Velvet Room
"Execute?" Ren raised an eyebrow at Igor's explanation.
Apparently, the reason he can wield multiple Personas is because his power, called the Wild Card, holds infinite possibilities… and for some reason that power gets strengthened when he supposedly executes his Personas.
"Do not be alarmed. Personas are personalities that exist within you. Thus, you execute old ones to give birth to new ones." Igor explained.
"'Ones', plural…" Ren thought about this small detail.
"So in other words, by executing multiple Personas, I practically fuse them into a new one, correct?" Ren asked, getting an amused chuckle from the long nosed man.
"You seem to be catching on quite quickly. At this rate your rehabilitation will go smoother than anticipated. Now then, I suppose it is time to do our first execution." Igor gestured towards a guillotine.
Ren decided to fuse Pixie and Jack-o'-Lantern together, since he felt personally more attached to Arsene. The result was… interesting to say the least.
"I am Incubus. From now on, I'm you and I think the two of us are gonna have a fun time together." Incubus cackled before turning into a mask.
"I must say that is quite the impressive result. Your Personas joined their powers in both blood and body to be reborn as a stronger one. It shall be your new strength." Igor commented.
"I know this must be a bit confusing at first but once you use your new powers on the battlefield you will understand its worth." Justine further explained.
"Gather Personas and bring them to me. After all, strengthening your powers play an integral role in your fight against ruin." Igor advised the young wild card.
"Quick question, is there only an execution possible for two Personas or could I fuse more?" Ren asked.
"There will be of course a variety of rituals regarding executions to further ensure that your rehabilitation goes well." Justine answered.
"And depending on whether or not you put proper effort into your rehabilitation, our master might consider developing even further rituals. Cry your tears of joy, Inmate" Caroline added.
"Oh great, so getting beheaded by a guillotine isn't the only way for my Personas to die. I can feel the waterfalls of tears streaming down my face already..." Ren thought sarcastically.
"Your rehabilitation has been going quite smoothly thus far, I must say. As a reward I shall grant you a gift I have prepared in anticipation of this. I hope you shall accept." Igor told Ren.
As Ren felt the bond between himself and Igor deepen, his body started feeling slightly off. As if it was adjusting to something. Igor could see the confusion in Ren's body language and spoke up to explain.
"Do not be alarmed. What I've given you is a thief's skill that allows you to tap into a sixth sense, that shall see the things hidden in the darkness."
"Uh… thanks, I guess." Ren expressed his 'gratitude'.
"I believe you should be able to handle the ability now. May you continue to devote yourself to your rehabilitation." Igor said.
"Now then, if you have any requests, we shall heed them." Justine offered.
"Thank you, but I think I'm good for now." Ren replied.
Castle of Lust
Once Joker stepped out of the Velvet Room, his teammates ran up to him.
"Dude, you alright?" Skull asked.
"You were just standing around all of a sudden." Mona added.
"Sorry, I got lost in thought. What were we talking about?" Joker asked the group.
"Seriously, you spacin' out at a time like this? It's really hard to understand you sometimes." Skull sighed.
"Did you seriously forget that we were talking about my future codename." Ann shot Joker a slightly annoyed look to which he sheepishly rubbed the back off his neck.
"Right, sorry about that. Did you already come up with one?" Joker questioned.
"Kinda? I already have an idea but I figured I should listen to your suggestion since I listen to the other two since it'd be more fair." Ann clarified.
Joker subtly gulped. There were certain things he would willingly admit about himself. Was he smart? Yes. Was he practical? Yes. Was he creative? Depending on the context. Was he good at naming things? Never.
He still remembers the laughing fit his Aunt Yukiko had when he named his first knitted cat Knit. (Get it? Because it was knitted.) Heck, Aunt Rise still teases him about it till this day.
"Crap, gotta think of something! Uh… Dominatrix? Would that be offensive? I need something that speaks more about her as a person..." Joker kept hurriedly thinking.
"How about… 'Model'?" Joker offered in the most unsure tone.
The rest of the group just stared at him with unimpressed looks and Joker could feel an embarrassed blush creep onto his face.
"I never said I was good at naming things." Joker snapped his head away from them to hide his embarrassment.
"Alright, that settles it. From now on I'll be Panther, got it?" Ann, now 'Panther', told the group.
"Uh okay, but why 'Panther'?" Skull asked.
