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There is no greater sorrow then to recall our times of joy in wretchedness.

― Dante Alighieri, Inferno

4 / 26 / 2016

I tell myself Victory Cry and my insides stitch themselves back together at once. He removes his foot off me and I'm about to have Satanael blow a hole in this prick's face the second I lift my head up to face him - all at once a screaming pain forces me to clutch at the spot where my heart is. The man has stabbed my Persona in the chest, and unlike a great many things that have attacked Satanael before it actually fucking hurts.

As I have a quasi-heart attack on the floor, Satanael dissipates into blackflame and all my insides wanna burst out just to relieve the agonizing muscle tension. Cutting through the air is a massive VROOM and a thousand pieces of hardware and doll and toy robot come flying upward - as an engine roars and wheels rev. The sword-wielding maniac dodges back as a bright white machine blares into my vision from the right. She and Johanna stop dead in their tracks, shielding me from whatever fucking inhuman thing stands before us, and suddenly I'm pulled back -

"What the hell!?"

"We're getting outta here, now!" cries Sakamoto, charging towards the stairway while dragging me in tow.

"Don't be stupid, we kill that fucker here!"

"We can't! Trust me, I know-!"

Nice bike! Nice enough, anyway. But!" A blur of red leaps right above Niijima, and the sword comes down on me and Skull- "This one first!"

"NO!" Niijima cries.

I barely make it out of Sakamoto's arms just in the nick of time, and he barely dodges back fast enough. Had he or I just been a few seconds later, the blade would have dismembered at least one of us.

Takamaki summons Salome as Maruki bellows out Sukukaja after Sukukaja, so much so I'm afraid he'll lose his voice, but Dante loses no ground whatsoever. As if time hasn't slowed down at all, he grabs Sakamoto by his bright yellow hairs - a single throw into Takamaki, and the both of them are out of commission for at least a few minutes. Still, Salome's able to shoot out a bright flaming orb - if only it could actually do any worthwhile damage.

The flames coat Dante's coat, but don't even singe the fabric, let alone his skin. All it takes for him is a few pats across his shoulders and the fires die almost instantly. Then Yoshizawa calls out "Cendrillon!" and a dozen blades dance in the air, targeting him like a series of heat-seeking missiles. Time's slowed considerably - Maruki's bleeding from the nose again because he's strained himself. Dante does not dodge the oncoming blades, and for a moment I'm pleased -

- then I remember that none of Maruki's spells affect him whatsoever, and I'm terrified. Because the only reason he would stand and take the dozen blades ramming themselves into him, is because he knows they wouldn't hurt him.

I'm even stupider than I thought, because the blades don't even reach him - a single swing of his skull-hilted sword and each of Cendrillon's steel gets cut in half. In the blink of an eye he dashes right for Yoshizawa, standing in front of her in less time than it would take for you to tap your foot an inch off the ground. The sight of him is enough to send her tripping on herself, into a pile of rubble behind her - he just grins and turns to find a blinding nuclear light charging towards him, one with an engine roaring so loudly I'm almost deafened by it.

But for as much as Niijima charges at him, for as hard as she strains and for as much as Maruki shouts Tarukaja, all Dante has to do is press a single hand upon Johanna's face. Though the wheels continue barrelling forward to the point of igniting flames underneath their tires, Dante remains utterly unmoved.

"Shouldn't you all be in school, or something? Homework surely seems a lot more fun than getting your rear-ends handed to you by something you don't even understand."

Niijima's just as pissed as I am and raises her feet up on the seat of her bike, before leaping upwards and socking Dante right in the face. She rears back and I realize the cracking sound wasn't Dante's cheek but rather her knuckles, and though she's managed to keep herself from screaming, she doesn't keep herself from falling off her bike and clutching at her hand.

She grabs a revolver from her side, one she'd purchased from Untouchable, and with her non-broken hand gets to firing. About three bullets go into Dante's face, two burrow themselves into his chest, and one smashes through his teeth and exits out the back of his head – or at least they should have upon impact.

The three bullets that hit Dante's face instead bounce off like pieces of lint. The two bullets that hit his chest instead crumple into themselves upon impact, flattening into smoking coins. The last bullet, the one that hit his mouth-

-is caught by his teeth.

"Six shots," Dante grins, spitting out the steel into the mess around him. Heaves his sword upon his back, leans down towards Niijima, "Now, lemme see if I can fix that hand of yours-"

She smashes her revolver over his head, shattering it to pieces, but it doesn't even deter him at all, and I'm infuriated at the sight of him being anywhere near her—

"Hell Biker!"

