5/26 – Thursday
After School
Cafe Leblanc, Attic

"Okay," Ren said. "Uh. Full disclosure: we're going to have to steal Madarame's Treasure without Arsene's help."

A chorus of concerned glances from his compatriots.

"Is he, like?" Ryuji dragged a finger across his throat.

"He's pouting," Ren replied.

"Oh." Ryuji sounded almost disappointed.

Morgana's fur ruffled. "I don't like being without our trump card."

"Can't we just make extra sure we don't need to fight?" Ann offered.

The feline lay down on the table, letting out a little huff of air. "When we gave him the last card, he hid the treasure in his kimono. He might try something like that again, or increase security somehow. We might have to fight."

"Oh shit," Ryuji muttered. "That means he's probably gonna turn into a big ugly demon lord guy too, right?"

"A what?" Yusuke asked.

"Kamoshida," Ren said. "When we tried to steal his Treasure, he turned into a giant pink...uh. Monster thing. Wearing a speedo."

"Great elaboration," Ann teased.

Yusuke scrunched up his nose as if smelling a particularly foul oder. "That sounds appropriately ugly, but I really hope I don't have to see Madarame in a speedo."

"Treasures are the core of the Palace Ruler's distortion," Morgana explained, ignoring Yusuke's comment. "It's their collective sin given physical form. That makes it a perfect target, since taking it will cause the entire Palace to collapse, but it also makes it incredibly powerful. In this case, so long as Madarame has his Treasure, he's got the full power of his Palace at his fingertips."

Yusuke let out a low whistle. "Quite an intimidating prospect. You've won against such a foe before though, yes?"

"With Arsene," Ren corrected. "So...yeah."

Silence in the attic.

"We could hold off, maybe?" Ryuji offered. "Train some more, do some extra reconnoissance–"

Ren shook his head. "We've got the Treasure Route, and all the supplies we need. I don't think another few days of training will make any difference. If we wait too long, something might cause Madarame's cognition to change, and we'll be caught even more off guard."

Ann took a long sip of water. "So," she said, "what's the plan, Ren?"

He leaned back against the couch. Was he missing anything? Any potential assistance he could take advantage of? The next parcel was on the 30th, only four days, but...he felt almost positive he wasn't meant to wait that long. Maybe there would be no harm in it, but was he really comfortable betting on that uncertainty? A single glance around the room – at Ryuji, at Ann, at Yusuke, at Morgana – gave him his answer. "We send the calling card tomorrow," he said. "Yusuke, can you prepare it by then?"

Yusuke nodded. "Leave it to me."

"Ryuji and Ann," Ren added, "make sure you're ready if Yusuke needs any help. Mona and I will spend tonight coming up with a strategy. Tomorrow, in the Palace, we'll tell you what we figured out. Then, we'll take Madarame's heart."

Ryuji grinned. Ann uncrossed her legs and cracked her knuckles. Yusuke closed his eyes, smiling softly. Morgana stretched and shook himself off. No objections.

Ren sighed. "Couldn't we just steal the Treasure without Madarame noticing? Distract him and pick his pockets or something?" The attic was empty now, just him and Morgana. He'd turned his phone on silent to avoid distractions, and sat in front of a table covered in supplies.

Morgana glared at him, as if offended by the suggestion. "Do you really think he'd let any of us get close enough to try that?" He walked in a little contemplative circle on the couch next to Ren. "How strong are your other Personas? Could we just make up for Arsene's power with more support from the rest of us?"

"Probably not," Ren replied. "You've seen me fight, the whole 'Wild Card' thing makes me a little more quantity over quality. All my Personas are good at what they do, but none of them have better magic than Carmen, or hit stronger than Goemon."

Morgana sat down and hummed a thoughtful tune. "So, no matter how we adjust our strategy, we're still just stuck without firepower."

Ren was about to agree, but something...something...were they really beyond strength? He glanced down at their supplies. Three orange pill-bottles from TMC. A six pack of single serving energy drinks. Money. Infiltration tools. The cards that the Twins had identified as– "Wait a sec." He picked up a bundle, the top card depicting a demonic pair of crimson eyes and a jagged grin.

Morgana tilted his head, staring at Ren with a curious expression. "What is it?"

