"K-Kurusu-senpai, what is this place?"
Sakura turns to stare at him. She seems to be really demanding for an answer.
"Sakura, you're not supposed to be here right now…"
"Senpai… what is this place?" she slowly moves close to him, "We were at school just now. How do we get here?"
"I… em…"
Using my smartphone!
That's not a very good response…
"This is my home!"
Sakura screams out at him, "How is my house here? How did we get here? What did you do!?"
She keeps on looking all over the place, before turning back toward him, "Senpai… are you… are you a magus?"
No?
"Sure… you can consider me one…"
Technically he's a Servant… but he can also use magic…
Is he considered a magus too here?
"But," Akira grabs her shoulders, making her stop speaking, "You are not supposed to be in here right now, so I'll be sending you home today, okay?"
"But-"
"No but. Let's just go home for now."
She slowly nods, as he now letting her go.
!?
Nope, she actually runs into the building, startling him.
"S-Sakura!"
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What kind of place is this?
This place looks like her home, the Matou's mansion, but it feels really different.
No, it IS different!
From the outside, it does looks like the house she lives in, but the inside is so much different.
The moment she opens up the front door, instead of seeing the normal pathway leading to the living room like all house in Japan do, she found herself standing before a huge stair that connects the ground floor and the upper level of the home.
This feels more like a rich guy's mansion. Her home is a big, but not this big.
The walls then caught her eyes.
Pictures of her brother are all over the wall. Some shows him standing in a proud manner. Some shows him engaging in various activities.
It is as if Shinji is an important figure here.
But he's not. He is… he is… he is a pitiful one…
"M-Mistress?"
Wh-?
Who are these people!?
As soon as the purple-haired girl turns around to answer the call of the unknown, what she sees instead is a group of people in suspicious looking robes and hats.
It's like she's looking at a group of medieval magus from the folklores!
Not to mention, underneath those hats are nothing but black faces and red eyes, staring straight at her.
They seem to be showing some sort of confusion toward her.
"Mistress Sakura, what are you doing outside?" one of these strange people asking her.
Sakura's confusion and shock increases even more. How on earth these people know her name?
She is speechless. What is she supposed to say in this situation? She didn't even know where she is right now.
"I- I'm lost…" is what she can come up with.
Maybe they can show her the way around the place?
Instead of being told where she is right now, these people decided to grab her hands, "Come, let us show you to your room."
These people… they are holding her hands quite tightly. They are being too rough at her, pulling her around forcefully like that.
These strangers bring her toward an entrance of a room somewhere on the ground floor, with one of them kindly opens up the door.
"Now, we have arrived inside your room."
Those people then pushes her in, closing the door tightly.
Th-
This is not her room!
This is the basement!
Her eyes widen, looking the inside of the room.
Right at the front, there are steps moving downward. There is a huge heart-shaped bed in the middle of it and the walls are filled with holes around them. The walls are all pink around it. There's even veil on the ceiling and the top of the bed and some sort of strange aroma can be smelt in there.
This is the basement she hates so much from Matou Residence; the interior may have been different, but this is pretty much that basement!
What on earth is going on here!?
"Ara~, you are not Master. Who are you supposed to be?"
Wh- who is she?
Appearing out from the corner, Sakura sees somebody within blue lingerie underneath transparent clothing peering close toward her, grinning with her yellow eyes starring deep into her, "My, what are you supposed to be? Are you another toy for my Master to play with?"
P-play? Wh-what is she talking about?
More importantly, who is she!?
She looks like her, but those eyes give off different feelings.
Sakura goes to look around as she hears noises coming out from the holes on the walls.
Fear flowing inside her head.
Worms jumping out from those holes, wiggling slowly toward that obscene look-alike, with the mirror image simply petting onto the worms, treating them like pets.
Strange sensation appears inside her lower region, as Sakura falls onto the floor, writhing in pain.
"What, don't tell me you have never seen of the Crest Worms? All toys should know them. After all, master loves this kind of play," the fake Sakura smirks at her reaction, "How can you make Master Shinji feels even remotely as good if you have no idea how to have fun with them?"