At once a flaming roaring skeleton on wheels rushes forward, flaming front tire up as it cackles mad in the rush of the wind. Dante turns too late, the Hell Biker smashing into him so hard he flies into a wall of old dead things which collapses right on top of him. Burying him in the pile.

The Cat rushes to Niijima then, freed up to repair her busted hand, and I get to her myself at about the same time it does.

"You okay?" I ask her.

"I…," fingers are busted, blood seeping through her white glove as her mangled knuckles reset themselves with the Cat's aid, "I'm…fine… get after him…!"

Suddenly the pile bursts open like a volcano of junk and old broken toys and he gets right up, his sword back in his hand. How he's able to wield such a massive thing one-handed is beyond us.

"Knew I shoulda taken care of you first," he nods, acting as though he hadn't just been hit by a demonic motorcycle.

"Cat! Weaknesses on this guy!?"

"None."

What the fuck, "Any resistances!?"

"All of them."

"Are you fucking kidding me!?"

"No, whatever-it-is really isn't."

The cat says simply, focused on repairing Niijima's palm. "We really should get outta here."

"Like hell! Hell Biker!"

The Hell Biker cackles again, charging again, and my show of force means absolutely nothing at all because the Hell Biker gets cut in half along with his bike – and I'm forced once more to feel my body splitting in two, without my body actually splitting in two.

"Kazuya!" Niijima, hand healed, grabs at me, even uses herself to shield me as Dante encroaches upon us. An act that is unnecessary because Maruki's decided to step in right in front of us both.

"And what are you gonna do?" Dante asks him.

Maruki grabs his scepter, obviously not knowing what the hell to do next other than grip it in both hands and give a menacing look. "B-back away now! Do it!"

"Or you're gonna shout me to death?"

At once, Maruki decides he's had enough, and speaks a word he hasn't said once before—a word that seems to surprise even him when he says it.

"S-S-Sukunda."

Immediately, Dante looks somewhat nauseous, more than anything else. He was inhumanly fast, even when Maruki sped us up to the nth degree—he holds his head now, sluggishly dropping his blade to his side, and he even asks, "Wow, how the hell did you even-?"

"SATANAEL!"

"Sukunda Tarukaja Sukunda Tarukaja SUKUNDA TARUKAJA-"

A great many shots from Satanael, four shots for every single magic word Maruki's babbled, and for the first time the whole fight I'm right on target. The bullets rain down on him, cannoned at point-blank range, and I'm certain he's dead, I'm begging God to let him die so we won't.

Once the smoke clears I see a black-gloved hand raised upward, an orange orb cracking apart. And whatever that did, it screwed us over. Because Dante doesn't look nauseous anymore, by the way he smiles.

"That was pretty good."

Then he kicks Maruki in the groin and sends him crumpling down and groaning.

"You've got good instincts. All of you. Shame you're all so easily flustered when a demon-slayer comes crashing down right on top o' you. Why are any of you even here?"

He hoists his blade over his shoulders and were he human, that blade would have cleaved into the nape of his neck or separated his arm from his body.

"Stay away from us!" Niijima roars, arms outstretched to block him from me. Hand newly fixed up.

"I've been holding back, not that you knew that. A few scary words about coffins and dumpsters and you all get on edge."

She glares at him. I glare at him, too.

"He was holding back. I knew he wouldn't kill any of us, but… he came damn close," Cat raises its brow.

"Thanks for the fuckin' heads up," groans Sakamoto, pulling Takamaki up with one of her arms over his shoulders.

Yoshizawa approaches closer, steeled enough to at least lock eyes with him.

He just narrows his gaze at all of us, like we've inconvenienced him. Like we're dogs that've pissed upon his shoes.

"You wanna change someone's heart, but all of yours are still so easily shaken." He exhales. "I've got to admit, though. For a bunch of dumb kids, you're all not that bad. You even nearly got me a couple times." He eyes me, kneels down to meet my gaze. "You in particular - you look like a demon. You at least try to fight like one. But you aren't. What do you want, kid?"

I growl, "What does it matter to you?"

"Well, something matters to you. Something so important you'd willingly go into this miserable place to get it. What are you looking for here, exactly? Would it be a pain if I asked?"

"...yes?"

"Well I'm gonna ask anyway. But maybe not you." He turns to Niijima. "You, biker chick. What have you all come here for?"

"We came here to steal her Treasure," Niijima grunts out.

"That's all, then?"

Sakamoto's turn to speak up. "Th-that's all! The p-person running this place needs to have her heart changed or she'll kill us and then herself I swear to God!"