"Arsene, back when I awakened, was able to use a dark sort of attack right?"

"Skilled in Curse magic," the feline confirmed.

Ren nodded. "And against Madarame, he used some spell that was like...a stronger version of that, right?"

"Yeah. So what?"

Ren plucked the top card out of the bundle and held it out to Morgana. "Didn't it look sort of like this?"

The not-a-cat leaned over to stare at the card, at the image of dark fury. "It did," he muttered.

He couldn't help the smile that crept onto his lips. "Caro...uh, the twins told me that these are 'skill cards,' that they can let a Persona tap into temporary strength. Abilities beyond what they're normally capable of, for a short time."

Morgana sat back on his haunches, processing what Ren was saying. "So," he said, "if those cards have the same sort of skills that Arsene was using..."

"We've got our firepower after all," Ren laughed. "Now, we just have to figure out how to use it."


5/27 – Friday
After School
Madarame's Palace

Ren waited until everyone had made it into the Safe Room before he started filling them in on the plan. "We're going to be switching up our formation for today. Trying something pretty unconventional."

Skull grinned, tapping his heel against the ground. "Lay it on us Joker, I'm so here for whatever you've got in store."

Ren chuckled. "Panther, Fox; how're you both?"

Panther scoffed. "As if you have to ask," she said. "I'm ready."

"As am I," Fox added. He kept adjusting his long sleeves, some sort of nervous tic probably. "This is all...rather intimidating. But I will give my all to the Thieves. I will follow you to the ends of the earth, should it come to that."

"It won't," Ren assured, "but thank you." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Skull and Fox, you'll be taking point. Skull, you're going to be drawing our enemies' attention, keeping them off Panther and Mona especially. Fox, you're our frontline fighter; keep focused and hit hard. Panther, rain brimstone from afar. Mona, you're cleanup and support, stay next to Panther but keep an eye on Fox. Whatever they don't finish off, you tear apart."

Mona nodded. "Yeah, I know. But, uh, I guess the rest of you know now too."

"What about you, Joker?" Skull asked.

Ren smiled. "I'll be navigating. And, when needed, passing these out." He pulled a bundle of skill cards out of his coat. "I'll give you a few right now, too, but I don't want to overwhelm you."

"What exactly are those?" Fox said.

"Some sort of infiltration tool?" Panther guessed.

"Not quite," Ren said. "They're our trump cards."

The rafters above Madarame's Treasure chamber gave Ren a nonzero amount of queasiness, but he toughed it out. "Mona, can you see any changes?"

The feline shook his head. "The Treasure is where it's supposed to be. Not that many more guards than usual." He grinned, sharp teeth and all. "We should be good to go!"

Ren glanced over his shoulder at the rest of his allies, the trio waiting for him and Mona at the other end of the rafters. Skull gave him a thumbs-up, and Ren laughed. Then, he turned back towards Madarame, towards that demon dozens of feet below him. Something didn't seem quite right. Just to confirm, he pulled Yu's broken glasses from his coat pocket. At a glance through them, the object being guarded was dark, mundane; which would have been worrying if he didn't also notice a Treasure's golden glow somewhere else. "Not quite. It's a decoy. That guy," he pointed towards one of the guards near Madarame, "has the real Treasure."

"Oh," Mona said, sounding disappointed but immediately perking back up. "Wait, that means...we just have to kill that one Shadow?"

Ren nodded. "Think you can do it? Kill him and steal the Treasure, while the lights are off?"

Mona snickered. "Who do you think you're talking to?" He rubbed his little paws together. "Of course I can."


Treasure in hand, or paw rather, the Thieves sprinted towards the Palace exit.

"This is going really well so far!" Skull yelled.

"Don't jinx it!" Panther snapped back.

"Courtyard, up ahead!" Mona said, schlepping the veiled painting down the stairs. "All we need to do is hit the safe room there and we're home free!"

And the gilded double-doors with their intricate peacock design slammed shut.

Fox skidded to a halt, grabbing hold of the door and yanking on it. "It won't budge."

"Mona," Ren said, continuing to glance over his shoulder, each time fearing to see Madarame's smug smirk behind them. "We need another route."

