Tsu had silently left his room by the time he awoke the next morning. That was so very like her, coming and going as she pleased. Though most likely, she had sought out the comfort of his bed because she had been having nightmares again, or because Igor had decided to take out his anger on her, though he knew that she would never admit to that.
Come to think of it, that could explain why Tsu had played that prank on Leila and himself. If Tsu had been unable to seek the sort of refuge that she wanted that night because Leila was with him, it would be perfectly in-character for her to be grumpy, and to choose to get back at him in a way that she no doubt found entertaining.
Of course, it had been anything but, a tasteless idea for a joke. And there was no way for him to tell if his hypothesis was correct or not. It was probable, yes, but Tsu was more than enigmatic enough when she wanted to be, and would surely never admit to the reasons behind her prank either if questioned, rendering it no more than moot speculation. But as long as Tsu didn't pull a stunt like that again, he would be willing to accommodate her. He felt he owed her that much, at least.
Rising out of bed, Lelouch mentally reviewed his plans. It had been five days since they had first entered Cornelia's Palace, the Temple of Wrath. Normally, they wouldn't wait that long before resuming an infiltration; two to three days had been a more typical interval for them. However, Cornelia was far more competent than any previous targets, so their assumption had been that she wouldn't lower her guard as easily once the security level in her Palace was raised.
Indeed, if he knew Cornelia, she would never fully relax any new security measures in her Palace as long as she still believed the Black Knights to be a threat. Even on their initial infiltration, they had only gotten so far because the legions of bureaucrats and grunts the occupied the lower levels of her Palace were far less competent than their Ruler. That would be less and less true as they neared Cornelia's Treasure, which would certainly be protected by Cognitions of her personal Knights, handpicked for their skill and loyalty to her.
But nonetheless, they would continue with the infiltration. They had no other choice.
He recalled the Bureaucrat Cognitions discussing a 'Labyrinth' that they expected any intruders to eventually get lost and perish in. The entrance of that Labyrinth was also marked on the partial map of Cornelia's Palace, but no details as to its actual layout were available, save for its outermost boundary. As Lucretia, alias Land, had said, the maze took up a vast portion of the Palace's lower levels. But Lelouch wouldn't have expected anything different; it would have been far too convenient for a Palace to actually provide them with a complete map of the area for a change.
But with three teams entering the Metaverse that day, they had ways to deal with the problem that a smaller group would lack.
xXx
As agreed, the Black Knights, Irregulars, and Glinda Knights gathered in the Metaverse on the outskirts of Cornelia's Palace, once again arriving in small groups and from different directions in the real world to avoid the suspicion that would be aroused if they were all seen around the Government Bureau at once.
Technically, the Glinda Knights had the freedom to arrive as a larger group, since they were nominally in Area 11 on official business, namely supporting Cornelia's counter-terrorism efforts, which included investigating the Black Knights. But that only went so far. The Viceroy would get suspicious if they were seen regularly meeting with students from the school where the first change of heart had been documented. Moreover, there was always the possibility that members of the Eden Vital Order would attempt to tail them. In arriving separately, they forced those who might attempt to follow them to divide their efforts as well, and gave themselves a better chance of losing any would-be tails in crowds en route to their destination.
Once in the Metaverse, the teams of Persona-users formed up around their leaders, who stood in such a way that they could all see each other. Looking over at Marrybell, Lelouch could see that she was pointedly trying to ignore Eurydice, also known as Lyra, who was standing among the Irregulars, even as her eyes, seemingly unconsciously, kept flickering over to her.
He also noticed there was a second Glinda Knight whose gaze was focused on a member of another team.
Marika Soresi, alias Valkyrie, was glaring at him.
He recalled Kallen warning him that Marika bore a bit of a grudge against him for being the one to mastermind the changing of her brother's heart, one among many in the broader plan to dismantle the Purist Faction after Villetta's downfall. While he could understand all too well why she would feel that way, he had no interest in having a confrontation with her when they had so much more important work to do in the Palace.
Fortunately, after a few moments, he realized that such a confrontation was not going to materialize, at least not for the moment. On the whole, Marika carried herself in a surprisingly professional manner for someone who couldn't have been much older than Nunnally. Of course, his little sister and the Irregulars that she led were all unusually competent for their age to begin with, but they more outwardly displayed their personality quirks. And it was because of that self-restraint that Lelouch knew Marika wasn't going to step out of line in front of everyone else, when it would reflect poorly on both herself and the princess that she served. She didn't like him, but she would work with him, just as she had managed to work with Kallen on the raid.
"I'm glad that everyone could make it," he said. "Our objective today is to make our way over to the Labyrinth in the Palace's lower levels, and then navigate it, so that we can locate the route that leads to the Acropolis level."
The leaders of the Irregulars and Glinda Knights both nodded.
"Given the scale of the Labyrinth, I believe our groups should be prepared to split up if necessary," Marrybell said. "We can cover more ground that way, and thus find the correct path through it faster. Scarecrow, Bishop, and Land can ensure that we can remain in contact with each other and share whatever we learn about the maze's layout."
"That was my thought exactly," Lelouch replied. "We could be wandering in the Labyrinth for a very long time if we all tried going as a single group."
"Plus, it would be much harder for us to hide from any Shadows in there," Nunnally added.
"Good, so we're all agreed," Marrybell said, nodding. She turned to face Lelouch specifically. "Since your Black Knights have been in this Palace before, and have more combat experience in the Metaverse than the Irregulars, you should lead us until we reach the entrance of the Labyrinth."
"Very well. Follow me, West."
xXx
The Black Knights, Irregulars, and Glinda Knights made swift progress through the sewers leading into Cornelia's Palace proper, and then to the sprawling offices of the Bureaucrat Cognitions. Consulting their partial map of the lower levels again and cross-referencing it against their navigators' scans of the area with their Personas, they determined that the Labyrinth entrance was on the far end of one of the office floors.
Obviously, they couldn't just waltz in, where they would be in plain sight of the Cognitions and the Shadows who patrolled the paths between their desks, but Arthur's sensitive nose was able to pick up on the Bureaucrats' stench, oily but also cloying, like honey somehow gone bad, which was being carried to them on current of air. They followed the smell, which grew more and more unpleasant the closer they got to its source, which turned out to be a ventilation duct, though constructed out of stone rather than metal to match the Palace's Temple aesthetic.
"Wow, you're pretty good, Tama" Suzaku smiled, bending down to pet him.
"Thank you," Arthur replied, before unceremoniously biting his hand.
"Ouch!" Suzaku said, wincing.
"You never learn, do you, Knight?" Lelouch said, shaking his head.
Crawling through ducts was something most of them were well-accustomed to by now, and like most of the others that they had encountered in Palaces, it was large enough to accommodate their passage, even if it was a tight fit. Emerging from the other side, they ambushed a Shadow that was on patrol below them, another member of the sixth order of angels, the Powers. Lelouch already knew how to exploit its weaknesses, and so he made short work of it.
The portion of the Bureaucrats' offices that they had emerged into was filled with tall racks of scrolls. A cursory inspection of several of the scrolls showed that they documented various mundane details relating to running the Tokyo Settlement and Area 11 as a whole. Yet if one read further, the words on them quickly became indecipherable gibberish. Perhaps it was because Cornelia was a warrior first and an administrator second. She carried out her duties as Viceroy far more seriously than Clovis, but she wasn't truly interested in the minutiae of domestic affairs, and delegated much of that responsibility to either Euphemia or the bureaucrats themselves. Or maybe it was because the Palace was almost like a dream for Cornelia, and certain parts of a dream were naturally less distinct than others.
