo, Noire, and myself once knew as children was effectively already dead, well before the Black Mask murdered him. Cornelia never was a saint... but she's dear to the sisters I still care about."

"If we allow my sister's desires to go unchecked, it won't just hurt the Japanese," Euphemia said. "I saw some of the measures that she's implementing. Ordinary Britannians and Honorary Britannians are going to be affected too. When I found out, I tried to talk to her about it... but Cornelia won't listen to me."

Euphemia shook her head and frowned. "No... that's not unusual by itself. Cornelia's never let me have a say on matters of domestic security. No... Cornelia snapped at me. We've had our disagreements, but she's always been patient with me before. Something's very wrong if she's acting that way. So please, Suzaku..." she implored, "please help me get through to my sister... just like how you did with Diamond's mother."

"Not that I regret helping Diamond, but I just knew that was going to come back to haunt me," Suzaku murmured darkly.

Meanwhile, the other girls in the Black Knights had fallen unusually quiet. Doubtlessly Euphemia had reminded them of Milly's confession just the day before. Lelouch couldn't help but feel awkward as well, but he remained focused on gauging Suzaku's reaction to Nunnally and Euphy's pleas.

The two of them had played their parts perfectly. Euphy, by nature, was completely forthright in her entreaty, and the closest person to Cornelia, her plea carried considerable weight. Nunnally was shamelessly manipulating their old friend, but her manipulation was made all the more effective because she was still being truthful. There was no way that Suzaku could remain unmoved by their combined efforts; Lelouch understood well by now that they were Suzaku's weak points. Indeed, he could tell that a part of Suzaku wanted to say 'yes' to them, but another part of Suzaku remained hesitant.

Of course, whether Suzaku agreed or not had no bearing on whether Nunnally and the Irregulars could change Cornelia's heart; they were not actually bound to a unanimous vote of the Black Knights. But it was best not to remind Suzaku of that fact.

"I joined the Black Knights to apprehend the Black Mask, not to cause a revolution here in Japan," Suzaku said after several long moments, causing Kallen to immediately clench a fist. "Everything you've said may be true, but you're after that too, Zero. So tell me: how will stealing Cornelia's heart help us stop the Black Mask? I'll agree to your plan, but only if you can give me a satisfactory answer to that question."

Lelouch broke out into a chuckle.

"What's so funny, Zero?" Suzaku asked.

"It's that for so long, Knight, you claimed that using the right means was more important than the ends. You already proved that those principles were flexible to you when you joined the Black Knights. But now... you'll agree to help change Cornelia's heart if it leads to the capture of the Black Mask?" He laughed again. "Don't you see, Knight? It's hard to think of a clearer example of the ends justifying the means. All that came before was simply posturing."

"Zero..." Suzaku started.

"Don't get me wrong, Knight," Lelouch smirked. "I'm glad that you're being more honest with yourself for a change."

Suzaku was unamused. "Just answer my question."

"Why, it's simple. Going after Cornelia at this point is the logical move for us, so the Black Mask is likely to follow us into the Palace, or else already be lying there in wait for us. He'll then either try to get the drop on us, or he'll target Cornelia himself, likely as a punishment for failing to capture us. That would allow him to frame us for another high-profile murder and undermine whatever support we may have gained back after changing Gao Hai's heart."

Lelouch's expression darkened. "Besides manipulating public opinion against us, his earlier kidnapping of Noire was probably calculated to push Cornelia into escalating her efforts to the extreme that we see now. If that's true, then the entire situation is almost certainly a trap for the Black Knights, with the goal of changing Cornelia's heart serving as the perfect bait for us. The Black Mask and his superiors know that we can't ignore the situation with Cornelia, and they're right."

"We're... walking into a trap?" Shirley murmured, worry evident on her face.

"We did it before to save you from Medjed," Lelouch replied, "and we'll do it again. With proper planning, and a bit of luck, we'll turn the trap on the Black Mask."

"Do you really think... he might try to kill my sister?" Euphemia asked.

"The last several months have shown us that no public figures are safe from the Black Mask, Noire. Your sister's position makes her even more of a target. But there's little point in him attacking Cornelia's Shadow in the near future, when his superiors can still exert powerful leverage over her. If I know Cornelia, she doesn't fear for herself... but the mere threat of inflicting a mental shutdown or a psychotic breakdown upon you would force her to act. And since Cornelia thinks we're the ones targeting you, she'd act according to their plans. But once the calling card's sent... that will be the Black Mask's cue to make his appearance, if he hasn't done so before then, so we'll have to be ready for him."

"You've made your point, Zero." Suzaku sighed and shook his head. "Very well. This seems like it really is our best chance to catch the culprit. And I can't let him murder the Viceroy either. I'm in."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Zero," Alice said warily. "If anything happens to Nemo because we willingly chose to walk into a trap... I'll make sure that you answer for it."

"And I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to her either," Lelouch said sharply. "That of course goes for all of my friends too. I wouldn't call for such a plan unless I believed it to be absolutely necessary to achieve our goals."

"Please, don't fight," Nunnally said. "I believe in my big brother. You should too, Speed."

"In any case, bickering amongst ourselves certainly isn't productive," Sancia added sternly.

Alice cast her eyes down, a chastened look on her face. Glancing from Nunnally and back to Lelouch, she said softly, "I'm sorry. I was out of line there. As her brother, of course you would understand the importance of protecting her better than anyone else."

"Ah, just tell me when we can bash some Shadows! I'm getting tired of waiting!" Dalque interrupted, much to Lucretia's and Sancia's disapproval.

"Fools rush in," Eurydice said. "But I admit, I'm very interested in seeing the rest of you in action. Lead the way, Zero."

