Persona X TWEWY X Kingdom Hearts

Summary: Trapped in an unfair game? Fighting against society? Changing the hearts of evil adults? Save the world? Discovering oneself? Nothing out of the ordinary for these teenagers.

ChaPPer Thirty-Four:

The Spider's Web.

*Afterschool: Friday. 20/5*

*Sixteen days until Deadline*

*Shibuya Scramble*

Exiting an alley way and stepping into the open once more, Neku and his party stare at the giant TV overlooking the city, flashing advertisements and blasting music above. The orange haired teenager crosses his arms before he exhales a huff. "Back here again…and without a reaper breathing down our necks…" he sighed before stuffing his pockets with his hands. He glances over his shoulder at Shiki, who adjusts her small pack around her waist, he hears the gentle metallic clinks of cans within the green pack.

"Oof, these are so much heavier than Kairi said…" she groaned, "Why am I carrying the pack?". Neku smirked and reminds her it goes with her outfit, and she was generous enough to wear it for them. She quietly curses her amazing fashion senses as Beat and Rhyme join them, the punk rocking his shoulders and rolling his neck, grunting from the muscle popping. "So, what's da deal wit the mission?" Beat asked, flicking out his phone with Rhyme.

"According to the mission, it looks like it's a hunt," Rhyme says, ""Seek out the enemy in a place where the more there is of me, the less you shall see". With a small sigh, the youngest member of the party laments that it sounded like their hunt was submerged in a riddle too. "Failure to do so while result in erasure. You have a total of…THIRTY MINUTES!?" she shouts. The others turned onto her in horror, her eyes wide as saucers as she re-reads the message over and over again.

"Thirty minutes!? That's all it takes to get to Udagawa!" Neku grunts, "And we're supposed to solve a riddle on top of that?".

"Oh great…I really picked a good day to tag along huh?".

The four turned to Roxas, rubbing his neck as an anxious smile donned his handsome face.

Deciding that for his first adventure in this world, Roxas donned a new set of clothing Eri had bought him and had Kairi magically enhanced. He now wears a white jacket with black sleeves stretching all the way to his wrists though he has them wrapped up to his elbows, the zipper works both ways and he has both in the centre, exposing his black t-shirt from his neck and stomach with a chain attached to the rim of his jacket around him. He still wore his two rings and wrist band but on his right hand is a glove that covers it entirely and two inches above the wrist.

It had knuckle studs in silver while the main body is black with white stripes of cloth in an X pattern. His pants is a pair of faded jeans with tears in the knees and the ends were ripped, a white and black belt wrapped around his waist with the former nobody emblem as a buckle. There is chain attaching his left pocket to the back pocket, the chains shaped like skulls. His shoes were big and grey with stripes of black from the heel to the toes. On his back is a hand-made holster for his choice of weapons for the game, a pair of Struggle Bats he had.

"Gotta admit, this is a lot weirder than you said," Roxas comments as he steps in the open, his body phasing through the bypassing people. His blue eyes watch the world pass him by, drinking in this bizarre place where only a select few were interactable in social activities. Even just phasing his hand through them was as odd as just standing still and letting them literally walk through him was odd and extremely unsettling. It somewhat reminded him of…that other town.

"And that's the starting point of this place," Neku commented joining his side, "Rest of this is gonna be a pain in the ass".

"Starting with the mission," Rhyme says, her phone out with the mission on the screen, "First is the location and what the riddle is…". Roxas was given the rundown on the basics of a day within the Reapers' Game before coming along, the rules and what to expect. After last time Neku and co entered this bizarre world, the rest of the PP were hesitant to let them go again without another helping hand to at least take on the Noise or god forbid a reaper. Roxas was the one to volunteer tagging along, boasting that he was technically their third best fighter.

That claim was quickly debunked when Kairi expressed she had better magic and now has a Persona under her belt.

Much as Neku would have liked to include Xion and Ventus into the mix, they needed those two to stay behind and keep an eye on Eri's boss and Sora with Kairi. Sides if Neku was honest, he was worried Xion would be more of a detriment to them with all the rules in the Reapers' Game. Or god forbid if she got hurt, Roxas would do something justifiably stupid. "Better question, where are we allowed to go now?" Neku asks, "There's probably places blocked off by Reapers".