"Now what was so hard about that?" the man grins. "Look at you. You're all so green. Even though you've got a buncha weird-ass monsters at your beck and call, you're all as human as they come. You're lucky you're not fighting my brother. Perhaps the only reason he'd spare you would be because he doesn't wanna get his blade all dirty when he doesn't need to. You wanna save this person, don't you?"

"What?"

"Don't answer questions with more questions, I get enough of that from asshole demons who wanna keep things vague for no reason. Do. You. Wanna. Save this person? The person running this place?"

I glare at him, slowly rising back to my feet. "Yes. We do."

"For her sake? Or yours?"

"We want to stop her from destroying herself," Niijima cuts in, stepping between the both of us.

"We all do," Yoshizawa says.

"I believe you. But what about-" he faces me, "you?"

"Same as them."

"No. They want to save her, because they're good people and that's what good people do - they won't just be able to turn around and pretend it never happened. But you're not a good person at all. I can tell. I've seen and killed a thousand demons, all of them with the same look in your eye that you've got right now. So why the hell are you really here?"

I turn away from him. Everyone eyeing me, as if waiting for me to just come out with it. I stand to my feet, Niijima following suit as I tell him directly, "Because if I don't do this. I won't be able to sleep right ever again."

He chuckles, "I'd say that's as good a reason as any."

"Would I be presumptuous if I said it was both for her sake and mine?"

"Yes. Because everything anyone does is for their own sake."

"Then why ask?"

"Because I wanted to see if you were presumptuous. You're not. None of you are. So I like all of you, and I won't kill any of you."

"What?"

"I haven't even been trying to kill you and I can kick all your asses. You're all so tense, if I so much as poke you it'll send lightning through your bones. At the bottom of this place is the person who called me here. She won't let you traipse in and take the key. Even with me standing at your side."

"Sakura's here, then?" asks Niijima.

He waves a hand, "Ehh, kinda. You'll know when you get there."

"There's a Manikin down there. A strong one. One we can beat, if we all work together," says the cat.

"Compared to him?" I point to Dante.

"Actually? Not as strong, compared to him. But she won't be easy..."

I turn to the demon slayer then, "What do you want from us now? Knowing we've come here to help the Ruler of this place. What will you do next?"

"Can I be honest with you?" he asks.

"Honest?"

He turns, "I want this person to live as much as you do. I know she's got a couple screws loose. I was called here in the first place because I heard someone out there call my name, say she wanted to be stronger. And I couldn't resist."

"Why couldn't you?"

"I dunno," he scratches his head. "I guess, far be it from me to leave a fan out in the cold. I don't doubt you have her best intentions in mind. But I do have to know if you've got what it takes."

I shake my head, "Oh my God."

"She wanted me to guard this place. To guard what's at the bottom. And when I'm given a job to do, I do it no questions asked. I'm big on following through with my clients' wishes. So if you want me to concede, you'll have to prove to me it's worth it."

"And just how do you want us to do that?" Niijima folds her arms.

He smirks. "You go down those stairs. I'll meet you there. I want you to show me what you can really do."

"If you want us to fight you, we can do it here and now," I bark back.

"You can't," says Sakamoto.

"He's right, you can't," repeats the Cat. "He's not even a Manikin, he's a Shadow. But he's stronger than most things in this Palace, and that almost certainly includes you. No weaknesses, no resistances. You try using an Almighty spell on him it might hurt him, but not for long. If he really wanted to, he'd have killed us all already."

I keep my eyes on him, far too tired and burnt out to even try being intimidating. He just sighs. "I don't wanna fight you. The other pyramids, they're full of the ones who wanna fight you. But if you can't make it past me, you might not make it past them, either. And if you can't make it past them, you won't even be able to make it halfway through the Sphinx. Each pyramid has a key, you see. At the Treasure you'll find a set of big black doors, and the keys're supposed to open that set of big black doors."

"So we'll need to get in the pyramids to get to the Treasure anyway," I grunt out.

"Yup. So. You need my help. And I need to see if you're worth helping. Let's make a deal."

"We have no time for games."

"Then make time. You're all so hopped up on your own hype that you act like taking it slow'll be the death of you. If you get down there and prove to me you're worth the trouble, I'll help you barrel your way through every other pyramid and get you to the Treasure. If you figure you can't make it worth my time, then leave and never come back. Or I will get serious and I will kick your asses harder than you could ever comprehend. You understand?"

None of us answer him back. None of us is able to. Least of all myself.

He shuffles his sword over his back, hands in his pockets as he walks down the dark chasm by himself. "See you, if you dare."

