The black-eyed man who'd been standing at Isobe's side during the Persona-users' initial encounter with him they found standing in front of the vine-laden door that no doubt led to the last Will Seed in Isobe's Palace. The group had found the second one in a secluded nook on the third level of the fortress, next to the stairs, and now that they were inside the concrete bunker at the top, it wasn't long before they found a basement level that, as Morgana had suspected, contained the final one. Only this one was actually guarded.

"Well, well," the man said mildly, clapping a couple of times. "Clearly all of those powers aren't just for show. I rather expected you to get this far, but in under four hours? Color me impressed."

Joker stepped forward. "We're wasting time. Step aside, or-"

The man snapped his fingers and the ground crumbled beneath him. Joker's eyes briefly widened before he, Sophie, and Morgana toppled into the pit, leaving Minako, Sho, Trench, Ayaka, and Monty behind. Labrys almost got caught as well, but fortunately she had her axe on her back and was able to use its boosters to escape the trap.

The man nodded in satisfaction. "Always best to get the most powerful cards out of the way early on. Pity I missed one though."

Sho snarled, his sabers creaking in his grip. "F***er…"

"Allow me to introduce myself," the man continued, ignoring Sho. "My name is Shoichi Takada. I'm Isobe-san's primary business consultant."

"I remember you," Ayaka said coldly, Monty coiled around her upper arm and staring at the man balefully. "You were the one who suggested dragging me back to my grandfather, implying that even having to do it by force would be better than letting me live my own life."

"How else would I be able to put your poor grandfather's heart at ease?" Takada asked smoothly. "Having his granddaughter by his side as much as possible would no doubt have helped his stability. While you may have ruined that, and thereby my job as well, I will however have to thank you for allowing me to test a little experiment of mine."

Ayaka's expression grew confused. "Experiment? You mean those animals?" Monty hissed at the mention.

Takada waved a hand dismissively. "The animals mean nothing to me. They were Koda's playthings. Although I have to admit I did not expect one to bond with you like that," he noted, eyeing Monty speculatively. The snake hissed back, and Takada raised his eyebrows. "Interesting. I was not expecting that kind of success from his experiments. I'll give him full credit for that, even if it's nothing more than a stupid gimmick."

Strangely, it was Sho who was the one to snap at that, a saber flashing out before the arm wielding it was caught and immobilized by a red-gloved hand. "This experiment you speak of. What was it?" Minako inquired.

Takada shrugged. "It wasn't anything too special. If the Metaverse is based on cognition, why shouldn't it be possible for it to affect more than just people? Ever since the mental shutdowns started, I've been cultivating the idea that this headquarters is Isobe-san's safe space, if you will. The one place on Earth where he is safe from the people who want him dead. And when the Phantom Thieves started showing up," he gestured to the pit in the floor, "it wasn't that hard to stoke his fears. Koda, that mad scientist, theorized that if Isobe's cognition towards this place was strong enough and he had access to the right device, he would be able to bring a chunk of Metaverse here into the real world, anchored by Isobe-san's cognition and forming a perfectly secure base of operations for whatever we wished to accomplish."

"The Palace," Minako breathed, her eyes widening.

"Granted, we didn't anticipate the Metaverse combining with the real world and rendering so much of that research absolutely meaningless, but I'd say it panned out in the end," Takada drawled. "Of course, we had to make sure that we ourselves were firmly entrenched as Isobe-san's right and left hands so that we would not be attacked by whatever entities showed up to guard the Palace once it had manifested, but that was simple enough."

"You… you…" Head down, Ayaka was trembling with fury. "You deliberately warped Grandpa's mind!? How could you!?"

"Survival," Takada said simply. "After all, what else is there? I'll admit it mostly started out as an experiment, but once the Outbreak came, it became a necessity. You 'heroes' might think you're doing a world of good holding back the tides of the forces of darkness, but how long will it be before you start to fail? The only real way to survive in this changing world is to join the darkness."

"JOIN THEM!?" Sho was spitting fire, his eyes blazing crimson. "You want all of us to be enslaved to some madman's whimsy!?"

Takada looked at him coldly. "I wouldn't expect some lunatic who was raised in a cell to understand. I am perfectly fine living here in this palace. The Shadows leave me alone and I am treated with all the same comforts I was when I was just another one of Isobe-san's business consultants. The only thing required of me is that I give my loyalty to my boss. Is that really so hard to understand?"

"And what of everyone outside the Palace getting attacked by all the Shadows?" Ayaka asked quietly.

"All they need to do is submit," Takada insisted. "If they do not, they are chattel."

Sho opened his mouth to scream at Takada again, but was interrupted by a sudden giggle from Ayaka. The giggle quickly turned into laughter. The Persona-users stepped back, anticipating what was coming, even Monty dropping off of Ayaka's arm and slithering behind Sho.

"So, that's it, is it? I want to call you a self-serving snake, but that would be an insult to Monty. No." She looked up, her expression now beyond even rage, twisted almost beyond recognition, the red highlights in her hair only heightening the now demonic presence she had. "You're just a parasite, a festering worm feeding off of mine and my grandfather's suffering just to serve yourself. And now, you say that my parents were nothing but chattel?" Ayaka's laugh became manic. "HOW DARE YOU! How dare you exploit my grandfather's fears! How dare you act like my parents deserved to die! How dare you act so callous when outside people are in danger of dying because of you!"

