Sae had lost track of the number of times she had thought she was going to die. A car running a traffic light and nearly crushing her, a defendant swearing revenge after she put them away. Those terrible moments in Okaba's office. Risk of life and limb was something you accepted as either a prosecutor or a defense attorney. She didn't fear death now. The Shadow couldn't kill her without destroying itself. But watching the streets run with blood while the rest of the world moved on uncaring had taught her that there were things worse than death. Things she couldn't fight. She swallowed a whimper.

Leviathan grabbed a half-filled champagne glass. "Stop staring. Don't you remember Mom saying your face would freeze like that? You can't possibly believe that a little thing like shutting down one flesh peddler would convince me to abandon you?" Her lips twisted into a sneer as she gestured to Akira. "The boy threw a fireball at me, and I'm still here. Because I am so much stronger than either of you."

"I remember." There was no trace of fear in Akira's voice, but the color had drained from his face, and he seized Sae's fingers in a death grip. "I remember you being a self-righteous little brat who threw temper tantrums when she lost. Why are you here? You promised you were going to be good and fight for justice."

Sae's mind unfroze. Leviathan has said someon had done an admirable job of re-creating something. The Dark Hour? Which would imply a time limit. If she could run out the clock, maybe Leviathan would vanish again of her own accord. "I'd like to know that myself. Because I have tried to fight for justice. Makoto doesn't hate me." She ran a thumb over Akira's hand. "I'm happier than I've ever been. So why am I being tormented now? Why is Akira having those hallucinations?"

"Tormenting you? I told you before. I'm trying to save you. This happiness is transitory. All happiness is." Real pain flashed in her eyes. "All it takes is one thug with a knife having too much to drink and your life is shattered into pieces. You just barely put yourself back together when Dad died. You think you can survive your heart being broken a second time? Power and pleasure are the only things that matter."

Akira relaxed. "Is that it? You're afraid of being hurt?" He looked at Sae. "I'm not going to break your heart."

"Of course you are. Parents divorced because your dad slept with anything in a skirt and your mom couldn't take it anymore. They still can't stand to be in the same room for more than ten minutes. The white knight overcompensation is charming, but we all know that the best predictor of success in a relationship is your parents. You don't know how to be in a relationship when it isn't grand gestures."

Akira flinched as if he had been struck, and a queasy feeling slathered over Sae's fear. She had made it her business to know everything about the delinquent drawing her sister into his world, and it had been easy enough to get the file. His father hadn't even bothered to hide his contempt for either mother or son by the end. Sojiro was still half-pining over a dead woman. No good models for a stable relationship. "I like beating the odds," he said.

"It's why you never pushed. Not chivalry. I knew." Her gaze returned to Sae. "And you knew. You are a miserable, prickly workaholic who will never change. You love his little romantic speeches because you would rather hear the lie that you matter." Her voice switched to falsetto. "'Oh, my empress, let me give you adventures and an outlet for your dominatrix fantasies and let you pretend to be a hero." She snarled. "You make me sick, that both of you, lying to yourselves."

Sae went very quiet and very still. Something was wrong here. Very wrong. These were softball insults. "You aren't telling me anything I don't tell myself when you're not in my head. I know what my life was like before. I know what your salvation looks like. And you know I know. And you know that I hated when I became you."

"Bravo." She applauded. "You were right that we only have a limited amount of time. I'm sure Mitsuru and Akihiko are going to be returning from whatever hidden armory they have armed to the teeth and brandishing those Evokers of theirs. Meanwhile, the entity who was gracious enough to rouse me from your head has been getting into position."

"Entity? What entity?"

"I'm sure your precious Akira could tell you all about him. So could the human cowering in the corner. I do so hate violence. Are you sure you won't give up this madness?"

Right now, you're useless to me. "I'd rather die."

Leviathan tsked. "Oh, you won't. But you'd be astonished what you can live through." She flickered and, just for a moment, Sae saw the thing she had only known from Makoto and Akira's stories and brief flashes: an armored figure with ragged gray hair peeking out of a demon-faced helm and wielding a jagged sword and battered missile launcher. That was what she really was? But just as quickly, the demon vanished. "We have always craved power, you and I. The differences is that I actually have it."