As always, there was the momentary sensation of the world distorting around them as the Metaverse Navigator brought them into Cornelia's Palace. At first glance, the buildings around them remained unchanged, but Lelouch was sure that the Distortion would become obvious as soon as they had a clear line of sight toward the Government Bureau - or rather, the Temple of Wrath.

However, the effects of Cornelia's Cognition upon them were obvious, as they had already been forced into their thief suits, even at such a distance from the main Palace. If anything, it was a clear sign of the Viceroy's growing paranoia.

It also gave them their first look at Eurydice's Metaverse attire. She had a white tunic, trimmed in red and gold, held in place around her waist by a purple sash, with a loose blue jacket draped over her shoulders. A pair of silvery pauldrons fitted over the top of the jacket, offering some protection without greatly impeding her mobility. The emphasis on permitting freedom of movement extended to the rest of her outfit as well. Her legs were unarmored, though sheathed in their entirety by opaque black leggings, and she wore a practical pair of sturdy brown combat boots.

Eurydice's mask looked like it was made of steel, and it hid her eyes behind a thin, blue tinted visor. Unusually, the mask split to form a cross shape on the left side of her face, extending down to the chin and up to her forehead. The design did not appear to be reflected on the right side of her face, but her hair had partly fallen over the mask there, making it hard to tell.

"What are you staring at?" Eurydice asked gruffly.

"Forgive me," Lelouch replied. "I look forward to seeing just what you're capable of."

"I'll show you soon enough."

xXx

They didn't have to go far until Cornelia's Palace proper presented itself to them. Like the real Government Bureau, it was monolithic, gleaming white structure constructed in two main tiers, each of which dwarfed the buildings of the surrounding city. A careless observer might not have immediately noticed the Distortion, but Lelouch immediately recognized the difference - the facade of the building had taken on a Greco-Roman style, and the upper portion of the building had become a veritable acropolis. At the very peak of the structure, Lelouch saw that there was a temple, grander than any of the lesser shrines below, and perhaps one could consider it a third tier in its own right, though it was hard to make out any details clearly at their distance.

Glancing to the sides, he noted the presence of a pair of large aqueducts flanking the acropolis, taking the place of the monorail lines that government employees used to commute to the Bureau each day. There was also a tunnel below, at the end of a triumphal boulevard, where highways converged in front of the real structure, though obviously no self-respecting phantom thief would ever use the main entrance.

Predictably, that approach was very heavily guarded. Giant mirrors reflected the light from blazing fires to act as roving searchlights, and ballistae replaced the machine gun nests that had been erected around the Bureau. Rather anachronistically, there also appeared to be tangles of barbed wire strewn across the ground, and what looked like Knightmares on patrol. And of course, no matter what route they took, there would be a legion of Shadows in between them and Cornelia's Treasure.

"So this is my sister's Palace," Euphemia murmured. "I had the keywords, but part of me was too frightened of what I might find here to actually enter it until now."

"She's definitely not messing around," Kallen said. "Not that I'd expect anything less from the Witch of Britannia."

"It may be based on the same location as Clovis's Palace, but the difference in their security levels is like night and day," Leila added. "And with everything that has happened in recent weeks, I don't think we'll see the Palace Ruler's guard any lower than this. If anything, her paranoia will increase with every day that she fails to capture us, leading her to continually tighten security in her Palace."

"If this is as low her security will get, then I don't want to see what an elevated security level looks like here," Arthur frowned. "It won't be as nearly as simple as going in through an air vent, like we did the last time we were infiltrating a Palace here."

"You were able to break into the Government Bureau... I mean, Clovis's Palace so easily?" Shirley asked.

"Yup," Milly replied. "That brings back memories." She sighed. "Things seemed so much simpler and back then."

"Honestly, you make me worry when you say things like that," Suzaku said. "You've been knowingly operating as part of an out-... vigilante organization since the spring, but you were going into your first Palaces with that kind of attitude? Fighting in the Metaverse is never simple; it's always a matter of life and death."

"I for one have always recognized the risks," Lelouch cut in. "The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed. That's as true when fighting Shadows in the Metaverse as it is anywhere else."

"Are you really all prepared for that? You know that it's still not too late to turn back if you have any doubts."

"Do you want to catch the Black Mask or not?" Lelouch asked irritably. "Besides, there's too much at stake for any of us to turn back now. Even if one or more of us were to do so, it wouldn't do them any good. If discovered, anyone but Noire would face a near certain death sentence. As far as Cornelia's concerned, we're all terrorists who murdered Clovis and kidnapped her beloved sister. She won't forgive that, and nor will she forget."

"The two of you are wasting time," Eurydice said nearby. She returned her gaze toward the Palace proper. Her eyes couldn't been seen under her visor, but Lelouch had no doubt that they were darting back and forth, assessing its defenses. "Not that I mind having backup for a change, but this would be so much easier if we were trying to sneak in with just two or three people. We have fourteen."

"Knight and I can probably enter my sister's Palace freely," Euphemia offered. "The two of us could scout out an approach, and come back to you with our findings."

"That's much too dangerous," Lelouch said firmly. "I'll admit, YOU might be able to move through the Palace, but I doubt the same applies to Knight, unless he's accompanying you at all times. Cornelia must still resent that, he, a Japanese person, was assigned to protect you, and it was done without any input from her. That resentment would likely translate into the Shadows treating Knight as a hostile, or at least, an unwelcome presence in her Palace. There's also the possibility that while the Palace Ruler may let you in, she might not let you out again."

"I suppose that you're right," Euphemia frowned. "I know that Cornelia wants to keep me safe, but sometimes she's a bit overprotective."

"Land and I can use our Personas to analyze the surrounding area and seek a route forward," Leila offered. "Her Persona has a greater effective range than my own, but we can cover more ground in a shorter time by working together."

"Very well, Bishop," Lelouch replied. "We will await the results of your analysis."