"Because, you know… it sounds more ferocious." Panther twirled one of her pigtails.
"Ferocious… She's a cougar!" Mona remarked in a smitten voice.
"D-don't call me that!" Panther protested in embarrassment.
"Now that we settled this, I think it's time to deal with Kamoshida." Joker said and started walking towards their regular point of entry.
"Alright, let's do this!" Skull monologued enthusiastically and followed Joker.
After some short strategizing in the Safe Room, the group entered a dining hall that was being patrolled by knights.
"Now then, since we haven't explored past this point yet, you better keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Got it?" Mona instructed its fellow thieves.
As if overtaken by his sheer instincts Joker started muttering something to himself, causing his vision to slightly blur and highlight crates and barrels as well as the silhouette of the knights in a yellow tone. This of course didn't go unnoticed by his fellow thieves as his eyes started gaining a crimson red glow.
"So this is the third eye…" Joker looked around.
"Dude, what the hell?" Skull expressed his shock in a not so quiet voice.
"Who's there?" a nearby knight approached the thieves.
"Skull, you idiot!" Mona scolded the loud blonde.
Joker acted immediately and jumped over the knight's head to rip off its mask. The battle went smoothly as Joker tested Incubus' abilities against the two Jack-o'-Lanterns that spawned.
"Huh? I don't remember Joker having a Persona like this." Mona commented.
"I'll explain later." Joker replied.
Once the wild card took down one of the Shadows, he took the opportunity to get his hands on a new Jack-o'-Lantern since he fused away his first one for Incubus (and forgot to register it in the Compendium).
"You guys alright?" Joker turned to his friends.
"Yeah we are but what the hell was that?" Panther asked back.
"Define 'that'." Joker answered bluntly.
"You know, the eye glowing thing and your ne- Look out!" Panther pointed behind Joker where a knight snuck up on him.
Before his mind started processing what was happening, his body was already moving. Joker spun on his heel and lifted his other leg up. Before the Shadow could strike, Joker swung the leg he lifted up earlier against its head, releasing a kick powerful enough to kick the knights mask off while knocking it to the side.
"Holy shit! Did you just roundhouse kick it?" Skull looked at Joker with his jaw dropped.
"Enough questions, help me out here!" Joker commanded them.
"Oh, right!" Skull rushed towards the battlefield and casted a Zio at the Bicorn that spawned.
"Lend me your power!" Joker demanded from the downed Shadow.
"So that's yer move, huh? Alright alright, I'll talk first before I decide if I'll help you out or not." the two-horned beast sighed.
"Look, sonny. There's this girl waitin' fer me. I think you know what I'm gettin' at, so… Could you let me go see my girl?" the Shadow asked with pleading eyes.
"Are you sure that she's still waiting? She might have left already." Joker responded.
"Oh c'mon. My lady's out here all dolled up and waitin' for her dream man to show up." the beast sighed again.
"Oh well, since I'm probably gonna die I might as well end it on a good deed. Listen here, sonny. If there's somethin' botherin' you I'm willin' ta lend you an ear or two." the Shadow offered.
"Since it's already talking about relationships…"
"My relationships…" Joker vaguely answered.
"Oho. Are you afraid of others or somethin'? I think I can help with that. I think I like this way of thin- Oh, I remember now!" the horse got up and started hovering above ground.
"I am thou, thou art I. From now on, call me Bicorn. No need fer honorifics, got it?" Bicorn demanded before getting absorbed into Joker's mask.
"Whew, that was close." Skull looked at Joker who seemed lost in thought as he looked at his palm.
"Trust me, RenRen. When you end up fending off some mugger sneaking up on you, we'll see who's the ridiculous one. And you better thank me for teaching you then!" Aunt Chie's words (and huff) rang through Joker's head.
"There's no way Aunt Chie's 'Special Anti-Stealth Training' is actually paying off right now..." Joker thought with an incredulous look on his face.
"You weren't kidding about the honed reflexes…" Mona commented.
"We really need to work out together some time, man." Skull added.
"I'll make sure to make some time for it." Joker slightly chuckled at Skull's cheer.
"Anyways, about my question..." Panther brought up.
"Right… Long story short, I somehow tapped into a sort of sixth sense that highlighted objects and enemies." Joker explained.
"S-sixth sense?" Mona stared wide-eyed at Joker.
"Yeah, I'm not entirely sure how it's supposed to work." Joker shrugged and activated his third eye.