"Looks like apart from the scramble, we're pretty much boxed in…" Shiki commented, "We've only got three places to really look around". The statue of Hachiko, the bus lane and even a park was all the five had access to, which was a massive change compared to what Sora and the others had. "That's weird…for a hunt you'd think they'd have all of Shibuya open for us to explore," said the fashion designer. Roxas hums in agreement while he tapped his feet, pondering where they could start.

"First off, we should see if we could decipher the riddle before we start walking aimlessly," Rhyme suggested, "After all, slow and steady wins the race".

"Somewhere where there more of me there is, the less you see? Da hell does that mean?" Beat asked, throwing his hands behind his head, "Like what?". Rhyme hums quiet while Shiki tapped her foot in thought, Neku crosses his arms and Roxas scratched his cheek. Then they are in shadows of the clouds from the sky, blocking out the sun for a moment and darkening their world. "Hope it doesn't rain today…wait, are we still affected by the weather of the RG too?" Roxas asked. The others nodded and he hums in thought.

"There more there is of me…wait…" Roxas says before looking outside the looming shadow of the clouds above and the city that wasn't covered in clouds. He grinned and says: "Darkness!". He turns to the others and explained why this had to be the answer. "Think about it, the darker it is, the less you see! So if you're in a room where there's plenty of stuff, but the darker the place is the less you can make out!".

"OOOOH I see!" Rhyme said, clapping her hands, "The hunted is hiding somewhere dark enough to be completely invisible. And I think I know where-

Suddenly Beat slammed Rhyme's mouth shut with his hand and pulled her back, snapping his eyes ahead. With a muffled "what" just barely audible from the girl, the party looked and spots Hebi and her cronies marching up to them. Neku's eyes narrow as does Roxas, stuffing his pockets with his hands and Shiki tensing up by Beat. The blue haired teenager glared at the group, and her boys already looked like they were ready for retribution for the PP's actions previously.

"Pfft, so you losers did make it out last time…" she greets, "Talk about the devils luck…".

"Somebody sounds salty for screwing up," bites back Neku, "You here for payback or what?". The girl scoffs and dismissively waves her hand as if dismissing a servant. "Get real, you has-beens are yesterdays news. Wiping the floor with you all would just be a waste of time," she says.

"Weird…didn't Sora kick your asses yesterday? Alone? And he was a newbie to boot," Roxas asked, "Sounds to me the one who was wiping the floor with who is the other way around". Hebi snapped her attention to Roxas, frowning when she saw the similarities between him and the one who humiliated her group the day before. Her boys barked at him, even resorting to threaten the PP with psych glowing palms and even a few levitated a few trash cans and other objects within their vicinity. Roxas, unfazed, cracks his knuckles and even donned a confident smirk on his lips.

"Oh? You guys wanna try taking me on? Yeah…can't say it'll work any better than taking on Sora," bragged Roxas. Hebi's jaw tightened, and her fist clenched so tightly the team wondered if she could break a bone if she squeezed any harder. Likely both her pride as the leader and her ego were on the line here, but her loud scoff was a clear indicator that wasting both time and likely bodies wasn't what she needed at the moment. "You losers aren't worth squat today. So we'll leave ya alone for now…but next time there's a mission where you're put in your place? You'd better hope a Reaper has your backs," she threatened.

With a snap of her fingers she and her cronies stalk leave, some breaking off and heading to the other parts of Shibuya. Only when they were gone does Beat release his sister's mouth. "That was too close, yo," he said, "Sneaky punks tryna snitch on our idea!".

"Yeah…convenient that they showed up JUST in time…" Neku huffs.

"Ugh, the nerve of that girl!" Shiki says, "She's only a problem because of her boys! I bet you if she didn't have half the numbers she's got now she'd be more humble".