Grasping her mask, Leila summoned Freyja, while Lucretia followed suit, calling forth Lucia, who appeared above her, englobing the Irregular in a shimmering blue barrier.

The two of them remained very quiet for what felt like the better part of a minute, intently concentrating on their tasks. Finally, they dismissed their Personas. Lucretia nodded, deferring to Leila to present their findings. Evidently, they had used their Personas to confer with each other telepathically beforehand.

"As you know," Leila began, "even the most secure strongholds have to take in certain supplies that they cannot produce for themselves and let out waste. As Viceroy Cornelia's Palace is based on her Cognition of a real location, it is no exception to this rule."

"You're talking about the infrastructure built into the Tokyo Settlement's plates, including the sewer systems," Lelouch said. "I'll admit, that had occurred to me as a potential route to infiltrate the Government Bureau, even before I discovered the Metaverse."

Suzaku didn't say anything, but gave him a disapproving look. Lyra also regarded him curiously. She might have recognized Euphemia on sight, but she evidently hadn't realized who he was yet. To her, he would have outwardly have appeared to be an ordinary student, albeit one who was secretly leading a vigilante group against Britannia, and had been planning to do so for some time. It was natural that she would wonder what his story was, though there was no reason for him to disclose it to her at the moment.

"That figures," Milly said. "It's part of the same network of tunnels that you've used to sneak on and off campus." She paused. "I may have seen some maps for the tunnels in our neck of the woods before... but good luck trying to find those for the Government Bureau. They're sure to be classified."

"You underestimate my sources," Lelouch smirked. "Though in any event, I doubt such a map would be of any more than limited value in the Metaverse."

"Palaces are a distortion of reality," Leila added. "They're usually more grandiose and always more labyrinthine than the actual location. Even in the last Palace we infiltrated, we saw the Consulate turn into a sprawling city. No map in reality could have prepared us for its layout."

"Exactly," Lelouch replied. "So rather than going in with preconceptions of the tunnel layout, which could lead us astray, I'll rely on you and Land to guide us into the Palace proper."

Lelouch couldn't quite see Leila's reaction in its entirety, since most of her face was covered by her butterfly-shaped mask, but from the subtle shift in her body language, he could guess that she was blushing faintly with pride.

"As always, I'll do my best, Zero."

"As will I," Lucretia nodded in turn.

xXx

They made their way around the periphery of the Palace. The Distortion was relatively weak there, and so there were few Shadows, and it outwardly it was a near carbon copy of the real, modern Tokyo Settlement, unlike the decidedly ancient appearance of the Temple at its center. Lelouch was sure that there were some minor differences in the details, as Cornelia was not one to wander far from the Government Bureau unless official business or military operations demanded it, and she was thus unlikely to be familiar with the lesser-known shops and attractions throughout the settlement.

But Cornelia was still quite thorough, and there was no question that she would have personally inspected the entirety of the outer defensive perimeter. Indeed, her Cognition grew markedly stronger as their path drew them closer to their access point to the service tunnels, and by the time they reached it, Cornelia's Distortion had fully taken hold.

"This is it," Leila announced. "I'm sensing multiple Shadows on patrol below, though there still aren't as many of them as there are guarding the main entrance."

"I can confirm that," Lucretia said softly.

"That's nothing we can't handle," Kallen replied.

"Still, it's best if we can avoid unnecessary fights," Shirley added.

"I can't agree more," Euphemia murmured. She let out a deep sigh. "Let's not put this off any longer. For my sister's sake, and all the people of Tokyo, we have to reach her Treasure."

"I'll go first," Lelouch said. "Everyone, follow me!"

Clambering down a ladder, they entered the service tunnels. The air was cool and damp, though the ambience was unmistakably that of a Palace, and wherever they stepped, there were pinkish splashes of a phantasmal, blood-like substance. The tunnels were about the same size as the real ones, though they were constructed out of arched masonry, very much like the pictures he had seen of the ancient Roman sewers. Illumination was provided by torches placed periodically along the walls. It was a dim, flickering light, but at least they wouldn't be stumbling around in the dark.

"I know it's a bit late for me to be commenting on this," Eurydice said, "but does Nemo's hair always change color when she enters a Palace?"

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it," Dalque grinned. "Nemo can be pretty scary when she lets loose."

Alice seemed a bit miffed at that, a fact that Nunnally quickly picked up on.

"It's alright, Speed. She'll see for herself before long. Besides, it's not like Power is wrong."

"You two are close, aren't you?" Eurydice asked. "Well, that's a rhetorical question. I could already tell, from that little argument before we entered the Palace."

"Yeah, but they're not as close as Speed wishes they could be," Dalque said before Alice could respond.

"Power, you really need to learn when things are best left unsaid," Sancia scolded, giving the younger Irregular a light swat to the back of the head.

"Hey!"

"It's alright," Alice replied, though Lelouch could tell that she was lying. "We have a mission to focus on."

"Indeed, we do," Eurydice said. "Forgive my prying. You are right that the mission comes first."

"We'll see how strong you really are before long," Alice said, her irritation returning. "You did pretty well stealing that Knightmare, but how does your Persona hold up?"

"I've been a Persona-user for some time. You'll find I'm more than capable of handling myself in the Metaverse."

"Please, Speed," Nunnally frowned. "We've been through this already. We can't hope to succeed if we're too busy fighting each other."

Alice sighed heavily. "You're right, Nemo. Let's go."

They began making their way through the tunnels, taking care to make use of what cover they could find so that they could stay out of sight and avoid unnecessarily raising the security level within the Palace. As with Gao Hai's Palace, there were too many of them to move in a single group unnoticed, so they divided themselves up into smaller units, remaining coordinated with each other through Leila and Lucretia's telepathic abilities. But of course, they could only go so far before before fighting became inevitable.