"They are not-"

"SHUT UP! Each and every one of them is worth more than your own pathetic life! And when all of this is over, I am going to make you stand trial for everything you've done, or else I will cut out your tongue and shove it up your ass, where it belongs!"

Takada's expression was as cold as ice. "You really are a child if you think yourself capable of such a thing." He snapped his fingers again, and a large Greater Shadow spawned behind him, quickly taking the shape of a Hecatoncheires and a pair of Archangels. "You forget, I am Isobe-san's right hand. All the Shadows of this place are at my command."

"So what?" Ayaka's tone was similarly cold. "They will be like dust before me, because I am coming to kick. Your. ASS."

"And so it comes to this."

A pulse. Ayaka's eyes turned gold, her pupils contracting in an instant. Her hands clapped to either side of her head as she let out a cry of pain and collapsed to her knees. The voice in her head was cold and wrathful.

"You who has lost your loved ones to calamity, do you still seek justice? Can you bear the weight of this path you have chosen, stained crimson by your own hands? Let us remind those lordlings just who we are that they trifle with."

"I am thou, thou art I."

"The path of vengeance is yours to tread. For their sins of spreading death and suffering, make them HOWL."

As these words were spoken by the voice in Ayaka's head, a blackened steel mask formed across Ayaka's face, decorated with slender crimson horns curving upward from the forehead. As the voice spoke the final words of the contract, Ayaka's hands seized the mask by the horns and ripped it off her face with a scream of agony and a flash of red before her entire body was enveloped in azure fire.

When the pillar of fire died down, Ayaka's Persona took shape. She was bareheaded, showing off her cold metallic face, and clad in a chainmail dress and crimson tabard, with armored gauntlets and pauldrons and her collar lined with golden fur like a lion's mane. Her shield was crimson and her sword stained with blood.

Finally, Ayaka herself stepped out of the inferno. Her Rebel's Garb was composed of black cloth and blacker steel, forming an armored v-neck crop top and skirt inlaid with red and gold. Her crimson gloves and blackened bracers were adorned with spikes, as were her greaves, and the heels on her boots were bladed as well. A red cape draped over her back, falling to about mid-thigh, the ends torn and frayed. The outfit was both demonic and highly provocative.

"Come, Jeanne de Clisson," Ayaka snarled. She flicked her hands, and a pair of long double-edged daggers appeared in them. "Let us teach this man the meaning of pain!" Shouting a powerful battle cry at the top of her lungs, Ayaka cleared the pit with a single leap and sprinted right at the three Shadows, spraying them with Fire magic. Not slowing down, she leaped onto the Hecatoncheires' chest, barely avoiding three swinging arms, and stabbed both of her knives deep into the Shadow, making it howl in pain.

"Sukunda!" Trench chanted, dropping the Hecatoncheires' speed just enough that Ayaka could backflip off its knee fast enough to avoid a countering grab. Labrys came screaming down from the ceiling in her place, smashing her axe into the Shadow and driving it back.

"Aques!" Minako shouted, blasting the Shadow with water that did barely anything to it. The Archangels started battering the group with Bless magic, forcing her, Trench, and Sho to step in front of the group and guard the rest. "Shit! We need to hit their weaknesses!"

"Maeiga!" Sho shouted, summoning Amatsu-Mikaboshi with a slash of his sabers. Curse magic sprayed across the Shadows, dropping the Archangels like piles of stone, but dealing no damage to the Hecatoncheires. Sho cursed and summoned a Bicorn he'd contracted previously, casting a basic Garu at the Shadow. The Wind magic dealt damage to the Hecatoncheires, but it was barely as much as Minako's water spell. In the meantime, Ayaka attacked one of the Archangels, driving her daggers into its side, twisting them until the Shadow broke into ash.

Minako's eyes briefly flashed blue. "Everyone! Brace yourselves!"

Roaring, the Hecatoncheires charged at the group, swinging its many fists at all of them at once. Everyone took hits, causing the entire group to reel in pain. The attack gave the Archangel time to get back up, and it charged at Ayaka, driving its sword into her shoulder and causing her to scream in pain.

A blast of Curse energy came out of nowhere and slammed into the Archangel. Sho, his eyes blazing crimson and screaming bloody murder, fell on the Shadow like a madman, slashing and stabbing wildly with his sabers at the downed Archangel. The Shadow quickly disintegrated under the onslaught, but the Hecatoncheires was still up and swinging, and it swung a fist at Sho, backhanding him into the wall before Labrys and Trench charged in to force it back on the defensive.

"SHO!" Ayaka shouted, then winced in pain as Minako cast Diarama on her wounded shoulder.

Out of nowhere, Monty latched onto the Hecatoncheires' calf, causing it to howl in pain at the injection of deadly venom. The Shadow kicked wildly, dislodging the meter-long snake and tossing it aside, but the damage was done. The Shadow was now poisoned and hobbled, limiting its mobility.