"There are no other routes!" the feline snapped. "The only way out is through the courtyard or back–"

"-through me," a cold and familiar voice finished. The Palace's ruler, that Shadow in the golden kimono, stroking his goatee and walking down towards the Thieves like he had all the time in the world. "And we both know how that will turn out for you."

Skull and Fox leapt forward, Panther less than a foot behind them, Ren and Mona taking a step back towards the door.

Madarame's Shadow sneered. "What a noble tableau." He took in the sight with a cold chuckle. "Perhaps, after I'm finished with you all, I'll have you bronzed. 'Hubris of Banditry," I'll call it." He extended one hand. "Or, you could hand me that painting, and I'll settle for your livelong servitude."

"I've been under your thumb long enough," Fox shot back. He drew his katana, the pale blade wrapped in mist. "That ends today."

"Besides," Panther added. "We've got your Treasure already. What makes you think we'll just hand it over?"

Madarame smirked. "What indeed?" He turned his yellow eyes towards Fox again. "Yusuke." His voice was sickly sweet. "Aren't you curious about that painting?"

Fox said nothing.

"Don't you have a single iota of artistic wonder?" The Shadow brought a hand to his forehead, feigning weakness. "What piece could drive me to such extremes? Could twist me into the man you see before you?" He grinned beneath his hand, lips pulled back over yellow teeth. "Don't you want to know the truth about your mother's final portrait?"

Fox stiffened completely. "Tell me," he said, voice chilled to subzero, "exactly what you mean, and perhaps I won't cut out your tongue." Despite being his ally, Ren still shivered at the raw fury pouring off him.

"See for yourself," Madarame replied in that same saccharine tone. "I swear, I won't budge an inch. If you wish to know, Yusuke, then take that knowledge for your own."

Ren could see Fox's hand shuddering. "Mona," he said. "I'm sorry–"

And Mona thrust the veiled painting into Fox's open hand. "Here! Stop moping already. If it's important to you, then just ask."

"We're friends," Ren said. "We trust you."

"And," Skull added, cocking his shotgun. "We'll keep your shitheel dad from trying anything."

Fox was silent for a long second. He sheathed his sword. "Thank you, all." A deep breath, and he pulled the veil off.

A moon or a pale sun, and a single branch – barren but for four cherry blossoms. A black-haired woman dressed in red. Her expression loving, yet woeful, cradling a...an infant in her arms. No mist, no name. Simply a tender, maternal embrace. The sight sent an immediate spike through Ren's spine.

"Is that Sayuri?" Panther asked.

Fox said nothing. His breathing came shallow, his eyes locked on the portrait. Confused, maybe. An odd, engulfing anger.

"You see?" The Shadow Madarame shook his head with exaggerated sadness. "Toshiko refused to listen to reason. She'd built up such a wonderful name for herself, and was prepared to throw it all away. For what? Love?" He snorted. "What sort of love could bloom in such degenerate conditions?"

"That child is Yusuke, isn't it?" Ren said.

"And the woman..." Panther muttered. Then, she gasped. "Wait, she's–"

"Toshiko's mistress." Madarame said the word with unparalleled contempt. "Not only did she feel it proper to raise a child with such filthy hands, she felt proud sharing that filth with the world. Her magnum opus: a proclamation of degeneracy?" He shook his head. "How vile. The moment she died – and what a blessing she did – I took it upon myself to correct her mistake. To wipe her shame from her legacy, keep her as pristine and beautiful as she had always been."

Ren felt almost suffocated by the tension. By the sheer, unfettered anger pulsing across the Thieves like a single shared heartbeat.

"Pristine," Fox repeated. "That's what this is about? Lying about her life, butchering her painting, letting her love gather dust in your closet. It was all about trying to preserve some...some image of my mother's purity?"

"Finally," Madarame sighed, "you understand."

"I do." Fox's movement was slow, precise. With one hand, he drew his katana, with his other, cradled the portrait. His voice was calm, but Ren knew it was an affectation. He felt that anger too, that unbridled readiness to cut the bastard down where he stood. "I understand the pain my mother feels. I can hear her anguish beyond the grave, her voice sobbing out for her legacy dishonored by a man obsessed with tarnishing her name." He shook his head. "I thought you cruel, but no, it goes beyond that. You are irredeemable, Ichiryusai Madarame. And today, I put my mother to rest!"