Disappearing in the darkness, most of us no longer knows what to do. Maruki gets up, holding his stomach as he props himself up on his scepter. With a deep breath and thick exhale, he marches toward the dark shaft Dante just went down a second ago.

"Come on. Best to take our chances where we can get them."

The stairway down is more than a few hundred feet. Salome's able to light the path forward for us, though. Which gives us all some time to think. And in particular, it gives me some time to ask Sakamoto, "How did you know we wouldn't be able to take him?"

Sakamoto groans, "He's a video game character."

I stop, we all stop. Niijima scowls in confusion, "What are you saying."

"He's from this series called Devil May Cry, I used to play a shitton of it when I was a kid. He's your main character - you, you play him every goddamn game except 4 I think."

I put a hand to my head, "Is this for real?"

"Yeah it's for real! He's for real! We're so fucked, oh my God..."

"Why the hell is he here!?" Takamaki blurts out.

"I was right," Maruki murmurs, eyes groundward. "This must be where she's stuffed away her childhood... she's been so depressed she's unconsciously locked up even memories she's had as a kid."

Niijima wonders aloud, "So she played these games as a child, and the memory of them manifests as a Shadow?"

I shake my head, "That doesn't make sense. Shouldn't Shadows and Personas take the form of, I don't know, legendary beings?"

"Not necessarily," says the cat. "Legends are just stories, told and retold. As long as a character with a sufficiently remarkable story gets passed down through generations, they too can live on in the cognitive world as entities all on their own."

"Fuck me dead."

Takamaki puts a hand to her chin, "So potentially any fictional character can become a cognitive entity?"

"Even people in reality can become cognitive entities, if enough people tell enough stories out of them. If they've made enough of an impact in the minds of enough people. Skull has Blackbeard, after all. It's all about what mark they've made upon the world, and how important their stories are to how many people. As for this Sakura lady, this Dante's presence in her Palace must be the result of an especially prominent memory of hers. He as a character must have been special to her... at least until everything she's facing forced them all down in her subconscious. But this is strange."

"What's strange about it?"

"In a Palace, Shadows are drawn to a Ruler's Treasure, and in being drawn are subsumed by the Ruler's will. That's why Kamoshida's Shadows were knights, in his Palace. Why Kaneshiro's were flies. They reflected their respective wills and desires - but Dante stands out from the rest. In this Palace, Dante's able to exercise his own will, even as a Shadow. He's... his own self."

"Does that say more about him, or Sakura?" asks Yoshizawa.

"Knowing that, explains... basically everything. Sakura's attachment to him as a character was so deep that even in her own Palace, he retains himself."

"She said she... called for him," Yoshizawa continues. "And he answered because he couldn't leave a fan out in the cold."

Maruki explains, "I'm pretty sure she did call him, at least in her heart. His character must have been a crutch for her younger self. Knowing the kind of pain she must be carrying deep down, to invoke his presence in her Palace, even for just a little bit... she must have been desperate for any kind of anchor at this point. Her subconscious is fighting against herself. Dredging up prominent aspects of her life experience to...," his eyes widen in realization. "She doesn't want any of this at all. Deep down, she doesn't want to end everything."

"Well, what does she want?" asks Sakamoto.

"She says she wants to die, but really she wants to be free," I cut in. "Of all this pain. This self-loathing. Of the corpses hanging off her back."

"I concur," says Maruki. "But she's become so depressed and drained that she feels the only way to be free is... to end it all."

"That's horrible," Yoshizawa says mournfully.

"Wait. Bishop," Niijima says suddenly. "There was something you managed to do, during the fight. You seemed like you had actually managed to slow him down. Just for a brief moment. You stood between Joker and me, and you disoriented him enough for Joker to land shots using his Persona. How?"

I didn't even remember that. It had happened likely less than ten minutes ago, and I didn't even remember it until now.

"It...it was in the heat of the moment," Maruki blinks. "My God. I don't think I'd have even remembered if you hadn't brought it up again. A word came into my head all of a sudden. I said it, and..."

"And he suddenly looked like he turned nauseous," Niijima nods.

Cat's ears perk up. "I see. Stand still for a second, Bishop."

"O-okay."

Cat eyes him for a few seconds. "You've awakened to debuffs. Nice. That'll definitely help us."

"So he can slow down our enemies now?" I face him.

"He always could. But he was so focused on keeping you guys alive, his mind wouldn't let him connect the dots. He can level the playing field by making you guys stronger, faster. But he can also do the same by making your enemies weaker, slower. But Bishop's too nice a man to put people down. At least until now."