"Hold on, I see something."
He climbed up a shelf and cracked a barrel open, finding a little pearl in it.
"Welp, I guess that settles how the third eye highlights objects." Joker said as he returned to his comrades.
"Third eye? Is that what you call that sixth sense thing?" Skull asked.
"Yeah, apparently the objects it highlights contain valuable objects." Joker responded and tucked the pearl away.
"That's amazing Joker! Just think of all the treasure we could take with us!" Mona beamed at its friend with sparkling eyes.
"Guess we really are thieves…" Ren subtly muttered.
"To answer your question earlier Ann, when I spaced out earlier I was actually fusing two Personas together to make Incubus." Joker clarified.
"Fusing Personas? Are you for real?" Skull looked at Ren in shock.
"You really are a trump card!" Mona complimented.
"Thanks." the wild card modestly scratched the back of his head
"Anyway, I think we've spent enough time in here. Let's get going." Joker told his friends, who all nodded and followed him to continue their infiltration.
As the infiltration kept going, Mona taught the group more about stealth and utilizing furniture and corners as hiding spots. They continued walking down the hallway they were currently in, since the door they found earlier seemed to not open.
The thieves entered another room, where multiple bars securely locked something in the middle of the room.
"Guess the bars are locking our way in." Skull remarked.
"If it's so well protected, it should definitely be something really important." Mona added.
"But that also means there has to be a way to go both in and out." Joker commented.
"Excellent observation as always, Joker. With your observation skills and third eye, finding it should be a breeze." Mona smirked.
"Right, leave it to me." Joker said as he activated his third eye. When he did he could see a trail of footprints leading towards a goat head attached to a pillar. Joker walked up to it and pulled down the chain coming from it.
"And that's that."
"What would've happened if we pulled the other one?" Skull asked.
"It probably would have been a trap."
"Makes sense."
"Alright, let's see what was so important that it had to be locked away." Mona moved ahead towards the table that was centered in the room.
"Is that it?" Skull gave an unimpressed look towards the old map that was laying on the table.
"You're hopeless… Do you not see how important a map is for us thieves?" Mona sighed.
"Navigation is pretty important. That way we won't be wandering around aimlessly. We can't just keep relying on our luck after all." Joker clarified.
"Well said, Joker. Having this thing will definitely make securing an infiltration a lot easier." Mona added.
"Does it say where the treasure is?" Panther asked.
"Now that you mention it… I think the map's incomplete." Joker pointed out.
"Huh? Well, I guess there's more of them lying around." Mona said.
"Mkay, let's get goin' then. We'll prolly find 'em lying around somewhere along the way." Skull suggested.
The thieves left the room and continued moving forward with their newly acquired map as their guide. After they crossed over the central hall's with the help of the chandeliers they found a window big enough to be used as an exit and decided to use it as a future infiltration point. After they climbed up the stairs of the East Building, they managed to find a safe room.
"I might as well check on their conditions while we're here." Joker thought as he looked at everyone.
"How are you guys holding up?" Joker asked the team.
"I'm fine for the most part. But I can feel some slight fatigue." Mona answered.
"Yeah, pretty much the same here." Skull replied.
"I can still go for a bit, don't know how much though." Panther explained.
"Good, just make sure you guys don't overwork yourselves, okay?" Joker asked of them.
"You're one to talk." Skull smirked.
"You shouldn't overwork yourself either, Joker. We do need you the most throughout our infiltration, so you better not collapse from fatigue." Mona added.
"Don't forget that this is a team effort. You can be honest with us. So how are you?" Panther asked her teammate, making Joker let out a small chuckle.
"I admit that switching between Personas still needs some getting used to but for the most part I think I should still be able to continue for a while. If any of us is starting to feel tired I'd say we head back immediately." Joker suggested.
"Sounds like a plan." Mona responded.
"Alright, let's do this then." Joker said with a confident smile.
Throughout their continued exploration, they managed to find multiple books that Joker deemed important due to his third eye highlighting them. Soon after finding a third book, they ran into a library.
"Ugh, it's so musty in here…" Panther wrinkled her nose.
"A library, huh? There's gotta be something fishy in here." Mona monologued.
"Whaddaya mean?" Skull asked as he looked at the feline.
"Considering this is a library in a castle, I'd say there's some form-" Joker started. "Oh, I know! A secret mechanism." Panther finished.
