Once back inside the palace, we made our way back out into the courtyard, hiding out of sight of the guards patrolling the foot of the hill bearing the cherry tree, whose branches reached high into the dimly-lit sky.

"So you think the cherry tree is where our target is?" Marisa whispered.

"I'm almost certain," I replied, "which is why we need to find a way to get inside."

We examined the tree once again. Getting inside to its heart seemed a daunting challenge: not only did strong-looking shadow guards patrol its base, but there was no obvious way up into the tree, such as stairs. Our mission, then, was to either find or create a way.

"Damn, if only we could fly," Marisa grumbled. "That'd make things a lot easier. We could just swoop in, scoop up the treasure and go."

"It's not that simple," I explained, "but I'll get to that later. Right now, we need to find some clues on how to get in." I looked toward the south castle. "I propose we head back inside and investigate the upper floors. We may be able to find clues there. Then, we should head over to the other side of the palace and do the same in the north castle."

Everyone else silently agreed, so we warped to the other safe room and began making our way up. Along the way, there were, of course, more shadow guards, which we took out one-by-one. I also expanded my Persona collection a bit, adding a Silky, a Hua Po and an Incubus; as we went along, I also had the idea of briefly visiting the Velvet Room each time we found a safe room so that I could potentially fuse these into other, stronger Personas, helped by the fact that a shortcut to the Velvet Room was present in the safe rooms as well. Needless to say, all my teammates were confused as to why I stood in the corner expressionless for a few moments, then in the next battle whip out an Empusa out of nowhere to blast the enemies with electric attacks. It seemed a simple process: recruit weak shadows as Personas, then fuse them into stronger ones so I had enough room in my heart to take on more shadows, repeating the process until I had all that the palace had to offer. I found if I did this the shadows, while not always peaceful, tended to accept negotiations and requests for loot and items more readily, and would sometimes surrender without a fight.

We eventually managed to tear our way to the top floor of the castle. So far, we had found lots of cash and treasure we could pawn off, but no leads.

"Gah, what's the point of doing this?" Marisa complained. "We haven't found hardly anything!"

"It's good practice to thoroughly pick through a palace so we don't miss anything," I reminded her. "You of all people should realize that."

"Yeah, Starburst, what's a thief who doesn't look through everything there is to steal?" Reimu jabbed. "Besides, he's right: we have to go through every nook and cranny if we're going to find a way inside the cherry tree. It's just like most incidents we solve: we have to go around asking people about the incident until we finally find someone who can point us in the right direction."

"Then we beat them up," Marisa smiled.

"Right, and then we beat them up."

"Why do you say that so matter-of-fact?" I asked, a bit shocked.

"Spell Card Duels are practically equivalent to a handshake around here," Reimu shrugged. "It's just what we do."

"I've heard people in Scotland greet each other by punching each other in the face and-" Marisa started to say, before Youmu held her hand up.

"Shhhh." Youmu quieted us. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear... what?" I asked. I listened carefully, and that's when I heard it: faint, echoey whispers, in Yuyuko's voice, seemingly coming from down a corridor.

"What is that?" Reimu wondered.

"Yuyuko… sama?" Youmu rushed down the hall, and the rest of us followed. We encountered a gap in the floor whose bottom was lined with skeletons, dried blood and rotten food, and on the other side the hallway was noticeably more derelict, with holes in the walls and scratched-up old wood flooring. We held our noses, made the jump and rounded the corner, where we were met with a door covered in vines made of cherry blossom petals; the voices also got more intense as we approached.

"Whoa… what's up with that door?" said Marisa. And as we got closer, I tried to make out the voices:

"...must have more… never enough… I'll just send Youmu-chan… I have to control this place… it's all I have left… those bastards who took everything from me… why couldn't I have been a normal girl… why did I have to have that power… why did I have to kill myself…"

Youmu seemed anxious. "These voices… are these all Yuyuko-sama's thoughts?"

I smirked. "No doubt about it." I brandished my knife and cut the vines, before pushing the door open. Inside was a black room, whose floor was covered in flower petals. And in the middle: a twisting root-like structure, on top of which a potato-shaped brown skull with red eyes sat perched.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Marisa shouted, pointing at it.

I went over to it and picked it up, which caused the voices to cease. I examined it, and grinned.

"This is one of Yuyuko's Will Seeds," I told them.

"A 'Will Seed?'" Reimu wondered. "I don't understand."