"And the only way I'd be able to access this would've been of my own volition."

"Exactly," cat smiles. "Can't be forced. Has to come right from you."

"I'd say being confronted by a demon slayer with a big-ass sword forced Bishop's hand, no?" I shake my head.

"No. Kaja spells are born of a desire to protect others. Unda spells are born of bitterness - a need to degrade and take down. He must've had this for a while now. Just awakened during the fight itself," Cat smirks merrily, marching on ahead. "Considering he's stuck with you every day... I can imagine where he got it from."

Nobody says a word after that. We continue on down. Niijima shares a glance with me and before I let anything show I keep myself facing forward and march alongside everyone else. Without even checking my periphery.

Without letting myself feel that vague depressive feeling I do deep down. That feeling, caused by the idea that I've made my therapist a worse person...

Just by being myself.

We descend down the dark steps and once we reach the bottom land we realize this may have been perhaps a huge mistake we really should have seen coming. But there's a Will Seed here, and we've little if any time to resolve any of this bullshit. So whatever happens, happens now.

There is but one way forward and as we peer around us, we see the path forks in three separate places and at once we recognize what this place is.

"This is a maze...," mutters Niijima.

"Yeah."

The walls are a pale brown shade, textured like the very earth itself. Tiled and cracked, making this place take on a very molten shade. At our feet lie more mounds of forgotten old toys and pieces of hardware. So many we can't get proper footing - the ground isn't even visible through this garbage, and the inconsistent flooring won't make it easy to run through this place. It distresses me to my bones.

"Hey! Glad you could make it. At least I know this means you're all sincere."

The voice is distant, but he comes through quickly enough. Through one of the forks in the path he emerges, sword hanging off his back. We're all right about to summon our Personas on the spot, but he raises a hand up at us

"I know you're all antsy. You're all scared outta your mind. But I want you to show me what you can do."

"Are there any other Shadows in the area, Cat?"

"No! I-I don't sense any," Cat muses.

"No need to worry. This is just between you and me. I want us to play a game."

Niijima's incredulous. "A game!? There are lives at stake!"

"Yeah, what else is new? You want what's at the end of this place or not?"

Cat widens its eyes. "Will Seed's at the very end of the maze."

"And the key in this pyramid."

"Can you track your way through?" asks Yoshizawa.

"N-no, it's...I can sense its presence. I can't sense the path to it. It's weird. This place is all foggy... she really did push all this to the edge of her mind. I won't be able to sense anything that goes on in the halls of the maze."

"Path shifts constantly every day. No way you can get a bead on what exactly the path forward even is," Dante smiles. "Now. A game's no fun if you don't know the rules. To get past here, you need to turn on two separate switches. Each basically on opposite ends from each other, in separate rooms. Once any of you steps through and into the maze, I'm coming after you. If the tip of my sword so much as grazes against even one of you, you all return right where you're standing now. Again and again and again."

"That's bullshit!" shouts Sakamoto. "You can't do that! Can he do that!?"

"Yes, he can," Cat murmurs. "Any Shadow or Manikin with a significant presence in the Ruler's psyche can manipulate space around themselves and whatever they interact with."

"I'll count to three. That's how long you've got until you've come up with a plan."

Takamaki stammers out, "P-plan!? Where do we even go!?"

"If none of you steps through by the time I say three, I'll throw you around like ragdolls right here and now, until you leave. Tick tock."

Guy turns and waves and I almost shoot him right on the spot, but just as Satanael is summoned and his rifle is raised, the demon slayer vanishes from our sight.

One.

"We take turns," says Niijima.

"What!?" Takamaki cries.

"We take turns! If all of us go in together, and if he hits just one of us, we get sent back here anyway! If we all go in and split up he'll just hound one of us until he gets them! And none of us will be fast enough to run away! Best for us to take turns and see what happens from there!"

"I should go, I should be able to at least slow him down! Or at least escape quick enough!" Maruki declares.

"No, it doesn't matter," I tell him. "You won't slow him down nearly fast enough to get away from him. And it's pointless if you can't fight."

Two.

"Then Maruki goes with you," says Niijima. "Maruki and Morgana. Maruki'll buff up your strengths, Morgana'll point you toward the Will Seed. You have Personas that can help you escape, and fight if you need to. You're the best chance we have."

"What if he decides to attack you guysto get Kazuya back to the beginning of the maze? He said if he attacks any of us everything'll reset!" says the cat.

I exhale. "We'll just have to give it a try."

Two point five!

I nod, then turn and dash into the maze, "Maruki, cat, you're with me, come on!"

"O-okay!"