"Shadows dead ahead," Leila cautioned.

"I'll take point," Lelouch thought back.

Peering around the corner, he saw a masked Shadow on patrol, clad in armor that resembled that of a Greek hoplite and armed with a wicked-looking spear.

"Nothing down here in these tunnels..." the Shadow murmured to itself. "Does the Goddess really think thieves are going to try to sneak in this way?" It shook its head. "Well, orders are orders. Besides, there's a reason why she's the Goddess of Victory. There's no one else I'd rather serve."

That matched up with what Lelouch knew about Cornelia. Her methods could be brutal, yet there was no denying the loyalty she inspired in those who followed her.

But that wasn't going to help the Shadow now.

Lelouch waited until the Shadow had turned its back to him, starting to retrace its steps, before leaping out from his hiding spot and grasping the Shadow's mask from behind.

"Show me your true form!" he announced as he ripped off the Shadow's mask.

The Shadow writhed, startled by the sudden removal of its mask, before its hoplite form collapsed and burst into black ichor, revealing its true form as a trio of mounted Shadows, female in appearance, each with a winged mask, a white cape, and a pair of swords, instantly recognizable as Valkyries.

The Valkyries were momentarily disoriented by the ambush, giving the Black Knights and Irregulars the chance to strike first.

"You wanted to see my power?" Eurydice asked. "Here it goes!" She pulled off her own mask. "Hear me, Orpheus!"

Eurydice's Persona manifested above her. The joints on its body gave away its nature as a sort of stylized clockwork automaton, with an old-fashioned yet sophisticated look, an impression that was added to by the fact that it was clothed, like a living being would be. It had a blue tunic that matched the shade of its summoner's jacket, white gloves, and a red scarf around its neck, and a head of golden blond hair. The ensemble was striking, but Orpheus also had a certain air of dignity, like that which nobles were theoretically supposed to project but rarely did.

At first glance, Orpheus appeared to be unarmed, but large lyre was slung on its back. It looked heavy enough that Lelouch supposed that the Persona could use it as a bludgeoning weapon when pressed.

Yet there was something odder still about Orpheus. Namely, Orpheus was clearly a male Persona, but his summoner was female. In all other cases that Lelouch had observed, a Persona-user's other self was always the same gender of them. Clearly, Eurydice proved an exception to that rule, but what did that say about her psychology?

Orpheus charged the Valkyries, raising its lyre high, and bashed them over their heads with it. The lyre seemed to glow for a moment, and it gave off a loud, discordant note that rent through the air. Two of the Valkyries mostly shrugged off the attack, but the third collapsed, dealt a critical blow. But after a moment, it became clear that Orpheus' attack had been more effective than the actual damage it had caused would have suggested, for one of the still-standing Valkyries suddenly turned on and struck the other with its swords.

"That one's brainwashed!" Leila called out.

Seizing upon her advantage, Eurydice called upon Orpheus again.

"Mapsio!"

Her Persona strummed the strings of his lyre, conjuring a dizzying swirl of colors that converged on the three Valkyries. The brainwashed Valkyrie exploded into dark wisps and vanished, while the remaining two were significantly weakened.

One of the Valkyries charged Eurydice, but to everyone's surprise, a hidden blade sprung forth from a compartment in Orpheus' forearm, intercepting the Shadow's blow. Other weapons and gadgets quickly followed suit. And how Orpheus moved... in many ways, it reminded him of Sayoko's skills as a ninja.

In a departure from the legend, it seemed like Eurydice's Orpheus was not merely a traveling performer, but also some sort of spy or assassin... just as she undoubtedly was.

"No way!" Shirley gasped. "Just how many weapons does her Persona even have?"

"Stay focused, Dame," Milly said. "The other two are still coming." She grasped her mask. "Medea!"

The hooded witch appeared over Milly, bound to her by illusory blue chains.

"Maragion!"

Flames burst into being beneath the Valkyries, knocking them to the ground.

"The enemy is down! Commence an all-out attack!" Lelouch ordered.

The Black Knights charged, rapidly overwhelming the fallen Valkyries. There was spray of blood, and then their bodies broke apart, dissolving into darkness.

"Hmm... that was some teamwork," Eurydice said. "A bit undisciplined, but I can't deny it's effectiveness, even if most of you probably lack formal training."

"So... Orpheus and Eurydice," Lelouch said. "How fitting."

"That's why your your Codename is 'Lyra', isn't it?" Leila asked. "It's the feminine version of 'Lyre', the instrument that Orpheus was famed for playing."

Eurydice nodded.

Leila turned to Milly. "Good work with those Shadows."

"Yeah... I kind of figured fire was the way to go with them," Milly replied. "It was just a hunch, but your Persona's basically a Valkyrie too, so I thought..."

"Your intuition paid off this time," Leila said, nodding. She paused, summoning Freyja to survey the surrounding area again and communicate with Land and the other Irregulars, who were some distance behind them.

"There are no Shadows in the immediate vicinity, though there are more further along our route," she reported. "Speed also acknowledges that your Persona is more than capable of holding its own in a fight."

"Thank you," Eurydice said. "Now that we've resolved that, let's keep moving, lest they notice that a patrol has gone missing."

The Black Knights continued along their way, fighting when necessary. Eurydice was surprised when, in a later encounter with a squad of Valkyries, Lelouch managed to recruit one of them as a new Persona, though he did have to credit Leila for her assistance in the matter. The Shadows' loyalty to the Palace Ruler almost made negotiations a non-starter, but they recognized Leila's Persona as another goddess of war, and one from their own myth at that, giving him the opening he needed. Maybe Milly had been on to something after all.

As for Eurydice's surprise, that was to be expected. She was not a Wild Card, and she seemed most accustomed to solo combat, meaning that she probably hadn't been around anyone with his abilities before. Of course, he wasn't going to elaborate upon them in the middle of an infiltration, and Eurydice knew better than to ask.

