[June 21st, Evening]

For once, the usually normal sight of the Izumo household… looked weirdly menacing. Scratch that, Shinji knew exactly why it looked menacing. And it was a very, VERY justified reason.

But still, right now as he (and Makoto) stood right before the front door of his house, Shinji felt his legs frozen. Not out of fear, but a bit of shame and worry.

"Mom's going to kill me, isn't it?" He couldn't help but ask out loud, which Makoto immediately turned to him with a gaze filled with reassurance.

"Don't worry, Ise-san isn't someone who'd scold you."

"But… for a lack of a better word, I fucked up big times."

"You did, but I'm here, Shin-chan," Grabbing his hands in hers, she put on a slight smile as she squeezed them. "You'll be fine, I promise."

"I… I hope so."

With a long sigh, Shinji took a deep breath and walked up to his home's front door. His finger hovered barely above the 'call' button in the doorbell, he squeezed his eyes shut before finally pressing it down. Just as normal, the sound of an electronic bell echoed throughout the entire front hall.

Mere seconds later, the front door was roughly opened. And Shinji came face-to-face with Ise, the dry tear trails clear on her face.

Before he could even open his mouth, Ise hastily wrapped her arms around him and held tight. And a wave of guilt surfaced inside Shinji's heart, as he returned the hug, hesitantly. They didn't say a word, they didn't need to say a word either.

The embrace relaxed a few long moments later, but Shinji could still feel the tight grip on his shoulders. He looked up, seeing how tears were threatening to burst through again. Relief, anger, and regret, all these emotions flashed and switched on her face like a roulette.

In the end, the pin landed on the "Anger" session.

"You… I… I don't want to say it out in the open," She said, releasing the grip on his shoulder. "Get inside."

Shinji nodded without any resistance, turning to Makoto aside. "But uh… what about Makoto?"

Following where his gaze, a subtle layer of shock emerged on Ise's face. But it only stayed for a fleeting moment, and she nodded.


As Shinji and Makoto sat on one side while Ise sat on the other side, Shinji could feel Makoto's hand on top of his. Trying her best to comfort him. For once, the dinner table of the Isumo household turned from a place filled with comfort into a place filled with tension.

However, Ise opened her mouth before he could fully mentally prepare himself.

"What were you thinking?" Ise didn't raise her voice at him, but the tiredness and seriousness were clear in her tone. "Going out and… putting yourself in danger, just…"

"I… I just wanted to protect Naoko and her family," Shinji answered, as honestly as he could. "I know that all I did was just hurting both you and them, it's… my fault. I can't excuse it."

Surprised by his honesty, the single mother was taken aback. "At least you're a bit more responsible," However, the anger returned as she connected some dots in her head. "Wait, then… you knew how wrong it is, and you still did it?"

"N-no! It's… something happened and uh… kinda opened my eyes on what I was doing," Shaking his head, he tried his best to think of a reason without mentioning the Palace. But in the end, he chose to just be honest. "I realized how… selfish I was."

"I tried to convince myself that I was doing this for you, for everyone, and for justice," Noticing how both Ise and Makoto were surprised by his confession, Shinji continued. "But in the end, I'm just doing this because I want to be a hero that you all would be proud of."

"Also because… I don't want another Kimiko situation. I don't want to lose another person I care about," Taking in a deep breath to keep his emotions in check, Shinji looked directly at his mother, apologetically. "I'm sorry for hurting you, Mom. I just let all those things blind me and… yeah."

For a few long, long moments, silence was the only thing on the table.

Ise wanted to be angry at Shinji, she really wanted to. She had the right to be angry, after all. But in his words, it felt different. It felt a lot more genuine, a lot more honest. And a stark contrast of… how he was, as soon as this morning.

"…Whatever that something is, it… definitely changed you, Shinji," She said. "I'm just… I wanted to be angry at you. Be angry that you're… risking your life for the people you care about."

"We… we also would have our heart shattered if you get hurt too," She glanced over at Makoto, who let a look of sadness as well. "The same could be said for Mako-chan too."