The Shadow frowned. "So be it. I gave you a chance to return to my side, by I suppose you are far too tainted." He shrugged, and his form seemed to distort, even his voice warping and melting. "Oh well..." And Madarame sank into the floor.

A moment of silence. A tense breath. Another. And a wave of black ink swept across the ground from where Madarame had stood.

"Brace yourself!" Ren said. He fully expected the wave to hit the Thieves with some sort of force, but it simply swept across their ankles. Harmless, for now.

"Ew," Skull said, pulling one foot out of the ichor and shaking it off, splattering Mona as a result.

"Hey!" Mona protested.

"Stay focused!" Panther snapped. Her gaze darted across the room as ink swam up the sides of the room, searching in the pulsing dark for their foe.

But Madarame did not appear. Ink covered the floor and the walls, sweeping across the ceiling as well, starting to melt into the ground around their feet. Ren had a feeling that the top of the stairs, previously open to them, were sealed off for good now. Whatever Madarame was planning...

"Uh," Skull said. "Guys? Was that big statue always–" Cut off by a ripple through the ink.

Ren stared at the statue of Madarame as it started to gleam. The one piece of the room that hadn't been inked-over. Golden, and...grinning. Cold metal eyes shining with unholy red light. "Do you see?" Madarame's distorted voice bellowed from behind the statue's smile. "How hopeless you are in the face of my glory?"

"Mona," Ren whispered. "We have his Treasure, could we somehow cut off his connection to the Palace's power?"

Mona shifted back and forth, anxiety clear. "I don't know. He should already be weaker now that we're holding it, I don't know if there's anything we can do to cut that strength off completely. Except...beat him."

Ren found himself almost satisfied with the answer, almost happy that the only path forward was through that scumbag. "There's no way out of this," he said, loud enough for the others to hear. "Not unless we can kick Madarame's teeth in. Invigorate, now."

Skull chuckled and cracked his neck. "That's what I've been waiting to hear, Joker." He pulled a card from his coat pocket and snapped it like a glow-stick, the cardboard breaking cleanly and then dissolving into thin air. A faint pink glow wrapped itself around him.

Ren flicked a matching card – with the image of a circle of arrows surrounding a pink heart – out of his sleeve and crushed it in one hand. Immediately, his whole body pulsed with a steady energy, tightening his nerves, keeping him calm and focused.

Panther and Mona similarly cracked their cards. Fox, hands full, paused for a moment and then tossed his katana straight up. In one smooth motion, he fished his own card out and broke it, then caught the sword by its hilt.

Skull let out a low whistle at the stunt. "Pretty slick, Fox."

Fox didn't respond, simply stared at Madarame's statue as it took a single thunderous step down the stairs towards the Thieves. "Joker," he said. "Give our orders, please."

Ren started. Right, they were all waiting on him, weren't they? Even as Fox and Skull took point...they were relying on his instruction. He grit his teeth. No time for hesitation. "Invigorate only lasts for a few minutes, so we can't stall. He's big, but there's only one of him. Fox, Skull, get near but stay out of range. The second he turns away from you, hit him hard. Keep him occupied. Panther, Mona, break right. Panther, see if you can get up the stairs near the wall, then melt him from the other side. Mona, keep on your toes, make sure we're all healed up and protected." No objections. Four Thieves and their Joker, tense and ready. "Break!"

And the Thieves dove in separate directions. Ren locked his vision on a pillar at the bottom of the staircase and dropped into a sprint. He slid next to the pillar just as a shockwave swept past him, cutting through the air behind his head.

"Fox!" Skull yelled. "You okay?"

"I'm fine!" Fox replied. "He missed me."

Ren turned to see Skull and Fox taking up flanking positions around Madarame's statue. The dozen-foot tall colossus's seemed utterly focused on the latter – who still held Madarame's Treasure to his chest. He swung a massive golden fist towards Fox, sending another shockwave through the air. Fox managed to dodge out of the way, the blast only catching the tip of his tail and knocking a handful of fuzz across the room.

"Skull!" Ren called.