In any case, they didn't have time to check all of the scrolls, but the rest that they read proved similarly useless. But at least the racks themselves provided cover that concealed them from Shadows as they continued to make their way toward the Labyrinth.
"That's unusual," Leila said, pausing as Freyja floated over her, analyzing their surroundings. As she did so, the other groups of Persona-users brought up the rear, though they still kept some distance from the Black Knights. They had already eliminated any nearby Shadows, but more could always wander over in their direction, and they might need to disperse and find cover quickly.
"What is it?" Lelouch asked. At the same time, Nunnally and Marrybell temporarily separated from their groups and began walking closer so that they could hear the discussion better, rather than forcing Leila to raise her voice or telepathically reach out to them over such a short distance.
"Now that we're closer to the Labyrinth, I can get a much clearer reading on it," she replied. "Beyond the entrance, there's a large circular chamber, and directly behind that, a long corridor that seems to lead straight to the heart of the Labyrinth. Why should it have such a straightforward path?"
"It's some sort of trap, intended to lull the unwary into a false sense of security," Lelouch offered. "It's that, or some reason we won't be able to use the direct route until we've explored most of the Labyrinth. It could even be both."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
"Whatever it is, we won't let it stand in our way," he reassured her.
"That's right!" Kallen said to his side. "No matter what the Palace Ruler tries to throw at us, Guren Jigoku will smash through it."
"We have to go on," Euphemia added, "for the sake of all the people of Japan, and my sister as well."
"If not near Cornelia's Treasure, the Labyrinth ahead of us would be the perfect place for the assassin that we've been looking for to make his appearance," Suzaku said. "But we won't find out who he is, nor bring him to justice, if we stay here." He paused. "In the case that he attacks, I'll do my best to protect all of you, though I'm duty-bound to see to Noire's safety first and foremost."
"So that's how it is," Lelouch murmured darkly to himself.
"You're worrying too much, Knight," Euphemia told Suzaku, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We'll all keep each other safe. He won't get the drop on us as easily as before."
"You say that, but have any of you ever seen his true strength, when he wasn't toying with you?" Suzaku asked. "I could only get a glimpse of his potential when he kidnapped Noire at the consulate party, but whoever he is, he's probably been a Persona-user for even longer than I have. And that means he almost certainly outclasses any of you, and by a large margin, since he has so much more experience using his Persona in the Metaverse."
"Perhaps we should speak to Lyra and see if she knows anything about the Black Mask," Lelouch said. "After all, she was once part of an Order that we know was training Persona-users for Britannia. Perhaps Terry knows something as well."
"Oz and I have already questioned Terry about that," Marrybell said. "She was dispatched by the Order to keep an eye on us long before the Black Mask rose to prominence, so she knows nothing of it."
"I'll invite Lyra to come over," Nunnally said, "but I don't think that you're likely to learn much more, brother."
Eurydice/Lyra complied with Nunnally's request, joining them and listening to Lelouch's questions with a patience that he hadn't expected from her. But at the end of it, she shook her head.
"The Director purposefully kept his agents compartmentalized," she explained. "We'd be trained in small groups, and were allowed to socialize within them, so that we'd have enough experience doing so that we could blend in on the outside, if necessary, but we'd never really be allowed to interact with candidates outside of those groups. Thus, it's doubtful that I ever met this 'Black Mask' in person. However, I did overhear others talking about one who was regarded as the Director's top agent."
"What was his name?" Lelouch asked.
Eurydice gave him a funny look. "You should remember that none of us have real names anymore, just temporary aliases that the Director gave us, which can change from assignment to assignment. I wasn't privy to his alias either, in any case. But I heard his code name, which the Director generally doesn't change. 'Nebiros' was what the higher-ups called him."
"Nebiros, also known as Naberius, is from Christian demonology, and was featured in the Ars Goetia," Leila said. "A three-headed dog or raven, he is among the most valiant of the Marquesses of Hell, and is said to be both skilled in rhetoric and knowledgeable in the sciences."
"That's good to know, but we shouldn't read too much into its lore, lest it lead us astray," Lelouch said. "I mean, if this 'Nebiros' is the same person as the Black Mask who appeared at the consulate and attacked my sister and the Irregulars in Mementos, we already know that their Persona is Loki. Nebiros and Loki's stories are quite different from each other. That is to say, there isn't necessarily any deeper connection between the Black Mask's code name and their abilities - or identity."
"Of course," Leila replied.
"Still, it was worth a try," Lelouch said. He turned his attention back to Suzaku. "For how long have you had a Persona anyways, Knight? I know it was well before you came to Ashford Academy, but to my recollection, you've never said exactly when you first came across the Metaverse."
Suzaku grimaced. "It was seven years ago, around the invasion of Japan, back at the Kururugi Shrine. I still don't know exactly how it happened, but I got pulled into the Metaverse, and quickly ran into a Shadow that tried to kill me." He began trembling, and began speaking more quickly. "I couldn't let myself die in there, Zero. I had to get back to you and your sister, and make sure that whoever threw me in there hadn't attacked you too. That determination, to survive, no matter what, gave birth to my Persona."
"I knew you were in terrible pain, Knight, with the death of your father and the war," Nunnally said. "I never imagined you were going through that as well!"
Suzaku shook his head, regaining a measure of his composure. "I couldn't believe what had happened. I convinced myself at first that it must have been some strange nightmare, and so I didn't tell you or your sister about it; I didn't want to worry you more than you already were."
"We also have to consider that whoever pulled you into the Metaverse was probably going after your father," Lelouch said. "I'm convinced that Genbu Kururugi didn't commit suicide; he was murdered by a mental shutdown."
"How did you know that?" Suzaku gasped.
"Because it would make too much sense for that not to be the case," Lelouch lied, seeing no need to tell someone who still nominally worked for Schneizel that it had been Lord Kirihara who had informed him of that fact, even if that someone was one of his oldest friends. "His death certainly served Britannia's interests well enough, and we know they have a number of Metaverse-using assassins. That you were pulled into the Metaverse at all seven years ago proves that the capability to enter it already existed by then, and thus the possibility of killing someone through it."
"I don't know exactly when they first learned how to enter the Metaverse, but I'm sure they had already done so by the time I was brought into the Order," Eurydice offered.
"It was definitely before the invasion of Japan," Marrybell cut in sharply. "Terry was already a Persona-user when she came to Oz's home, and that was months prior to the war. She would have already needed to be brought into the Metaverse to awaken to that power."
"Not necessarily," Nunnally countered. "Medjed gained his Persona through artificial means before he ever set foot in the Metaverse."
"There's never been any evidence that would suggest that Terry's Persona is not a natural one," Marrybell said firmly.
"That's fair," Nunnally conceded. "You know her far better than I do."
"Whenever they discovered it exactly doesn't matter," Suzaku said. His voice hardened somewhat. "The fact is that my father was murdered, and all of the symptoms of his death were consistent with what we now call 'mental shutdowns'."
"Yet you still ended up working for Britannia," Lelouch said.
"That's... complicated," Suzaku said. "Obviously, I didn't know that Britannia was interested in the Metaverse at first. It wasn't until years later that I realized I could return to that world, and willed myself to begin exploring it. I had already enlisted for training as a private in the Britannian army by then. But it wasn't long after that before I was quietly taken aside from my unit by a man who said that he had been sent by Second Prince Schneizel. I didn't know what he wanted with me, though I recall thinking at first that it have been something to do with me being the son of Japan's last prime minister."