"Can't help but think her ego may override her sense of caution…" Rhyme remarks, "But either way she's a problem so long as we're down to these numbers". Bad enough that they were only a puddle compared to the ocean of Hebi's team, but with their firepower being both small in numbers and low in strength against them was just as bad. "We're traversing through unknown but certainly dangerous waters here…the sooner we finish the mission and get out the better".

"Right…so, where were you talking about?" Roxas asks. Rhyme silently gestures they follow her, not wanting a repeat of what happened with a different outcome that would end poorly for them.

Through the park where the Hachiko statue stood proudly and underpass of the station, Rhyme leads them to the underground passage of Shibuya. The Shibuya River, where once a long while ago used to be the secret HQ of the Reapers of their previous game but evidently, based on the lack of a wall or any signs of Reapers, this place has long been abandoned by enforcers of the game. Approaching it, Rhyme explained that the darkness of this place was a perfect spot for anyone or anything to hide out because of the local.

Apart from it being so dark you'd need a decent flashlight just to see where you were stepping, there was also a lack of passages on the surface that could take you here. Also there's a lot of good hiding spots for anything to hide out, along with the fact that logically nobody would have any real reason to come down here without a specific cause. She recalls they had to find a Noise hidden within stage that was pitch black, so by that logic and considering originality is dead to Reapers this location would be the ideal spot for anything to use as a hiding spot.

They navigated through the walkways using their phones as lights to avoid either falling into the river or stepping in something unpleasant. They could hear the rushing waters further in, echoing over the walls and ceiling but their ears were more trained for the noise that the Reapers wanted gone, everyone guessing which form it was taking to either evade detection or maybe it was a really bigger noise that was just waiting for them to lower their guards. Roxas glances around the dark passages, pillars holding up the massive ceiling were five feet apart stained with graffiti akin to the Reapers, the place smelled odd.

Not in the usual sense like running waters or worse, but mostly this place somewhat reminds him of his "former" home world. A place where it wasn't meant to exist yet is so close to the realm of darkness, this spot in all of Shibuya felt unnatural. Like it was a part of the world but at the same time not. Even just walking here he could feel a strange pressure on his body, like the further he goes the worse it'll get for him and the others. Which is worrying since he was already weakened by the stupid rules of both the Metaverse and this UG, and however confident he is in Neku and co, he had a bad gut feeling that if something from the actual realm of darkness pops up here…

"Wait…".

He stops walking as everyone freezes on the spot, Neku still as a statue. He slowly lifts his right hand and after a subtle glance over his shoulder, he suddenly spins around. His palm blazing with psych, he fires a barrage of bullet sized energy balls just above Roxas. They struck the ceiling, and an explosion of dust particles fills the space and just when Shiki was about to ask him if he was trying to bring down the whole ceiling on them, they see what he was shooting at.

Falling from the top onto the ground with thud is a frog Noise momentarily before it vanished in the static. Neku narrows his glare as their phones beep and to their surprise, the mission was completed.

"Huh?" Shiki squeaked, "Wait…t-that's it!?".

"You tellin' me that pushover was the hunt!? Da hell we doin' screwin' around wit that loser!?" Beat snapped before kicking a pebble angrily. Neku stares at the disappeared noise in thought before Rhyme clapped her hands and cheerfully says: "Hold on, why are we all so upset about? We did it!". She shows her hands and there was no timer on them, which signalled to them that the mission they had was done and their lifespans remain as they were. At first Beat and Shiki started to agree and relax with her, but Roxas looks at Neku.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Neku turned around to his teammates, especially eyeing Rhyme. "Hold on, we had thirty minutes right? A timer," he lists. When she nodded, Neku raised his hand. "Did anyone actually get a timer or even a shock from it?". Suddenly the eyes of the team widened in realization and when they looked at their hands again, while there is no timer still nobody recalled getting shocked or even noticing if they had a timer to begin with. "B-But that doesn't make sense! We got the mission, so therefore we should have gotten a timer!" Rhyme argued.

"But if nobody got shocked…then no one had a timer right?" Roxas asks.

"Then that means…" Neku grunts, remembering another time when he was tricked, "This was a fake mission…and the real one…". He turned around to see Hebi and her team blocking their exit. A smug smirk is on her face as her team readied themselves, while the PP gather up in defence. "Lookie here, looks like rats retreating to their hidey hole didn't work out for them, now did it?" she sneers.

