Last time in Prince of Nightmares, the Phantom Thieves made their way into the Overlord's realm. Doma of the Fearsome Four attempted to stand in their way, but he was repelled by Crow's efforts. Now, the Phantom Thieves begin their hunt for the three proofs scattered about the area, so they can gain entry into the Demon Lord's castle. "The Hirose River should be around here somewhere…" Oracle told everyone. They were close.

Queen glanced around, only to notice something familiar off in the distance. "Hey…" She called out to the others and they followed her gaze. "Doesn't that tower look a lot like the Prison Keeps we saw in Shibuya?"

"Hey, it does." Panther noted. "It looks like a birdcage on top."

"So we know where we're going next. That saves us the time and effort of looking around." Crow said while continuing to walk forward. "The entrance is straight ahead. The sooner we get through this, the sooner we can leave this eyesore."

"He is sucking the fun out of this." Dragon huffed.

"I don't think we're really here to have fun…" Queen sighed. But she could tell that Dragon wasn't listening to her, so it wasn't really a point worth pursuing.

"I can see where he's coming from." Oracle said while adjusting her goggles. They all followed Crow who was clearly in a hurry to get this done as swiftly and effectively as possible. They didn't get too far, however, because an intricate door stood in their way.

"Is this the entrance?" Fox asked.

"It doesn't look like it's going to open." Violet said. She approached the door with Skull and they did try to muscle their way through, but it wasn't working. That door wasn't budging at all.

Oracle glanced off to the side, noticing some writing on a nearby all. "Oh, there's something written here. One must offer sun and rain….is that it?"

"What do you think that means?" Noir had no idea. She really felt like she couldn't grasp the air of this Jail.

"Eh, probably means we just have to go get something. Typical fetch quest." Oracle shrugged.

"Mine hallowed orbs sleep in a shrine of sun and a land of rain." Dragon said with her eyes closed. "That's a line from the novel."

"And you just have that memorized?" Joker rubbed the back of his neck. Just how deep into this fantasy land was Dragon? Actually, it was probably better just to not ask.

"Regardless, I think those orbs are probably what we're looking for." Oracle wanted to get the conversation back on track.

Sophie was not amused. She just rolled her eyes at the unnecessary complexity of it all. "The sign should've just said so to begin with."

"I agree." Noir was in the same boat as Sophie. This was a lot of mental work.

"Oh, don't be like that, you two." Oracle had a sheepish grin. "This is just…you know…one of those things."

"Let's not forget," Fox interjected. "This is Natsume's world. This is likely a trap to deter the heroes."

"It does quite the opposite!" Dragon puffed her chest out. "We are not ones to back away from a challenge such as this, are we?"

"Well, no, but…" Noir wasn't sure how to comment.

"…I think we should keep going." Queen suggested. Dragon had a lot of energy and it was going to exhaust everyone if they tried to entertain it as opposed letting her get this out of her system.

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Sendai Jail was probably larger than Shibuya, if not larger. This was the most legroom the Phantom Thieves had to do in a while. "Woof, these Jails sure are huge…" Oracle was starting to feel the burn.

"Normally we could leave at any time, but you said that Doma guy blocked the exit, right?" Violet frowned. "If we could find him…"

"There's no need." Crow stated firmly. His confidence is what made the others look to him. "Something tells me he'll show his face again soon. And I'll make sure I finish the job this time. I admit, the eccentricity of this Jail and the cognitive beings did surprise me. Palaces were never this flashy."

"It's true; Jails are a completely different beast, even if they share basics of Palaces." Fox remarked.

"That being said, our usual methods still apply, thankfully. So we just have to put a bit more elbow grease into this." Joker said. As they walked, they approached a chapel with the doors wide open. In the back of it was a glowing red orb. "Huh…is that what we're looking for?"

"It appears to be so." Fox nodded.

"Sweet!" Skull was tired of all this running around. So he quickly ran over towards the red orb.

"Skull, wait!" Dragon tried to stop him, but it was too late. The moment Skull grabbed the orb, the room dimmed and guard dog shadow appeared behind them.

"What the!?" Panther gasped. "The lights went off! And is that a Shadow?!"

"It's just as the novel said. The orb is a symbol of the sun. Remove it, and the light fades." Fox stated. "Once that happens, warriors will appear to prevent theft." As he was explaining the sequence of events, multiple shadows started to spawn in, effectively cutting off the exit to prevent the orb from being stolen.

"Why didn't you mention that sooner?!" Oracle groaned. "Both of you!"

"I was going to, but Skull ran off!" Dragon said.

"This ain't MY fault! I didn't know!" Skull wasn't taking the blame for this!

"No time to argue! We have to fight our way out of this!" Mona exclaimed as the Shadows began to approach them. The Shadows did have the numbers, but the Phantom Thieves had quality. Mona hopped onto Noir's shoulder and gestured to the chandelier hanging above. "Noir, throw me up there!"

"You got it, Mona-chan!" Noir nodded and hurled Mona skyward with all her might; and with a flip, he landed atop the chandelier.