"This Palace represents her warped desires," I explained to them. "In essence, it represents the state of her mind. It therefore makes sense that there are moments, events, thoughts and memories that she would banish to distant corners and try to consciously suppress, because she denies having any distortion, but her subconscious tells a different tale. These all congeal into various 'Will Seeds' scattered throughout the palace." I handed it off to each of them, letting them look at it and feel it.

"Hmmm," Reimu thought. "I can feel so many negative emotions coming from it. Hate, fear, anger, despair, obsession…"

"Yuyuko-sama…" Youmu tearfully mumbled. After a quiet moment, she stood up, clenched her fist, and looked straight forward. "I will save you. I swore to protect you."

Marisa took the Will Seed before sucking it up into her bag-gun. "Geez, this thing is really creepy. I've worked with Mandrakes less scary than this. And you say there's more?"

"Yes," I said. "From my experience, most palaces have three or so Will Seeds. It would be wise for us to find the others. I suspect it would have a beneficial effect on Yuyuko's cognition if we were to collect them all."

"But where would they be?" Reimu wondered.

"We should make our way to the opposite castle," I suggested. "We've covered every last bit of this one, so it's only natural for us to press onward."

"And we couldn't find any clues on how to get into the cherry tree here," Marisa said. "Perhaps we'll have better luck over there. Maybe find another map."

"Exactly." We exited the room, only to be met with violent shaking which rocked the entire castle, as if there had been an earthquake, before stopping after a few seconds.

"Whoa, what the hell?!" Marisa yelled. We rushed over to a nearby window to see if anything had changed, when Youmu pointed out, "hey, look at the cherry tree!" We looked at the tree, and saw it had changed: the branches had shifted positions, and some stone spires had grown up around it.

"Interesting… I wonder if us taking the Will Seed caused that."

"Why do you think that?" Youmu asked.

"Well, it would seem odd otherwise for the tremble to have occurred exactly as we left that room," I said. "Which only reinforces my theory that collecting the Will Seeds would affect her cognition in ways which we want."

We looked at the cherry tree again, and the changes which had been effected by the quake. Some of the shadow guards scattered about and inspected it, but otherwise retained their patrol positions. It was still unsafe to approach the tree directly, but perhaps if we collected more of the seeds it would make it easier to approach.

"So basically, that's our in," Marisa said. "We find the other Will Seeds, and if you're right about what you said that could let us get into the cherry tree."

I smiled. "You catch on quite quick," I complimented. "Now then, why don't we get moving?"


Since the courtyard was unsafe to try and cross due to there being no cover and a large stream running through it, we decided to make our way over to the other castle via the parapets encircling the perimeter. The entrances to these were on opposite ends of the third floor, with a Safe Room located right between them. We made our way there, and discussed our plan.

"So, which one should we cross? Left or right?" Marisa threw out.

I raised my hand and suggested "both of them."

"Eh?" Marisa wondered. "Both? How and why?"

"Remember what I said about leaving no stone unturned in the Palace?" I said. "We've already found everything in this castle, so there's no reason to come back. Furthermore, we want to end this infiltration as quickly as possible, so doubling back onto the other parapet needlessly is something we need to avoid. If we split up into two pairs and go down each parapet, we can quickly scour both simultaneously for any clues and then converge once we reach the other castle."

"But what if we're attacked by powerful guards?" Reimu asked.

"I doubt that will be a concern if we remain careful," I answered. "So far, we've been good about keeping the security level down, and aside from a couple strong guards here and there we've mostly only run into weaklings. All of Yuyuko's strongest and highest-ranked shadows are patrolling the area around the tree, and if this is like a real castle the parapets and watchtowers likely only contain low-ranking sentries. I think even two people would be enough to overcome any shadows we encounter."

Marisa nodded. "Okay, seems like a good enough plan. Now, how should we pair up?"

I thought for a moment, then suggested "I don't think it would be wise for one pair to lack a healer, so me and Starburst should not go together."

"In that case, I think me and Starburst should go down the right castle wall," Reimu said.

"Then I'll take Fury with me down the left," I nodded. Now that we had agreed on a plan, we left the safe room, paired up and went our separate ways. Me and Youmu found the door out to the left parapet, took out the Makami standing guard, and started making our way across.

As we crossed the parapet, we stayed low to avoid detection from the powerful shadows patrolling the courtyard down below, some banded together in large groups. There weren't many shadows on the parapet, and so far all of them were weaklings like Mandrakes. The wall itself, however, was very long, at least a kilometer, and the view of the cherry tree from here truly reinforced just how colossal it was; according to Youmu, it was exactly the same size as the Saigyou Ayakashi tree it was based on.