"I know, I know!" Another card from his jacket with one hand, the other to his mask. "Captain Kidd!" The moment his Persona manifested, Skull cracked the card. Kidd's form seemed to glow for an instant, and the pirate king let out a bellowing cry as he aimed his cannon. A blue sphere formed at its tip, a ball of azure lightning sending arcs in all directions. Ren saw Skull grit his teeth with the effort of the magic. "Wild Thunder!" And he fired.

Madarame's statue let out a single surprised sound and then nearly convulsed as voltaic energy hit him squarely in the side. His metal skin sparked, and Ren had to look away to avoid being blinded. As soon as the sound of heavenly fury ceased, he glanced back to see a charred-black mark the size of a dinner plate where the attack had hit, some of the gold metal warped. Even with Invigoration steadily restoring his strength, Skull wobbled in place, clearly exhausted from channeling power beyond his limits.

"You–" Madarame's statue turned towards Skull, and Fox moved.

Still holding Sayuri to his chest, he plunged his sword into the ground, reaching into his coat for his own card.

Ren's hand moved to his own mask before his mind could catch up. "Makami, give him strength!" He locked his focus on Fox. Blue fire, then a lupine howl from above him, and Fox was embraced in a sharp orange aura. No time for thanks, but Ren could feel his ally's gratitude.

A little square of cardboard in Fox's grasp, and the sound of it cracking between his fingers. "Goemon," he called, "end it!" Ren barely saw the ethereal kabuki before he struck, swinging his pipe's sharpened edge along the ink-covered ground and then up across the statue's chest.

A spurt of black ink like blood from a deep gash, dripping down the golden statue. Madarame's engorged form stumbled backwards, as if knocked off balance.

"Inferno!" came Panther's voice from the other side of the statue. And a pillar of flame erupted from between Madarame's feet.

A sound like metal screeching in agony, and the enormous golden statue fell to its knees. The red glow in its eyes went dark. It was still once again.

Fox similarly dropped, collapsing onto one knee and breathing hard. "Is it..." he said, "is it over?"

"I don't think so," Mona said, scrambling up the stairs towards him. "Everyone, keep–"

"You think you can defeat me with such a graceless strength?" came the voice of the artist's Shadow, echoing through the ink-stained room. "My masterpieces contain far more beauty than you could ever hope, and far more power. Allow me to demonstrate."

Ink sprayed out of the wound in the statue's chest, what had been a steady flow was now an utter torrent, smacking against the far wall with fire-hose force.

"Joker," Skull yelled, his tone beyond concerned, "the ink's rising, dude. The ink's fuckin rising!"

Sure enough, the black fluid was starting to lap against his boots again, but this time it wasn't spreading itself thin. It was, as Skull so eloquently put it, rising. "High ground!" Ren shouted back, and dove around the pillar, sprinting up the stairs. He saw Skull and Mona make similar speedy ascents towards the apex of the room. But Fox, now in front of Ren, was still barely standing.

"Fox," he said, sliding to a halt and grabbing the boy's shoulder, "come on. We need to move."

But Fox didn't move. He was breathing hard, eyes closed, leaning on his sword to keep himself anywhere close to upright. Exhausted. At the verge of tears.

"Fox," Ren repeated. "Please, we can't stay here."

He simply held Sayuri tighter to his chest.

"Yusuke!"

Fox bolted upright, eyes wide open. Staring not through Ren but at him, focus and life and will behind those pupils; thank god. "I'm–"

"No time for sorry!" Ren yanked the young man up and shoved him up the stairs. "Go!"

And Fox went, climbing as quick as he could, katana in one hand and Treasure in the other. Ren held his shoulder tight, caught Fox when he stumbled, and kept pushing him. Forward, always forward.

Panther, already at the top of the stairs, saw them and hurried to Fox's other side. "Come on Fox," she said, and held his other shoulder. "Just a little more, come on."

"Thank you," he said, his voice hoarse. "Thank you."

The second they crossed the last stair, the young artist dropped to his knees. Mona scrambled over and pressed two green-glowing paws against his arm. "Deep breaths," the feline said. "Good job, Fox."

"Fuckin," Skull panted, bent over, hands on his knees, "stairs! Why did it have to be stairs!?"