"The hell is going on here…?" Neku asked himself, before he looked to a slope nearby and sees Kumo sitting on top of it. He gives the orange haired teenager a salute and sarcastic smirk of victory, gesturing the Diamond Rulers and their forms already glowing with psych. "Been awhile, Phantoms. Haven't seen you since I sent you running away like rats abandoning a sinking ship," he mocks with glee, "Just a shame the others don't get to watch the finale of the Phantom Players' downfall".

Neku grunts as Roxas stares at the man and then back to Hebi. "Hold on a minute, are you two working together?" he asked. Hebi smugly bragged that indeed, they were on the same page. "See me and Kumo have a pretty good deal going between us. Once I win this game and get my prize, he moves up on the totem pole and I could even give him a good review as a "fair" observer so long as he helps us remove the competitors," she reveals.

"What!? That's freakin' bullshit!" Beat snapped, "Reapers ain't allowed to pair up wit Players!".

"Oh true, ape. But what the big wigs don't know won't hurt them," "assures" the Reaper, "Sides, haven't you guys already won the game before? Why not let someone else have the spotlight for a while". Neku rolled his eyes, before he smirked and then lets a little scoff out. "Let them win? And you gotta babysit them too? What a bunch of losers…" he sighed.

"I'm with on that buddy…" Roxas says throwing his hands behind head, "Like you guys won just by yourselves, but these cry babies need this much handholding? Guess the standards of winning has really taking a nosedive huh?". Hebi's eyes darken as her own team start to shout and insult them, bragging they had both the numbers and even a Reaper on their side, boasting that this time they'll win. At this, Roxas smirks as he takes out his bats, laying one on his shoulder and aims another at the cheaters.

"Yeah…and didn't Sora and the others completely own you losers by just showing up? Heck, I heard Riku just glared at your friends, and they wet themselves! Plus, Sora ran circles around you all like herding a bunch of chickens," he mocks, "So you're telling me you think you got a chance against us if you fight us head-on?".

Before they could bark a response, Roxas suddenly dashed at them, bypassing Hebi and smashes the bat right into the face of one of her boys hard enough to knock hm off his feet and then uses his left hand to jab at a girl's stomach hard enough to knock her off her feet. The former nobody then starts to strike and smack everyone near him, like a hurricane, while Beat dashes past him and tackles more of the Diamond Rulers. He manages to get a train of idiots in a line and flies off with them, splitting the horde of Players while Roxas pummels them.

Hebi curses him and tells her team to remove the PP from the UG, then starts to charge at Neku with a violet laser stretching from her right hand. Leader vs Leader, Neku leapt back from her swipe and trails flames with his right hand. He forms a wall of fire that forces Hebi to stop dashing towards him and using that break between close quarters, Neku uses another pin to gather up some debris around him. Hebi uses her own set of pins to freeze the wall of fire and slice it in half, letting the chunk of ice fall and smash into a thousand pieces before charging at Neku again.

The leader of the PP had amassed several pieces of ammunition for his telekinesis, discarded bicycles, trash cans and other bits of wasted items. He fires the bikes and cans at Hebi, forcing her to slice and dodge them but unlike the grace of a Phantom Thief her movements were clumsy and desperate. She gets grazed by Neku's armada and despite the bigger ones being reduced to nothing her perception and aim was below his. He was hitting her with smaller things dead on the mark.

Meanwhile three of the rival team were ganging up on Rhyme, blasting her with projectiles of psych and lightning. The youngest member was using her green barriers to deflect them or protect herself, forcing her to take up a more defensive position as opposed to her friends pummelling their adversaries. But the idiots weren't winning this fight however, as the strategist of the party swaps the green for another pin.

Creepy Weepy Barrier.

Her barrier turns violet with a single slithering psych circles around her. The blasts bounce off her as she darts towards them. Using the Zantetsu pin, her right hand protrudes a long psych coloured yellow and shaped like the tip of a spear. Rhyme struck the chest of a Player, the one in the middle and with her barrier colliding with the other two on each of her side, they were blasted away thanks to the barrier's harm upon touch powers. Blasting them aside as she sends her victim flying, the girl races towards Beat.