"Some power." Akira glared at her. "I mopped the floor with you last time."

"Details. And it's not as if you have a chance since you're both unarmed, and you're too afraid of my partner to summon your Persona. Oh, there's an idea!" Her eyes glowed the same way their father's had when he announced a break in a case over dinner. "I prefer games anyway. Alas, we'll have to do without the casino. Round one: 'Would You Rather?' Tell me which fate you would prefer. And be warned, not choosing will earn you the penalty."

She snapped her fingers and dark formless masses appeared on the floor, with masks in the center. Shadows. They slithered toward Sae and Akira, slowly, shifting and changing and solidifying as they moved into snake-like creatures. There was none of the fear or bravado Akira had told her the demons of Mementos possessed, not even intelligence. But they could kill just as easily. One of the snakes hissed, and the sound of rushing wind filled Sae's ears as she went sailing backwards onto the stone. A sharp, spiking pain flooded her, and her vision wavered and doubled. Akira screamed her name and there was another blast of wind before he too was sent sprawling.

"Did I say that attacking me was one of the options? You do not want to see the penalty for breaking the rules when I have my other self right here. Unless you want to explain to Makoto why she had a stroke?"

Sae breathed in and tasted blood in her mouth. Her thoughts galloped over each other as panic shattered the orderly process of her mind. Got to get out of here. No way to fight. Was I that cruel? We're going to die here. She lied, and we're going to die here.

"Oh, be quiet. I'm a woman of my word." Leviathan stepped forward until she loomed over Sae's field of vision and hauled her roughly to her knees. Execution style. Dad had died on his knees, they'd told her. "Option one, and not my preference. My minions issue another blast of wind. It should be enough to send you over the railing and plummeting to the street. You survive, barely. A paralyzed husk who spends her remaining years in a nursing home. You'll have no choice but to remember how weak you are."

Akira spat and hauled himself into a sitting position. "What the hell is wrong with you? You were a self-righteous jackass before, not a sadist!"

"Drastic measures." She sounded almost sad. "You made her world—my world—so much bigger. You made us believe in things like love and justice. She's actually starting to believe in happy endings. That she's a hero. And I can't allow that lie to stand. I'm the real one, not this empress you cooked up. Bitter, abusive. You are in love with a lie."

Akira reached for Sae. "Don't listen to her."

"Oh, God. You actually do love her. You're besotted. I never thought—it doesn't matter." She swallowed and through the haze, Sae thought she saw Leviathan's eyes flash brown. "She must remember what she is. Option two, then, if you want to be her knight in shining armor. Save her, because she can't save herself. Summon your Persona. Those Shadows shouldn't be any trouble for the Phantom Thief Of Hearts. Of course, there will be consequences. Make your choice in three..."

Consequences. Unnamed. The perfect tool of prosecutor looking to make a deal that wasn't in the suspect's interest. "Let me fall. I told you, I'm not worth it. I choose option one." It would be all right. Maybe a grand sacrifice would finally even the score.

"I wasn't asking you. You will never be anything more than someone who needs saving in this world. Two..."

Akira squared his shoulders. "What kind of consequences?"

"Fighting for your lives, for one thing. We have to get you back in practice."

She and Akira looked at each other. His mouth was bleeding the same as hers, but his eyes were hard. She had seen that before, on Christmas Eve, and she knew. It wasn't even about love, really. Joker would always choose to risk himself rather than someone else. Romantic fool. "You know my answer."

Maybe that was why she loved him, too.

Blue flame engulfed them both, so bright that Sae had to shield her eyes. When she could see again, it wasn't quite Akira staring back at her. The white mask obscured his eyes as much as the glasses ever did. His coat whipped in the wind and the brass buttons of his shirt shone even in the haze. The blood on his lip was gone, and the lower half of his face was set. A man who could kill with a thought, and would, if he had to.

He clutched the mask. "Satanael!"