Ren found himself laughing. He wasn't sure why, the situation didn't feel particularly funny, but he couldn't stop giggling. "Okay, okay," he said, more to himself than anyone else. Breathe, focus. "Everyone, good work so far."

"We're not done yet," Panther asked, "right?" She stepped to the edge of the stairs and stared down at the ink pool, still rising, swallowing up step by step.

"Madarame's still got fight in him," Ren said. "So we've gotta match that." He was about to issue an order, point the Thieves into combat again, but..Fox was on the verge of collapse. "Skull, Panther, with me." He reached into his bag and pulled out a card of flame and another of thunder, tossing one to each Thief. Then, he grabbed a card from the 'Nuclear' bundle and slipped it into his sleeve. "Whatever Madarame's planning, the three of us can hold him off."

"I can," Fox muttered, "still fight."

Ren knelt down by the young man. "Fox, am your leader?"

He nodded.

"If I say fight, you'll fight?"

Another nod.

"Good. Now sit right here until Mona finishes healing you." Ren smiled. "That's an order, Fox."

Fox looked on the verge of protesting, but he simply nodded. "As you wish, Joker."

"Mona-"

"Yeah, yeah," the not-a-cat interrupted. "I'll keep him from doing anything stupid."

Ren reached over and patted Mona's head. "Thank you. Stay safe." Then, he stood and turned back towards the stairs. Skull on his left, Panther on his right. Ready.

Ink had nearly reached them now, and it was finally starting to slow its ascent. Rather than simply rise, it was lapping at the stairs just below their current plateau. Madarame's statue had been engulfed too, the room was now only the raised floor and an enormous lake of ink.

Silence.

"Isn't," Skull mumbled, shifting weight from one foot to another, "isn't ink supposed to be like crazy expensive? I wonder if we could bring a bucket back with us, or something."

Panther stared at him like the young man had started speaking in tongues. "We have four million yen in Joker's attic. What the hell do we need a bucket of ink for?"

Before Ren had a chance to add his own teasing chastisement, the ink lake rippled. "Here he comes," he said. "Stay sharp."

And the Shadow Madarame rose out of the ink. Untouched by the black ocean, in that same golden kimono and ugly smirk. Far less monstrous than Ren had expected. "I," he said, "am the great Madarame. Gaze upon my majesty, Thieves, and despair. For you will soon be erased from the world, but my name shall live on forever!" He raised his arms, hands up and palms open, and the ink around him seemed to shudder.

The words 'clear shot' sprung to Ren's head. He grabbed the pistol from his belt, pointed it, and fired. Madarame didn't physically react beyond a barely-visible flinch, but he was instantly obscured from view by a vertical plane of ink that raised itself between him and the bullet. A second later, it dropped back into the ocean, revealing the still smirking and still unharmed Madarame.

"A volunteer, then?" Madarame bellowed laughter. "Very well." He swept his arm through the air in a dramatic motion, and pointed at Ren with two fingers. The ink seemed to congeal by the artist's side. Then, quicker than should have been possible, a column of ink like a fist swung out of the lake towards Ren.

He dove to the right, out of the way, but the impact of that column into the ground still knocked him off balance. Ren steadied himself, glancing over his shoulder to see the column retreating, sinking back into the lake.

"Try that again, asshole!" Skull yelled, one hand on his mask, the other reaching into his jacket–

"Skull!" Ren shouted. "Not yet, the ink is keeping him safe and we don't know how strong that shield is."

A flash of heat against his side. "Let's test it, then," Panther said. "Carmen!" Flame leapt from the dancer's fingertips, twin fireballs arcing across the room on curveball trajectories, spinning off to either side of Madarame only to fall straight towards the Shadow – Ren found himself envious of Panther's absurd precision.

It was less a wall that formed from the ink as a hollow cylinder, rising out of the lake to protect Madarame on all sides from the oncoming fire. Panther's flame hit, but not what she had intended. The ink wall hissed, letting off black smoke as part of it evaporated, but it melted back into the black sea without any issue.

Madarame shook his head. "Impatience is a nasty habit. Let's rid you of that imperfection." Another sweeping gesture, and another column of ink swung like a huge weapon.