With Mr Mew scratching and going all kung-fu master on her pesky enemies, Shiki uses several pins Neku had loaned her to hold her own ground. Using "Shock Warning" to repel their own psych blades and even managing to bring down a few of her own with it, the girl then uses a "Grave Marker" style pin called "Boomer", she disappears from their sights and then reappears above them with her boots in their faces. Like a trickster in a circus Shiki teleports from one face to the other, her boots becoming acquainted with them quickly.

One more face stomp later, she leaps off the face of a poor girl who choose the wrong player to make an enemy out of, she summons Mr Mew back to her. The little plushie turned master of the martial arts performs a high-flying kick and kicks aside three of them before returning to the master. Shiki swipes her hand across from her body and creates an arc of violet ink before her, then it fires a barrages of psych spikes upon her rivals. Some were struck but many used barriers to shield themselves or dodged them by falling to the ground.

But the barrier using Players were quickly downed by a speeding Beat, who encased in psych energy, runs through their barriers, and picks them up with his momentum. The punk throws them aside and even leapt with his board to smash into the chest of another Player. His board and the Player go flying as he turns around with a pin encasing his fists into stone. Punching them together with a grunt, he charges into the fray, punching and demolishing them while Shiki picks them off.

Roxas smacks aside another Player into the wall, then jogs to Hebi in time to stop her from closing the gap between her and Neku. He seemingly appears before he and with one upper swing of his bat she goes flying. The girl falls on her back for a moment, then stands up with a hiss and snarls at Roxas. He was spinning his bats with a confident but smug look on his face, as if goading her to even be stupid enough to try again. Neku already had several other resources of things to throw at her again if she so desired to become a mobile target again.

Amused, Kumo chuckles loud enough for everyone to hear. "Oi Hebi! Much as I like a good show, think its time you start getting serious here if you wanna win!".

The girl barks for him to keep his comments to himself as she and what able bodied remaining members of her group stand by her side. She and the seven remaining rush at Roxas and Neku, which the former charged forth and got into her face quickly. Even with her psych being able to cut through metal, it was evenly matched by the form and plastic weapon bizarrely enough. Roxas deflects and barriers her attacks with minimum effort, dancing around her inexperienced strikes and desperate jabs. Even in a place where his keyblades and magic weren't available to him, the boy of destiny's skill remained untouched.

Here he wasn't weighed down by the strange fatigue of the Metaverse nor did he feel like he was carrying a dozen pounds. Odd as it may seem here it was like he was just a regular fighter; his reflexes and senses were all honed by his training under Aqua's wing. And fighting someone who clearly hasn't fought nearly as long as even Xion felt like he was cheating in a sense. But considering this girl had the nerve to pair up with a Reaper just to make the game a breeze for her overshadowed the code of fairness in this fight.

Behind him Neku deals with the remaining punks with ease, much like Roxas. These guys were clearly newbies, however long this game had gone on for, they are disorganized and recklessly throwing themselves at him. Maybe Hebi is their MVP as well as their leader, which made them even less threatening than he had initially assumed. No wonder they needed a Reaper as a partner. With one final burst of psych from his palm, Neku sends the last grunt into a pillar and spins to see Roxas smacking Hebi on her rear with a swipe of his bats.

Hebi grunts and groaned from the bruises Roxas graciously gave her, staring up at the Sora look-a-like with hate in her eyes. "So much for that plan huh?" boasts Roxas. But his victory was cut short when he received a kick to the stomach that sends him flying over Neku's head and onto his back. His lungs were emptied of air and a shock of pain rockets through his body as he rolled onto his side, coughing. Neku snapped his head to Kumo, standing in front of Hebi with his leg out. He lets out a huff and a groan at once, chastising her for losing.