He had told her, of course, about the blood, how there was always a price to be paid when summoning the innermost parts of yourself. But actually seeing the blood dripping from his eyes was different. Sae recoiled. And his awakening had been worse? There was another flash of blue light and the thing that must have been Satanael appeared. It was taller even than Leviathan's true form, nearly scraping the ceiling. Its eyes glowed with blue fire, and six great wings, half burned away, erupted from its back. It lifted its enormous gun and fired twice. The snakes vanished into the flame. It aimed at Leviathan's heart.

"Thank you for that," Akira said. His voice was deeper than Sae had ever heard it. "I'd forgotten what a rush that was. And if I could mop the floor with you last time and I took down a god since then, just how long do you think you'll make it?"

And to think they had been worried because she made more money. He had surpassed her long ago, the way a race car surpassed a snail. He could have taken her heart with a snap of his fingers; only his master plan and Makoto's faith in what good remained in Sae had prevented it. The man before her could do as he pleased.

"You still can't shoot me." There was a tremor in Leviathan's voice now. "You've given up too much to make her a vegetable." Her gaze found Sae's. "You begin to understand. You will never be his equal. You will never belong in this world. I'll be back for round two in a few minutes. Enjoy the breather. It's the last one you'll be getting for a long time." And with that, she vanished.

Sae doubled over. Her breath came in horse pants and a burning nausea filled her stomach. The stone was rough under her fingers and she could still taste of blood in her mouth. This was real. She wasn't hallucinating the demon hovering a few feet away. Akira was the Phantom again. She had almost died. On her knees, like her father. And more shadows were coming.

"Sae?" Akira shuffled forward. The skin she could see was pale and gaunt. "Are you all right?" His voice was his own again.

She looked up at him and shuddered. "You..." Her voice cracked and she hated herself for her weakness. "What have you done?"

"I couldn't let her hurt you." His gaze followed hers to where Satanael still stood at attention. "I guess that was a bit much. Sorry. He snapped his fingers, and Satanael vanished. He touched her lip. "You're bleeding."

"So are you." Their gazes met, the lawyer and the Wild Card. Tears stung Sae's eyes. No, she would not cry. A Niijima did not fall apart. She tried to stand, but her legs wobbled, and her back screamed in protest. Sae grunted. "You're going to have to help me up."

But instead of offering her in his hand, Akira touched her on the shoulder. Warmth and strength filled her as the pain slithered away. She felt younger, stronger. Even the fear curdled in her gut seemed distant, as if she were feeling it for someone else. She stood. "What was that?"

"Healing. I'm not as good as Makoto, but it'll keep you going." He seized the railing, and it was his turn to double over and retch. Sae grabbed him by the shoulders and held him as he shuddered. "Sorry," he said between coughs. "I forgot how much this takes out of me."

"If we survive this, I am going to strangle you. You make some kind of deal with the devil to save me, and then you almost kill yourself from exhaustion! If you're going to make stupid, romantic gestures, at least pace yourself!"

"Romantic gestures are all I know how to do, remember?" he said quietly. "On a scale of one to 'shut the hell up,' how pissed off are you?"

Trust him to be witty even now. "That depends on the consequences." The fear broke through and filled her. Consequences. Even she had read enough stories about men who made deals with the devil to save the women they loved. "Leviathan said she had a partner that was moving into position. Is that thing in your head?"

"No!" He stilled, listening. "I don't hear anything and I feel normal besides the whole nausea thing. Maybe it was just her way of screwing with us. She always liked big talk." He sobered. "But she didn't threaten to cripple people either. She's...darker. What the hell's going on?"

"I don't know. Maybe we can ask Morgana when we're not trapped in a room full of coffins with no weapons and Shadows on the way." She breathed in and out. Don't panic. Don't think about what it means for your Shadow to be worse than before. Don't think about what's going to happen to Akira. "She mentioned something about an armory. Do you have to be a Persona user for weapons to work on Shadows?"