Master Shinji?
This… this woman views her brother… as her master?
What kind of place is this?
"SAKURA!"
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wow, this is indeed a Palace.
There is no way any parents would just put repeated pictures of their son on the walls like some sort of yandere shrine. Not when you have a daughter living inside the same home.
Also, his clothes is now his Phantom Thief's outfit; a clear indication of being in a Palace.
Akira just finished defeating two Shadows near the front door, and he stops for a moment to see how Shinji views himself here.
This guy is like Kamoshida, except Shinji seems to have this strange obsession of showing off what his achievement. This guy makes Kamoshida looks like a humble guy.
At least that guy did not walk around screaming, "I AM A GOLD MEDALIST ATHLETE!"
Though, most of those pictures seem to be taller than what Shinji's height is supposed to be. Did he has some sort of height complex?
That's impossible; he is neither tall nor he is short.
Possibly… those images are what he wishes to be? Some of those pictures show him do something really strange for a student to do, like stabbing a tiger, or exploding something with magic.
There's also a picture of him with half-naked ladies… and one of them is his… sister…
Owh…
Wait, what is he doing here!? Sakura is in trouble right now!
Running forward and finally open up the door those two Shadows may have come from, he now enters a really strange huge room.
This place, which seems like a basement, is definitely trypophobia's sufferer's worse nightmare. Not to mention, those worms are just too eerie.
Owh, Sakura is there… Two of her infact.
"Sakura!" he calls out to her, running toward her and quickly stands before her.
It's easy to know which one is which. Based on her shy attitude, there is no way she will flaunts her lovely figure in that sexy outfit. Also, nobody pets a strangely-looking phallic-like worm in real life.
Definitely.
Not when her first reaction of seeing him is, "My, an intruder of master's Room of Pleasure? Are you perhaps wishing to have fun with me as well?"
"S-senpai…" Sakura pulls her head toward him, "What is this place…"
"This is your brother's Palace. This is how he views the school."
"P-Palace?" confusion seems to be clogging her brain right now.
Akira now pulls out a gun toward the yellow-eyed Sakura, "And that is how he sees you, as a lovesick servant apparently."
"Wh-no…" she whimpers, "I am not…"
Cognitive Sakura chuckles, mumbling, "I am no mere servant, intruder. I am Master Shinji's divine harlot. I fulfill his need when he needs it the most. I provide a moment of peace for him. I'll do everything for my own beloved master."
The real Sakura, on the other hand, mumbles, "I… I am not like that… I just… I just want my brother to be happy… he… he is a pitiful one…"
"Whatever, let's just get out of here first!"
Akira tries pulling her up and quickly runs out of there, but…
"What do we have here?"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Before the two, near the door, stands a man in a black suit stands before them, grinning at the two's sight, "Have you come here to indulge yourself within my special room?"
Cognitive Sakura seems to be overexcited by his presence, "Ah~, my master! Have you come to vent your frustration in me again? Please, do me as you please, like you always do. After all, a Wizard Marshall like you surely needs a time for himself."
"Fru-" the real Sakura is choking up, hearing this, "I… I do not want you to…"
Cognitive Shinji now steps downward, closing in toward the two, muttering toward them, "What about you two? Are you here to provide me the same entertainment? I do not play with boys, but a lady like you perhaps…"
Sakura can feels a strong glare toward her coming from her brother's mirror image, now hearing him whispering, "I can show you what you need in your life. All you need to do is to submit yourself to me."
Wha-
Is this… is this really how he sees her? As a servant for his… for his own pleasure?
What she did all this time… is not making him feel better of himself?
Sakura thought she was being nice to him this whole time, after all, he is not the one selected as their family's heir. After all, he can never be a magus as good as their grandfather.
Feeling sorry, she let him do whatever he pleases with herself. Maybe that way he won't feel bad for himself.
Is it not worth it? Is she just doing something stupid this whole time?
The harlot suddenly interrupts her mind, "If you want to have fun with that girl, what about me? Can I have that boy for myself?"