There were other types of Shadows lurking in the tunnels. There seemed to be a large number of female Shadows, such the Vengeful Birdwomen, which Lelouch recognized from mythology as Furies, and the bewildering-looking Midnight Queens, which had pinkish-purple hair and bodies striped in blue and green, and cast both fire and lightning spells. Perhaps most dangerous of all were the Dancing Witches. Their thick, black hair gave them a wild appearance, which was added to by their long, thin, but razor-sharp claws. The Dancing Witches repelled any direct physical or projectile attacks, and had powerful curse magic of their own, but thankfully they were predictably weak to bless spells, and so Shirley made short work of them with Makouga, the power of which was further amplified by the Koh-i-Noor.

That wasn't to say that the Shadows in Cornelia's Palace were exclusively female. There was the Cruel Leopard, standing upright, wearing a green cape, and armed with a pair of swords. Leila whispered that it had to be Ose, one of the Great Presidents of Hell from the Ars Goetia. Then there were the misshapen Life-Draining Spirits, with a horse-like head, a skeletal lower body, and a broad, blood-red hat and a matching cape. Each of them wielded a bident, but they were most dangerous whenever they appeared alongside the Dancing Witches, for they would sometimes try to use magic to induce a state of unthinking rage in the Black Knights and Irregulars, so that they would run headlong into the witches' defenses and have their own attacks turned against them.

Daisoujou could help Lelouch calm his mind, while Girimekhala would nullify any reflected physical attacks, even should the enemy succeed in enraging him, but he still had to watch out for his teammates and be ready to snap them out of it, in the event that they became afflicted. Hariti, a Persona empowered by the Empress Arcana, proved valuable here, as her magic could clear the minds of several of his allies at once. With the pink robe that Hariti wore, and her nurturing nature as a protector of childbirth, it was easy for him to see the connection to Euphy, though he tried not to think about Hariti's bloody past in her myth.

"We're almost there," Leila announced as the rearguard rejoined them. "But... there's some sort of obstruction ahead."

"What is it?" Euphemia asked.

"I'm... not quite sure," Leila replied after a moment. "There is some sort of powerful Shadow nearby, but I can't get a good read on the obstruction itself."

"The obstruction is at least partly organic in nature," Land supplied. "It's also connected to the Shadow somehow. If we can defeat it, we should be able to proceed."

Lelouch nodded, and turned to his other teammates. "Make sure that you're all prepared. There's only one way forward, and then we'll have secured our route into the main part of the Palace."

"I'm ready whenever you are, Zero," Kallen said.

"I'm ready as well," Suzaku added.

Euphemia summoned her Persona, casting Mediarama over the Black Knights and the Irregulars, healing any injuries that they had sustained in the tunnels, though thankfully most had been minor to begin with.

"Everyone should be in fighting shape now," she said. She frowned. "Let's do this... we can't turn back after coming so far."

"Very well," Lelouch replied. "Let us see what sort of Shadow awaits us."

"No matter what sort of enemy it is, we will eliminate it," Eurydice said.

"That we will," Nunnally agreed, sounding entirely too cheerful at the prospect, leaving Lelouch to wonder if Nemo had taken over for a moment.

They didn't have to go far before they noticed a foul stench filling the tunnels, one that grew ever stronger as they neared their target.

Eventually, the tunnels opened up into a wide chamber, not unlike the one he had fought Medjed in, though its construction was still in an ancient style, like the rest of the tunnels. But the water was stagnant, choked in masses of algae, and with bits of trash and other refuse. Lelouch could also clearly see the obstruction now; the exit on the far side of the chamber, which appeared to be an oversized drain, was entirely blocked off by a mound of feculent sludge.

"Where's the Shadow?" Shirley asked softly. "The smell is awful... but it's just too quiet in here."

"Whooooohhhh..." a raspy voice said, echoing within the confines of the chamber, making it seem like it was coming from everywhere at once. "What's that? Some thieves that I need to mop up?"

There was a splash, as something broke the still water and leapt out onto the platform that they were standing on. It was generally humanoid in form, but it's exact shape couldn't be ascertained because of all of the algae and other muck that clung to it, giving it a shaggy appearance. The only parts of its body that weren't covered by the algae were its dark hands and a white mask where its face should be. Unsettlingly, its mask was on upside down, and a single, glowing red eye was visible through the hole on its left. It also held its arms out in front of its body, almost like a stereotypical movie zombie, though the gleam in its eye showed a malevolent intelligence that zombies lacked.

"It's a good thing the Goddess needed someone to catch some thieves... otherwise, she might have cleaned me up real quick." The Shadow turned its head toward Lelouch. "You must be their leader. Do you feel me, bro?"

"I'm not your 'bro'," Lelouch said testily. "We'll be passing through here, and we won't hesitate to use force if need be."

"Oh, that's just cold!" The Shadow replied. "But I ain't leaving these sewers. I'll eat and eat, and shit them up all I want." It laughed. "Want me to fill you with sludge all the way down to your bones, Thief bro?"

The Black Knights and Irregulars assumed fighting stances.

"Have it your way, bro." The Shadow said. "But didja know? Ghosts show up at these here sewers."

On cue, dark energy converged, forming into a horde of smaller Shadows, in the form of ghostly green phantoms.

"These guys say they want to freak out thieves," the muck-covered Shadow continued, "so I summoned tons of 'em. Have a nice trip to hell, with a scream dyin' in your trash-choked lungs."

"If you think that can stop us, you're sorely mistaken," Kallen retorted. "We've faced way worse than that before." She pulled off her lotus mask. "Guren Jigoku!"