Ren knew Panther couldn't switch from fight to flight as quickly as he could. She couldn't get out of the way fast enough. So he grit his teeth, dove in front of her and grabbed his mask. "Shiki-Ouji!" The paper demon unfolded itself, a white samurai in front of the two Thieves, just in time to take the full brunt of Madarame's attack. A midnight impact against pale armor. Shiki-Ouji was tough, but Ren still felt the impact in his bones. "Panther, now!"

Panther, thankfully, was still quick on her feet. "Carmen, let's give him an encore." The crack of cardboard in her hand. "Agidyne!" A spear of blinding flame shot right past Shiki-Ouji, past the ink column, dead on track to collide with Madarame.

And it smacked into another impromptu wall, ink sizzling and smoking but still preventing the magic from reaching its target.

"Come on!" Skull growled. "Stop hiding, you little shit!" He cocked his shotgun, and fired. Pellets sunk into the ink wall.

Ren's mind whirred with impossibilities. What could they do? Nothing seemed to work, they were yet again unable to pierce a perfect defense. Could they...Ren took a deep breath. He didn't have an opportunity to sit on his ass and let the Thieves wear themselves out. Even if it meant surrender, if it meant losing the moral battle to save his friends, Ren would accept that sacrifice. He raised his hand to his mask, Arsene's name on the tip of his tongue–

"Ichiryusai!" A shout that silenced the room. "Your son wishes to speak with you." Fox, taking slow and steady steps, walked past Ren. Sayuri held to his chest. Sword sheathed. He only paused for an instant, but Ren heard his whisper: "Please. Trust me."

Ren nodded. He locked eyes with Skull and mouthed 'get to cover.' It was a vague command, but Skull caught the drift, beating a hasty retreat towards a small raised wall near the left side of the plateau. Ren turned to Panther and slipped her another crimson card. "Stay low, catch your breath. When Fox gives the word, you know what to do."

She nodded, looking beyond exhausted but still somehow standing. "Got it," she panted.

Ren turned his attention back towards Skull, slipping past Fox to join the blond jock behind the raised wall.

"Ah, Yusuke," the Shadow's voice didn't so much soften as ferment, far more rotten than sweet. "You finally come crawling back to me."

"Tell me," Fox said. He stood tall, back straight and eyes locked on the Shadow of his father. "Why pretend that Sayuri had been stolen? If you care so much about my mother's legacy, her 'perfect' image, why hide it?"

Madarame looked as if he'd just been asked to consider something foul. "Because of her." He gestured towards the painting, the tender depiction of Miss Kitagawa's lover. "That foul woman still blamed me for Toshiko's death. She sought to tarnish my name, had the nerve to threaten my reputation if I didn't acquiesce to her demands." He smirked, wide and cruel. "So, what would happen to those accusations if their focus simply...vanished?"

"You were aiming to frame her," Fox replied. Not a question. A cold fury behind his words. "To protect yourself by accusing her of theft."

"Only if she decided to act against me," Madarame replied. "Thankfully, that slut possessed enough of her faculties to figure out that she had no longer had any evidence against me–" A bolt of frost like an icicle pierced through the air next to Madarame's head, slamming into the far wall with explosive force.

"Thank you," Fox said, "my former sensei. For providing me with yet another reason to sharpen my blade against your spine." Goemon flickering in the air behind him, taking a long breath from his pipe. "Take solace in this: after I'm finished destroying you, I'll ensure the entire world knows exactly what kind of man you are. I'll broadcast your crimes across every television in Japan. Whether or not I end your pathetic existence here...your life is over, Ichiryusai." Ren watched as the ink near the platform began to slow its rippling, to stall and lighten and then freeze, a sheet of ice inching its way across the ocean. "I will strike you down for my mother...no, for both my mothers!" And Fox pulled his final card from his coat.

Ren felt his entire nervous system spark into action. "Phantoms!" he yelled. "Let's give our Fox an opening!"

Skull let out a belt of excited laughter. "I thought you'd never ask." He vaulted over the raised wall, then dropped into a stumbling sprint across the iced-over ocean of ink.

Madarame flinched at the advancing foe, and the ocean sprung into action at the speed of molasses, a column forming through the frost. Too slow, far too slow.