"It would have hardly been unusual for Britannia to keep tabs on you, precisely for that reason," Lelouch replied. "And, not that I agree with the choice that you made at the time, since I don't, but it probably went a long way toward convincing Britannia that you weren't a threat to them. If, however, you had shown overt sympathies to the Japanese Resistance, you would have likely been eliminated before you could become a figure that they could rally around."
"Exactly! But even I was surprised when Prince Schneizel showed me photographs that had been passed along to him, of me disappearing into the Metaverse." Suzaku shook his head again. "I was so careless back then. I was sure I was done for when His Highness asked me to explain my 'disappearing' act. But instead, he told me that it appeared that I had some sort of special power, and asked if I would be willing to use it for the good of the Empire and its people."
"Bullshit!" Kallen hissed. "You can count the number of Britannian royals who are actually interested in changing things for the better on one hand, and they're all in this room! Sure, the others will dangle the carrot of giving you the chance to improve things in front of you, but no matter what, they'll see that 'Elevens' remain as third-class citizens, or just second-class at best! And even if they were to let you actually change things here, it would be paid for with the suffering of even more people under Britannia's iron fist. You've always been naive, Knight, and it pisses me off!"
Lelouch took Kallen's hand in his own to calm her. "Queen, I don't disagree with anything that you're saying, but an infiltration isn't the proper time for a full-on ideological debate, and I want to hear the rest of what Knight has to say."
"Sorry," Kallen muttered, taking several breaths to further calm herself.
"It's okay, Queen," Suzaku said. "A part of me was naive. I told myself at the time that's why I was working with Britannia, and Schneizel, because it would give me a better chance of changing things than resorting to random violence." He let out a wry laugh. "Though, if I'm going to be honest with myself, that was just an excuse. For a long time now, my main interest has been uncovering the truth behind the Metaverse. I know it was selfish of me, but when I accepted his offer, exploring the Metaverse and reporting back my findings to him became my job, allowing me to go deeper into it than I ever could have as a private."
Privately, Lelouch wasn't convinced that was the entire story. Their recent near-encounter with Schneizel at the Chinese Federation Consulate showed that the Second Prince was every bit as devious as he remembered. Schneizel may well have had anonymous informants who had managed to capture photographic evidence of Suzaku entering the Metaverse, but that seemed far too convenient for it to be a coincidence, and Schneizel was never one to show anyone all of his cards. Schneizel had agents in Area 11, nominally working on engineering projects, such as a seventh-generation Knightmare Frame prototype, and no doubt some of them actually were. But Suzaku's cover had been that he was assigned to the engineering division, even when he was doing no work of the sort. And Schneizel was even pulling scientists from Knightmare development to help advance his own study of Cognitive Psience, as proven when he had Earl Asplund analyze the ruined Thought Elevator on Kamine Island.
He wasn't going to bring any of that up right now though, given how they had already delayed their progress through the Palace a bit more than he had originally planned.
"I'm glad that you're being more honest with yourself, Knight," Lelouch said instead, smiling wickedly. "I understand your idea of justice even better now." The resonance of the Justice Arcana within him was proof of that. "Now let's resume our infiltration."
xXx
They continued on their way to the Labyrinth entrance, eventually coming to the large, circular chamber that Leila had detected with her Persona. There was a large, heavy pair of doors on the outside, clearly meant to look imposing.
"I assume there's a powerful Shadow or a number of lesser Shadows inside, waiting for us," Lelouch said.
"Actually, I don't sense any Shadows, at least, not within the first room. There are a large number of Cognitions, most of them with negligible combat potential, but only one seems capable of actually putting up a fight... and I'm not even reading it as hostile, at least, not immediately. That is to say, if it sees us, it's not about to dial up the Palace's security level and alert the Ruler, unless we provoke it to do so."
"Curious, though I'm not about to complain," Lelouch replied. "Let's enter, and see what sort of Cognition this is."
He carefully pushed the doors open, and the Black Knights filed in behind him, followed by the Irregulars and the Glinda Knights as they brought up the rear. The chamber was a wide rotunda, with a number of doors leading out in different directions on the far side of the room. There were lines of human Cognitions in front of each of them. The Cognitions themselves looked normal at a glance, and would have been unremarkable, save for how uniformly forgettable their faces were. If Lelouch had to guess, they were the masses who had to navigate Area 11's bureaucracy on a daily basis, but whom Cornelia herself rarely interacted with.
The longest line by far was for the biggest door, which was directly across from them and elevated above the others, at the top of a short stairway. The line actually started before the staircase, since the Cognitions were prevented from getting any closer by a gate that was watched over by a particularly large and repulsive Bureaucrat Cognition, that was bespectacled and perched on a seat atop a tall podium, bending over and heedless of the throngs who wanted to pass, engrossed in some report or another. Whereas the other lines were slowly but noticeably progressing, with the Cognitions who reached their respective doors entering the darkness of the Labyrinth beyond, the line in front of the Bureaucrat Cognition remained at a standstill, evidently waiting for its approval to pass, which was not forthcoming.
The Bureaucrat had to be the powerful Cognition that Leila had sensed. It only spared the three groups of thieves a passing glance as they entered, and then went right back to the reports written on its scrolls. Just as Leila had predicted, no alarm was raised.
Cautiously, Lelouch led the Black Knights forward, moving parallel to the central line, while the Irregulars and Glinda Knights hung back by the entrance. The Bureaucrat Cognition was the key to getting into the hall beyond the large door, he was sure of that, and given its lack of overt hostility, the logical thing to do was to talk to it, and see if they could solicit more information on the Labyrinth and what they would need to do to pass.
The Bureaucrat Cognition's stench was particularly odious as they drew near, and Lelouch suspected that one or more of his allies were fighting off the urge to gag. Lelouch was about to open his own mouth to begin interrogating the Cognition, but then, he thought better of it. A more diplomatic approach would likely yield better results, and so he gave a nod to Euphemia, and beckoned for her to step forward.
Euphemia nodded back, scrunching her nose for a moment as she approached the Cognition. Euphy had shown a much higher tolerance for bad smells during their trek through the sewers than most would expect from a princess as outwardly refined as herself; she didn't let such trifling things get in her way of helping people. But the Bureaucrat's odor was worse than that of Peallaidh's lair had ever been, and so Euphy couldn't help but show some discomfort at being so close to the Cognition. Yet she quickly plastered over that expression, putting a polite smile on her face, of the sort she would be expected to use at official functions while acting as the Sub-Viceroy.
"Excuse me," Euphemia said, looking up at the Bureaucrat Cognition, "we were wondering if we could pass through that door to reach the Acropolis level."
The Cognition didn't even lift its beady eyes from its scroll. "More supplicants?" it said with indifference. "Make sure you have your offerings ready for the Goddess, and then wait your turn at the back of the line."
"It's terribly important," Euphemia pressed.
"Do you know how many other people want to ascend to the Acropolis?" the Cognition replied, with distinct annoyance in its voice but actually looking at her for a change. Taking on a more pedantic tone, it continued, "If I let every pretty face with a sob story pass, then the foundations of our society itself would crumble. The Acropolis is reserved for those worthy of serving under the Goddess."
Lelouch wisely chose not to make a gibe about how the Bureaucrat's own words showed that Cornelia's Shadow did not consider him worthy of joining her on the higher levels of the Palace.
"How can we prove that we are worthy?" Euphemia asked.