"Correct. Good observation, you two." Mona praised them.
"Ooooh, I see. Like in movies, right?" Skull realized.
"Yup!" Panther optimistically answered.
"Is that so? I didn't even know movie's would feature such things. Then again, I've never watched a movie before." Joker remarked with a thoughtful expression.
"You… WHAT?" Both Skull and Panther looked at Joker incredulously, taking their friend off-guard.
"I-is something wrong?" Joker looked back with a confused expression.
"Of course there is! Surely there's gotta be some movie you've watched before, right?" Skull asked seriously.
"Do documentaries count?" Joker asked sheepishly.
"You can't be serious..." Panther muttered.
"I don't see the problem, I haven't seen a movie or documentary either." Mona threw into the conversation.
"Yeah, but you're a cat." Skull swiftly answered.
"No, I'm not!"
"Alright, that does it! Once we've dealt with Kamoshida, we're taking you both to a movie! Ain't that right, Skull?" Panther announced and looked at Skull for confirmation.
"Hell yeah we do!" Skull cracked his knuckles.
Joker and Mona only gave each other a short look before shrugging.
"Yeah, sure…" Joker answered, not entirely sure how to respond.
"Now that we've settled this, I think it's time to focus on the matter at hand again." Mona sighed. "Joker, you picked up those books earlier, right?"
"I did. They probably come into play here with the mechanism. I'll have a look around with the third eye." Joker answered and immediately got to work.
He approached the bookshelf in front of them and examined it with his fellow thieves.
"What's up with these titles? There's no rhyme or reason to them. Hold on!" Panther gasped. "This book has Shiho's name on it." she pointed out.
"I don't like where this is going…" Joker thought with a frown.
"It's not only her." Joker spoke up. " It seems like the titles are all about female students on this shelf. Even you." he pointed at a book.
"'Ann Takamaki: The Charming Doll'" Skull read the title out loud. "Holy shit… That's so gross on so many levels." Skull grimaced, while Panther only winced uncomfortably.
"There's a gap in-between those books. Let's try putting one of ours in." Mona instructed.
"Since this shelf is all about female students, it's gotta be this one." Joker thought and put 'The Queen Book' onto the shelf.
"Huh? Nothin' happened." Skull said in confusion.
"The mechanism will probably activate once we inserted all three books in their respective place." Mona explained.
"Let's look at the shelf over there." Joker gestured towards a shelf to their left.
"What do we have here? 'The history of Kamoshida', 'Tracing Kamoshida's Steps', 'Kamoshida's Heroism', 'Kamoshida's Law'... Da eff? Those books are all about Kamoshida." Skull frowned.
"I think it's obvious that it's gonna be 'The Hero Book'. Talk about an inflated ego..." Joker muttered that last part with venom in his voice. He took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking up again. "Alright, let's see where the last book goes."
They soon found what seemed to be the last bookshelf they needed to examine.
"Aren't those names a bit familiar?" Mona pointed out.
"Now that you mention… These are members of the volleyball team!" Skull identified.
"Considering that 'Ren Tatsumi: The Scheming Criminal' isn't exactly a member of the volleyball team, I think it's safe to assume that this shelf is referring to the male students." Joker explained with an annoyed look.
"Guess that recording left quite the impact on him." Joker snarked in his head.
"Yup, I even found Skull or should I say 'Ryuji Sakamoto: The Vulgar Ape'?" Panther frowned.
"That little- Just who the hell does he think he is?" Skull expressed his anger.
"Unluckily for him, it's gonna be two of these 'Slaves' that are going to be part of his downfall." Joker said confidently while inserting 'The Slave Book'.
The thieves suddenly heard something rumbling and turned their attention towards the source of the sound and saw a large shelf move to the side.
"Looks like it worked." Mona remarked.
The group moved into the chamber only to freeze at the sight they were beholding. The room was set up like a shrine with a 'portrait' of Kamoshida hanging on the wall. The big frame was surrounded by multiple pictures of Shiho.
"What the hell? Are those…" Skull spoke up first.
"Shiho…" Panther breathed out.
"Are you gonna be ok?" Joker wanted to curse about it but knew it'd be more important to console his teammate.
"I'm fine, thanks. What about you?" she asked back.
"I'll be fine, too. If anything, I'll add it to my long list of motivators to kick Kamoshida's ass." Joker answered, in a tone that made it unclear whether he was serious or not. It did however, to Joker's surprise, make Panther chuckle. "What's so funny?" he asked.