We soon reached the west tower. Up top, a shadow guard stood watch. I suggested we head up and go take it out, and Youmu agreed. Running up the spiral steps up to the top, we crept up to the shadow, and once we were sure it hadn't yet noticed us, I jumped, ripped off its mask and got ready to go for the kill.

"Hey, don't hurt me!" the Cait Sith pleaded.

"Sorry, but we can't allow for any witnesses," said coldly, reaching for my pistol, before I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Let me handle it," Youmu said.

"...alright, show me what you can do." I let her in front of me, where she, in a flash, brandished her sword, slashed the shadow, and sheathed it again just as quickly; the shadow then dissolved into black mist.

"Impressive, Fury," I applauded.

"Tch," she grunted. "It wasn't worthy of that cutlass it swung around… hmm?" She looked at the ground, and saw the shadow had dropped a red disk. Picking it up, she inspected it. "I wonder what this is?"

"Must be something important, if it was holding on to it. Now then, let's move on." We continued on along the parapet toward the other castle. As we did, I thought about Youmu's action, and how despite them losing their real-world magical powers the nature of the Metaverse gave us all a form of superpowers to compensate. Such as how Youmu, in all likelihood, was a far more capable samurai here than she was in the real world even with her boasting. When I was with the Thieves, Yusuke wielded his sword like a professional despite being a painter with no training; I could only imagine the degree to which Youmu's skills had been amplified, or to what extent it affected Reimu and Marisa's abilities.

As we approached the other castle, it became apparent that it was, in fact, much larger than it seemed from a distance: it had another floor on the first castle, and a wider base. When we shot the lock off the door and made our way inside, we found ourselves in a side hallway overlooking a grandiose foyer with portraits of Yuyuko and murals full of cherry blossom petals everywhere.

"This place is huge…" Youmu observed.

"Indeed, it's clearly much different than the castle we first entered. This must be the main structure of the palace, then."

We made our way down the hallway to try and quickly meet back up with Reimu and Marisa. We eventually discovered the entrance to the opposite parapet, through which the other two rushed in.

"Sorry to keep you waitin'," Marisa apologized. "We tried to skip the tower, but got stopped by two dudes who jumped off the top and wanted to spear us."

"Geh," I sighed, "that must have raised the security level, too. I told you to be cautious, and now we'll have to be more careful as there may be stronger guards patrolling the area now."

"Ehehe, sorry 'bout that. By the way," she pulled her bag gun and unloaded a blue disk, similar to our red one, "they dropped this after we beat 'em. You guys find anything like this?"

"As a matter of fact, we did." I pulled out the red disk and showed it to her.

"Wonder what these are…" she wondered. "Must be important if the guards were hangin' onto them."

"I'm sure we'll find their purpose as long as we keep going. Now then, let's scour this castle. We still have more Will Seeds to find."

"Alright then, should we head up first?" Marisa asked.

"We don't know where they could be, so we should search the whole castle. I'm not opposed to heading up first. You two?"

Reimu and Youmu nodded.

"Then it's settled. Let's go up."


While this castle of course had hallways, it wasn't the endless maze of random rooms that the previous one was. This one, it was obvious, was intended to be the home of a queen, with gold support beams, a lavish banquet hall with two conveyor belts running past an oversized, larger-than-life throne at the head of the table, and behind it, a kitchen stocked to the brim with meat, fish, cheese, fruits, vegetables, and sacks upon sacks upon burlap sacks of grains, flour, dried beans, and rice, with no shortage of shadow guards in between to have to silence. Even the shadow guards had notable differences from the ones in the other castle, seeming more like staff at a classy hotel than the samurai-armored ones we had been fighting up to this point, although gold-plated samurai guards were found watching critical areas as well and contained Archangel and Eligor shadows who gave us no shortage of grief. It also had few shadows in common with the other castle, consisting mainly of Cait Siths, Mandrakes, Angels and Succubi.

One thing we also noted was a total lack of safe rooms compared to the previous castle, which was filled with them. Once we reached a reasonably safe spot to catch our breath, we took a moment to take stock of our situation.

"Huff… huff… this place doesn't let up!" Reimu said.

"Man, all this gold, all this glitter, all this grandiose stuff, and not a single safe room," Marisa complained. "It's like she doesn't care about her guests at all."