Shinji snickers, "Do whatever you wish. Your boy toy, Emiya couldn't even please you like I did. Look at him, rotten in the corner."
Her face quickly turn to the side-
Ah!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
!
Akira widens his eyes.
At the corner of the room, a red-haired figure in janitor outfit is seen rotting, with the worms eating him alive. His eyes look so empty that he barely reacts.
Wha- he sees Shirou as…
That guy even calls him his friend, and he sees him as…
Sakura looks like she just could accept the view. She is already fallen once more on the floor, this time sobbing with tears out from her eyes.
He really need to tell her about the whole 'cognitive' thing after this…
But more importantly, they need to get out of there fast!
CLICK!
BANG! BANG!
Shinji is startled by his shot, nearly falls of onto the floor as he glares at his assailant, "You… you dare attack me? You dare attacking the strongest magus himself? The future winner of the Holy Grail War? You should kneel before me if you wish to live longer!"
Akira glares at him, with his pistol still aims at him, "No. I'm here to save a friend of mine, and you are on my way."
"So be it," Shinji now stands up straight, "Lancer!"
He quickly jumps away, pushing Sakura off from their spot, evading chains near them.
(Un)fortunately, some of the worms get hit by the chains instead, squishing into a pool of blood before having their remain slowly greying and hardening, as if they have become a stone.
Akira quickly pulls himself up, "What kind of-"
But quickly pulling his knife, deflecting an attack from a scythe with smaller blade, held by a woman with long purple hair wearing a black hood.
The woman gives him a dangerous smile, "Hoh, your ability is good for a human. You will make a really good sculpture."
This woman is really strong. With their weapon locks in a struggle, she is still able to push him backward.
This woman… he can feel that she is a cognition of something inhuman… a Servant perhaps?
A Servant can also has a cognition within a Palace? That will be something to note for in the future.
But first…
"Trickster, do not stare into her eyes," Arsene warns him as he quickly jumps himself off from her.
Still with her smile, Lancer's hair is thrown and turning into snakes and later chains from before as he ducks away, dodging the hair as it stuck on the wall behind him.
She throws some more, trapping him with the walls of chains.
The chains now moving by themselves, flying toward him and ready to pounce onto him.
A god for a god!
"Anubis!"
The jackal-headed underworld god holding a scale appears before him, shooting out curses onto the chains, making them falls onto the floor.
Those chains must have been treated like living beings for them to actually feeling the effect of the attack.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Se-senpai…"
In her eyes, Kurusu-senpai is no longer an ordinary senpai before her.
Is he a Master for the grail war? He seems to have summoned what could be said as a Servant defending him.
But that Servant looks like Anubis, Egyptian god. He even calls him that.
A god shouldn't be able to be summoned as one, right?
She hears another from him, "Ose!"
Now Anubis disappears and a leopard man with two blades appears.
Two Servants!?
Too bad she isn't too focus on the fight between Lancer and her senior's Servant.
Her eyes are back toward her own favorite senpai's blank-looking body.
The other her approaches her, whispering close to her as she hugs her from behind, "You are attracted to this useless fool? He is a sad figure. He calls himself a hero and he can't even help himself out."
She… what is she…
"You should see his reaction when I told him how good my master is. He is filled with despair and hatred as I pin him on the bed, taking his life away from him~…"
"Would you let yourself be toyed by this imitation!?"
A… a voice…
Ah~! Her head hurts!
"Your love for him… is this all you have? Everything you did all this time… how can it be stomped into this pitiful state? Where is your resolve this whole time!?"
Her… resolve?
Yeah… her resolve…
She lives day by day inside this hell hole for the day when she can be together with her beloved, as promised. She even stops herself from confessing so that he won't be worried for what her brother did to her.
Her brother just threatened her to spill the secret onto him so that this will happen?
LIKE HELL SHE WILL LET HIM DO THAT!
NO MORE!
"Then, I am thou, thou art I. Let your desire trapped no longer, and free it away from those who bind it in the shackle!"