"Your friends will have to demonstrate their courage and prowess as warriors, after waiting their turn like everyone else." The Cognition adjusted its glasses to get a better look at Euphemia. "I believe I misjudged you, however. From your appearance and bearing, you are clearly, at the very least, of a noble lineage. I hesitate to say it, but you even remind me of the Goddess of Victory's beloved sister, who is worshipped alongside her at a number of shrines on the Acropolis level."
The Bureaucrat's head turned slightly, looking at something past Euphemia. Following its gaze, Lelouch could tell that it had noticed Marrybell, standing at the back of the room.
"Is she related to you?" the Cognition asked.
"Yes, we're sisters," Euphemia said, not bothering to get into the technicality that they were actually half-sisters.
"Call her over."
Euphemia did as the Bureaucrat Cognition instructed her. A short time later, Marrybell joined them by the podium.
"Yes," it said, examining Marrybell more closely as she stood next to Euphemia. "I can see that you are telling me the truth. And so, by the worth of your birthright, the two of you may pass into the hall beyond the door and ascend to the Acropolis without having to wait further or undergo the customary trial. The others who with you should go to the back of the line and wait for processing, unless they can demonstrate similar worth."
So, it was Social Darwinism for any who wished to rise to a higher level in the Palace, but those with the right blood got a leg up on everyone else without having to work for it. That was so typical of Britannia. While Cornelia herself highly valued competence, she still held both classist and racist attitudes, and enabled the continuation of societal structures that all too often rewarded nepotism over real talent.
There was another problem. They could conceivably put together a team of Persona-users whom the Bureaucrat would recognize as being noble. Leila would certainly be able to join Euphy and Marrybell if they went ahead, and, of their teams, the Glinda Knights had the best chance of having most of their members allowed past. With a Wild Card, a navigator, and several supporting Persona users, it would even be a perfectly viable team for continuing the infiltration. But everyone else would be left behind, and if the advance team got too far ahead of the rest of them, they would no longer be able to remain in contact with each other.
Marrybell would have little problem with that plan on its own, trusting that they would be able to catch up with her soon enough. But Lelouch saw her glancing back at her Knight, and that made her hesitate. She had to know that Oldrin was not likely to support leaving any of their members, particularly Sokkia and Toto, behind.
"I will stay with my friends!" Euphemia declared. "I will not leave for the Acropolis until they are allowed to join me!"
Leila nodded in approval.
Unnoticed by Euphemia, Marrybell grimaced slightly. Euphemia taking that stance, while not unexpected, would make it even easier for Oldrin and the others to do so as well. But really, Leila agreeing that they should remain together was what would doom Marrybell's plan to go on ahead. With neither of the Glinda Knights' own navigators likely to be permitted to enter the Acropolis at present, Leila's abilities would be imperative to Marrybell. Without them, she could not safely proceed.
"You'll have to wait for quite a long time," the Bureaucrat Cognition cautioned Euphemia, gesturing at the lines behind her.
"Isn't there a way to expedite the process for them?" Euphemia pleaded.
"I suppose I could be persuaded to do so," the Cognition replied. "But I'd need you to do me a favor."
"And that would be, sir?"
"There are three scrolls that I need from the Labyrinth. I could go and retrieve them myself, but if I did, someone else would try to discredit me and take my place in the meantime. And who knows how long I could be wandering in there, assuming I ever was able to return at all? In light of how much time you'd save me, advancing your friends' places in the line would be but a small matter."
"We'd be glad to help, but that's not much to go on as it stands." Euphemia asked. "How will we know if we've found the right ones?"
"Fine," the Cognition said, though it was clear that it was getting increasingly impatient. It listed off a series of bureaucratic forms with dry and overly complex names, but Lelouch easily committed them all to memory. "You should be able to tell by how obviously important they are when you find them," it concluded with a huff.
Lelouch doubted that they would be as easy to find with the unaided eye as the Cognition claimed, but fortunately, he didn't have to rely on that, not when he had access to the Third Eye. It was a gift that Igor would have bestowed on his fellow Wild Cards as well. With preternatural awareness, the scrolls in question should stand out, even from within whatever hiding places that they might have.
But other than having to hunt for three scrolls in a maze, little had actually changed from their original plan; they would split up to cover more ground during their search, while making sure that they stayed within range of each other to the extent possible so that they could relay communications between their navigators.
With Marrybell at his side, he walked over to the Irregulars, so that the two of them could confer with Nunnally.
"It's arbitrary as to which of our groups goes through each door," Lelouch said. "There's no real reason to pick one over the other. Taking doors on different sides of the room might let us cover more ground, but there's no guarantee of that; it all depends on the layout of the Labyrinth."
"Well, if it doesn't matter, I can help you choose," Nunnally said, smiling. She held out a hand and extended her pointer finger. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe," she began to recite, moving her finger back and forth between them.
Lelouch couldn't help but notice the incredulous look that Lyra was giving her leader at using such an immature method to decide which each team would take. But he still found it charming in Nunnally's usual way, and he would never ask her to change that part of herself.
After several moments, Nunnally landed on herself, causing her to let out a brief giggle. "It looks like I've got the leftmost door!" She did eeny, meeny, miny, moe again. "You'll take one near the center, big brother! And that leaves West." She turned to Marrybell. "Why don't you go through one on the right?"
"I suppose we might as well," Marrybell sighed.
xXx
Bidding his sister and half-sister a successful search, Lelouch departed with his team into the Labyrinth proper. At once, he noticed a change in the design of the Palace's corridors. No longer were they made of marble, but of a polished black stone, covered with nonsensical but very bureaucratic-looking inscriptions and crisscrossed by strips of red tape. The lighting was also much dimmer than the chamber they had been in before, with only intermittent torches on the walls illuminating the passageways ahead.
Strictly speaking, it was more of a maze than a proper labyrinth, which would have had a single winding path through, whereas the hallways they found themselves carefully making their way through had multiple branching paths, many of which were dead ends. But it was called 'the Labyrinth' nonetheless, and they were able to avoid a number of the dead ends thanks to Leila's extrasensory ability to perceive the paths before them.
But as always, the Palace found ways to make the Labyrinth more complicated. They soon came across areas where the Distortion within the Palace was stronger than in other parts of the Labyrinth, which made it more difficult for Leila to get a read on their surroundings or contact the others. And of course, the Palace had to combine that with sections where all of the torches went out, making it even easier to become disoriented.
Fortunately, Lelouch had anticipated that they might encounter such difficulties, and taken steps to prepare himself for them.
"Ariadne Picaro," he murmured as he pulled off his mask.
If there was a Persona other than one specialized as a navigator that was ideal for aiding thieves in a maze, it was clearly Ariadne Picaro. He had recalled her from the Persona Compendium before entering the Palace for that very reason. After all, the mythological Ariadne had been a Cretan princess who gave the Greek hero Theseus a ball of string with which to retrace his path, along with a sword to aid him against the Minotaur that lurked at the heart of the Labyrinth of Minos. While Ariadne Picaro was no longer quite as powerful compared to the other Personas that he held within himself, the enchanted string that she used as her primary means of attack could also be made to serve the same purpose as the string in the myth.
"Very clever, Zero," Leila remarked as she saw the phantasmal string starting to trail behind them. "But you must know that it will disappear as soon as you dismiss your Persona, or switch to another one."
"Won't that tire you out quickly?" Shirley asked in concern. "You can't keep your Persona summoned indefinitely."