The jock's mask shattered in a blaze of blue fire, remnants of cardboard dissolving in his offhand. "Kidd, let's give him hell!" Skull raised his red pole above his head, and the crimson wood burst into a dazzling display of thunderous energy, wrapped entirely in lightning. Skull slid to a halt, grit his teeth, and swung the electrified bat with professional form. Crack. And the ink column exploded, bursting like a swollen water balloon, spraying both Skull and Madarame with ichor. The Thief stumbled backwards, dazed, not quite out of range.

"Zorro!" Mona commanded. And a gust of air threw Skull near-twenty feet back towards the other Thieves, the boy skidding and rolling across the ice. Out of danger, thankfully.

Ren glanced to the other side of the room, towards Panther, who met his gaze and nodded. He cracked the card. "Shiisaa!"

Panther, less than a single breath behind him. "Carmen!"

A deafening rumble in his bones, some indescribable energy flowing through Ren's fingers into his chest, up through his lungs and then out. And a violet sun exploded in Madarame's face, indescribable brilliance flooding the room from a celestial flare of cosmic energy directed entirely at the Palace's ruler. Ren might have heard a scream of satisfying agony beneath the roar of a detonating star. Seconds later – though it might have been minutes – that blinding purple glow faded, and Ren's vision cleared to see Madarame's Shadow still standing, his golden robes singed and torn and stained with ink. The vain artist stumbled in place, gesticulating some sort of command to the now completely stationary ocean.

Ren looked to Fox, even as his eyes seemed to unfocus, his vision blurring slightly from sudden exhaustion. "It's all you. Finish this."

Fox looked down at the portrait, at the true Sayuri, his father's Treasure, and then closed his eyes. He raised one hand, holding the half-broken card over his head. "Goemon! Please escort my former sensei into the next ice age." The kabuki breathed in deep, then exhaled with terrifying force.

Ren felt oddly warm. He saw a single snowflake fall from the ink ceiling above Madarame's head, one tiny iota of frost. It whirled and danced, spinning in the air on its leisurely descent. It, ever so gently, landed on the Shadow's chest. And it burst into a sphere of absolute cold. Madarame could not so much as scream before his breath froze in his lungs. The bastard artist's Shadow coughed out a cascade of snowflakes, and dropped to his knees, shuddering and wheezing, choking on the frigid air. Suffocating on his son's cold fury.

Ren looked to Fox, towards the young man's stiff posture, strained from the magic he was still channeling. Refusing to let go.

"Fox," Mona said, rubbing his paws together in a concerned little fidget. "If Madarame's Shadow dies, so does he. You know that."

Yet none of the Thieves stepped towards him. Ren could tell it wasn't fear that kept them, but...he couldn't quite articulate what it was. Respect, perhaps. Sympathy. Maybe love.

"It's your choice," Ren added. "Your right to take what he owes you. And...it's up to you to decide what that is. His penance, or his life."

Something glimmered on Fox's cheek, like a tear frozen against his skin. "I can't...stand..." he muttered, "looking at his...face. Not anymore."

Madarame gasped at nothing, his face nearly blue. Breathless. Dying.

"Fox," Panther started, then hesitated. "Don't think about him. Think about you. What you need to move on, to stop thinking about what he did to–" She cut herself off, biting her lip.

"You've gotta live, man," Skull cut in. "Whatever that takes, whatever you've gotta do, you can't stop moving. It's your life. Yours, not his."

Fox shuddered. He let out a quiet sound, like a stifled sob. Then, he screamed. A single note, drenched in anger and agony and grief and loss. He screamed until his lungs gave out. Falling into shallow, pained breaths.

And Madarame's Shadow gasped at the air that was suddenly warm and breathable again, choked and gagged and spat bile against the frozen ink.

"Fuck," Fox muttered, his voice hoarse. He held Sayuri to his chest like one might cradle an infant. "I...I hate this. I hate how he...makes me feel. I don't...want to feel this way ever...ever again. I don't ever want to be like him."

"I know," Ren said. "It's over, Yusuke. It's okay." He placed a hand on the young man's shoulder, and Fox leaned into his touch. "It's over."