Elbowing the cognition off, she found a purple blindfold around her eyes.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
That Servant is no joke.
Ose, after so many buffs, still not hurting her much, thanks to her snake hairs and her eyes.
"Trickster, you won't be alone in this endeavor. Look!"
Hearing his Persona's word, he quickly turns around, seeing Sakura standing up with the purple blindfold around her.
She walks forward as if she can see through the blindfold, and slowly grabbing the blindfold and peels it off after some struggle.
Blood spill off from her eyes as she screams out loud.
Behind her, a purple-haired female figure in provocative white clothing with claws as hands, a huge snake as her tail, a pair of wings and a golden blindfold around her eyes appear floating.
Her clothes even changed, as she now wears a black skin tight outfit with black skit and purple lines all around her. Her eyes are now burning with blue flames.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Wha- what kind of magecraft is that!?" Shinji screams out in horror, "You two some weird magecraft here and there… are you trying to usurp my throne!? Everyone, kill them!"
Lancer now jumps off from the two, regrouping with two mages who slowly turning into two huge Slimes.
Sakura steps forward, moving close to Akira as she screams out at them, "Move, you disgusting creatures! Gorgon, destroy all of them!"
Both Ose and the newly formed Persona, Gorgon charge forward toward the enemies.
Ose quickly find himself surrounded by the slimes, getting himself occupied with the two Shadows while Gorgon goes to fight off Lancer.
"An impossibility…" Lancer mutters, looking at Gorgon as she goes to dodge the huge snake tail away, looking how her snakes are crushed even before they turn into chains.
Gorgon simply smirks at her, throwing a light spell at her as she is thrown off balance.
"Kill her, Lancer!" Shinji screams out in fear, "Do whatever you can to kill her! I'll allow everything!"
"Everything, you say?" the female now stands up, twirling her scythe around as she mutters, "Then, I shall drain your mana a bit for this…"
Lancer then charges forward, throwing her chains that are being evaded by Gorgon, who flies upward as she goes for an attack with her scythe, but got caught up by the Persona's hands instead.
"Cybele," she mutters, charging a beam formed around her eyes.
But then she is shot off from her enemy by a black beam, falling off onto the land on her feet with Gorgon flies back to her summoner.
Sakura now points her fingers, mumbling, "I… I never thought Gandr is a lot harder to do than it looks…"
"Neat range attack," Akira speaks up to her, shooting down slime as he jumps forward.
He brandishes his knife, striking down the slimes rapidly, making the two shoot out black blood out from their being as he stands with his back facing them.
Kurusu then turns to look at Sakura, "We shouldn't waste any more time."
Matou nods, now calling out to her Persona, "Gorgon, use Cybele!"
Lancer is startled by her word, now seeing Gorgon flies forward, shooting out her own eye beam toward her, forcing her to jump away as she keeps on shooting around.
Shinji quickly jumps down from the stair down into the basement to get away from the beam. Sadly, his hand isn't very lucky.
"M-My hand!" he screams out, laying down there as he holds onto his hand, which is now turning grey.
Akira quickly jumps forward, shooting Lancer off from them as the two regroup, running forward toward the door above.
Not wasting any more time, they move on and out from the door, leaving the mansion as quickly as possible with Akira turning off the app.
The two are back inside their school outfit, as Sakura looks around clueless, seeing her front, "We are… back in school…"
She breathes heavily, with sweats all over her body as she mumbles, "Senpai… what was that just now? Did I… Did I summoned another Servant?"
Another?
"I… I just did… I…"
"Let's go home first," the trickster stands up, offering his hand toward her, "You can stay in my home tonight. I'm sure it is far too dangerous for you to return home right now."
"I…" she seems hesitate, staring straight at him.
"Don't worry. I'll keep everything happened in there a secret. Besides, now that you have summoned a Persona like I do, there're lots of stuff I need to tell you."
His hand is still offered to her, as she keeps hesitating to accept it.
But then she looks back to the school, remembering everything he may have seen in that strange building and how he, even after knowing a lot, still helping her out from there.