"As long as I don't cast many spells, I should be able to keep it active long enough for us to get through this Labyrinth."
"But you won't be able to adapt to the Shadows we encounter!" Kallen said. "That's our single greatest combat asset!"
Milly put a hand to her chin. "Well, we've got a pretty well-balanced team by now. Between our Personas, and assuming that Zero can't switch his, we can strike pretty much any weakness that a Shadow might have, unless it's electricity."
"It will take a lot out of me if I have to use it repeatedly," Suzaku said, "but Lancelot can use Megidola to bypass the defenses of most Shadows."
"It may not be as efficient as targeting their weaknesses directly, but remember, there are other ways to incapacitate Shadows," Lelouch said. "Any spells or techniques that can addle the enemy's senses or enervate their bodies will be our allies here, opening them to subsequent attacks that wouldn't otherwise be possible. We also shouldn't forget that we have certain infiltration tools that one of my contacts has supplied us with," he continued, referring to Nina. "They're limited in number, and will expend their power quickly in the Metaverse, but we do have a few basic stun guns and some coils that can produce larger electrical discharges when activated."
They were but one of many tools in a thief's bag of tricks. Other such weapons that Nina had prepared for them included Molotov cocktails, a spray that could temporarily freeze Shadows, and a miniature air canon. None of them were as effective as the spells that their Personas could cast, and so they were only used on occasion, but they would still be enough to put a vulnerable foe off-balance for a moment.
"Let's just be cautious," Euphemia said, "and avoid fights we don't have to get into."
Thieves as practiced as the Black Knights could avoid many Shadows, but sometimes they needed to clear out the enemies before them in order to proceed safely.
Several of the Shadows that they encountered had first appeared in the sewers reappeared in the Labyrinth, but were also mixed in with the Shadows from the bureaucratic halls, such as Powers and the dangerous, prowling Cerberuses. However, several new varieties also presented themselves.
Firstly, there were large, blue-skinned and muscular Shadows, that would have been human in configuration if not for their multiple bald heads with bulging eyes and gaping mouths, and far too many grasping arms to accompany them. They wore only a chain around their necks, from which hung a large lock. These 'Hundred-Handed Ones' were brutish physical fighters, who made swift yet heavy strikes that were difficult to avoid within the confines of the Labyrinth passages. At least bless magic could stop them in their tracks.
Then, there were Shadows that were unmistakably Manticores. Besides a toxic sting, they also sported strong lightning magic, though thankfully they tended to be solitary, and their innate spellcasting ability seemed to be significantly less than that of a Cerberus. Arthur could easily incapacitate one with a powerful burst of wind from Garudyne, allowing the Black Knights to follow up with an all-out attack.
Lastly, but much more common than either the Hundred-Handed Ones or the Manticores, and always appearing in groups, were sword-wielding skeletal soldiers with the helmets and shields of Ancient Greek hoplites. While analyzing them, Leila noticed that, while weak individually, they were animated by a draconic power, and so they were called 'Dragon-Sown Soldiers', or more properly, Spartoi.
Strictly speaking, the Dragon-Sown Soldiers' metal gear made them vulnerable to electrical strikes. However, they didn't need to draw upon their supply of stun guns or electric coils, because the Spartoi were also foes that were highly vulnerable to Shirley's bless magic, as one would expect of skeletal creatures. She could efficiently dispatch an entire formation of them with just a single casting of Makouha.
Still, the tortuous path that they had to take through the Labyrinth soon began to wear on Kallen's nerves.
"Why do we have to play by their rules this time?" she asked. "Can't we just blast our way through these walls rather than going around in circles?! I mean, each of us has gotten better at keeping our Personas materialized for way longer than we ever could before. Back when the Black King's Palace was collapsing, we had to practically let the Tower fall halfway down before we could fly out of there with our Personas. A stunt like this would be inconceivable back then. But you can't keep it up forever, Zero!"
Lelouch appreciated Kallen's concern. He glanced over to Leila, for her assessment on whether there were Shadows within earshot of them.
"Sound will echo in the Labyrinth," she cautioned. "However, the walls are also fairly thick, and will absorb a lot of the energy of any noise you might make. That might limit how far it carries. But if a Shadow does overhear you, and comes to investigate, it will be able to follow Ariadne Picaro's thread all the way to us."
"That's always been a risk," Kallen countered hotly.
"Fortunately, most Shadows don't tend to stray too far from the paths that they're assigned to patrol in a Palace," Lelouch said. "If they tried to deviate from those paths here, there's a very good chance that they'd get lost in the Labyrinth themselves. I say it's worth a try."
"Right, Zero!"
Summoning Guren Jigoku, Kallen focused her strength, first delivering several heavy strikes to the wall, and, when that failed to put a dent in it, attempted to melt through it with a beam of nuclear energy. She managed to burn up some of the red tape stuck to the wall, but the wall itself remained unharmed.
"Damn!" Kallen swore, trying to keep her voice down, though either way it would have been less noisy than her attempts to break down the wall.
"The Area's bureaucracy as an institution has largely been impervious to Cornelia's attempts to meaningfully change it on the whole," Lelouch said. "It's little wonder then that the walls, which symbolize that structure, cannot be damaged by conventional means."
"Or she just never really put her mind to changing it," Suzaku said.
"That's exactly my point, Knight," Lelouch replied. "Cornelia's perception is what matters here. And she has little incentive to alter a system that works extremely well for people like her. As long as there are new territories to conquer, or rebels to put down, Cornelia will be able to vent her wrath against the Empire's enemies and win glory for herself and the troops under her command."
"My sister has threatened or removed a handful of the most corrupt or incompetent officials," Euphemia said, "But she's never had patience for the intricacies of reforming such a complex system, nor getting into the minutiae of its internal politics, which would take her attention far from the battlefield. It's the same reason why she has me attend so many social functions on her behalf in my capacity as the Sub-Viceroy. And so nothing has really changed. The corruption is still there, just a bit less obvious than before. Cornelia knows it too," Euphemia continued sadly, "but she feels such pressure to capture us now, with recent events as they are, that everything else has paled in importance to her."
xXx
As they continued making their way through the Labyrinth, they encountered more Cognitions wandering the Labyrinth, both of ordinary people and lesser bureaucrats. The former were aimless, utterly lost in the maze. The latter appeared at first glance to be moving with purpose, heedless of those around them, but upon further observation, Lelouch came to suspect that they were just as much trapped in the Labyrinth as the other Cognitions.
Then there were places where Labyrinth's paths were channeled into smaller lobbies, presided over by other Bureaucrat Cognitions, larger than the ones that were lost in the maze, but smaller than the one they had encountered at the start. The ordinary Cognitions that had managed to make it there were queued in short lines, but the Black Knights quickly found that these Bureaucrats could be bribed into letting them pass without a fight. The first, rather shabbily dressed, accepted a pittance of money as payment, which would be trivially made up for next to what they could make fencing items that they had stolen in the Metaverse.
Subsequent bureaucrats had increasingly specific and extravagant requests. The second one, stained in splotches of ink, asked for a quire of thick parchment. This was easy for the Black Knights to fulfill. It was not uncommon for Shadows to carry miscellaneous scraps of materials with them, which he had long given to Nina to fashion their infiltration tools with, and the Shadows of Cornelia's Palace were no exception. The angelic Powers seemed particularly prone to having parchment on them, and as the thieves had fought a number on the way there, they already had the requisite number of sheets.