"Not if it works the same way it did in the Metaverse. It just has to look realistic. You're not seriously thinking…"

She kicked off her heels. "I am thinking that I have had enough of being a damsel in distress for one night. If I die, it's not going to be because I didn't try." Anything was better than being on her knees and watching someone she loved bargain for her. "There must be some kind of backup power here. The Kirijos supposedly used all kinds of gadgets during the Dark Hour. Help me look. And where the hell are Mitsuru and Akihiko?"

"Are you leaving?" asked a trembling voice in English. "Please don't leave me here alone with those things!"

Sae rounded, and Akira put his fingers on the mask. Professor King huddled under the buffet table, shivering and surrounded by coffins. He stank of urine. He looked up at Sae and whimpered again. "You...that other one looked like you. Are you going to kill me?"

"Nobody is killing anybody." Akira knelt and touched Professor King on the shoulder just as he had Sae. King rolled from under the table and stood, pale but steady. "Are you all right?"

"Aside from humiliating myself, yes. Those were actual Shadows? All my research… I never dreamed that I would actually see one. And one powerful enough to have a human form." He looked at Sae again, but the way the boys in school who liked butterflies too much looked at their specimens. "Your Shadow? You must have some powerful repressed emotions. Perhaps suicidal ideation? Or maybe sexual repression, given her attire?"

"I liked him better when he was terrified." She crossed her arms. "About that armory. Or an escape route."

Akira bowed his head. His voice was robotic. "Three floors down. That's where Mitsuru and Akihiko are. There were lots of Shadows there, but not anymore. But they were very powerful, a lot more powerful than what I killed."

Sae stared at him. "Is there anything you can't do?"

"In a cognitive world?" His voice had a slight reverb again. "No. Healing, limited clairvoyance, increased agility. Plus fire, wind, and whatever else you can think of." He shuddered. "Paying for it is something else. Professor, can you give us a minute? The floor should be clear."

"But to do all that… you'd have to be the Wild Card. Why didn't you tell me?" He looked between Akira and Sae. "Oh. Yes, I'll just make myself inconspicuous and try not to die."

Akira braced himself against the wall. His skin was paler still. "I wish I could tell you to hide somewhere." His smile was tight. "Is this how you felt about the million yen? At best—at best—you are just going to be buying time to run away. And that's if you can get a hit in in the first place. I don't know where Leviathan dredged up the idea that you're weak, but you're not. You don't have to fight to prove it. Or offer to be thrown twelve stories."

"And you could have let me. You're rubbing off on me. But I am not letting that goth reject have the last word. I'll be exactly as careful as you would be in my place."

"That's comforting."

"Think about that the next time you want to do something romantic and stupid." She threaded his gloved fingers with her bare ones. Words were weapons, tools, and armor all in one. It was one thing to tell him he mattered when demons plagued him, harder to do it now. "But the other things Leviathan said..." Sae's throat was dry, and she swallowed. "There are things we need to talk about if we make it through, but I want you to know that you aren't the only one who's besotted."

"Besotted. Right." The color flooded back to his cheeks, and Akira stood straighter. He kissed her, the edges of his mask scraping against her skin. "You'd better not die, Empress. That's an order from your field leader."

"Roger that, Joker."

"You two are looking better," Professor King said when they collected him. "Also, I think I'm going to be sick again."

"Easy." Akira looked at her. "We will get through this."

They found Mitsuru and Akihiko right where Akira had set they would be. Mitsuru's hair had come loose, and Akihiko's jacket was torn. Despite that, Mitsuru held a fencing rapier with the same ease she held her wine glass. She nodded to them. "Good, you made it out of there. I'm sorry we couldn't help immediately, but I don't normally carry my Evoker on my person anymore. A serious security oversight." She looked around. "But what is all this?"

"We were hoping you could tell us," Akira said. "Isn't this the Dark Hour?"

"No." Akihiko's face was grim. "The colors are all wrong. And we never had to deal with a sentient Shadow, not then anyway. It's like a bad copy."

Professor King paled "A corruption?"

He knows something. "Leviathan spoke of a partner. It –I—never had this kind of power over the Palace. What kind of being would copy something that had already come to an end?"