Youmu, meanwhile, just stood there silently, taking in the rich sights of the castle. I could tell, just by looking at her, that she was appalled by the hedonism and conspicuous consumption reflected in her master's heart.

"Safe rooms represent weak spots in the palace ruler's distortion. This area must represent a place Yuyuko feels like she has near-total control over, especially compared to the other castle. But… I wonder why that is…"

"The safe rooms would sometimes turn into a bedroom," Youmu suddenly said. "And… I realized something…"

"Oh?" I wondered.

"...that's MY room."

…!

"...oh, that makes sense!" Marisa exclaimed. "No wonder I felt like I'd been in there before!"

"Your room… well, that certainly would be a place Yuyuko's distortion would be weaker, the one place you can get away from her and feel safe. The only place you can really call yours…" I mused.

"My room is in a guardhouse away from the main shrine," Youmu explained. "A lot of rooms and hallways in that other castle reminded me of rooms in the guardhouse and the decorations on some of the walls, just repeated a bunch of times. It's also the closest structure to the gap that leads to the shrine path."

I thought about what Youmu had said, and tried to crunch together an answer in my head. I came up with one, which I explained to them. "I see… so that other castle is actually a representation of Youmu's guardhouse, while this castle reflects how Yuyuko sees the main shrine, and Hakugyokurou as a whole. The distortion around the guardhouse, then, is weaker than everywhere else, and as a result is the only place to have safe rooms."

"There's another thing, as well." She pointed to a window behind us, which faced the front of the castle. There, we could see a legion of guards posted in the wide forum in front of it, with a vast meadow of spider lilies stretching out into the expanse. "Normally, the way you reach this place from the world of the living is to head along the Road of Reconsideration, which passes near the Sanzu River, is infested with evil spirits, and is also home to a weak spot in the Hakurei Border that items and people sometimes fall through."

"Kourin goes there a lot to find stuff to sell in his shop," Marisa added.

"Yes, and at the end of it is Muenzuka, which is a meadow of spider lilies which is likewise crawling with evil spirits. That's where the entrance to the Netherworld is located, and it's also the way Yuyuko-sama uses. She never goes through that portal; I'm its only user. I requested it specifically so I had a shortcut to go shopping in the village, and also to avoid all the evil spirits"

"But didn't you say your sword could cut through evil spirits?" I asked.

Youmu took a couple steps back. "T-t-that's… w-well…"

"This big baby's afraid of ghosts!" Marisa laughed, slapping Youmu's back. "And she's half-ghost herself! Can 'ya believe that?!"

"Who are you calling a big baby?" Youmu hissed and glared.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I didn't mean that to offend you or-"

"INTRUDERS!"

We jolted around and saw a guard staring right at us. "Shit," I said, "we've been spotted!" I got out my knife. "We have no choice. Are you all ready to fight?" They all drew their weapons, and we assumed formation as the guard turned into a lone Jack Frost.

"I'm gonna give all of you a bad time, ho!" it declared.

"Over my dead body," Reimu sneered rushing forward to attack it, but as she swung her gohei it jumped up in the air, caught an overhead pipe and spun around, before letting go and flipping on top of a bust of Yuyuko.

"I'm not some ordinary fat schmuck, ho! I do a hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups and a ten-kilometer run each day!" It then raised its hand and let out a blast of bold energy which swept in all directions.

"Shit!" Thinking quickly, I switched to Empusa to tank the attack, Marisa ducked and Youmu dashed aside with the attack grazing her outfit. Reimu tried to defend, but was hit and knocked down.

"EEYEAAA!" She cried out, falling down onto the floor and with bits of ice on her wings.

"SERAPH" Marisa shouted rushing to her aid. Meanwhile, the Jack Frost jumped back onto the floor, pounding its fists.

"Time to finish you off! Super Jack-Attack Ho!" It leaped into the air, wound up a punch and got ready to strike her. At exactly that moment, though, Reimu snapped out of it and retaliated with a kick, knocking the Jack Frost back and causing it to stagger when it landed.

"Uuuhhh…" Marisa helped her up, and once back on her feet she glared at the snowman. "Alright, guess it's time to play dirty." She summoned her Persona, and cast out an odd, purple wave which hit the Jack Frost's head. Instantly, it had an effect, and it started acting erratically.

"Huh? Wha? Where am I? Who am I, ho?"

Marisa looked at Reimu. "What the heck did you do to it?"

"Made it drunk," Reimu said flatly. "I figured out how to do it when we were downstairs in the kitchen."