Slowly, she smiles at him, grabbing his hand as he helps her standing up.
"Ah," she somehow slips, quickly being caught by him on his side.
"Easy there. Your body is still adapting with your newfound ability, so you are a bit tired right now. Let's go, I'll cook us dinner tonight."
Sakura is startled by his sudden word, by smiling again as she is being helped in returning home.
The two didn't even realized how a certain blonde figure is staring at them both.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jeanne stares at the two as they slowly disappear from her sight, now turning back toward the school as she approaches the gate.
"The Fool just did something and disappears along with the girl. It looks like a Reality Marble, but something feels off. What was that just now? What happened in there?"
She keeps on peering on the gate, mumbling, "I can feel a faint of battle happened. It's there, but it's not there…"
The blonde turns back, looking at where the two students had gone to, now whispering to herself, "I may need to ask him myself…"
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
At an airport, two figures are seen walking toward the exit with their briefcases on the trolleys.
One of them is a blonde figure in black suit, while the other one is a white-haired female in white coat.
"Master of Saber, I presume?" a female voice calls her out as she startles, looking to her side alongside the one in suit.
Beside them is a grey-haired man in black coat and a pink-haired woman in blue kimono.
The pink-haired woman bows at the two, muttering, "It is nice to meet you, fellow Servant of Blue. I am Caster of Blue and this is my Master, who is also my father."
"Caster," the grey-haired man mutters, "I've told you before, I am not your father."
"And you still unable to explain his life I detected inside your being. If anything, you are his reincarnation."
The man simply sighs, now turning toward the white-haired woman, "We shall be meeting tonight at the castle nearby, right? Then, please excuse both of us."
He drags his Servant along, pushing his own trolley as the two make ways toward the exit.
"Who is that, Iri?"
The two pair that were left now turning to their back, seeing a man, black haired and in a suit, wondering as she responds, "It's Caster of Blue and her Master."
"I see. We will be meeting tonight at the castle. We should all go and be prepared for everyone's arrival."
This chapter ends here.
Anybody that can figure out Caster can automatically figure out her Master (if you know Japanese creation myth, that is)
Hint: He is a Persona character
Sorry, guys. Never thought I'll be writing a really long scene for the Palace's introduction that the meeting for Masters did not take place here. Maybe next time.
About Sakura and her Persona, I am very sorry if you think I am making original creation for a Persona. Making Original Persona is a lot harder than OC. Besides, Gorgon is already looking inhuman enough to pass off as one.
Sakura's outfit… well… I basically turned her into Sakurider (google it). I was going to turn her into Dark Sakura, but that blindfold just not fit with that outfit. Still not sure about her melee weapon, but Gandr is going to be ranged weapon. I don't think that spell takes tons of prana and well, cognitive Gandr can be a thing…
…pleasedon'tkillme…
Shadow Shinji's outfit is pretty much him in Zelretch outfit. I am bad at description.
If you think Cognitive Sakura is over-sexualized, you must be one of those pleb who didn't watch/read Heaven's Feel yet.
I still need more suggestions for Master-Servant pair up, and it is not necessarily needs to be Palace potential. I just said that if you guys can think of one. Next chapter will be introducing Masters of Blue and their Servants, so I'll be needing suggestions for the Master-Servant pairs because I am truly running out of the idea. Some for the Red team is also very nice.
Positions left for Masters and Servants of Blue are Assassin and Berserker. The Red team still has only Lancer.
Do not complain if you don't like MY choices of Masters and Servants.
Guest: Shinji won't be having a Persona. Do you really want to know what a rapist's Persona looks like? Also, I'm not Shirou is a constant self-depreciation kind of guy. He is more of "I want to be a hero so you should stay put like a damsel in distress, Saber"
Isame Kuroda: Yeah, P5 hero definitely needs more love. About Sakura, she seems more of Strength, considering I pulled her from Heaven's Feel, so her despair is way too much to consider Sun Arcana's upbeat and cheerful characters. What do you think?
deaddragon42: I like your way of thinking
speedy24: Can a demon become a Master, though? Meh, why not?