"Heh, looks like that works," Sho chuckled, staggering to his feet. "At least this thing isn't resistant to physical attacks. If we keep whaling on it, eventually it'll go down!"

Minako changed Personas to Oni. "We going for it then?"

Trench came over to stand next to Sho. "I'll cover this guy."

Ayaka took a position between Trench and Minako. "Not without me, you're not!"

"Flirt later!" Labrys reprimanded. "Should just be one more push!"

In response, the Hecatoncheires roared, and two more Archangels answered its call, spawning out of the ground next to it, one of them focusing its healing energy on the Hecatoncheires.

"That's cheating!" Minako complained.

"Just die already!" Sho yelled. "Maeiga!"

Sho's curse spell struck all three Shadows, downing the Angels and doing nothing to the Hecatoncheires. Everyone rushed in to try and do as much physical damage to the three Shadows as possible, doing everything they could to keep the angels from getting back up and continuing to heal, but the Hecatoncheires was still powerful enough to push them back and force Minako to run support with her stronger heals. Taking advantage of the opening, one of the Archangels started healing the other one, while the other healed the Hecatoncheires.

"Kougaon!"

Suddenly, there was a burst of Bless magic, striking and downing the Hecatoncheires for the first time since the beginning of the fight. A figure in a black coat with a red ponytail flipped across the chasm behind the group and vaulted over their heads, blasting all three Shadows with a short rifle and making a beautiful landing between the two groups.

"Sorry I'm late," the girl told the group.

Ayaka and Trench were confused. "You're not Joker," Ayaka said, somewhat obviously.

"She's Violet," Minako explained. "And apology accepted. You came just in the nick of time. These guys were really starting to get annoying."

"You're telling me!" Sho grinned. "But enough chitchat! Let's finish 'em off! Maeiga!"

His burst of Curse magic once again dropped the Archangels. All three Shadows were on the ground.

"ALL-OUT ATTACK!" Minako and Sho shouted in unison. And then the entire group of Persona-users were blurring in and out, attacking the Shadows so fast their bodies blurred. The angels died quickly, but the Hecatoncheires was still hanging on by the skin of its teeth. Before it could get back up, Ayaka charged forward with another battle cry, driving her daggers to the hilts into two of the Shadow's faces. It let out one last groan and dissolved.

For a brief moment, there was silence. Then the entire group breathed one huge sigh of relief as they realized there were no more Shadows coming. Ayaka collapsed to the floor, her Rebel's Garb dissolving as the wave of exhaustion that comes with Awakening washed over her. Sho just barely managed to catch her before she hit the floor, dropping his sabers to do so.

Ayaka giggled. "My hero," she said cheekily.

Sho grumbled, his cheeks lightly dusted with pink.

Monty slithered up to the two of them and started nuzzling them both, looking up at them expectantly. Ayaka smiled down at the snake. "It's okay, Monty. Mama's just tired is all."

There was further sound of clapping from the top of the room. Takada was sitting in an open window at the top of the hallway, looking down at them. "Very well done indeed," he congratulated them. "If you were able to beat those Shadows with only half your team, then it is certainly clear to me that Isobe-san's Shadow stands no chance against your full strength. No matter. Isobe-san is far from the only one capable of creating a Palace. One way or another, I will survive this calamity. You, on the other hand, will not." Takada slipped out of the window and was gone.

Sho snarled and made to rise, but stopped when he felt Ayaka's hand on his arm. "Let him go," she told the redhead. "It's not worth wasting energy trying to catch him. Let's just hope the containment team catches him and wait for the others to join us."

"I'll fetch the Will Seed," Minako offered, standing up from healing Trench and walking over to the vine-covered door. She slashed the vines to pieces with her Naginata, pushed the door open and strode inside. A few seconds later, she returned with a skull-faced potato with glowing red eyes. "Who has the other two?"

Trench held up the green one and Ayaka pulled out the blue one. "Okay," Minako said, stepping closer. "So apparently all we need to do is-"

Before she could finish, the three Will Seeds floated out of the hands of their holders. Forming a circle in the air, they spun around each other faster and faster before fusing in a flash of multicolored light. When the light faded, what was left was a three-segmented metallic shell, a skull on each segment, with a glowing colorless orb at the center, visible through the eye sockets and open mouths of each of the skull faces. The Will Crystal floated down and landed in Sho and Ayaka's laps.

"-that," Minako finished.

"Hah, sweet!" Sho crowed. "I'm definitely keeping this thing. I wonder what it does."

"We'll decide who gets it later," Minako said flatly. She let her naginata dissolve into fire and started dusting off her cloak and dress. "Right now we should be worried more about Joker, Mona, and Sophie."

Just then, Labrys popped out of the pit. "I just went down to have a check down there. It looks like it dumped them out into the basement level. They're probably about halfway back up here again. It shouldn't be too much of a wait, those guys are strong."

"Agreed," Violet concurred. "Especially Joker."

"Hey, you're not half-bad yourself," Minako told her, giving the fellow Phantom Class Persona-user a friendly punch. "Joker would be proud of that big damn heroes moment of yours back there, hitting that Shadow with a Bless spell right when we needed one."

Sho suddenly facepalmed hard enough that he knocked himself over onto his back. "Dammit, how could I forget!? Literally the first Shadow I recruited had Bless magic! I could've whipped out Angel and downed that stupid multifaced lump at any time!"