Ah, yes, I remembered now: Pulinpa, one of the most underhanded moves in existence, and one I was at the receiving end of time and time again while making my way to targets. Anything hit by it was rendered confused as to why they were there, why they were fighting, and in some cases who they were. The Jack Frost was now completely vulnerable, and could be easily finished off…

...until I remembered the attack it used. A cold wave that hit everyone.

It used Mabufu.

It was a Jack Frost with Mabufu, exactly what Rika had asked for.

"Allow me," I announced. "I'd like to have a chat with this one."

"Go right ahead," Reimu said. "We're right here when you want us to strike."

"That won't be necessary," I said. "I merely wish to negotiate."

"Negotiate?!" Marisa exclaimed. "But it knocked down Seraph!"

"And it doesn't look like it really can negotiate right now," Reimu said.

"That's exactly why. Observe." I turned over to the Jack Frost. "I want you to lend me your power."

It took a moment for it to register what I said. "Why, ho? Do I owe you money?"

"Yes, lots of money," I smiled.

"Then take this!" It threw 3000 yen at me. "That enough?"

"Almost, but you'll have to work the rest of it off I'm afraid. If you give me your power now, your debt will be gone just like that!"

"What do I owe you for anyway, ho?"

"I loaned you money so that you could buy a Yuyuko dakimakura," I smirked.

"WHAT THE?! HOW DARE YOU-" Youmu shouted.

"Oh shit, oh shit, ho!" It was panicking now. "Now I blew it! That crazy bitch is gonna kill me! Save me! I'll give you all the power you want, ho!"

"I would greatly appreciate it," I smiled. And thus, it turned into a mask, which got sucked into mine. Immediately after, I felt a strong hand grip my shoulder.

"How could you disgrace Yuyuko-sama like that?!" she screamed at me.

"It was effective, though, wasn't it? I got exactly my intended result."

"But still!" Youmu shouted, shaking me like a ragdoll. "We're here to change her heart, not make her out to be some slut!"

"Honestly, I've seen and done worse," Marisa commented. "There was that time a million years ago at the mansion when Flan had me cornered and I tried to set her up with Reimu, but she said she wanted to play with me instead, if 'ya all get what I'm gettin' at."

I sighed. "Can we not talk about lewd subjects right now? We're still in a dangerous spot and we need to keep moving." I went toward a nearby doorway and motioned the three to follow me through.

We worked our way through the remaining floors before reaching the top, but there was still no clear sign of another Will Seed, even after checking all the rooms up there.

"No good?" Marisa asked.

"Seems like it," I nodded. "Most likely it's on one of the lower floors."

Everyone else groaned. "So we gotta go all the way back down?" Marisa complained.

"Unfortunately," I answered. "There's just no way of knowing where are target is, which is why I keep saying we have to thoroughly search the entire-"

As I was speaking, I threw open one last door, behind which was a room with a sole, sparkling, locked treasure chest on a table in the middle.

"Oh?" Marisa smiled, and inched forward. "Oh? Ohohohoho! Looky here, a treasure chest, and it's got my name written all over it!"

"Wha- hold on!" Reimu said reaching out. "That's gotta be a trap!"

"Actually, most likely not," I told her. "Most palaces have treasure chests like this one, often placed in random rooms and areas. That we haven't seen one up to this point is, if anything, an anomaly."

Marisa fiddled around with the lock. "Hmm, this thing's pretty hefty, so I'm prolly not kicking it off. Hey Serpah, can I borrow your sealing powers for a-"

Reimu flipped up her mask to reveal somewhat sad-looking eyes.

"Oh… right, can't use 'em here, I forgot." Marisa stood up. "Well, in that case, time for Plan B!" She reached into her outfit, and pulled out a crowbar from… somewhere. "Found this thing at Kourin's several years ago. Really comes in handy for my thief- er, ingredient-gathering outings!" She put the crowbar on the lock, and after a couple tries, managed to pop it off.

"Alright, sweet!" Marisa exclaimed. "Now then, come to momma!" Carefully, she creaked open the chest, probably expecting large amounts of riches inside of it, or perhaps a power elixir of some kind, while the rest of us rushed into the room to see what was inside.

But instead of gold or jewelry, inside the chest were things more immediately useful to our mission: weapons. Marisa pulled out a pair of knife gloves, which seemed sharper and stronger than the ones she currently used.

"Whoa, look at this!" She said, showing it off. "These look pretty good! Can I try these on?"