"You think these pitiful deductions will save you?" Leviathan's voice echoed through the hallway. "Choose your weapons and place your bets! It's time for round two!"

"Weapons. Yes." Mitsuru tapped the wall and it swung away to reveal a half-full armory. "Take what you need, Mr. Kurusu."

"Ladies first." Akira stepped back on rubbery legs and allowed Sae to pass.

"But she doesn't have a Persona!" Akihiko blinked. "Does she?"

"But it's her Shadow. I'm not turning anyone down when we're a man short."

Sae stepped into the armory. Anything could work, as long as it like it could hurt. Swords, knives, clubs, pistols. Sweat formed on her palms. Akira was right. This was stupid. The closest thing she had to combat training was a yellow belt in judo and playing Duck Hunt as a child.

Leviathan, inside her head now. That's right, weakling. Just sit back and let the boy save you. Until the day comes that he can't. I hear they take wonderful care of paralytics these days.

Sae gritted her teeth and saw it. An airsoft UHP. The side-arm of the detectives who were the best of the best. Her father's service weapon. Her fingers closed around the grip. I am not who I was before. I am proud of him.

Sentimentalist. The boy is rotting your brain. But when Akira had retrieved a small switchblade and handgun, Leviathan's voice boomed once more. "Now that you're armed, round two can begin. The game is simple. You have until the end of the Dark Hour to find my partner somewhere in Port Island. Succeed and you win your heart's desire. Fail, and history repeats. You have thirty-one minutes. Starting… now!"

"Suggestions?" Mitsuru asked. "We have Shadow scanning equipment, and I can provide limited support, but that leaves us with only two Persona users and two civilians." She sniffed. "And I'm assuming the professor is in no condition to fight."

"I'd happily stay here."

Akira put his fingers to his temple again. "I don't think that's going to be an option. Shadows, on our six and closing fast. Strong ones."

"We don't have time for pointless fights." Mitsuru grimaced. "We're going to have enough trouble making it to wherever we need to go on foot. I wish my motorcycle wasn't the only working transportation."

"Maybe it isn't. And maybe Mitsuru doesn't need to leave the fight." It was the craziest idea she had ever had. Akira really was rubbing off on her. "Is there some way to get a message out? A signal someone several blocks away will see?"

"There's a beacon near the top of the tower. Are you saying you brought another Persona user with you?"

"Yeah. The cat." Akira fidgeted. "I know it sounds weird but—"

"Ours was a dog."

This world is completely insane. Sae had no more time for conscious thought because the black masses of Shadows rounded the corner. They shifted and changed. More snakes, golden this time and almost as tall as she was. Her hand trembled as she squeezed the trigger. The snake closest to her hissed as if in pain. It had worked. It had actually worked. She could defend herself.

"I wouldn't call it 'defending yourself' as much as I would 'making it mad,'" Leviathan boomed. "I'd hate for this to end so quickly because you spent everything on the grunts."

"She has a point. Elevator's just around the corner."

"But what do we do about the snakes?"

"Leave them to me." Mitsuru raised the Evoker just as Sae had, but instead of pointing it at the snakes, pointed it at her own temple. A scream bubbled in Sae's throat, but no sound came out. She was going to...oh God. Mitsuru fired and gasped as if in fear or pain. A shape nearly the size of Satanael filled the hallway. Vaguely feminine, with skin the color of steel and a black dress that was all sharp edges. It and Mitsuru raised their hands and ice whizzed by and struck the snakes. A sound like discordant violins filled the air. Screaming. Ice covered the unnatural scales, and the serpents shattered into pieces.

Sae opened her mouth and closed it again. This...this was what fighting Shadows was. This was what Makoto had done for months without telling her? What Sae had unleashed on her in the Palace? Her knees wobbled dangerously. Makoto and Akira had said their work had become terrifying after Okumura's death, but how had they lasted that long in this world of monsters?

Because they are so much stronger than you.

Akira's arms came around her. "It's okay," he whispered. Then, to Mitsuru, "You shoot yourself in the head?"