Ayaka and Minako both laughed at him. Before long, Sho let out a little chuckle of his own. Monty crawled onto his chest and looked down at his face. "Eh, alright. I admit it. You did good, even if you are a little shit, snakey."

"Sho!" Ayaka scolded. "Don't curse in front of the baby! And his name's Monty!"

Monty nodded twice at him. Sho laughed and sat up, the snake falling into his lap. "A'right, a'right. Fine." He picked the snake up and looked it in the eye. "You did good, Monty."

Somehow Monty managed to look pleased with itself. Labrys and Minako were shocked. A week ago, there was no way Sho would've ever said anything like that, and yet here he was, expressing genuine appreciation. Ayaka only smiled brighter and snuggled closer to him. "Aww. You're making me fall in love with you all over again."

Sho suddenly looked up, realized he'd been acting sentimental in front of everyone, turned redder than his hair, dropped Monty, and leapt to his feet. "Gah! That's it! Stop that! Stop being flirty with me! I can't tell if you're being serious or messing around, stop it!"

"Come on, we all know how much you like to be loved," Ayaka jabbed.

And the moment was ruined. But at least everyone had a good laugh.

It had taken the three Phantom Thieves the better part of a half an hour to make it back to the group. Once they had, Ayaka had rested up, but she accepted some coffee Joker pulled out of a pocket of his coat with gratitude. And then she'd promptly been absolutely astonished at how good it was.

After a while, the group finally got going once again, heading for the top of the keep, where Isobe and his Shadow most likely were. Without meaning to, Toru fell into step next to Ayaka. He looked at the older girl walking next to him, in her seductive black armor and horned mask, Monty coiled around her shoulders, head behind her hair. When they'd first met, when he'd taken a job at the company, he would never have guessed that she was capable of the kind of rage that she'd displayed in the earlier fight. She'd seemed bubbly, flirty. He would've even gone so far as to call her airheaded if he hadn't glimpsed the faintest spark of sadness when he'd mentioned his sister in the hospital. This… made her feel even more vulnerable than he already did, standing among some of the strongest Persona-users in Japan, possibly the world.

"Ayaka," he said before he could stop himself.

"Need something, Trench?" she asked, as casually as if they were just walking down the sidewalk.

"I just…" Toru paused, not knowing what he wanted to say. "I want you to know that… you're not alone in everything you're going through."

"You mean your sister?" Ayaka guessed. "Well, at the very least, I'm starting to get over my parents, but if you want to talk about your sister-"

"I do. And not just her." Toru's fist clenched. "You're not the only one who's lost your parents to the Outbreak."

Ayaka paused in her step, her eyes widening. "Oh."

Trench nodded, taking off his helmet. For all that it was based on airtight diving equipment, the helmet was elegantly shaped, with the long glass visor at the front both serving as the mask of his Rebel's Garb that summoned his Persona, but also granting him a wide field of view from inside. The pivot at the neck permitted him to rotate his head any which way, especially while swimming, and it was polished silver and streamlined like sharkskin, complete with a low ridge running across the top.

"It was just the four of us, living in Okinawa," he confessed. "The Outbreak caught us almost completely unawares, but by the time we heard of it on the news it was already too late. While we were running back to the house, a herd of seaweed horses attacked us, attacking us with their hooves and grabbing our arms and clothing in their teeth, dragging us into the water. They drowned my parents first, and my sister was beaten unconscious. They were dragging us into the water when I Awakened. I killed the Shadows with Blackbeard's help, but even with my newfound water magic helping me get my parents out of the ocean, I was still too late to keep them from dying. My sister's still healing from what those Shadows did to her, but I still want to say… I get it. Losing what you care about for no reason. It… hurts."

Ayaka nodded in agreement. "I know. But at least if we know that pain, we can do everything we can to keep others from feeling it too."

"I have to ask though… why have you been hanging around that Sho guy?" Toru asked. "He just seems… unhinged. Like he's a ticking time bomb."

"Don't be fooled," Ayaka advised with a secretive smirk. "He's got a heart underneath all the cursing and the bluster. He's never had anyone care about him before, so this is all new to him. He was literally raised to be a lab rat for people who wanted to force a Persona out of him. And now he's discovering friendship for the first time. So I want to stay with him. Be there for him, to make sure he doesn't have to go through what either of us did."

"You should." The red-haired woman, Minako, entered the conversation, slowing her pace to match theirs. "For as much as I like to rag on Sho for being obnoxious and hotheaded, I can't deny how much of an effect you've had on the guy. I think we'd all appreciate it if you continued to stay by him."

Ayaka looked at the older woman gratefully. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. Monty and I'll do our best to turn him into the sweetheart he was always meant to be."

Minako answered, "Yeah, when you're through with him, he'll be-" she stopped and broke down into chortles. "Sorry, can't keep a straight face even thinking about Sho as a sweetheart."