"Be my guest," I nodded as I pulled a small kukri out of the chest. Also in the chest were a small, pink band with a cherry blossom silhouette on it, as well as the hilt to a katana. Reimu guessed that the band was an attachment for her gohei and, after replacing the Frost Band with it, waved it around, causing it to scatter pink petals. The hilt, as it turned out, could be applied to Youmu's Roukanken, causing the blade to transform slightly.

"Hmmm…" Youmu inspected the new blade. "It would seem Roukanken has turned into a gunto." She swung it around. "Feels lighter and sharper than before." She then turned to me. "This… won't change how it's like outside the palace, will it?"

"I don't think it will," Reimu said. "When we left here yesterday, that Frost Band stayed on my gohei, but it didn't affect its properties at all."

"I agree, it should turn back to normal upon exiting the palace, the same as our outfits," I told Youmu. "Effects in the cognitive world usually dissipate upon returning to reality, although physical items can be removed from here."

Youmu inspected her blade once more. "Well… as long as you say so. I'm holding you responsible if you're wrong. This IS my family's ancestral blade, and I would dare not sully or weaken it in any way, nor allow anyone else to do so."

"You have my word," I assured her. I turned toward the door. "Now then, let's get moving and head down-"

Then the floor around the chest, and under us, dropped open into a dark, deep pit.

We stood there, on top of nothing, for an awkward moment, and stared at one another.

"Say," Marisa asked Reimu. "Isn't there a trope in old cartoons where the characters don't fall until they realize there's nothing under them?"

"I don't know," Reimu said, "Sanae's a much better person than me to ask. I barely know anything about stuff more recent than the 60's."

"Eh, point taken. You've never been 'hip to the times,' as she often says."

And then we fell down.

At the bottom, we fell right on top of a pile of rice bags, which softened the blow somewhat but still hurt considerably when we impacted it.

Marisa was the first one to get back up, groaning and fixing her back. "Gaaaah… I think I cracked my ass."

Youmu jolted up, "oh, shoot! I hope I didn't crack mine!"

"Isn't it supposed to be cracked, though?" Reimu snarked.

"Well, no, but - WHA-WHAT?" Youmu blushed so hard her entire face turned beet-red. "You-you're a shrine maiden! You're not supposed to be so crass!"

I'm surrounded by idiots, I thought as the other two giggled like schoolgirls at Youmu's expense. That's when we heard a cackling voice off to the side, revealed to be a shadow's.

"I got you, you idiot thieves!" it boasted. "I put that treasure chest up there to distract and catch intruders in Yuyuko's domain! She's gonna promote me for sure!"

The shadow kept going on and on about how awesome it was and how it was going to execute us in front of Yuyuko. My eyes wandered to the left, where I noticed a large, conspicuous gap between the bar and the wall, which we could easily pass through. While the shadow was distracted by its own gloating, I got up, put my spine and jaw back in place and made my way through. The others saw me doing this and followed suit.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna get a fatass paycheck, livin' offa tenderloin steak for the rest of my life and -" It turned around and looked straight into my glaring red eyes, and in an instant it turned into a statue. I then swiftly ripped off its mask and kicked it in the gut back into a wall of pickle jars, causing them to fall on top of it and shatter. Moments later, glass shards flew in all directions as an Abaddon emerged and roared.

"Oh, oooohhh, y'all think yer all so smart, eh? Well, I got some news for 'ya twerps! I'm gonna scoop all y'all up in one bite and eat ya alive!"

I fixed my collar. "You know, you'd seem like more of a threat if you could actually build a cage to keep things in," I smirked. "I believe even a grade school kid could handle that."

"GRAAAH! NOW YER GONNA GET IT!" it bellowed.

Reimu studied our opponent for a moment. "Look at that huge mouth," she said. "It'll just eat us up if we try to get close and hit it with our weapons."

"Then we'll just have to keep our distance and hit it with magic," I said. I turned to Youmu. "It might be difficult for you to take this one on since you can't use your sword."

But Youmu stood stoic and summoned her Persona. "Then I'll just have to give someone else a bit of my power." She and Hiroari pointed at Marisa, who was briefly surrounded by a red aura. "Use your energy ball attack," she said.

"Oh, uhhh… okay!" Marisa then summoned her own Persona and fired off Frei, which hit the Abaddon noticeably harder than usual, and not just because the Abyssal King of Avarice was weak to the attack - it had a Tarukaja behind it as well.

"WHOA! That had to hurt!" Marisa exclaimed. We all wasted no time surrounding it, and after a single All-Out Attack it was done for.