"Take this!" Mona swung his saber on the chain link holding the chandelier, cleaving through it easily. The Chandelier fell from the air and crashed down onto numerous Shadows below. This violent crash either killed these Shadows or sent them flying in separate directions.

As for the Shadows that were flung into the air haphazardly. Noir was already on it as her mask burned away and Lucy appeared in front of her. "Lucy, fire!" Lucy's coat opened and the heavy artillery was revealed, numerous guns shooting outward and opening fire immediately. There was hardly a safe place for any enemy with the amount of firepower Noir was capable of pumping out at a moment's notice.

"Hell yeah, torch 'em, Noir!" Skull cheered. He didn't even really feel the need to get involved. The teamwork of Mona and Noir was doing a fantastic job at wiping out the enemy forces before they even had a chance to fight back. But to her surprise, a few Shadows were more durable than she expected, charging through her bullet hail. "They're certainly tougher than in Palaces. But that's fine." Noir said while gripping her axe, raising it high as the Shadows attempted to bring her down. She chopped them easier than she would wood, cleaving through with no difficulty whatsoever.

"Whew…." Joker whistled. Mona got the party started and Noir cleaned it up just as quickly. The two of them struck a pose once the Shadows were cleaned up. The others didn't even have a chance to get started.

"Hm." Crow crossed his arms. "Light work."

"But still a pain to deal with." Oracle turned to Fox and Dragon. They read the book, so naturally they should've been aware of what comes next! "Next time, warn us about the gaggle of monsters waiting for us!"

"At the very least, you can expect this to be the norm from this point on!" Dragon said with a sheepish smile. So…there was the warning. The others sighed, but they had what they came for. "We have the orb that resembles the sun, however! So our quest is one step closer to completion. Doubtless the Demon Lord is quaking in his boots."

"I'm sure he is." Panther was going to be the one to go along with this. She was obligated to for a number of reasons.

"Shall we keep moving?" Sophie asked. "We should be able to continue onward."

"Yes, let's keep moving." Violet and Queen agreed to this. They obtained one of the orbs that they needed and they could exit the chapel to continue. They were making progress into Sendai Jail, but their goal was still quite a ways away.

As they walked along the street, they spotted a familiar figure standing before them. It was Doma, who laughed the moment the Phantom Thieves noticed him. "Hahaha! So we meet again, Chosen Heroes!"

"Hey, you're that guy…! Domu!" Queen…got his name wrong. Not intentionally either, she just couldn't entirely remember.

Doma, however, stumbled from this. "I-It's Doma! Doma! I am Doma of the Fearsome Four!" He had to press that point as hard as he could.

"Okay, so are you going to let us out?" Violet asked. Doma was the one who blocked off the exit to the Jail, on top of warping them deeper into it at the same time.

"Hah, of course not!" Doma shook his head, pointing towards the Phantom Thieves. "My duty is to task our master's trails upon the chosen heroes! In addition, I have also been entrusted to protect this sacred land! If the orb of rain is what you seek, then you'll have to defeat me!"

"Us heroes will take you down!" Joker said, finally getting a word in edge wise. Dragon's energy rubbed off on him and he was itching to play the role of hero.

"Yeah, bring it!" Oracle joined in.

But then Crow started to walk forward. "Very well. I'll finish what I started back then."

"Ahaha! Hero Crow, you come to face me a second time!?" Doma laughed.

"How many times do I have to repeat myself? I'm no hero." Crow spat. That word made his skin crawl. How unfitting it was for someone like him. "I've really lost my edge. Had this happened earlier, you wouldn't be standing here right now. I suppose now is as good a time as any to sharpen that edge."

Crow did make a good point. Even though it had been quite some time since they saw him fight, it was clear in the way he battled that he wasn't the same as before. "…" Noir was silent as the thought crossed her mind.

"Come then, Crow!" Doma transformed once again into his Pyro Jack form. "Show me what sort of Hero you are!"

"I already told you…" Crow was growing annoyed by this useless back and forth. He wasn't going to waste any time and lunged towards Doma with his sword. Doma flew into the air and began to rain fireballs towards Crow. The others did keep a distance to ensure they weren't caught in the literal cross fire. All except Panther, who had an immunity to fire.

"It's just fire, guys." Panther shrugged.

"Get outta there!" Groaning, Skull pulled Panther back in case things got more violent.

"Hereward!" Crow called forth his Persona while dodging through the raining flames. Hereward appeared before Crow and fired an arrow of darkness right towards Doma. Doma evaded this by flying to the side before proceeding dive at Crow, swinging his lantern at the black mask wearer. Crow countered this by swinging his sword forward, the two clashing and a brief shockwave took place.

"Your strength is admirable!" Doma said before flying back. Suddenly, Crow started firing bullets at him. A few of these bullets did hit, which staggered the member of the Fearsome Four.

"This dialogue grows tiresome." Crow snarled, not wanting to entertain this fight any longer than he had to. It had been a while since he felt the need to dig deep. "I'm ending this now!" Hereward flew into the sky and charged an arrow. As this happened, Crow tapped into his power to make himself go berserk, a black and red aura flaring around him.