Toru smiled softly at the two women. He put his helmet back on. "When this is over," he said under his breath so they couldn't hear, "I will see to my sister. But after that…"

Isobe's office was in the same place in the keep that it had been when the palace was still a building. The primary difference is that this time it wasn't just a simple office. When the group reached it, it had turned into a full-blown war room, complete with large- and small-scale maps with figurines representing troops, various firearms on display around the walls, an old radio broadcasting station, and some old typewriters. And sitting at the desk, poring over a map, was the man himself.

Ayaka dispelled her Rebel's Garb and stepped forward. "Grandfather. It's over. Please, come back with us. You don't have to fight anymore."

Isobe said nothing. A moment later, he stood up and moved around the desk to stand in front of the Persona-users. He raised his head, and everyone stepped back in alarm. His eyes were golden.

"Over?" he spoke. "Not just yet. After all, to surrender is the height of disgrace."

"Mona," Joker hissed under his breath, "that's his Shadow, right?"

"It's both," Morgana growled. "His real self is still there, he's just surrendered control of his body to his Shadow."

"So you are the renegades who defeated Takada?" Isobe's Shadow continued. "How very like the Phantom Thieves to murder anyone who gets in their way."

"We never killed anyone," Joker said calmly. "All the murdering by mental shutdown was ordered by Shido and carried out by his assassin."

"Don't try to hide it," the Shadow insisted. "You came here to slay me too. After all, that's how things are done in war. Kill the enemy general, put the army in disarray."

"Stop saying that!" Ayaka exploded. "I don't want you dead, Grandfather! I want you back! I loved visiting you when I was little! You took me on car rides, and we visited all kinds of shops together… and then I saw you fighting with mom, trying to force her to give up her job and live with you again."

The Shadow sneered. "Your mother was always a mutinous girl."

"She was your family!" Ayaka protested. "How can you say things like that!? How can you brush off her wants and needs, her very life, as if it was worth nothing to you!?"

"She meant everything to me," the Shadow told her. Ayaka was shocked into silence. "I never told you about the war, did I? I was even younger than you are now when it ended. Never got a chance to fight. But I was employed at a munitions factory near Nagasaki."

Shock settled over the entire group. "Yes. I saw the horror of existence for what it truly is. My job was obliterated, my family killed by the radiation. I only survived by sheer luck, and far from unscathed." He pulled back a sleeve, displaying hideous burn scars on the back of his arm. "And that wasn't all. We lost the war. My job let me go. My home and inheritance were destroyed. After my wife died in childbirth a couple decades later, I knew. If I didn't do everything in my power to protect what was mine, the world would only keep taking everything from me."

"So that's why you sold guns to yakuza?" Ayaka asked quietly. "Denied my mother the ability to choose her own life? Supported a madman's conspiracy!? Kidnapped people off the streets so they could be experimented on!?"

"Nothing can be protected without strength," the Shadow insisted. "And after your mother abandoned me, I learned that even strength was not enough. You have to be at the pinnacle of society if you wish to keep what you hold dear. And sometimes that means making sacrifices."

"Now that's a Shido line if I ever heard one," Morgana spat.

"Grandfather, I just wanted to live my life the way I wanted!" Ayaka protested. "I have power now, you don't have to worry about me! The only thing you're accomplishing is hurting everyone around you! Let go already!"

"Too late. You're a traitor and a deserter, Ayaka," the Shadow said coldly. "And traitors and deserters get executed." A line of Shadows erupted into existence behind Isobe's Shadow, shaped like riflemen. "Perhaps in the next life, you and your mother will care more about your family. Just know that I never stopped loving you."

"Incorrect," Sophie interrupted, stepping forward. "Your conjecture is incorrect."

"What are you talking about? What would an android know about family?" the Shadow demanded.

"You have not been acting like family," Sophie insisted. "I have spent a lot of time with my creator and the Phantom Thieves. And in that time, I have learned about what it means to be a family. In a family, people support each other, even when they disagree. They help each other when they ask for help because they want everyone to be happy. Demanding things to be however you want is not what a family does."

Labrys stepped forward. "And executin' people is what a psycho does!"

"Shut up!" the Shadow barked. "I won't be lectured by a couple of weapons!"

"They're not weapons!" Ayaka protested. "They're my friends!"

"And I am your grandfather!" the Shadow retorted. "I should be more important to you than this trash!"

Ayaka stood tall. "What's important to me is living my life the way I want." She was surrounded by flames, and her Rebel's Garb reappeared.

"Damn straight!" Sho spat, moving to stand beside her. Monty hissed from her shoulder.

"Grandfather," Ayaka said solemnly, "because I love you, I must stop you. I will keep you from ruining any more lives!"

"So be it," the Shadow said icily. "You're dead to me."

An aura of darkness erupted around the Shadow, shrouding its form in black fog, and tendrils of oil rose out of the ground and enveloped its form, and then the mass began to expand. After a few moments, its final form took shape. The Shadow was shaped like a hairy, green-skinned demon with a general's cap, sitting on top of a giant pile of junk. Broken-down armored cars, ripped canvas tents, shattered sides of buildings, all piled together into a giant scrap heap. Sickeningly, also included in the pile were shattered statues of people, one of which Ayaka recognized as looking like her mother.

"You can't have my treasures!" the Shadow screamed. "They're mine! I'll kill anyone who tries to kill me for them!"