"What WAS that?!" Marisa excitedly asked Youmu. "Whatever that was, it made me real strong or somethin'!"

"That must have been Tarukaja," I said. "It's a spell that temporarily makes its target stronger. There's other spells like it with other effects, including ones that make the target weaker."

"...so it ain't permanent?"

"I'm afraid not."

Marisa shook her arms. "Eh, well, still, that's a useful trick to have around! Don't forget to use it when you can, 'specially 'round big, scary things like that guy!"

"You should focus on improving your own technique," Youmu retorted. "I was merely assisting you in taking down a common foe."

"Ah, loosen up! We're all teammates here! Now, let's keep goin'!"

It was clear that we were somewhere in the castle's basement. We needed to find a way out, and at the same time look for any treasure laying around, including Will Seeds. It didn't take long: not far past the cage was a vent near the floor through which more whispers could be heard. We crawled through the vent, and indeed the room with the Green Will Seed was on the other side. And once again, after we claimed it a quake rattled through the basement's walls. When we exited the vent, a peculiar sight lay ahead of us: a rippling door belonging to a Safe Room.

"Was that there before?" Marisa asked.

"I don't think so…" We decided to go inside, and it looked like a typical safe room. Unlike most of the previous ones, though, there was no Velvet Room shortcut here.

"Wonder why this appeared all of a sudden…"

"It must be due to the Will Seed we just took," I said. "It seems every time we claim a Will Seed the distortion weakens, as we take the cores of the distorted desires themselves. Taking that second Will Seed must have weakened the distortion enough to allow safe rooms to start appearing in this castle. It would be interesting to see how Yuyuko is currently acting in the real world."

"Um… we're not harming Yuyuko-sama right now, are we?" Youmu nervously asked.

"Like I said, she would only die if her shadow here were killed. As long as we avoid doing that, she will be fine. All we're doing is removing the distortion from her heart, this garish place which is how she views the world around her. That is what you wish, is it not?"

Youmu nodded. "I… I want to help Yuyuko-sama."

"Then commit to it," I said sternly. "If you waver now, you may never get another chance to free yourself from her twisted and distorted control. Now then," I turned toward the door back outside, "let's continue our infiltration."


It took a few minutes to find a way back up to the ground floor of the castle. We were careful to avoid the guards out in the foyer, and made our way to the back door out toward the courtyard. There were two holes in the door, which we realized the discs we picked up earlier fit into. Placing the discs into the holes unlocked the door, allowing us to go outside. After some deliberation, we decided there was nothing of value left in the castle, so we headed out. Back on the parapet, I saw that this half of the central courtyard hosted an arena of some sort. I wanted to investigate it, of course, because of how out of place it seemed.

Once we opened the doors, we could see more changes to the central cherry tree: the branches were open even more than before, and more stone pinnacles surrounding it; the existing ones from before were all taller as well. There was no doubt that if we found at least one more Will Seed, we could open a route into the heart of the tree itself.

The courtyard didn't have much in the way of cover, not that it mattered due to a distinct lack of enemies. We had cleared out the watchtowers, but I understood there was still the threat of snipers watching over the wide area, so we made sure to stay in the shadows as much as possible, dashing between stones and wooden posts on our way toward the stadium.

Finally, we made it through the stadium gates, and proceeded through the wide, desolate space toward the tree, not really sure where we were going or what we were hoping to accomplish.

"You think we're being set up?" Marisa whispered.

"Possibly," I replied. "We should keep our guard up, just in case." We brandished our weapons and stayed huddled together, on the lookout for any threats waiting to pounce on us, such as an ambush by a large group of shadow guards.

"So you have finally come," came a voice.

"Who was that?!" All of us were spooked, and looked around to find where the voice came from. I looked up, and on top of the opposite stadium entrance was a skeleton dressed in a matador costume and holding a crimson capote.

"You have done well to come this far," he said. "Lady Saigyouji has little patience for thieves, but she has been greatly amused by your feats." He crouched, then jumped down onto the ground in front of us. "Alas, I have already determined you unworthy of the two Will Seeds you have acquired. Because you fight without honor, without reason. You only fight as a means to 'disappear' anyone in your way, and brawl without style, form or grace. Therefore, I cannot permit you to have this." A cage opened up above him, which contained the last, blue Will Seed. "But, I doubt you will consider my words, and try to claim it nonetheless. Because of this…"

The Matador then swooshed his capote, causing everything to flash white. When the flash died down, I saw Reimu, Marisa, and Youmu were no longer at my side; instead, they had been transported up into the stands, surrounded by legions of spectators consisting of ghosts and shadows of all kinds, causing an uproar and cheering for blood.

