SHITE! THE MAIN CHARACTER HAD BEEN KIDNAPPED! NOW WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO?
/= [DAY 110] =/
The minute they confirmed Charice missing, the whole group went insane. The survivors quickly assembled a meeting with Yong Soo and Erika while their group went around to look around the school without alerting too much attention. No one had to say anything about the tension in the room: Li Xiao was the embodiment of it.
"God, why Charice out of all people?" Alfred slammed the table. "That just breaks any type of connection that these people could have!"
"The only thing that I can think of is that perhaps Rizal threatened the murderer and they took Charice as a hostage to him?"
"That would mean that they would want something from Rizal." Arthur stated.
"But what would they want?" Erika asked. She seemed extremely anxious.
"I don't know…Rizal breaks the chain of just about every theory we have!" Arthur stood up. "This is bullshit! What is he going at here?"
"…there's probably not a pattern at all." Kiku stated. "Maybe this is a manhunt, picking off whoever he wants."
"So anyone's a target now." Yong Soo sighed, leaning back on his chair. "This is horrible, da ze. If anyone's a target, how are we going to know who he wants next?"
"Maybe he has a pattern now before going into the manhunt." Gilbert stated. "Get all the strong nations out of the way before he starts shooting up the building."
"That would mean that Rizal would have to be the biggest threat that the murderer has." Kiku stated. "How would that work, if he is not one of us?"
"…could it be that he doesn't know anything about the other world?" Feliciano asked. "That he's just killing them off without any knowledge of that other place."
"If that's true, then he would've found out already. All his victims are turning up alive; that would at least bring up some suspicion." Francis answered. "He would've found that world and at least used it somehow."
"Either that or stopped…" Feliciano looked down.
"That is a good point." Alfred stated. "He would've found out about the other world…and even then killing us would've been hard. We fall back on that place when we die."
"Yeah…" Kiku stated.
"I have a recommendation." Erika looked up. "What if, instead of trying to find the next victim of the line, we try to find out who the killer is now?"
"That'll take even longer. The threat here is now." Gilbert spat.
"Hear me out. Perhaps if we find out who the killer is, he'll lead you guys to where he's hiding them."
"That's a good idea…but we don't have time." Arthur stated. "We have to know who the next guy is so that we can corner him when he's in the middle of the attack."
"You can forget about that. He took his next victim already."
Everyone looked to the door to see Roderich and an extremely worried Elizabeta at the doorway. The Austrian propped up his glasses, glared at the Prussian for a few seconds, and then took a breath before sitting himself at the head of the table (much to Yong Soo's displeasure).
"We've been asking around. Antonio Fernandez Carriedo hasn't been seen since last night."
"Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?"
Li Xiao paused.
"He got his next victim already? Crap! That means we have no chance of finding him today!" Alfred slammed the table. "Shit!"
"Ve~~~~! Wh-what are we going to do now?" Feliciano panicked. "M-maybe we should go with Erika's proposal and try to find out the murderer?"
"But there's no pattern to them!" Gilbert stated. "Where could a pattern possibly be?"
"There is one."
They turned to Li Xiao, whose eyes began to shine with enlightenment. The room sank into a rather deafening silence as the Chinese man looked at everyone, obviously trying to collect his thoughts for a good explanation to give the rest of them. He opted for standing at this point.
"Look at all the victims that he targeted this entire time. Here we were trying to find a pattern for all of the ones who had fallen in the other world, but not everyone is a victim here."
"Yeah. Most of us went in on our own terms." Alfred stated.
"That's not what I meant. Despite what we thought, there are only four victims, not six."
"Four?" Gilbert blinked.
"W-which four?"
"All we have to do is weed out the unimportant information in order to find the truth. And when we do, we get four victims in all." Li Xiao lifted up his fingers. "Kiku Honda…Arthur Kirkland…Gilbert Beillschmidt…and Feliciano Vargas."
"Just those four?" Alfred blinked.
"B-but what about me?" Matthew stood up. "And Ludwig, too!"