"The only treasures of yours we're interested in," Joker said calmly, "are your distorted desires. We will take them now." He produced a calling card from the sleeve of his coat and threw it up at the Shadow. It was only a blank card with the Thieves' logo and the words "Take Your Heart" on it, but the message was clear enough. Above the Shadow's head, a cloud of mist floated down from the ceiling and started to collapse in on itself, shining like a star for a moment before reforming into a large machine gun.

"I will never surrender," the Shadow insisted. "I'll drag you all to hell with me first!"

"Get down!" Minako yelled, and then Isobe's Shadow opened fire. The Persona-users prepared to bolt, but Joker was faster.

"Lucifer!"

The demonic Persona stepped in front of the group and spread its wings, shielding the entire group from the hail of bullets. "It'll try something else before long," Joker warned. "We need a plan."

"We gotta knock him off that pile and grab that gun," Morgana said. "That's the treasure. We just need to grab it from him."

"While he's firing it at us?" Minako objected. "I don't fancy getting shot."

"I can draw his fire," Trench suggested. "I'll dash out around Joker and charge the pile. That'll probably give the rest of you an opening so someone can flank it from a different angle. There's only one of him."

"I'm goin' with you," Sho insisted. "He sees me as some kinda brainless berserker, no way he's going to expect me to do anything else."

"Alright, but don't you dare get yourselves killed!" Ayaka insisted.

Sho flashed her a grin.

"Look out!" Joker cried out, and an incendiary grenade exploded at Lucifer's feet. Lucifer was resistant to fire as well, but the blast did make him skid back a little and kicked up a dust cloud.

"GO!" Sho shouted, charging forward out of the dust cloud, hair flaming and screaming bloody murder. Trench dashed just behind him, armor gleaming.

"Got you!" Isobe's Shadow grinned, shifting his aim to target the two charging Persona-users with another stream of bullets, forcing them to dodge and weave. He grunted as bullets and lasers started whizzing past him, Joker, Violet, and Sophie all returning fire and forcing him to duck as well. Labrys swooped over the battlefield with Mona on her back, the catboy taking potshots with his slingshot.

In the meantime, Ayaka and Minako were sneaking around the edge of the pile, hoping to find a surface they could climb. Suddenly, one of the statues came to life and fired a bolt of lightning out of its mouth, forcing them back. Isobe's Shadow caught sight of them. "Nice try, but that won't work!" He opened fire on the girls, but was quickly hit in the back of the head by Mona's slingshot and turned to shoot at him and Labrys again.

One by one, the various statues on the pile of junk raised their heads. Their eyes glowed various colors as they spat different kinds of magic at the Persona-users. Labrys seized her axe and dropped out of the air, slashing her axe at one of them. It bounced off. In response, the statue's eyes glowed with blue light, and it hit her at point blank range with a blast of nuclear magic. Labrys was thrown back with a grunt and ran back toward where the team was regrouping around Joker.

"Those statues pack a punch," Labrys shared. "And they're immune to physical attacks! Good thing I'm resistant to nuke."

Morgana continued, "It looks like their eyes glow in correspondence with what element they're going to attack with." He dodged out of the way of a stream of bullets. "If it's like what we did with Madarame's Shadow, then hitting them with the opposite element will probably smash them! Fire to ice, wind to electric, bless to curse, nuclear to psychic!"

Ayaka peered around Joker at the mound. She could spot at least two different statues on the mound with icy blue glows in their eyes. "Jeanne!" she called out, blasting the nearer one with an Agi. The statue's head shattered.

"Nice! Let's keep that rhythm going!" Sho crowed. Seeing a statue's eyes glowing white, he blasted it to bits, right before switching to Angel and targeting one with black eyes.

"I won't make things that easy for you!" Isobe's Shadow warned. In an instant, the statues' eyes all turned off and switched colors, causing a burst of electricity from Minako to bounce off of one of them. Minako cursed as the Shadow shot a bolt of golden electricity back at her that she barely managed to dodge. Then the Shadow swiveled the gun to continue firing at Trench and Sho.

"Take this!" Labrys shouted, coming down from the sky and swinging her axe directly at Isobe's Shadow. The Shadow grabbed the gun and hopped away, the axe passing by harmlessly and smashing the top of the pile instead. An old car and a broken-off wall with a smashed window crumbled under the force of the blow and fell to the bottom of the pile.

"You're gonna pay for that!" the Shadow yelled. A statue's head swiveled behind Labrys and blasted her in the back with Psychic magic, knocking her clean off the pile.

"Labrys!" Minako cried out. Her eyes blazed crimson as her mask vanished in flame. "That's it! Thoth!" The baboon Persona she'd only just barely managed to fuse the previous night erupted into existence behind her. At a gesture from her hand, half a dozen balls of colorless light popped into existence in the air.

"Megido!"

The Almighty spell blasted the entire pile, knocking it down to only about half the size and destroying most of the statues on the front face. A minute later, the dust settled, revealing Isobe's Shadow, still clinging to its gun at the top of the remains of the pile.