"Sorry, I just never expected that phrase to come out of your mouth. But you're right, I should use this frustration to fuel my determination to kick Kamoshida's ass too." Panther optimistically pumped her fist.
"Let's all kick his ass together then!" Skull beamed at his friends. Both Joker and Panther shared a look and nodded.
"Hell yeah!" they said in unison before sharing a laugh together with the blond boy.
Mona looked at them with a smile and waited until they finished before speaking up. "Alright, it might be a bit uncomfortable but let's search this room."
"Right. If he went through such a process to hide it, there's got to be at least something." Joker added before activating his third eye again. "Over there."
Joker and his teammates walked towards a shelf in the left corner of the room.
"A medal?" Joker picked it up and looked at it closely. "You think this is connected to another puzzle or something?"
"Dunno, but if he hid it here, it's gotta be somewhat important." Skull deduced.
Before Mona could snark about Skull deducing something on his own, Panther spoke up. " Look, there was still something lying below the medal."
"It's the other half of our map!" Mona beamed.
"Does it say where the treasure is?" Joker asked.
"Yeah, it's right over there." Mona pointed at the treasure chest shaped mark.
"That shape looks kinda weird." Skull commented.
"If I had to guess, I'd say it's a tower . Considering our current position, I'd say we're around halfway there." Joker remarked.
"Alright, then let's hurry over there and nab this thing." Skull said enthusiastically.
"Hold on, now that we've established where the treasure is, it'd be for the best if we took our time and paced ourselves." Mona advised.
"Right, we still have plenty of time after all." Joker concluded. "We'll keep exploring of course, but it's just as important to take breaks when we need to."
"You truly are becoming a great thief, Joker. Still not as great as me but it's a lot of skill nonetheless." Mona praised him.
The thieves left the room afterwards and used the medal they found to open the locked gate. After another short break in a nearby safe room, the group decided to explore a little bit more as they didn't feel too tired. Once they left the safe room, the group found themselves in front of what seemed to be a church hall.
"A giant hall and no guards. Totally not suspicious…" Joker said sarcastically.
"What're we gonna do, Joker? It ain't like we got a choice but to keep moving forward." Skull followed up.
"In that case, we should brace ourselves for whatever's coming next." Mona suggested.
"Are you guys, ready?" Joker asked the group.
"Definitely." Panther answered and the other two nodded afterwards.
"Let's do this then."
They moved inside the hall and suddenly saw the room distort back into what seemed to be the gym.
"Was that… the gym?" Panther questioned.
"I get it… The gym is a holy place for him. He's a god there." Skull scoffed.
"To think he would see things like that after everything he's done." Joker clenched his fist.
"Yeah… God I hate that bastard! Just you wait, Kamoshida. We'll make sure you'll pay." Skull seethed.
"I see… So you're the ones that tampered with the library." an unknown voice suddenly spoke. "It seems my time waiting here has paid off…" a Guard Captain appeared in front of the group.
"Like that ape over there said, this is a holy ground for his majesty. I shall not let low-lifes such as you sully this place." the knight dissipated into red liquid and transformed into an angel wearing a knight's armor, with a large sword held in its hand.
"I shall make you pay for ever setting foot in this castle… with your lives." the Shadow threatened.
"Jokes on you. The only one who's gonna die here…" Joker pulled out his gun. "...is you!" he fired making the Shadow slightly flinch. "Welp, guns don't seem to do much damage. Might as well start testing elements."
"Hold on." Mona said as the Shadow started charging. "It's trying to do something. In scenarios like these it'd be best if we stayed on the defensive and tried to guard the incoming attack." Mona advised.
"Got it. Be careful, everyone!" Joker told the others.
The Shadow struck at Joker, who guarded the attack but still took a decent amount of damage, getting pushed back with a pained grunt, making him fall to one knee.
"I don't think I wanna know how painful that would've been if I didn't block that." Joker shuddered at the thought.
"Joker! That does it you bastard! Reck him, Captain! Zio!" Skull attacked the opponent but to little avail as the Shadow seemed to resist his spell.
"You okay, Joker?" Panther asked as she healed him with a Dia spell.
"I am now. Thanks." Joker pulled himself up with the hand that Panther offered him. "Mona, what do we know about his weaknesses so far?"