The third bureaucrat, who was more elderly in appearance, wanted a few Life Stones to rejuvenate himself. These were a bit more uncommonly found in the Metaverse, but Lelouch tended to hoard any he managed to pick up, as they offered quick and potent one-time bursts of healing magic, which could be valuable in a pinch, or for allowing them to conserve their own power for exploiting the elemental weaknesses of Shadows. It annoyed him to give up useful supplies, but it let them proceed with minimal complication, and so he acceded to the request.
The fourth one, with a particularly avaricious gleam in its eyes, demanded a topaz from them. As Lelouch routinely sold any gems that they acquired in the Metaverse between infiltrations, this was a more inconvenient request, and they had to go a bit out of their way to look for one. Thankfully, the Third Eye made it easy for Lelouch to sense which objects in a Palace hid valuables within them, and they found a topaz in an amphora at a dead end, which they presented to the bureaucrat.
Lelouch fought the urge to show his frustration when they encountered a fifth bureaucrat Cognition in their way. What was it going to be this time? Some priceless, one-of-a-kind item? In any case, it was irrefutable at this point that Cornelia fully believed that her civilian administration was hopelessly corrupt, without any real principles save their own advancement, and all too willing to sell out if the price was right and they thought they could get away with it.
There actually weren't any of the ordinary Cognitions lined up in this lobby. Perhaps that was why the bureaucrat, who was better dressed than the ones who had come before, looked quite bored. Few would have had the resources to bribe all of the bureaucrats to make it all the way there, or be lucky enough to avoid being mauled by Shadows. But the bureaucrat still wasn't going to just let them pass without the appropriate paperwork or bribe. And of course, as thieves, they didn't have proper paperwork with them.
"Can I help you?" the bureaucrat asked as they approached.
"We're looking to retrieve copies of these scrolls," Lelouch said, listing off the names that the large Cognition at the entrance of the Labyrinth had provided.
"You don't have the right clearances to gain access to those archives", the bored Cognition said. "But if you indulge me, I just might let you pass."
"What is it that you want?" Lelouch asked, dreading the answer.
"It's been the longest of time since I've had a proper chess match," the Cognition replied. "I used to be quite a master at the game myself, but no one comes this far into the Labyrinth anymore." It made a hideous smile. "Let's make a wager, young man. If you win, you can pass. If I win, I'll raise the alarm."
Chess was an obvious anachronism in a Palace based on a classical Greco-Roman Temple; it would not appear in a recognizable state until the 6th or 7th centuries, and wouldn't be until the late Middle Ages that it would develop into its modern form. But it was the perennial favorite board game of Britannians, and so it made it into Cornelia's Palace, just like the Titanic's grand staircase in Shirley's Palace.
If the bureaucrat was anything like his typical opponents, it was overly secure in its place in Britannia's system. The fact that it let its ennui and indolence drive its actions was further proof of that. It was unlikely to prove a significant challenge.
Still, Lelouch was cconscious of the fact that Ariadne Picaro was still materialized and slowly but steadily draining his power. It had already taken them longer to navigate through the Labyrinth than planned, and they had to wrap things up quickly, or else he would be forced to dismiss Ariadne Picaro while they were only part way back. He had been periodically sipping coffee from a flask that he had brought into the Metaverse with him, as they had long known that its stimulant effects could temporarily alleviate the exhaustion that came with prolonged Persona usage, but that would only postpone the inevitable.
And so Lelouch said, "I'll accept; but we're in a bit of a hurry, so how about a timed match?" He smirked. "That should keep things moving nicely."
The bureaucrat laughed heartily. "Two minutes each then," it said, producing a pair of tiny hourglasses. "Can you manage that, young man?"
Lelouch's smirk grew wider. "That will be plenty of time."
With a little more than half of Lelouch's time remaining, the bureaucrat's beady eyes bulged in disbelief as it looked at the board.
"Impossible!" it gasped. "How could you-"
"Anyone would be off their game after going for so long without practice," Lelouch said, offering more courtesy than the Cognition itself deserved, if only out of respect for the game. "Now, I trust that you will honor your word."
The Cognition growled angrily to itself for several seconds, but at last it relented. While the Britannian system encouraged cheating, that only applied if one could get away with it. It had picked up on the unsaid threat in Lelouch's words, that he might reveal its defeat to its fellows and bring it dishonor if it tried to double-cross him. Lelouch found that was usually enough to ensure that his chess opponents would almost always pay up. To date, the Black King had been the only notable exception. Cornelia had evidently been aware of this tendency as well, in turn dictating that the Cognition would behave as he expected it to.
xXx
Proceeding past the last bureaucrat's lobby, they didn't have to go much further before they reached their destination, a dead end that was wider than the passage that had come before, with towering shelves of scrolls against each of the walls. Using the Third Eye, one scroll stood out to Lelouch, surrounded by a faint aura. It would have been imperceptible if he tried viewing the scroll normally, but the aura made it appear luminous, giving off a clear blue light when he dimmed his awareness to any distractions.
"I've found it," he said. The scroll was fairly high up, but there was a ladder nearby. Clambering up it, he plucked the scroll from its shelf. Unrolling the scroll slightly, he was able to confirm that it was one of the three that they had been asked to bring to the large Bureaucrat Cognition at the entrance. "With any luck, the others have managed to find the rest at the ends of their paths."
"I'll let them know that we've acquired one of the scrolls," Leila said, summoning Freyja. She didn't need to say any words out loud when she was communicating with their allies, as they were transmitted by telepathy. But suddenly, her eyes widened, and she gasped with alarm.
"I'm sensing a powerful Shadow!" she called out, turning around to face the passage that they had entered the chamber from.
"So... you finally detected my presence," a disembodied male voice said, soft and silky, yet unmistakably filled with hostility.
Dark energy converged as a Shadow in the form of an angel materialized, blocking their path. It was significantly larger than the Powers, with long black wings and hair, grayish skin, a white robe with simple geometric patterns. The angel had a rectangular white mask with slits of the same shape, through which calculating blue eyes, could be seen separated by a thin cylindrical ridge. It was holding its hands together in front of it in a manner that made it seem even more devious.
Lelouch hadn't noticed any overt signs of the Palace's security level increasing yet, such as a more oppressive-feeling atmosphere, nor a tell-tale reddish tint to the light around them. If it hadn't been the well-dressed Bureaucrat Cognition in the previous room that had given them away, then it must have been the act of taking the scroll itself that had drawn this angel's... this Shadow's attention. It was likely that the other two scrolls were similarly booby-trapped to summon powerful Shadows, but Lelouch couldn't worry about that right now. Nunnally and Marrybell were both more than capable of taking care of themselves in a Palace, though hopefully Leila had managed to at least give both of them some warning if they were also about to face an ambush.
"You are quite interesting for foolish sons and daughters of man," the Shadow said. "I have actually been watching you for some time, as you made your way through the bureaucratic levels and the Labyrinth. In coming this far, you and your friends have demonstrated remarkable potential."
If that was true, then maybe the other scrolls weren't booby-trapped after all.
"Then why didn't you raise the alarm yourself?" Lelouch asked as he slowly moved into a more advantageous position, aware that he couldn't afford to stall the Shadow for long, with Ariadne Picaro continuing to sap his reserves.
"I wanted to continue observing you myself," the Shadow replied. "Now I have little doubt that, if unchecked, you could ascend to the Goddess's Temple and even steal her Treasure. Your group appears to be the most skilled of those who entered the Labyrinth." It smiled. "If I can eliminate you myself, I can ascend, far beyond the other angels on this level."