"…I'm sorry, my head is racing and I kinda forgot your name…"
"M-Matthew…"
"Right, sorry. I think you weren't a victim to start with. In fact, I don't think you even saw the murderer with your own eyes." Li Xiao stated. "Carlos and I were Shadow Hunters before we entered this school, and there's a chance that when you were exposed to his dead body he awoke your ability to open portals to the other world. You falling into the Shadow's Realm can be ruled as just a poor possession of your abilities."
"I-I see…Carlos…" Matthew sank back into his seat.
"As for Ludwig, we already stated that he was a decoy for us to handle while he took over his next victim: Feliciano." He pointed at the shivering Italian. "But what if he wasn't supposed to be a decoy at all?"
"Say what now?" Gilbert got off the wall.
"Not supposed to be a decoy?" Francis blinked.
"If he was supposed to be one, he would've been massacred as horribly as the rest of the four I just named. But he wasn't. While it looked that way, we've concluded that he was killed through a single slash through the throat. That is usually a merciful way of killing someone, as it shuts them up almost immediately." He stated. "Why would he want to change his killing methods?"
"Because he wanted to get to Feliciano as quickly as he could?" Alfred asked.
"If you ask me, he did that because he was expecting to meet up with Feliciano and ended up seeing Ludwig instead." Roderich leaned forward. "If you're taking a surprise attack into account, then that explanation isn't that far off."
"A surprise attack, right…" Li Xiao nodded. "So that rules out Ludwig for being a victim. That leaves the four that I named."
"We have to find out what's in common with those four." Elizabeta looked at the four of them. "Is there anything?"
"They're all men." Francis started.
"If it hadn't been for Kiku, they would've all been European nations." Alfred stated. "Hm…wait a minute."
"W-what is it, brother?"
"What if we're looking at the wrong similarities?" Alfred stated. "What if the only thing connecting these guys together is the murderer having a grudge on them?"
That snapped Li Xiao's mind together.
"Arthur."
"Y-yes?"
"That magic cult place of yours…" He looked up. "Does it have any type of Middle Age weaponry in there?"
"It adds to the horror of the place." He answered, folding his arms. "We have swords, axes, everything that the world used, we have-"
"…shit!"
They were about to say something when they saw Li Xiao slam the table and dash out of the door in a hurry.
/=+=/
"Hey! Slow down, Li Xiao! Rushing will not help you find Charice!"
"That's not what I'm rushing for! I got everything now!" He called back. "Now hurry up and tell me where your summoning rooms are!"
"They're on the other side of the school…" Arthur stomped after him. "What the hell are you going at here?"
"What Alfred said is right. These kidnappings, these murders…they're all just one big grudge waiting to explode! All four of them have ticked off the murderer in one way or another, and the kidnapping is just something to calm his nerves." Li Xiao stated. "He's not killing the kidnapped victims, at least not yet."
"What do you mean?" Roderich was having a hard time catching up.
"He's going to kill one of them, just to add to the victim murder list, and then make sure that we never find the body. He's going to throw him into the other world, body and soul." Li Xiao concluded. "Out of all the victims, who do you think is going to be the one most likely to die?"
"How are we supposed to know?" Gilbert stated. "If he holds a grudge against any of these guys, it's gotta be bruder! He killed him once and kidnapped him, right?"
"That's what I thought, but because he had a merciful death I ruled him out. Rizal can be ruled out too because he would usually handle an issue this big before it blew up into this." Li Xiao turned a corner and headed down stairs. "How many hallways?"
"About a few kilometers before we go to the basement- what are you going at here?"
"…I think I know who the killer is."
/=+=/
"You do? How, da ze?"
"Just shut up and let me talk! We have to take a look at the victims' back stories if you want to get it." Li Xiao ran down the hallway. "Japan, a powerful nation that was a military run government during World War II. England, a kingdom that had colonies all over the place stretching all over the globe. Prussia, another powerful kingdom with German ties and separated after World War II. Italy…well, your military history has nothing to do with this."
"Ve~?"