Her Persona appeared and immediately began cutting a swathe through the phantoms with a concentrated beam of radiant energy. Whenever one of the lesser Shadows made contact with the beam, it was vaporized on the spot.

Suzaku's Persona rushed in as well, slashing at the phantoms with a sword, though it didn't seem to do much to harm them.

"They're ghosts," Eurydice said with clear annoyance. "Obviously physical attacks are going to be ineffective against them."

"Oh, right," Suzaku said. "Megidola!"

Lancelot fired several laser-like beams at the enemy. They perhaps took a moment longer to cut through the phantoms than Guren Jigoku's attack, but the spell was still able to destroy the Shadows en masse.

"Hey! Make sure you're not having all the fun!" Nunnally's voice said, but it was now definitely Nemo in control. "I'm going to crush them!"

Nemo charged into battle, and it was hard not to see her fighting style as a reflection of their mother's, swift and elegant in its brutality. He admitted that to himself now, even if as a child he had blinded himself to just how ruthless his mother had been in battle. Nemo had opened his eyes to that truth.

Alice was right alongside Nemo, and while Bradamante's wind magic wasn't nearly as destructive as Guren Jigoku and Lancelot's spells, it left the phantoms stunned, opening them to further attacks. Of course, bless magic was also effective against the phantoms, giving Shirley another opportunity to shine.

"Whooooohhhh!" the muck-covered Shadow shouted in rising alarm as the Black Knights and Irregulars wiped out the last remnants of its phantom horde. "Just who are you guys, bro?!"

"You had your chance," Lelouch said pitilessly.

The Black Knights and Irregulars pressed their attack. The muck-covered Shadow was so horrifically outnumbered that it wasn't even funny. However, knowing that it was doomed caused the Shadow to fight back like a cornered beast, spewing poison from its breath and frantically casting Tentarafoo to try to confuse its attackers. When that failed to slow them down for long, it began casting Mamudoon, in a last-ditch attempt to take out several of them at once.

They weren't going to give it that chance. Following Leila and Lucretia's analysis, Milly and Dalque summoned their Personas, each blasting the Shadow with Agidyne. Twin columns of flame began hungrily burning away the shaggy algal coat that covered the Shadow. Howling in pain, it could no longer maintain focus on its spell, and collapsed to the ground instead.

"Let's finish this," Lelouch ordered.

The Black Knights and Irregulars charged once again, pummeling the fallen Shadow. Eurydice joined in the All-Out Attack as well, bludgeoning the Shadow with Orpheus' lyre, before getting in several strikes of her own.

"Whooooohhhh!" the Shadow wailed. "I don't wanna die! If I die... the Goddess is gonna have me purified! Don't let her clean me, bro!"

Lelouch was tempted to make one last quip, but he didn't have the chance, as Eurydice proceeded to calmly shoot the Shadow in the head at point-blank range, cracking its mask, and then causing it to vanish as its body broke apart and was consumed by black flames. In turn, Euphemia let out a small gasp, clearly shocked at seeing the person whom she believed to be Julia mel Britannia committing such a casual act of violence.

"Um... are you sure that you aren't actually related to West?" Kallen asked. "Because that's exactly what she would have done."

"We've been over this before," Eurydice said wearily. She turned to Dalque. "I now see what you meant now, when you said that our leader could be 'scary' at times. Her personality suddenly did a 180, and she just went at those Shadows like she was some kind of berserker. What was that?"

"Surprised?" Nunnally, or rather, Nemo asked, her words reverberating slightly as the Shadow's somewhat deeper voice overlapped with Nunnally's natural one. Smirking, she showed Eurydice her eyes, now a glowing gold. "I'm her Shadow. She lets me out from time to time, so I can handle the violence that she's too squeamish to perform herself. Isn't that right, me?"

Nunnally blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, they were back to their usual violet color.

"You don't have to put it like that, Nemo," Nunnally frowned, her voice also back to normal now. "But I can't say that you're wrong."

"But that shouldn't be possible," Eurydice said. "How can you even have a Persona when your Shadow-?"

"We don't know the answer to that either," Lelouch said, cutting her off.

"Look," Sancia said behind them.

Turning, they saw that the mass of sludge that had blocked their way forward was rapidly starting to dissolve. In another few moments, water began to flow again, washing away the accumulated rubbish, as if it had never been there in the first place.

"The path is clear," Lelouch said. "Once we get out of these sewers, the real challenge of infiltrating Cornelia's Palace will begin."

As they began clambering up toward the drain, Euphemia suddenly paused.

"What is it, Noire?" Lelouch asked in concern.

"It's nothing, Zero," she replied. "I think I just realized what that Shadow we just fought was. Cornelia would sometimes read stories to me when I was younger. Among them were legends from the old Britannian Islands. It's been such a long time, I almost couldn't place it... but I think that was a Peallaidh. They haunt bodies of water and chase after travelers when they're lonely. Most aren't even trying to be scary. But that one... the Palace twisted it into something cruel and frightening." She shook her head sadly. "I have no idea why it was talking like that, though."

"It had a rather... anachronistic way of speaking, yes," Lelouch replied. "But don't let yourself dwell on it, or waste your kindness on those who wouldn't hesitate to turn it against you. There was no reasoning with that Shadow, so it the end it was always kill or be killed."

"Yes," Euphemia frowned. Her eyes were downcast for a moment, but when she looked up, Lelouch saw new determination within them. "We'll put an end to my sister's Palace together."

"Of course we will."

Reaching the drain, they made their way along a raised ledge that was to the side, likely used by maintenance workers, sparing them from having to wade through the water. It looked mostly clean now, but given how chilly it was in the sewers, they'd all be miserable if they were to get wet.