It was yet another perfect example of the mentality entrenched in Britannia's bureaucracy. Many would risk compromising, if not gleefully sabotage, the government's greater goals if it would build or further secure their own miniature and competing power bases. And in spite of how obviously counterproductive it was to Britannia's goals, such corruption was explicitly encouraged by Britannia's ideology of Social Darwinism. Though Lelouch supposed it was a blessing that Britannia was so very effective at defeating itself, or else it would have surely already conquered the entire world by now.
"You realize that there's a flaw in your plan," Lelouch said to the Shadow, even as he gave a meaningful aside glance to his team members.
"And what would that be?" it replied smugly.
"The fact that we'll eliminate you first!" Lelouch declared, signaling for the Black Knights to spring into action.
Kallen was the quickest to attack, using Guren Jigoku to cast Freidyne, sending a bolt of nuclear radiation toward the Shadow. Yet before the bolt could make contact with the enemy, it was reflected by an invisible barrier and rebounded upon Kallen herself, who was only protected by her Persona's inherent immunity to any nuclear spells.
Suzaku wasn't quite as lucky. His Persona, Lancelot, fired a projectile from its gun, but the bullet was also repelled. It struck Lancelot, causing the damage to be mirrored on Suzaku's own body. Thankfully, while Suzaku did not enjoy the same outright immunity that Kallen did, Lancelot's thick armor greatly reduced the effectiveness any direct physical or projectile attacks against it, meaning that his wound would not be a fatal one.
The Shadow chuckled lightly to itself. "You have well-trained pawns, Zero, but their obvious capacity for hostility cannot stand against my own, for I am known by many as the Angel of Hostility, or perhaps as the Angel of Persecution."
"Mastema," Leila murmured. "Leader of the Nephilim."
"So one of your pawns has indeed heard of me," the Angel of Hostility said with a slight smile. "But your knowledge shall not spare you from the fate awaiting those sinners who would seek to transgress upon the Goddess's Temple."
Mastema unleashed a wide blast of wind that spread in all directions, pushing back Kallen and Suzaku, who had been healed by Euphemia, as they tried to attack again. It also struck Milly, knocking her to the floor, and sent Shirley flying away from the rest of the group, throwing her against a wall. Shirley slumped upon impact, but through the bond that he shared with her through the Lovers Arcana, Lelouch knew that she wasn't dead, but merely unconscious.
Still, it had been far too close for his liking.
The Angel of Hostility smirked, and seizing upon his advantage, it cast Bufudyne, targeting Kallen with a column of fractal ice crystals that shattered around her.
Was the angel trying to give him a heart attack?!
Then, Lelouch realized that since Mastema had been watching them for all of this time, the angel knew exactly what their weaknesses were!
For some reason, the ice spell had hit Kallen far harder than the wind spell had hit Milly, in spite of Guren Jigoku generally being a more durable Persona than Hecate. Kallen had withstood the blow, but she was hurt badly enough that she probably couldn't take another like that without immediate healing.
Lelouch quickly issued orders to Arthur and Euphemia to focus on healing those who were injured. Not only had Mastema demonstrated the ability to repel nuclear spells and gun attacks, but the elements that the Angel of Hostility had used suggested that wind and ice magic would also be ineffective or worse against it. Shirley's bless magic would also almost certainly be useless against an angel. But once Kallen, Milly, and Shirley were all back on their feet, they had to focus on keeping Mastema occupied so that Leila could pinpoint the angel's weak points. Formidable as Mastema's defenses were, it was rare for a Shadow not to have any elements that they were particularly vulnerable to.
"I can see that you're thinking hard, Zero," Mastema said, floating closer to the ground on his black wings, as if inviting them to attack him, doubtlessly so that they could be thrown back by his barriers. "Have you decided on a strategy? Or perhaps you're still weighing which of your pawns to sacrifice first as you probe my defenses?"
So self-satisfied was the Angel of Hostility, that he didn't notice Shirley blinking her eyes, unsteadily rising to her feet as she regained her bearings, and taking out a stun gun as she approached him from the side.
Lelouch wanted to call out to Shirley and warn her against such a reckless course of action. They had no idea if electricity could penetrate Mastema's barriers, or if Shirley would simply end up stunning herself. But to do so would be to alert Mastema's to Shirley's presence, letting him turn all of his wrath against her. And so Lelouch could only watch and wait to see what the outcome would be.
Shirley activated her stun gun. Mastema picked up on the faint humming sound of electricity arcing between its prongs and whirled around to face Shirley.
"We're not his pawns," Shirley said, jabbing Mastema in the leg with the stun gun. At once, the Angel of Hostility's expression contorted with pain, and its wing muscles seized up, causing it to crash to the ground in a heap.
"Human..." Mastema gasped, staring at Shirley in disbelief.
"We're his friends!" Shirley finished.
Naturally, Shirley was even more than that to Lelouch, but he agreed with her sentiment all the same. "Well said, Dame!" He turned a scornful gaze to Mastema. "You spent so much time watching us, but you utterly failed to see the most important thing about us." He glanced back to the other Black Knights. "Commence an all-out attack!"
The Black Knights descended, pummeling the Angel of Hostility as it lay defenseless on the ground.
"Urrrrrrrrgh!" Mastema snarled as he forced his powerful wings to begin flapping again, driving back the Black Knights. "Don't think you've won yet! I won't let you paltry humans ruin all I've worked toward!"
The Angel of Hostility held out a hand, conjuring some sort of phantasmal, green, and sickly-looking substance that burst outward as if a small bomb had exploded. The detonation was also accompanied by a sickly buzzing sound, like that of flies, though it didn't seem to cause any direct damage to those it struck.
Yet the signs of the attack were almost immediately apparent. Euphemia began shivering and sweating at the same time, symptoms that Kallen, Suzaku, and Milly, who were nearby her, also displayed.
"My body..." Euphemia said as her teeth chattered. "It feels stiff... and cold..."
"They're afflicted by an unknown pathogen," Leila, who had been farther back, announced telepathically after a moment. "It's extremely contagious and weakens all combat parameters of those it infects. It will spread within less than thirty seconds of close contact. As its effects are physiological in nature, Me Patra should be effective at clearing out the infection."
"Good work, Bishop," Lelouch thought back. Reaching into his pockets, he tossed one of the electric coils that Nina had prepared for him at Mastema before the Angel of Hostility could follow up with another spell. It discharged, causing Mastema to fall to the ground once more. This time, Lelouch did not order the Black Knights to launch an all-out-attack. Too many of their members were sick; such exertion would only exacerbate their condition, while the close quarters of an all-out-attack would almost certainly pass it to the rest of them as well.
"Tama, take care of that infection!" Lelouch ordered.
"I'm on it!" Arthur replied. "Master Cat!"
The booted feline appeared, bound to Arthur by ghostly blue chains, and cast Me Patra over those who had been infected by Mastema's pathogen. Arthur was included within the spell's area of effect, preventing the sickness from spreading further, even though he had to approach Euphy and the others in order to heal them.
"Urrrrrrrrgh!" Mastema growled again as he recovered from the momentary paralysis that the electric coil had inflicted upon him. "You rely on cheap tricks, humans, but that's all they are! I underestimated you, yes, but I need merely stay out of throwing range, and your arsenal will be rendered useless."
"We'll see about that," Lelouch smirked.
While Arthur had been treating their allies, Leila had completed her analysis of Mastema's elemental affinities and weaknesses and relayed that information to each member of their team.