"Got it!"

Three!

We enter the maze just as he says Three and I call "Hell Biker!"

And we are so fucking lucky that there is just enough space for both myself and Maruki to fit behind him. Cat leaps onto my head, and it's surprisingly light. Maruki calls for five Sukukajas, and Hell Biker winds and turns so quickly I almost crash into several walls. The ground is uneven due to all the junk piling the floor, but my Persona's wheels flatten whatever may lie in our way into hot sludge.

I shout to the cat, "How far to the Will Seed!?"

"A quarter of the way there! Keep your eyes peeled for the switch or whatever!"

The curves are tight, almost too tight to make our way round, but we do all the same, and just for a second I let myself think we can pull this off.

When I see Dante standing in front of a pulsating circular door, is when it hits me how deeply I've been kidding myself. One single shot goes through Hell Biker's skull, and while the bullet doesn't pass through to me or Maruki my head now yells at me like a motherfucker - Hell Biker dissipates as I and Maruki tumble and roll upon the floor. I'm desperate to fight so I grab at my mask and pull myself up to find a white barrel pressing upon my eye.

He already has Maruki in his grip, a gloved hand over his mouth. Maruki struggles, he tries to break free, elbows this man and tussles around, but the grip is too strong for him to do much of anything. Cat leaps up, but Dante just pistol whips its massive head, sending one of its dinner-plate eyes flying out as it tumbles to the floor.

"Your spells are interesting, old man. They come from your heart, but you've gotta vocalize it to make it work. What happens if you don't get to?" Maruki makes a muffling noise. Dante turns to me. "I just wanna talk, kid. First and foremost."

"Sata-"

BANG and my ear rings - I haven't been shot, the shot was just right next to me, and I'm disoriented all over again. Maruki freaks the fuck out for a second cuz it must've looked like I've taken a bullet to the eye but I haven't, and he calms down soon after he recognizes this.

"Wanted to separate you from your team, so we could have a little heart-to-heart," he tells me. I don't know how I can hear him, considering both my ears are messed up.

"What the fuck do you want from me.

"You've got something evil inside you, kid. You know it, I know it. There's someone, something, big and bad that you've come in contact with. It ain't some bottom-feeder no-name demon. No. I've been around the block to know when someone's sold their soul to the big guy. To the Morning Star."

Maruki widens his eyes, turns to me in horror and confusion. I grit my teeth.

"...that's why you're hesitant to help us."

"You kidding me? It's honestly not that special, kid. Everyone's got a hint of that inside them. There's not anyone out there who hasn't let the devil in their bones run free at least once in their lives. But what makes you a unique case is that, for you, he's living rent-free in your head. Whatever God's out there, only He knows what to do with a heart like yours."

I get up to my feet, backing away for just a moment. He keeps his gun trained on me. "Is there a point to this? I've been lectured a thousand times about this already."

"I know. I don't like lectures either. But you don't get to have your cake and eat it too. You don't get to sell your soul to the Great Demon King, and pretend like you won't lose things you never knew you had in the first place. And you hate to lose, don't you?"

"You don't know me. You're just a fucking Shadow, stuck in a fucked up girl's Palace. You met me like ten minutes ago."

"This person's heart doesn't know whether or not it's angry or sad. Tell you the truth? It's depressing."

"And yet you came here anyway. Why?"

"Because she wanted to dredge a part of herself up - to make herself stronger, and the closest creature she could pull up from the depths of the collective unconscious to provide her that strength, was me."

"Bet you feel so fucking satisfied with yourself."

"Hey look, I didn't even think of the possibility that I could inspire people from another world, where my stories are told through video games. But whether I intended for it to happen or not, I'm responsible for her."

I nod, "You're forever responsible for what you've tamed."

"Exactly. I'm now a part of her. But I'm also still me. So trust the demon slayer when he tells you, that he's seen this before. That the power is tempting. The desire to use it to kill whoever you hate or whatever you want gone, it's overwhelming. But never forget where you came from. Never ever forget, that no matter how much of a demon you tell yourself you are, you have the heart of a human."

I'm shaken. But I can't let anything show. "Shut up and let's get this over with-"

Another bullet flies past, grazing strands of my hair. A bright white handgun, which might as well be a cannon made to fit into a holster.

"Yeah, I've been talking too much," he smirks, twirling his black gun in his left hand as he unhands Maruki. "Playtime's over. Now... let's rock!"

"SUKUNDA SUKUKAJA LET'S GET OUTTA HERE KAZUYA!"

"SATANAEL!"