"Looks like the apple doesn't fall far from this group…" he remarks, "Figured you'd take down at least one of them…". Kumo shrugged and cracks his knuckles, his eyes glowing with malice and excitement while his body is shrouded in violet psych. Neku tensed up when he feels the pressure from this guy's psych, just like the first time they fought. A Reaper isn't just a referee for nothing, they were without doubt, second to the game master, the most dangerous opponents within the game. Its only special occasions that they are allowed to combat a Player, and clearly cheating is a clear cut reason to battle.

Roxas gets back to his feet with a grunt and a cough, eyeing the bigger man. Unlike the others however, he wasn't even fazed by this overwhelming aura. No, he was just angry.

Like a bolt of lightning, Roxas dashes so quickly he was nearly invisible to his friends and enemies, he bat slammed down upon Kumo with a yell. Only to have it caught by Kumo with minimal ease, but that smug look shifts into a shock when Roxas smashes his other bat into his face. This shocking display of force staggered the tall man and when he was freed, Roxas began to unleash a barrage of strikes upon his enemy with reckless abandon and rage filled pummelling. The strikes echoed through the empty passages, and he thrusts both tips of the bats into Kumo's stomach, sending him backward.

Unlike everyone else, Kumo was only forced back by a few feet with his heels dug into the stone ground. He huffed and raised his head at Roxas, who had a shocked look. Not even a bruise or sign of pain on Kumo's face, almost as if he wasn't never harmed by Roxas at all. "Whoa…somebody's got anger issues…" he mocks, cracking his neck as his twisted and battle hungry smirk darkens, turning more feral. Roxas grunts and readies for another assault but Kumo appears before him and smashes his fist right into his stomach.

Roxas' wheezes as he is propelled across the area at such blistering speed he smashes through a stone pillar and bounces off the ground before he slammed into another pillar. The impact nearly demolishes the stone pillar. The girls scream his name while Beat runs to him, cursing loudly and shouting for him. Kumo shakes his fist with a cold smirk, eyeing the potentially dead Player. "Bummer…kid had guts…", he taunts. Beat slides down to Roxas' side and helps him sit up and sees not only did he look half dead but he's also unconscious.

"One down, four to go…" he mocks and marches towards the girls. But before he even gets close, Kumo is suddenly yanked back into a pillar with enough force that he was embedded in the stone, then is ripped from it and then slammed into the ground, then upwards to the ceiling. This repeats over and over again until with one final slam to the ground he actually smashes through the pavement and is almost buried within the pavement.

He punches his way out with a grunt and pries himself out of his stone bed, eyeing Neku and his glowing palm. "Okay…I'll kill you first…" growled the Reaper as he frees his body from his stone bed. However not even a second after he got out Neku encases his legs in a thick sheen of ice that immobilizes him and then with another thrust of his palm, he fires a ray of blackish-blue flames at Kumo. The flames immediately consume his form, roasting his flesh. Kumo roars and his cry sends a monstrous shockwave that douses the flames and shatters the melting ice. He charges at Neku and swings a punch at him.

Neku erects a barrier of flames around him that protected him from the punch that shook the ground and nearly toppled the pillar he and Roxas collided with. Within the barrier Neku clenched his teeth but then teleports out of the barrier, leaving it to detonate and once more bathe Kumo in fire. The Reaper looks up behind him as the smoke surrounds him, sees Neku aim his hands at him and then unleashes a storm of psych pellets upon Kumo. The Reaper leaps at him, his hand outstretched and enlarging into a violet claw that shields him from the pellets. He reaches Neku and managed to pin him to the pillar behind him.

He reels his free hand and launches it at the boy. Neku teleports once again in time to avoid having his skull crushed as the pillar crumbles under Kumo's might. Behind the Reaper, Neku slammed his palm on his back and dispenses a massive charge of lightning that seeps into Kumo's body. He blasted the Reaper through the crumbling pillar and onto the ground. When Neku falls onto his feet, he crosses his arms as his hands glow with psych. With a growl he lifts both palms up as a massive ball of psych enlarges. Glowing in white and yellow as sparks of lightning circles around the orb, Neku aims his hands at Kumo and fires a massive beam of golden lightning at him

The blast was so bright it lit up the entire tunnel and even shook the earth beneath their feet. Kumo just manages to get onto his feet for the blast to collide with him. Even with his arms crossed to shield himself from the attack, even he struggled to withstand against such a force of power and psych from the supposed legendary Player. He is pushed back even as he digs his heels into the earth while his arms burned from the scorching heat of this surprising display of power. Kumo's own psych aura flickers wildly like fire before he roars and detonates.