They climbed up another ladder at the end of the tunnel, and when they reached the top, they found themselves in a small room, with its walls and floor made of unadorned white marble. Unlike the meager torches down in the sewers, a brazier in the corner provided adequate light and warmth. But that wasn't the only change in the atmosphere; Cornelia's Cognition was noticeably stronger than it had been before, and there was a faint reddish tint to the lighting beyond what could be reasonably accounted for by the flames. Rather, it was an outward manifestation of an elevated security level in the Palace.

"We shouldn't linger here," Leila whispered. "This isn't a safe room. In fact, there are Shadows standing guard right outside."

"No way around it," Lelouch said. "Let's go."

Quietly approaching the doorway with Nunnally, he knelt down and peered through its keyhole. There appeared to be a pair of masked Shadows, one on each side of the door.

Exchanging a nod with his sister, he flung the door open, and before the guards knew what was happening, he seized one of the Shadows from behind, while Nunnally leapt onto and grabbed the other Shadow. Struggling, the Shadows tried to call for help, but Lelouch and Nunnally had each clasped one of their hands over the mouths of their respective targets, muffling any sounds that they might make.

"We'll reveal your true forms!" Lelouch and Nunnally said in unison as they pulled off the Shadows' masks with their free hands.

As they burst outward and reformed, the Shadows took the appearance of angels in heavy red armor, horned helmets, and large shields, emblazoned with a black octopus emblem. Like the hoplites they had originally appeared as, each angel was armed with a spear.

"Come, Chernobog!" Nunnally said, pulling off her own mask as the angels were still trying to get their bearings.

The sinister Lust Persona appeared, and cast Mudoon, instantly killing one of the angels.

"Your turn, big brother!" Nunnally called out, giving him a high five. At once, he felt the resonance of a Baton Pass, with power flowing from his bond with her into him.

He wasn't about to waste the opportunity that Nunnally had given him.

"Seth!"

The black dragon manifested above him. It let out a roar, conjuring a projectile that viciously drove down into the remaining angel like a spear, piercing its armor and pinning it to the ground. The angel didn't have any time to cry out, for it disappeared into dark wisps a moment later. It was a one-shot kill.

Lelouch bent down to pick up the key to the door that one of the guards had dropped, so they would be able to open it again if it happened to be locked while they were exploring the Palace. He then glanced both ways down the corridor. "It looks like the coast's clear," he murmured to Nunnally.

"Land and I are picking up a safe room nearby," Leila said. "We can plan our next moves there."

Slipping through the corridor in small groups, they had all gathered in the safe room a few minutes later. Whenever Cornelia's Cognition momentarily faded, it took on the appearance of a small storeroom in the depths of the Government Bureau, likely used by its janitorial staff.

"I believe you have a more complete grasp of our surroundings," Leila said, "so I shall defer to your report, Land."

Lucretia nodded. "Umm... as could see from the outside, the Palace proper is divided into three main sections: the lower levels, the acropolis level, and the Goddess' Temple. The lower levels are the most extensive, with each successive area occupying a smaller portion of the Palace. The acropolis and temple levels are still too far up for me to assess them, but there seem to be a number of stairways that lead up to the acropolis. However... a good portion of the lower levels is constructed like a maze.. and we'll have to traverse that maze to reach the stairs."

"You mean it's more of a maze than what we've seen in Palaces before?" Nunnally asked.

"That's correct," Lucretia replied. "It's further up from current position, but it will take some time to navigate."

"What about our more immediate surroundings?" Lelouch asked.

"There are what I'd assume to be storerooms, barracks, and Knightmare bays, as well as a number of other large rooms, but I'm not sure of their purpose." Lucretia frowned.

"We'll need more information," Lelouch said. "But we should be able to find a map of this level of the Palace somewhere. The security level is elevated, but it's not yet so high to force us to turn back. Is everyone still feeling well enough to go on?"

They all nodded.

"Let's see what we can find out then," he told them.

There were regular patrols in the corridors. The security level meant that, more commonly than not, they had to ambush and quickly eliminate their enemies, as it was significantly more difficult to sneak by without a fight.

The composition of the patrols had also changed. Whereas the angels, which Leila identified as Powers, had joined the enemy's ranks, the Dancing Witches and Life-Draining Spirits were no longer present. However, that wasn't to say that the fighting had gotten any easier. There was new type of Shadow, taking the form of a guard dog, at a glance not unlike those that they had seen in the Black King's Palace.

Like the Black King's dogs, this one had a scaly, serpentine tail in its true form, but it had a coat of white fur, and with its prominent mane, one could have mistaken it for a lion, though the rest of its features clearly marked it as being a canine. It could cast fire magic that outclassed anything that the Black Knights or Irregulars had, and even when it turned to physical attacks, it could hit like a truck. Making matters worse, the dog's keen sense of smell meant that it could detect their presence well before other Shadows could.

The guard dog proved resistant to Guren Jigoku's nuclear attacks, but thankfully it was highly susceptible to Euphemia's ice magic, a fact that they made sure to have Leila telepathically relay to the Irregulars, so that Sancia could incapacitate any such Shadows that their team might encounter. Nonetheless, in many ways, it had posed a greater danger to them than Peallaidh had, and so they would have to adapt accordingly as they continued their infiltration.

Eventually, they figured out what the large rooms that Lucretia had been unable to identify were: sprawling offices, filled with Cognitions of a legion of clerks, and the bureaucrats who were supervising them as they carried out the daily tasks necessary to oversee the running of Area 11. Many had large scrolls at the desks, which they were poring over, or were writing their own reports on any number of matters.

After observing the workers for a short time, Lelouch came to the conclusion that many of them were merely trying to appear busy, rather than actually being productive. But it was obvious that Cornelia held the bureaucrats in far worse regard. The clerks at least looked human, but the Cognitions of the bureaucrats were spineless, amorphous things, and what features they did have strongly resembled weasels. They wore white robes, ostensibly to seem more important, but it only made their appearance even more ridiculous.