"What…?" Doma was confused by this sudden surge of power coming from Crow.

"Looks like he got too annoyed…" Joker sucked his teeth. But there wasn't anything they could do but watch at this point. They knew that Crow was more than capable of handling himself.

Crow violently lunged towards Doma before he even knew what was happening. With curse magic shrouding his blade, Crow slashed the Fearsome Four member so violently and quickly that nobody could see it. They could only see streaks of black and red in the sky. Doma started to fall from the sky, heavily injured, but Crow wasn't letting up. He stabbed his sword into Doma to drive him into the ground, dragging the Shadow along the stone pavement for a few yards before coming to a halt, raising his sword once more. "This hell of yours is only getting started!" Crow roared, slamming his sword down on Doma over and over again, each impact creating a shockwave that shook the ground. Once Crow was satisfied, he started to walk off. That's when Hereward fired his arrow down onto Doma, resulting in an explosion of curse magic to occur behind Crow. "I don't have time for this."

"That was intense…" Violet said with a sweat drop.

"I did not know that Crow could produce that kind of power…." Sophie tilted her head. "What was that?"

"…Crow has a special power with his Persona." Dragon explained. "He can make any target of his choosing go psychotic, including himself. It vastly increases their strength, at the cost of their own, well…" She was a little worried about seeing Crow dip into that power. "Their mental state, to say the least."

"Only if used haphazardly. But I have no intention of using it to that extent anymore." Crow overhead the topic that was him and answered honestly. "I've learned to temper it."

"Didja really just turn your back on the enemy before knowing if it's down?" Skull asked. That did seem a bit sloppy of Crow.

"I know he's down." Crow replied with a scoff. There was a cloud of dust around Doma that was slowly thinning. "When I said that I would finish him in this next bout, I meant it. You should know I'm terrible at holding back."

Doma did manage to stand up, but it was clear that he wasn't going anywhere. He was barely standing, hunched over and gasping for air. Crow really did a number on him. "Ngh….hahaha…such dark power…even the Overlord would be intrigued to see this. Well done, chosen heroes. But I was the WEAKEST of the Fearsome Four…"

"It certainly felt like it." Crow rolled his eyes. He was growing very tired of this script.

"Oh come on, it's the next guy's job to tell us that!" Oracle groaned. How could Natsume not even get that right!?

"My fellow Fearsome Four will surely make you suffer…!" Doma said before collapsing to the ground. "GAAAAH…!" And then he faded away.

"…Would it not be the Terrifying Trio, now?" Dragon said. There weren't four members of the Fearsome Four anymore. The only downside is that she forgot to slip back into character since the situation with Crow admittedly took her by surprise.

"Don't give them names!" Panther said with an exasperated sigh.

"Well, whatever all that was, we can keep going now." Queen thought of Doma as nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

"Now that Crow beat Do…Domu…?" Noir was never going to get anything about this place right. She completely gave up on that. "Are we…able to leave freely again?"

"Yeah, looks like it." Oracle reported. "I have no idea why it was like that."

"With Doma now defeated, his magic no longer holds any weight." Dragon explained, slipping back into character rather easily. "So now we can proceed to get the orb of rain!"

"Uh…yeah…right." Skull scratched the back of his head. This place was confusing him a little as well. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

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The Phantom Thieves continued on. As they stepped into the next section of Sendai Jail, a sudden downpour occurred. Sophie was confused and in awe. She held her hands out, watching as the droplets of water fell onto her palms. "Oooh….is this what they call rain?" She was fascinated by this. Since she didn't have a body in reality, the Metaverse was only way she could experience some things.

Noir looked around, surprised that the rain that just came down. "It just started pouring all of a sudden. Maybe this is the place we're looking for…"

"It certainly matches the 'land of rain' moniker." Fox said. "No doubt the orb is somewhere nearby."

"The land of rain is protected by a guardian who controls the weather…" Dragon spoke, repeating a few lines of the book she read. She pointed ahead towards the large chapel not too far away from them. "I believe that what we seek is hidden within that building."

"It's a little worrying how quickly she memorized this book…" Violet whispered. The others wholeheartedly agreed.

"I don't like how we could face something that controls the weather." Panther said. Hopefully it was just a horrible exaggeration from the book, since that was the vibe she got from this Jail.

"Think it could be a trap?" Skull asked. A big building like that smelled like it could be hiding a trap. And when he thought about it… "Actually, there's prolly somethin' nasty waitin' for us in there, based on last time."

"There's no point shying away from it." Joker said while leading the way. "We'll just have to face it head on." The chapel was up ahead and the others followed. The Phantom Thieves managed to defeat one of the Fearsome Four, but their work in Sendai's Jail is still far from finished. As the rain cascaded upon them all, the guardian of the rain orb watched them from a distance. And that guardian was prepared to bring the storm to wash away the Chosen Heroes that dare believed they stood a chance against the Demon Lord, let alone the rest of the Fearsome Four….