A burst of violet psych flames erupts from beneath him, an explosion so powerful it was could have toppled a building. The force of this power knocks Neku off his feet, stopping his attack at last but he skids to a halt just barely. The ruckus and destruction of their psych battle was monstrous, with the supporting pillars almost crumbling and any more destruction would have likely brought down the entire place upon the group.

Neku pants and heaves from this almost life-draining attack, resting a hand on his knee while slumping. Ahead through the dust and smoke he sees Kumo, fortunately, no better than the boy. Except his upper clothing was gone with tiny flickers of lightning and fire tracing around his body, his teeth bared and gritted like he was holding back a growl. He stares down Neku with seething rage and forces himself to stand up right and clenches his fist. Violet psych surges around his palms and then his injuries healed.

"You…really are a legendary Player…that actually hurt…" he growls as Neku forces himself to stand up, "Hope you enjoyed that tiny victory pipsqueak…cause that'll be the last thing you'll do". Kumo launches himself at Neku with his fist raised and Neku raises enough psych to form a ball in his hand.

"That's enough".

Suddenly Kumo stops his flight, all eyes turned to see exiting the shadows is Joshua. He has a slender build with eyes dark violet colored, and he has wavy, tousled, neck-length ash blonde hair with a gray-ish tone. He has slightly pale skin, wearing a gray-ish lavender short-sleeved button-down shirt, with white lining around the hems of the sleeves. He also wears dark gray trousers that cover the tops of his white sneakers with black laces and soles. His shirt is loosely unbuttoned at the neck and the low hem of the shirt.

He looks at Neku and Hebi's group with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Looks like experience won this battle…evidently numbers don't guarantee victory," he remarks, "Even if the other team has cheated". Hebi narrows her eyes at him while Kumo spits to the left. "Who the hell are you? Another Player?" he mocks. Joshua raises a ash blonde brow at Kumo, amused by the gall of the Reaper yet no malice or indignation. "Kumo Tamashi yes? The new Reaper on the loose?" he asks, "Well, well…it seems someone hasn't been paying attention to the rules, particularly one that involves favouritism and interrupting the Game".

He wags his finger and chastises him for breaking the rules and meddling, while assisting another team by eradicating the other player teams without proper cause. Kumo barked at him, bragging that a pipsqueak like him doesn't get to tell him what he can and can't do. He dashes and closes in on Joshua, his fist just inches before his face. But Joshua raised a single finger and stops the attack, shocking and horrifying the enemies of the Phantom Players.

Joshua's smirk turned menacing and with his free hand, he snapped his fingers. A pillar of divine light strikes down from above and bathes Kumo in powers beyond a psych. For five seconds Kumo's body endured what could only be described as being at point blank of a exploding star. After the few excruciating blast Kumo was on his knees with scorched flesh and steam slithering from his body, mouth open in shock with his eyes rolled to the back of his skull.

Joshua titters and lowers his hands, then turns to a horrified Hebi. "Now then…the penalty for cheating is quite severe, borderline erasure assured," he warns and even looks ready to deal out the punishment before he chuckles, "But I'm only concerned with Kumo being a bully to the other Players. The Game Master will decide what to do with your team at some point". He turns to Neku and the others, before he snaps his fingers. They were all glowing in the same grey light for a moment before they vanished.

Leaving a burned out Reaper and disgraced and humiliated Hebi behind, their fates soon to be decided.

A/N:

Most fighty chapter since Kamoshida…been awhile.

That's it for the Reapers' Game for now, so now more bonding time next chapter!

Questions:

Q1: Thoughts on this chapter?

Q2: Roxas?

Q3: Who do you wanna see more of next time?

Q4: Was the fight too anime?

Q5: How was the fights?

As always everyone, thanks for reading! Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!