"...I challenge you to a duel, to see who is worthy of the blue Will Seed." He drew his sword, and held it over his head. "I swear by my sword and capote I shall once again prove victorious!" A sword fell out of the air, landing tip-first in the sand between us. "Now, take up your sword, and let the battle begin!"

So… he offered me mercy, by offering a sword to duel with. Surely, I would have been at a disadvantage with just a knife, even with a Persona at my side. And the sword was much like the type I used to wield myself. Surely I could take him on in a fair fight…

...instead, I summoned Empusa and blasted him with Zio, which also shocked him. Then I switched back to Bond and ordered the use of Single Shot.

"You know, I gave up on fighting fair long ago," I confessed coldly. "Only fools put honor before reason. The only people who get things done in this world are the pragmatists, those who ignore bullshit which gets in the way of the fastest solution to the problem. If you had wanted to fight me, you should have attacked me right away without giving me a chance. Since you did, I had the opportunity to instantly win the fight."

The Matador got back up, and chuckled. "I see. So you still insist on beating the shortest path to victory, even if it means disgracing yourself while doing so."

"Is there a problem with that?" I sneered.

"...very well. You have passed the test."

?

"That sword contained a powerful curse which would have afflicted you with a deathly ailment, and I would have made short work of you. If you had ignored it but still tried to fight, my superior technique and years of experience would surely have bested you. But instead, you didn't let societal expectations or pressure get to you, blinding you from your goal, and so you struck while the iron was hot. For that, the prize is yours." The cage lowered, and released the Blue Will Seed.

Walking towards it, I grew suspicious. "Is this some kind of trap?" I asked.

"Nothing of the sort," it claimed. "I serve a force who is evaluating your rehabilitation, to see whether you can avert the ruin your soul is destined towards. If you continue with your journey, and trounce all adversities in your way, then you shall surely meet my comrades and be tested by them just the same as I have tested you." With a flamboyant flourish, he jumped up onto the outer wall of the stadium. "I wish you the best of luck in your travels. May we meet again." He then jumped over the wall, causing the crowd to disappear, and the other three were teleported back by my side.

"...what was THAT all about?" Reimu asked.

"I don't know." I looked at the Will Seed on the ground. "But, it seems as though we have our final Will Seed." Once I picked it up, there was an immediate effect: the stadium opened up to reveal the gargantuan cherry tree behind it. All the stone spires moved into position, lining a pathway between us and the tree. It unfurled its limbs even more, with some creeping down towards us and striking into the ground, growing tendrils until eventually a set of stairs formed, leading straight into the heart of the tree. Our route was finally open.

This wasn't the only thing that happened, though. At that moment, the other two Will Seeds spontaneously shot out of Marisa's bag gun, causing her to jump in surprise. The Seeds gathered together in the air, spinning around rapidly until converging in a flash of light, yielding a crystal which floated down into my hand.

"Whoa, didn't expect they'd do that," Marisa remarked. "And… that thing is actually pretty creepy."

"This is another thing I learned when I was with the Phantom Thieves," I said. "When all the Will Seeds are brought together, they form into these items which are purified from the palace owner's distorted desires. They carry a power related to the ruler's distortion, which we are now free to use as we want."

"And we can now strike at Yuyuko directly," Reimu said. She turned to Youmu, who looked on at the cherry tree. "Seems we've reached our goal. Are you ready?"

Youmu stood there, contemplating quietly. On one hand, her chance to strike at her master's distorted desires was finally right there in front of her. On the other hand… Yuyuko was her master, and for the longest time Youmu had tried to run from the truth, maintaining undying loyalty to her despite her abuses, just because she was her master and the master of her ancestors who had served her for centuries. Going back on all of that in just a day was a very big thing to ask, even if doing so was objectively the right thing to do.

She opened her eyes. "I've already set my heart to it. I swore I would protect Yuyuko-sama and steer her from wrong. To not do this now would violate that oath."

I clapped my hands. "That's the answer I wanted to hear." I turned back toward the group. "We should prepare ourselves just in case. We don't know what we'll find once we're in there." I directed Marisa to heal everyone back up, then we took a tea break to reinvigorate ourselves. Once we felt ready, I led the charge up the stairs, with Youmu strutting right behind me.