A large black demon rises up from my skull as half my face goes clean off when I tear off my mask. The gun fires right at Dante, who does not even make an attempt to dodge - then there is an explosion, then the smoke all but envelops him, and I know he's not fucking dead, so there's no point.

"Hell Biker!"

I grab Maruki by the arm and the Cat puts its eye back in its socket, leaping upon my head again. We get on the bike as Dante fires a couple dozen shots at us, all of them missing on purpose. But the BANG BANG BANG noises don't help our nerves any. Even as Maruki alternates between shouting out Sukukaja and Sukunda Dante doesn't seem to slow down all that much at all.

"Run Forrest, run!" he laughs, continuing to fire at the both of us.

The shot didn't even wound him slightly.

"SUKUKAJA SUKUKAJA SUKUKAJA-"

"Shit, shit, fucking shit don't let us die oh my God-"

He isn't catching up to us, even though he in all honesty very much could. Either the buffs and debuffs are having something of an effect on him, or the cat's letting the mouse live because it enjoys the sound of its squealing.

It's at this point the walls begin to shift, and Hell Biker has to make a hard right which nearly sends us all crashing against the wall in a pile. The screeching noise of Hell Biker's flaming wheels nearly drives me mad, and it isn't the only hard turn we all have to make - bullets smash into the walls and they create craters so large that I'm certain if even one of them flies into our skulls, our heads would explode like watermelons.

And then we hit a room.

The circular door pulsates in the middle, a large red circle packed with veins and arteries and shifting blood particles beating like a heart. It pulls open upwards and this room is far too tight for Hell Biker to screech through, so we're forced to go in on foot.

Another, smaller maze of sorts - the room is divided into 9x9 blocks. The walls are transparent, thick glass - we can see through well enough, can see what's at the end of this path, but the transparency means that deciding the path can get confusing. The walls and openings are not clear, and our footing is unstable again because even here broken things line the path. But we go anyway.

At the very end of the hall is something that looks like a lever and we pull it, and we recognize we've got "One switch down. Other one was likely hiding behind Dante himself-"

And speak of the devil.

BANG

The glass walls shatter, spraying shards all over us as Dante fires everywhere. Glass exploding all over and we're all disoriented again, a couple shards enter our arms and shoulders, and all at once there's only one pathway forward, all over again.

"Maruki yell out Sukunda! Do it!"

"SUKUNDA!"

Dante grimaces despite grinning, and while he's able to keep the pressure on his shots are very subtly slower than they ought to be - firing one shot per second as opposed to six. But perhaps that will be enough.

And Hell Biker charges through the remaining glass walls with us on his back. Maruki continuously bellows out "SUKUNDA!" about three more times, and Dante comes to look so nauseous he's not able to dodge in time or angle the guns at us closely enough-

The bike smashes into him right then and the feeling is so fucking glorious that I nearly forget he'll honestly just get up in the next few seconds. Which he does, but not nearly fast enough to catch up to us, and we charge right out the room without a hitch. Glass all over us and blood pooling from our limbs, and we can't rip the little shards out or we'll lose focus.

We hear something pop in the distance, shattering like glass. I'm bold enough to look behind us.

A blood-red man is ten feet in the air, his gigantic silver blade gleaming as it comes right down upon all of us. We slowed him down just a few seconds before, lowered his speed and made him sick - he's now so fast he could come this close and not even let us know until it's too late.

And I wonder what it takes to get rid of him, even as the sword arcs downward and cleaves us all at once. The pain is excruciating because though the blade doesn't cause open wounds upon our forms blood gushes out our mouths and faces all the same - for our insides are mangled and the blade's gutted us to our very souls.

We awake at the beginning of the maze. I in particular first see Niijima. She's holding my half-corpse in her arms.

"What happened!?" she cries out.

"Senpai!" calls out Yoshizawa.

Everyone's hovering above the three of us worriedly.

Maruki sits back up, holding his side as he groans, the cat putting its divided skull back together.

One switch, done. All you need to do is hit the second, and get what you're looking for. Without me carving you up along the way, at least.

Plus side, pain is gone. I can at least sit up without wanting to vomit out my guts.

But we're back at the beginning, the path is long and winding and shifts randomly. Dante's got so many tricks up his sleeve that this is all nothing less than an uphill battle.

"He can remove our buffs and debuffs," I exhale. "He's able to do something which undoes it all. I don't know what. I, I'd hear a popping noise before it happens. It was all so fast..."

"Can we deflect his attacks?" asks Maruki. "I-isn't there something we can do?"

"That's a complicated spell. Few possess it naturally. Not likely," says the cat. "Best plan really would be to run through everything as fast as possible. That said, Queen might have a better chance at this."