"The reason why I haven't figured out who the kidnapper was is because he made a mistake…a big one that ended up hampering us in the process." He pointed his finger up. "He never wanted to kidnap Lovino at all. That wasn't his plan."
"It wasn't?" Francis blinked.
"No. He wanted Feliciano instead."
"M-me?" Feliciano shivered. "B-but why-?"
"He must've been rushing or something, but he ended up with your brother by accident. That's the only explanation I can come up with if he got Ludwig with him as well." Li Xiao found the staircase. "If we replace Lovino with Feliciano on the list, we see the grudge that spells this all out."
"What is that, then?" Kiku asked.
"…jealousy." Li Xiao looked around. "Is this the door, Arthur?"
"Yeah…seriously, what are you doing here?"
"The final victim he wanted to kill…he's in here. I'm sure of it."
The door swung open, revealing that the entire room was quiet and that there were some exorcist-like things around the area. A few of them seemed a little creeped out (much to Arthur's displeasure), but they were forced to follow Li Xiao as he went to the center of the room and looked around.
"The murderer was looking toward this day all his life…he wanted this man dead no matter what…and he wanted him to suffer every minute of it…that's why he took it out of the people he was just a little mad at, just to test out different killing techniques." Li Xiao turned his head again. "But once he found out the one European machine that does that for him, he couldn't dishonor the pleasure of using it…"
"What are you talking about…?" Elizabeta asked.
"…don't you guys smell that at all?"
They all paused for a few minutes before they saw Li Xiao stomp toward another corridor in the creepy room until he found the armory, filled with all the weapons and magic items of the known world. He stormed through all of them before he stood in front of what he was looking for: an Iron Maiden. That's when they smelled it.
"Ack! I found it, da ze!" Yong Soo shivered.
"God, what reeks?" Alfred held his nose.
"The final victim."
Li Xiao finally found the level to unlock the machine and pried opened the door. Everyone screamed at that point as they saw a figure chained to the machine and his head strapped to the back. In his chest were huge gaping holes, dripping blood that had been extracted from the spikes in the Iron Maiden. The sounds of panic woke him up, and he looked weakly at the Chinese man that barely saved his life.
"…Li Xiao."
"Antonio."
"Ve~~~! Antonio!"
Feliciano quickly ran forward and unlocked all the ties as Gilbert caught the Spaniard in his arms. Erika dropped to her knees and lifted her hands as a pixie appeared behind her and desperately tried to heal all the wounds in his body. As that was going on, Antonio looked up at the man who found him.
"You saw the murderer, didn't you?"
"…I can't believe it…I just…can't believe it."
"Believe it. He's the one behind all of this." Li Xiao stated. "Did he escape?"
"…he went into one of the portals." Antonio pointed at the portal in the middle of the room. "He said he was planning on throwing me in there…"
"So he's in the other world?" Alfred blinked.
"As well as all the other victims." Li Xiao shook his head. "Is everyone ready?"
"I have to come with…" Antonio stood up. "I…I have to find out why…why he'd do this…"
"But Antonio…"
"It's fine, Feliciano. Please don't worry about me."
"…ve…"
"We'll do the original group separation." Alfred swung his finger around. "Yong Soo, you and your guys make sure that nothing leaks out. We're going to go after the murderer."
"…all right, da ze."
"Please be careful." Roderich looked at all of them.
"…of course." Li Xiao stated. "Ready?"
"Ready." Kiku nodded.
"Ve…Li Xiao, who's the murderer?"
"…you know already."
They all went to the middle of the room as Matthew leaned into the portal and opened a large circle for everyone to go through. Li Xiao took a few breaths before taking the first jump in, and the others watched as they all jumped in with great haste. The last one to go in was Matthew, wondering who Li Xiao was pinning as the murderer.
/=+=/
And here's a rather interesting note: Charice is not the protagonist. She is only a point of view between the actual two conflicts. Besides, a true Persona protagonist is rather emotionless, usually a male, and will almost always have a bittersweet if not extremely bitter ending.
Guess who the protagonist is?