"I will never surrender!" the Shadow screamed, setting up the gun again and firing at Minako. Despite the toll that the Almighty magic had had on her, Minako still managed to dodge before she could take more than a couple hits. In response, Joker, Violet, and Sophie started taking potshots at the top of the pile again, this time with more success thanks to its now reduced height. The few remaining statues on the pile did their best to counter with bursts of magic, but there weren't enough of them to keep up the suppressing fire, and they were quickly picked off by the other Persona-users.

"We got you surrounded, Grandfather!" Ayaka called up to him, preparing to climb the remains of the junk pile.

"Impressive, but you're still outgunned!"

Suddenly the trash pile began to shift, and the Persona-users quickly backed off as it fell apart from the inside, revealing a Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank from WWII. Isobe's Shadow hopped in the top and swivelled the turret. "Get ready to die, bastards!"

"Get clear!" Joker shouted. The Persona-users scattered. The first shell exploded in the center of the battlefield. Again, Joker was pushed back, but still managed to shield those who had ducked behind him, including Sho and Ayaka. In the meantime, more Greater Shadows started spawning among the wreckage, forcing Minako, Mona, and Labrys to stop and deal with them.

"Seriously? A f***ing tank!?" Sho complained.

"Hey, it might be strong, but we're a lot faster than it," Ayaka reasoned. "If we can avoid the turret's blasts, we can get in close and deal enough damage to crack it open."

"Can we even crack it open!?" Sho demanded.

"I could," Joker told them, still maintaining Lucifer and blocking the cannon's fire. "But you guys want to handle this personally, right?"

"Damn right," Ayaka told him back. "There's no way I'm going to back down now. If I just sat back and did nothing and let you handle it when the going got tough, I wouldn't have the guts to keep fighting later. No, I'm seeing this through." She looked at Sho. "And so are you, aren't you?"

"Damn right!" Sho burst out.

Trench dashed over to join them. "I've got an idea."

"What?" Sho asked.

"I'm going to shove my trident down that thing's barrel."

Sho and Ayaka both stared at him for a moment. Then both of them laughed. "I like your style, kid!" Sho laughed.

Trench looked a bit annoyed at being called a kid, but he begrudgingly let it go. "We could probably use some cover."

"I got you," Joker said. He slipped a smoke bomb out of his sleeve. "Get ready to run on my mark." He grunted as another shell hit Lucifer. "GO!" And then he threw the smoke bomb out onto the battlefield, and the trio made a dash for it. Several Shadows loomed in their way, but Sho and Ayaka cut them down with their weapons, not slowing down, Trench following behind right on their heels. The tank loomed out of the fog, and then they were charging out of the smoke. Sho took point, slashing his sabers through the first Shadow in their way. The tank lowered its turret, pointing it right at them. Trench spun his trident in one hand, and from three meters away, hurled the butt end right down the barrel.

There was an explosion. None of the three heard it though. Next thing any of them knew, they were on the receiving end of a Mediarama from Morgana.

"Can you hear me now?" the bandit catboy asked. "That blast must've ruptured your eardrums. Good thing you have a healer like me on your team."

Isobe's Shadow, still shaped like a hairy little goblin, forced the manhole of the tank open and climbed out, coughing and clutching its gun. "D-damn you… Damn you all!" The Shadow hoisted up the gun and pointed it directly at Ayaka.

There was a hiss, and the Shadow screamed, dropping the gun and tumbling off the tank and onto the ground, the gun clattering to the floor a few feet away. Morgana leapt forward and snatched it away. "Heh, got the Treasure."

A moment later, Monty slithered up to the edge of the tank's turret and peered over, looking very pleased with itself.

"Monty!" Ayaka beamed, skipping over to the little viper and welcoming it into her arms again. "Well aren't you a useful little viper? Great job! I didn't even notice you'd disappeared." The snake had evidently dropped off of Ayaka's shoulders after she'd gotten close to the junk pile and waited for an opportune moment to strike after that.

Isobe's Shadow groaned and its monstrous form dissolved, leaving behind Ayaka's grandfather and his Shadow. His Self was unconscious on the ground, while his Shadow had collapsed onto all fours. He looked brokenly up at Ayaka. "Ayaka… I… I…" he tried to say. His head drooped. "I just wanted to protect them… What have I done?"

"You made some mistakes, grandfather," Ayaka told the Shadow. "Put your faith in all the wrong people, decided that might makes right. But no more. I'm not going to live in your Shadow just because you're scared of what might happen to me. It's my life, not yours."

"You're right," Isobe's Shadow admitted. "I was just… so afraid…"

"Hey, what's up with the Treasure here?" Morgana asked. The shape of the machine gun had faded away, leaving behind a scratched old rifle. It wasn't based on any particular firearm Joker knew, and looked to be a shoddy custom work.

"My other self will tell you about it," the Shadow said. "For now… I will return. And I will face the consequences for my crimes…" The Shadow vanished in a flash of light. The Palace rumbled.

"Alright, we need to get out of here before this place implodes," Joker stated. He picked up Isobe's limp form and turned to Labrys. "You should carry him out of here, since you can fly."

"Sure thing," Labrys told him. "I assume you're ready to run for it?"

Mona turned into a catbus. "Get in, guys!"

"Oh yeah, forgot about that," Labrys chortled. She retracted her axe, stored it on her back, and gently took Isobe from Joker's arms. "I'll meet you all outside." She took a running start before leaping into the air once she was out the door.