"I-I would?" she asks.

"During the ride I compared Joker's Persona to yours as far as speed is concerned. Your Persona's faster by just a few seconds. You don't have as much firepower as Joker, nor is your Persona well-equipped to tight turns in narrow spaces due to how wide it is."

"Should we be willing to take that chance?" asks Yoshizawa.

"To be fair, it's not like my firepower was able to do much of anything to him anyway. It's more viable to escape from him as fast as possible than even attempt a fight. It's definitely possible to slow him down. But not for very long. He'll break through his debuffs, and he's quick enough to boulder through our buffs."

Niijima puts a hand to her chin. For a few seconds she just stares at the entrance to the maze.

"What's up?" Takamaki asks her.

"I think I have an idea."

"You do?" asks Sakamoto.

"How wide are the hallways?"

"They're wide enough to summon a Persona, but hardly wide enough to manage tight turns. Joker barely managed to not crash into anything."

"Is it possible to fight him directly?" she says, glaring at the path forward.

Sakamoto groans. "We tried that earlier, remember? Didn't work out well then. Makes you think we can do it now?"

"Bishop can slow Dante down. Dante needs to undo the debuffs in order to properly fight us, but what if we don't give him that chance? We have to continuously pile on the punishment so that he won't even have the time to get back to his full strength or speed. Can Maruki do anything else other than decrease his speed? Perhaps make him physically weaker, or give his attacks less of a punch?"

"He actually can," says the Cat. "He's just gotta draw that out of himself. He hasn't yet."

"What can he do? Can you sense it?" asks Niijima. "What do you think you can do, Maruki?"

"I...," he closes his eyes. "I can increase your speed and reflexes. I can make you all stronger, as far as your physical attacks are concerned. I can slow Dante down. But even with all of that into account, a battle with Dante would be a battle of attrition. We'd have to attack him at a pace consistent enough such that he'll never be able to undo his debuffs, while hitting him hard enough to at least prevent him from getting to us. We'll have to go through the whole fight without taking a single hit or we return here and it'll all be for nothing."

"...what if we don't have to fight him at all?" Niijima wonders.

"I mean, we'll probably have to. If what he's saying about the keys is true, that is. We'll have to comb through each of the pyramids surrounding the Sphinx."

"Let's try going in the other ones for now," she says. "Dante's too powerful for us as we are. We can enter the other pyramids and see if we can get the Will Seeds there. Delay this for when we're stronger. And then..."

"And then, what?"

Niijima turns, sucking in a deep breath, as if knowing she'll be suggesting something horrible. "What if we use the knowledge in the Will Seeds to convince Sakura to come with us? Inside her own Palace?"

Not a single one of us looks at her like she's a sane and rational human being. "What?"

"We might be able to bypass all of this, if we're able to show her the inside of her Palace, have her confront her memories. At best we might be able to help her resolve everything she's unwilling to face."

"That's a last resort," says Maruki. "The last resort of all last resorts. She's been damaged to the point of losing most of her memories, and I think trying to force her into this would only retraumatize her."

"We did that with Kamoshida," says Sakamoto, causing Yoshizawa to cringe. "Worked wonders for him. Doubt it'll be any different for this chick."

"But what if we're able to convince her to see this place of her own choice?"

"Her mental state is fragile," I tell her somberly. "I don't know if that's a good idea. Even as a last resort."

She exhales, "Okay. But... maybe it would do us good to go into the other pyramids. See if through there we can at least get the other keys, or get stronger."

"Dante said if we can't make it past him, we might not make it past the other pyramids," says the cat.

"Let's see if we can take that risk," I wipe my eye. "I think that much is worth a shot. What about the rest of you? Maruki?"

"We can try?" he shrugs.

"What the hell, sure," says Takamaki.

"That might actually work out. Or, at least, I'm hoping it does...," says Yoshizawa.

"And if it doesn't?" grumbles Sakamoto.

I turn to Niijima, "Then we do your plan. Only if there's absolutely no path we can find forward."

She blinks, "Okay."

.

.

.

I put a lot of thought into how the team overcomes this challenge, and I realized while writing that they really really couldn't. Dante's a badass to the nth degree and he was the first wall I'd ever encountered in Nocturne - kicked my ass like five times in a row before I realized he could waste a turn getting rid of his debuffs. We'll return to Dante eventually and hopefully the team'll have a much better time of it, but for now we'll take a bit of a detour into the various other pyramids in the Palace. Tune in next time for the team's attempts at saving Futaba in the most roundabout way imaginable.