"It's not bullets. More like injecting yourself with psychological trauma."

Professor King retched, and Sae stumbled toward the elevator. Akira kept his arm around her as the car sped upward. Sae barely resisted slumping against him. The visible half of his face was still ashen, and Mitsuru and Akihiko's jaws were set. Soldiers all of them. So was she, even if she was the new recruit trying not to vomit. Police academies turned out hundreds of those every year, who still managed to do their jobs and wait till they got home to fall apart. When the doors opened and they stepped out into the starlight and wind of the control tower, she swept the pistol back and forth and checked her corners like a good officer.

Nothing. She tensed. The tower was cramped, with no obvious way down except for the elevator. Exactly where she would have placed an ambush. The others seemed to realize it too because Akira put his hands to his temples. "Nothing up here. She must want us to send the signal."

Of course. "No fun if we run out of time because we don't have transportation." It was a good way to break a suspect, let them taste the possibility of freedom and then reveal how they never had a chance.

The lights flashed in Morse code: Mona, help. Sae just hoped Morgana was awake to see it. "So we just take the elevator back down and—"

A roar filled the air, and the ground shook beneath them. Sae braced herself against the railing as Akira was knocked into her. The doors to the elevator buckled as metal screamed on metal. The...thing that floated in the doorway was black and shriveled, with red slits where the eyes should be. It smelled like rotting flesh. Professor King screamed and whimpered.

She was a soldier now. Sae fired once, twice. The bullets bounced off as if the thing wore armor. "Courage is the name fools give to death." Leviathan's voice was acid. "Just like Father. Run or die."

"Is this your partner?" Akira shouted to the darkness. "Somehow I expected more." Satanael appeared and raised his gun. Electricity filled the air and poured down on the demon in the stream of pure energy. Nothing happened.

"Did I say 'fight or die' young man? You will have to pay the price. Or rather, my other self well."

Sharp, stabbing pain filled Sae's head and red spots clouded her vision. This is what virtue will get you. Nothing but Feaster of All quite literally sucks out your brain. I'll leave you just enough to live. And then it will be only you and me. None of this cancer.

The beast—Feaster—charged her. Akira might have shouted her name. Blood dripped to the ground. She was on her knees for the second time that night.

Just like Father. Give in. You will never be a hero. You will never be happy.

Sae glared. Her blurred gaze found Akira, the lower half of his face frozen in horror. Akira who believed she was a hero. Who loved her because of that. Her fingers tightened on the gun. "Go to hell," she rasped.

You fool. You already tried bullets. Don't you understand that you are going to lose everything?

But she could choose how. Sae whacked the Feaster where its nose would have been with the pistol and waited for the tentacles.

But there was a hiss like pain as it recoiled. Sae blinked. Why wasn't she dead? Strong, warm, human arms came around her and dragged her unresisting body backwards. The sound of wind filled the air again, but this time it was supporting her. Her head rested against Akira's chest as he hooked one arm under her legs. He was...they were...flying, sailing down towards the ground almost gently as the Feaster roared. Something white—ice? A slide?—formed at the edge of her vision and three dark shapes scurried down.

"Sae? You okay?" Akira's voice sounded very far away even as he cradled her. Sae groaned. Warmth and strength flooded into her as her world came back into focus. They were standing on the street, bathed in the yellow light and with stalled cars carrying only coffins surrounding them. Akira laid her on the ground and dropped to one knee. He looked like death.

"Stupid, romantic fools! How much are you going to give up tonight?"

"Like the lady said." Akira coughed. "Go. To. Hell."

"I think she would find it rather unpleasant. You are a fool, Kurusu. Have you forgotten the game you're actually playing? Because you've got almost nothing left in the tank and you only have fifteen minutes to find my partner. Excuse me, fourteen."

Crap. "Where's Morgana? And the others?" She stood and bit back a gasp. Sweat poured down Akira's face, and his cheeks were gaunt and bruised. Almost exactly as he had looked during the interrogation. "Akira?"