"Hecate!" Milly called out. The three-bodied Goddess of the Crossroads appeared, and a pillar of flame erupted from beneath Mastema as she cast Agidyne. The Angel of Hostility frantically tried to put out the fire singeing his robes and wings, but they continued to burn him, fanned by his motions. All the while, Mastema kept losing altitude, and before long, he was in striking range, open to an all-out attack.
The Angel of Hostility continued to stubbornly put up a fight, prioritizing targeting either Milly or Kallen, as he could still exploit their weaknesses, though he had a harder time connecting now that both knew what to expect. He also kept mixing in his sickness-inducing bomb, as well as exorcism spells in attempts to wipe out the Black Knights in a single stroke. Both Ariadne Picaro and Shirley's Maid Marian were naturally resistant to the latter, but there was no sense in taking chances, especially when the spell was so obviously telegraphed. The Black Knights would scatter at the first sign of it, removing themselves from the targeted area. Then, once the danger had passed, Kallen and Suzaku, the fastest and most physically powerful members of their team, would punish Mastema's failed attempts by sending Guren Jigoku and Lancelot in to deliver heavy physical strikes. While the Angel of Hostility repelled projectiles and most magic except for fire and electrical spells, it had no such defenses against direct attacks at point-blank range.
With mounting desperation, Mastema let out a panicked cry that might have unnerved the unwary. But it was too late; seeing an opening, Suzaku had Lancelot brutally run the Angel of Hostility through with a sword, fatally wounding it and taking taking its breath away.
Briefly glancing to the side, Lelouch saw that Suzaku had an uncharacteristically cold expression on his face, like that of an executioner. It told him that this wasn't Suzaku's first time dispatching an enemy in such a manner either. That in of itself wasn't particularly surprising to Lelouch; Suzaku had been fighting in the Metaverse for longer than any of them, and it was often a matter of killing or being killed. There simply were some Shadows that couldn't be reasoned with. But what it did contribute to was the crumbling of Suzaku's self-righteous facade.
Ever since he had let Euphemia go so that she could stop Gao Hai, Suzaku had repeatedly compromised principles that he had claimed to hold. By his own admission earlier, Suzaku had also been far less than a misguided paragon of altruism when he chose to work for Britannia out of the desire to satisfy his own need to understand the Metaverse. And now, he was demonstrating a ruthlessly pragmatic side in combat, one that was unapologetically focused on getting results, in this case terminating a threat to himself and his friends with extreme prejudice.
Yet Lelouch sensed that Suzaku's actions were still motivated at their core by a sense of justice; it would not be possible for his friend to embody the Arcana named as such if that was not true. It was just a very different sort of justice.
Suzaku had been changed more by the death of his father and his first accidental foray into the Metaverse than he had let anyone know, but in recognizing that, Lelouch felt that he could understand his friend a little bit better.
Before the rest of his teammates could fully register or comment on Suzaku's expression, Mastema spoke with his dying breaths, drawing their attention back to the Angel of Hostility.
"I am... defeated... by the likes of humans?" Mastema gasped, fissures starting to appear on his body, radiating outward from where Suzaku had stabbed him. "This... is intolerable!" he ranted. "I... must be acknowledged... by the Goddess! I was to leave... this angel's form behind... and ascend... to something more supreme!"
"My sister may be called the Goddess of Victory," Euphemia said sadly, "and she means the world to me. But she's still human like the rest of us, and makes mistakes just like the rest of us do. That's why we need to stop her, before she makes a mistake that destroys many innocent lives out of misguided wrath. Only then can we forge a new path forward together, to a brighter future."
"It is when you try... to forge your own path... that you err... humans!" Mastema retorted, his body now beginning to disintegrate into black and red wisps. "You are... seduced by... notions of freedom... and in doing so... invite ruin upon us all! Urrrrrrrrgh! Wretched humanity!"
With that, the Angel of Hostility broke apart and vanished, his last cry briefly lingering as an echo in the chamber, before all was silent once more.
"That was a delay we didn't need," Lelouch said. He paused to take a sip from his coffee flask, but it was getting low. Soon, his ability to artificially prolong Ariadne Picaro's summoning would be at an end, at least without drawing upon far more precious restoratives, which he was loathe to do. "Let's regroup with the others, and hope we make good time on our way back to the entrance."
A/N:
This chapter went through a rather lengthy writing process. Originally, I was almost done with the chapter around August 3, three days before the third anniversary of the publication of the first chapter. However, it was at that point that I received helpful feedback from one of my betas that the pacing was just wrong for the story. I had let certain side events go on for far longer than planned, only getting to the Labyrinth late in the chapter, when really I should have been getting right back into the action of the Palaces. Essentially re-writing the chapter from scratch was painful, but ultimately it was absolutely the right call on the beta's part, and made for a much better sequence of events. Moreover, I have still saved the original draft of the chapter, so I will be able to reuse parts of it in later chapters as appropriate.
Besides the overt symbolism of the Labyrinth standing for the Britannian bureaucracy and how it entraps those who try to navigate it, the design of the Palace's lower levels is also partly based on the depiction of Hell in C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, in which its demons work as petty, backstabbing bureaucrats. The podium and the large Bureaucrat Cognition seated upon it at the entrance of the Labyrinth is partly inspired by the engraving, "Satan Presiding at the Infernal Council", by John Martin, which originally was made in 1824 to illustrate a then-new edition of Paradise Lost. The Labyrinth entrance serves as a sort of Purgatory for the supplicants who enter, with only a select few able to ascend toward the 'Heavens' inhabited by the Goddess of Victory and her loyal followers on the Acropolis level and beyond. Some attempt to deal with the demonic bureaucrats, tempted by the promise of a quicker way to the Acropolis, only to become mired deeper in corruption, and to be preyed upon by the Shadows lurking in the Labyrinth.
Mastema is not featured in Persona 5, but is a major antagonist in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, and a character in SMT IV. His characterization here follows more from his Strange Journey incarnation, in which he supports and tries to usher in a World of Law, but primarily to gain favor with God and thus improve his own standing among the angels, though his combat abilities in this story combine his skills and elemental affinities from both games.
This is also why Kallen takes an unusual amount of damage from Mastema's ice spell. "Smirk" is a beneficial status effect in SMT IV, which I carried into this fight, which, to oversimplify, greatly increases the offensive and defensive abilities of the affected character, which can be obtained in a number of ways, such as exploiting the weakness of another character, scoring a critical hit, or nullifying an attack. Mastema can also give himself Smirk status in SMT IV Apocalypse. Bringing Smirk into the fight only seemed fitting for a character as smug as Mastema.
Mastema is, in addition to his other titles, also known as the "Flatterer of God", fitting in with his manipulative and selfish characterization in Strange Journey, and he is sometimes said to be a fallen angel. He is also said to have asked God to grant him permission to command one-tenth of the demons, so that he might use them to test humanity, tempting them to commit sin, and then delivering judgment upon the guilty. Thus, Mastema is sometimes considered synonymous with Satan, in his original depiction in Judaism as "the Accuser".
As it so happens, Satan is usually considered the demon associated with the Deadly Sin of Wrath in Christian demonology. Shadow Cornelia's demon form will NOT be Satan, but the Mastema-Satan connection, paired with the self-serving tendencies that he shares with the rest of the Britannian bureaucracy, made him ideal as a mid-boss appearing in the Temple of Wrath.
Once again, thanks to my beta readers for their help, everyone who has continued to read and leave feedback on my story, and to those who have kept updating its TvTropes page!
Next up: the center of the Labyrinth!