Meanwhile, everyone piled into the Monabus. "Hang on, this is gonna get bumpy!" Mona warned before speeding off down the hallway. They blasted out the doors of the keep, running over a couple hapless lesser Shadows who didn't understand what was going on. As the Palace slowly crumbled, tents collapsing, walls shattering, the ground breaking up, Mona opted for the cleanest way down to the base of the structure.

The stairs.

"A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!" Ayaka screamed on the way down.

"I-AM-G-O-ING-TO-THRO-W-UP-AND-THEN-KI-LL-ALL-OF-YOU!" Sho swore.

After several tense seconds, the Monabus finally burst past the front palisade and screeched to a halt on the asphalt of the street. The Palace dissolved entirely, various chunks vanishing into scattered pixels as they crumbled, and the distorted space warped and shrank, finally returning to its natural state as a four-story building.

There were a few moments of silence. And then the crowd burst into thunderous applause.

The door of the Monabus opened and Sho tumbled out and flopped over on the ground. Aigis and Labrys flew over, the latter still holding Isobe's unconscious form.

"Is Sho sleeping, or dead?" Aigis asked.

Minako left the Monabus next. "Hopefully dead, I hated his guts."

Labrys shrugged, then jokingly agreed, "Eh, so did I."

Sho glared at all three of them. "Okay, first of all, f*** you-"

"Alright, get up, tough guy," Ayaka told him, stepping out of the car herself and hauling him to his feet. Trench soon followed, holding his head a little, but overall seeming relatively okay. "Well, looks like we didn't do half bad as a team."

"I have to admit I never expected to find kindred spirits like this," Trench admitted, removing the visor of his helmet. "But it is nice to have friends again."

Both of them looked at Sho. He frowned. "What're you looking at me like that for? Stop it. It's creepy." Ayaka pouted at him. Sho groaned and said, "Fine, I'll admit it. It was nice to have friends with me for this. Happy?"

Ayaka lit up. "Ecstatic." Then she hugged him.

Isobe groaned and slowly regained consciousness. Labrys quickly landed and leaned him against a nearby light pole so he could regain his footing. "I-I…" he stammered. "Was that a dream?"

"Grandfather?" Ayaka asked, dispelling her Rebel's Garb. "Grandfather, it's me, Ayaka."

He looked at her with glazed eyes. "Ayaka. I remember… saying… doing terrible things to you… can you please… forgive me?"

Ayaka held up the Treasure, the old gun. "Do you remember this?"

His gaze refocused on it, and he smiled nostalgically. "Ah yes, I remember her. Itai I called her, when I first put her together from scrap in the shop. She was my first ever custom work. When my boss found out I made her, he was furious with me. Insisted I throw it back in the scrap where it belonged. I thought I could prove him wrong about her, went out into the woods to see if there were any soldiers around I could try to shoot with her. Then… while I was gone… the bomb came…" His face turned white at the memory.

Ayaka dropped the gun and hugged her grandfather. "It's alright, Grandpa," she cried. "It's alright. You're back. You're finally back."

Police paramedics had escorted Yasuo Isobe off the site, and the crowds had eventually been convinced that the show was over and started leaving. Joker turned to the rest of the group. "Looks like it's about time we head back to the inn. It's already gotten late, the sun's gone down."

"I should contact my coach as well." Violet admitted. "She's probably seen on the news that the Palace is gone, but I should still be heading back."

"Mind if Monty and I stay with Sho for the time being?" Ayaka asked. "We won't be too much of a bother, I promise."

"Far as we're concerned, you're welcome among the Shadow Operatives," Ken answered. Koromaru barked in agreement. Monty slithered down Ayaka's arm to touch noses with the old canine. "Looks like Koromaru agrees."

"I will be returning to my apartment," Trench told them. "I have a few things I need to handle first."

"Like your sister?" Ayaka asked.

Trench nodded. "By the way, I never properly introduced myself. Toru Arima, I'm originally from Okinawa."

"Ayaka Tani, and this is Monty. My edgy boyfriend here is Sho Minazuki."

"Don't call me your edgy boyfriend!"

"What would you prefer I call you then? My sweet little cherry blossom? Honey cakes?"

"S-s-ssssssss," Monty started hissing more intensely than usual.

"Alright guys, enough of the fighting," Minako interjected. "It's getting late. We should all get some proper food into ourselves and then call it a night."

"Finally!" Sho exclaimed. "I haven't had a good meal since yesterday's breakfast! I am absolutely starving! Give me all the shit!"

Ayaka scolded, "Sho, stop cussing in front of the-"

"-ssshit."

Everyone stared at Monty. He started hissing again.

"Ssssshit. Sho."

A second passed. And then, Minako couldn't help it. She started laughing hysterically, pointing at Sho. A second later, Ayaka was laughing too.

"Ahahahahaha!" Minako howled. "Shitshow! Yeah, that really was a shitshow ahahahahahaha!"

Sho started scolding them for laughing at his expense. Haru and Ken tried to break them up, while Trench just felt awkward off to the side. And Monty just felt confused as to why his first words had garnered such a strange reaction.