"I'm all right." He coughed. "Or I will be. But I don't think I'll be able to heal you again tonight. Damn it, Makoto and Morgana are so much better at this."

And then finally, Mitsuru and the others came into view. Mitsuru and Akihiko didn't look much better than Akira. "Thank you for giving us time to retreat. I'll contact the others and we can deal with that Shadow properly."

"Don't bother," Akira croaked. "I don't sense it anymore. The entire point was to force us to retreat. Which we did."

"So, what? This is all some kind of sick game?" Akihiko glared at Sae. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." She'd never been sadistic, as far as she knew. Indifferent to consequences and obsessed with winning, but never causing pain just for the sake of it.

Neither am I. Twelve minutes, and here comes your precious cat.

As promised, a black and white shape ran down the street, feet spinning almost like wheels. Morgana on two legs was smaller than she expected, with wide blue eyes that took up almost the whole of his face. His mouth hung open. "Joker! What happened to you? Why are there coffins in the street? Is this place like Mementos?"

So this was what it was like to understand a talking cat. "Leviathan's back, she brought friends, and Joker almost got himself killed saving my life. Meanwhile, we have twelve minutes to find whatever partner she has before 'history repeats' whatever that means. Can you help?"

"Probably. I'm not Futaba." He struck Akira lightly on the face and some of the bruises vanished. "What have I told you about pacing yourself?"

"Find shadow now. Lecture later."

Morgana stilled, and his eyes went wide. "Something powerful, about three kilometers west. Like Yaldabaoth powerful. And here's the really weird part. I can sense a bunch of what feels like pieces of Personas nearby. Trapped in something."

"Three kilometers west? That would put it about where the mall is, wouldn't it?" Terror washed over Sae like icewater. She might not have wielded the power of this world, but she had felt it that day in the antiques shop. Personas trapped in weapons, their power barely dormant. "Dr. Shinshaudo."

"Of course. I can't allow you to win. Save your precious proof, if you can."

"Mona, van!" No. Targeting an innocent person, and for what? To toy with her and Akira? This was what Leviathan wanted her to become? To stop caring about even the pretense of justice?

I can't allow you to win. How many innocent lives do you think you crushed as a prosecutor? It was all a game, after all. But the voice inside her head was pained, raw. Some games cannot be stopped until the end.

Morgana transformed. Mitsuru and Akihiko's eyes went wide, and Professor King blubbered, but Sae had lost the energy or will to even be shocked. She and Akira took a seat in the back, and it was her turn to cradle him. His eyes were glassy behind the mask. "I'm sorry."

Sae kissed the top of his forehead and hoped that helped.

Any hope that her deduction was wrong evaporated when Sae saw the antiques shop. The door had been blown off its hinges and glass was strewn everywhere. The dagger that had so fascinated Akira lay abandoned on the floor. Sae picked it up in her left hand. An echo of the power coursed through her like lightning. The things in here had been able to call down the wrath of God—or a god at least.

It won't help. Three minutes.

Sae took the stairs two at a time to the upper floor, Akira shuffling behind her and clutching the banister. The door at the end of the hall was open. Dr Shinshaudo lay on the bed. Her eyes were open but unseeing. The thing that stood over her was human-sized, wearing a ragged, travel-stained yellow robe. The same smell of rot clung to it. In its spindly hands were leatherbound journals. The journals. "Leave her alone!" Sae shouted with as much authority as she could muster.

"Will you make me, mortal?" The voice was deep and booming.

Akira fell to his knees behind Sae and screamed. "You...you're the one..."

"Who has been making you such generous offers? Yes." It took a step forward. The room grew colder. Why had she ever tried to fight? Why had she ever thought she could have a happy ending? Pleasure was all she could hope for. Love was nothing. Power was all that mattered.

No. No. She didn't believe that. That was Leviathan talking. Her worst aspects.

"You don't believe it, yet. But you will. You will serve me, both of you. I await you in Inaba."

Leviathan's voice echoed in the dark. I am sorry. But justice must be done.

Future chapters will be posted as written. I try to keep to a weekly-ish update schedule.