"It seems to resist electricity, wind and physical attacks seem to be neutral." Mona answered and dodged an attack from the enemy.
"Panther, at the count of three we'll attack it simultaneously, got it?" Joker instructed his friend, who nodded.
"Alright then. One, two..." both Joker and Panther readied themselves to summon their Personas. "THREE." the two of them summoned their Personas, Silky and Carmen appearing behind them respectively. "Bufu!" "Agi!"
The Personas simultaneously attacked the Shadow but unfortunately didn't do much, due to hitting the Shadow's resistances again.
"On second thought, I should've used Arsene." Joker thought.
"So it resists fire, ice and electricity. What's the plan, Joker?" Mona asked.
"You said physical attacks had a neutral effect on him, right?" Joker asked back, to which Mona nodded. "In that case… Skull, you're a heavy hitter, you're on the frontline with me. Mona and Panther, I'll need you two to provide healing from the back." Joker commanded.
"Leave it to us!" Panther replied.
"Let's do this, Joker!" Skull said as Joker walked up next to him.
"Captain Kidd! Bash!"
"Arsene! Cleave!"
The Personas charged at the Shadow unleashing their attacks, weakening it more significantly than before. The Shadow however immediately recovered and charged itself up again. The team braced themselves and Panther blocked the attack from the Shadow, Mona immediately healed her afterwards.
Joker saw this as a golden opportunity to strike again and commanded Bicorn to do so. The following attack was a critical hit that managed to knock the opponent down.
"The show's over! All-Out Attack!" Joker ordered.
The jumped at the Shadow and relentlessly attacked the Shadow with Joker dealing the finishing blow, theatrically striking a pose afterwards.
"Damn, didn't believe those things could be so tough." Skull said in-between pants.
"Seems like Kamoshida's doing his hardest to stop us." Mona let out an exhausted sigh. "Excellent work on the battle, everyone. Joker, it's good that you've learned plenty already, because there's no time for lessons anymore." Joker nodded.
Suddenly, three guards appeared around the exits of the room.
"Crap, more of 'em!" Skull silently cursed.
"Let's get back for now. We'll continue another time!" Joker commanded.
The team then snuck around the knights, and headed back into the safe room from where they left the Metaverse afterwards.
Real World
"Is everyone alright?" Ren asked the team.
"Yeah, just really tired." Ryuji answered while stifling a yawn.
"That is understandable, that fight was rather draining." Ren said.
"I'm feeling really sore right now…" Ann complained.
"I'm fine for the most part, but some shut-eye couldn't hurt." Morgana threw into the conversation.
"It would be for the best if we used tomorrow to rest up. We can continue the operation the day after." Ren suggested and the two blondes nodded.
"Alright." Ryuji yawned. "I'll definitely hit the hay when I'm home."
"Same here." Ann sighed.
"We'll see the two of you tomorrow at school then." Ren smiled at his friends.
"See ya guys tomorrow then." Ryuji said before he started walking off.
"You guys better rest up properly, too." Ann smirked at the two.
"No need to worry, Lady Ann. I will make sure that guy gets the rest he deserves." Morgana announced. Ann giggled and waved her hand at them before leaving as well.
"That was a good call, Ren." Morgana said out of the blue.
"What was?" Ren asked.
"When you told everyone to head back. You had a perfect idea of our conditions and knew when to quit. Most rookies would have failed to do so." Morgana clarified.
"Is that so? I only thought it would be natural." Ren answered.
"Really? How so?"
"Well..." Ren turned to Morgana with a smile.
"Who wouldn't want to protect their friends?"
Author's Notes:
This chapter might suck... (Then again, I say that all the time so leave your thoughts like always in the comments)
Writing this chapter was very difficult for me and the reason it took me so long to write it was that I had little to no idea how I wanted to pan it out.
Like I said last chapter the only thing I actually planned was a short off-hand joke, which was the scene where Ren roundhouse kicks a Shadow out of self-defense.
If there was one scene I did like though, I would say it was the scene at the Shiho Shrine where I had the Phantom Thieves be friends because I thought it'd be cute that way.
In general though... hoo boy. I seriously had a lot of difficulty writing this so feedback would be vastly appreciated.
I once again apologize for the long intervals and thank every single one of you for still supporting this story.
Look forward to the future I have some really fun things planned, getting is going to be the hurdle I have tackle first.
Like always, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I had writing it and I'll see you guys next time :)