"Are you sure?" they overheard one of the Bureaucrat Cognitions asking a Shadow, its oily voice every bit as unpleasant as the rest of it.

"Yes, several patrols have vanished, and there's no sign of the officer who was assigned to guard the sewers either. We think the Black Knights may have entered the Palace."

The Bureaucrat Cognition let out a self-satisfied laugh that reminded Lelouch all too much of Gao Hai. "You're overreacting. There's no way that thieves could have penetrated the outer defenses so soon. The special officer is probably just shirking his duties. And even if he were to fall to the Black Knights, then all they would have really accomplished is disposing of some trash that we would have had to take care of anyway, lest his stench offend the Goddess. "

"Aren't you the least bit concerned? We should raise the alarm, and seal the tunnels against further intruders."

"And invite the Goddess' wrath? Over what? I'm not calling her down from the Temple unless I have the thieves captured, dead or alive, and ready to present to her. When she sees that... I'll be promoted for sure! And surely sealing off the tunnels is overkill. We need access to those tunnels."

"You know that she'll have your head if they really are here, and you fail to capture them."

"Everything is under control," the Bureaucrat Cognition replied. "Any intruders will eventually become lost and perish in the Labyrinth, so we have nothing to worry about. They'll never reach the acropolis, let alone the Goddess's Treasure." The Cognition sighed. "But if it makes you happy, we can temporarily increase security on the lower levels. You clearly don't have enough to do if you have this much time to worry. And if she asks why we're increasing security, we'll just tell her it's a routine drill. That way, she'll praise us for our diligence and initiative."

If the Palace's security was going to increase further, they'd have no choice but to turn back, and wait until it died down again. But at the same time, it was a blessing that Bureaucrat Cognitions were the ones handling security on the lower levels. Their incompetence would ensure that the Black Knights and Irregulars had a route back into the Palace.

Yes, Cornelia may have purged the most obviously corrupt officials when she took the office of Viceroy, but she couldn't dismantle Area 11's entire bureaucratic apparatus and rebuild it from the ground up when she was preoccupied with both the JLF and the Black Knights. To do so would amount to a critical loss of expertise, inviting instability at a time when she least needed it. Thus, most of the lesser officials of Clovis' administration remained firmly ensconced within the Government Bureau, from sheer organizational inertia, perpetuating the rot in spite of Cornelia's best efforts to usher in a new regime of discipline and competence.

Lelouch gave the signal to begin withdrawing from the Palace, before new patrols could find them. But as he turned to go, he stealthily snagged a scroll from its hiding place, revealed to him by the Third Eye. It was a partial map of the lower levels of the Palace, which would let them fill in some of the gaps in Land's analysis.

Part of him loathed leaving the Palace so soon, but as far as he knew, they still had plenty of time to steal Cornelia's Treasure. They of course would want to acquire it as soon as possible, to minimize the number of innocents caught up in her crackdown, but nothing had emerged thus far to impose a hard deadline on their mission, save for the threat of Ragnarok on the horizon. And given how determined Igor was to see Ragnarok averted, Lelouch was sure that he would know from the long-nosed man if he was cutting things too close there.

Lelouch was used to biding his time. Waiting a little longer to confront Cornelia wasn't going to make much difference to him.

Do You Support the Black Knights?

Yes: 31.2%

A/N:

It's been quite a bit longer than I would have liked since the last chapter, though work got very hectic for a few weeks, leaving me with little opportunity to write. However, at long last, Ch. 71, and with it, the first foray of the Black Knights and Irregulars into Cornelia's Palace is completed!

Those familiar with the Persona series will immediately notice that the design and skillset of Eurydice's Persona, Orpheus, is different from the Orpheus that appears in Persona 3. Indeed, they are not meant to be the same Personas, although they share a name and certain visual elements. There is a a deeper underlying reason why Eurydice has a Psy-using Orpheus as her Persona in this story, but that reason will be revealed later on.

Peallaidh appears as a mini-boss in SMT IV, and most of his dialogue here comes from that game. I figured that, given how SMT IV's Peallaidh likes the pollution in Shinobazu Pond, it would serve nicely for a boss in the sewers, even if, in the end, he would not really pose a significant challenge to the Black Knights and Irregulars. Originally, Peallaidh's backup was a Mou-Ryo horde, but I substituted in a Phantom horde, based on their appearance from Nocturne as a more level-appropriate palette swap.

Of course, in-story Peallaidh was underwhelming because the Bureaucrat Cognitions were basically pulling what TvTropes would call a "Uriah Gambit" to get rid of him. Obviously, the bosses waiting in the Labyrinth, Acropolis, and Temple will be far more formidable...

As the Black Knights will have to wait a few days for the security level in Cornelia's Palace to drop, the next chapter will focus on Lelouch's confidants, and have him tying up some loose ends.

Thank you once again to all those who have stayed with the story! Your support means a lot, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

Edit: It was brought to my attention by a review that this chapter originally cast Alice in a fairly negative light. She clearly overstepped herself when she said that she would make Lelouch answer for it if his plan caused anything bad to happen to Nunnally, when Lelouch is perhaps the only character who has been more overprotective of Nunnally (though he's since outgrown the worst of those tendencies). Lelouch would absolutely respond to that, and it was an oversight on my part not to have him do so in the original version of the chapter. In the end, Alice is meant to be a flawed character, with jealousy and possessiveness at her worst, but also loyal and caring in her own way, even as she still suffers from the loss of her sister and a sense of inadequacy. In that sense, the narrative hasn't been exactly fair to her thus far, as we usually see her through the viewpoint of Lelouch, around whom her strongest and most persistent feelings of jealousy manifest. But hopefully the additions made, while small, help present her in a slightly more rounded light, and we can continue to develop that side of her character.