Glancing over and noticing the sadness, Shinji squeezed her hand in return. "I know, she… did tell me her fear before," He admitted with a small nod, the hint of guilt and shame on his face. "I still ignored it, just lying to myself that I'm doing this for everyone, for justice."

Ise didn't say anything at first, but couldn't help but be shocked by the deja vu from Shinji's words. It… minus the "lying to myself" part, it sounded just like… just like…

"Shinji… you… you're really like your father," She muttered, more to herself than to anyone else. "But at least… you have the gut to admit it."

Lowering his gaze at the table, Shinji shut his eyes for a moment. "Don't worry, mom. I won't leave you alone, like what he did to you."

Surprised by the conviction in his words, Ise couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. "That's not something you should say to me," She glanced over at Makoto. "Save it for Mako-chan, a special occasion too."

In response, a faint blush emerged on Shinji's face. "I um… we…"

"Said things that are more embarrassing than this?" Finishing the sentence for him, a small smile emerged on Ise's face. And the tense atmosphere earlier dissipated, the weight lifted. "I should've expected that, but you two are back together now?"

The couple were both taken aback by the change of atmosphere, sharing a small look with one another. With a short silent conversation later, they nodded in unison. And held up their hands, fingers interlinked with one another.

With a soft smile emerging, Ise stood up from her seat. "I can see it on your face, Shin-chan. You've been scolded by Mako-chan already, right?"

"Actually, it's more from Akira."

"Akira? You two… are friends again too?"

"…Kinda."

Letting the answer sit inside her head, she pondered for a moment and nodded. "That's good, and…" Just as she was about to continue, a growl from both Izumo's stomach interrupted them all. "…Right, I guess we're all hungry. I'll make some ramen."

"Mako-chan, you're staying for dinner too?"

"Sure, it's either staying with you or just eating alone at home anyway," She glanced over at the interlinked hand, only to widen her gaze at the realization of what she just said. And the silence only hammered in this point further.

"Wait, what about Sae-san then?" Shinji asked, a look of concern clear on his face. "Is it because of her prosecutor work?"

"…Partly, but also we… things have been rough between us. So I've been eating alone for-"

"Okay, I've heard enough," Cutting her off, Ise pinched her nose-bridge and shook her head. "Mako-chan, you're staying for the night. I'll have some serious talk with Sae-chan later."

"And Shinji… no funny business here, for now!"

As much as Shinji wanted to say something about Ise's comment on their relationship, there was something else more important right now. He turned his chair to face Makoto, and grabbed ahold of both of her hands. Glancing at the hands, he comfortingly caressed them and lifted his gaze at hers.

"…Let me guess, that's partly why you… got to the club?" Seeing a nod from Makoto, a sigh couldn't help but leave his mouth. "Now I need to double my effort to make up for you."

"You don't have to-"

"I want to," He stopped her from finishing the sentence, leaning a bit closer. "You're my girlfriend, after all."

Surprised by Shinji's choice of words, crimson immediately spread across Makoto's cheeks. However, the embarrassment and shyness merely lasted for a split second, as she reached forward and wrapped her arms around him. Her mouth's edge lifted into a small smile.

Meanwhile, peeking at the couple over her shoulder, Ise let out a breath of relief as she continued preparing the Ramen. Especially as she witnessed the same smile on Shinji's face, one that she missed for… a long time now.

After all, maybe things were looking better, going forward.


[June 22nd, Student Council Room]

For once, the student council room was lit brightly, from the sunlight outside. Leaking through the window, and brought warmth along, something that Makoto hadn't felt for quite a while. If only she could enjoy this moment.

With a sudden text from Ann, she now found herself sitting at one side of the table in the middle of the room with Ann sitting at the other end. And right now, a silence as cold as ice was clear within this very room. It wasn't the same coldness as before, like that time in the Karaoke room. Instead of hostility, it was filled with a sense of awkwardness instead.

"I'm sorry for asking out here like this, Prez," Ann said, choosing to break the ice herself.

"Oh no, it's not a problem… it's actually pretty refreshing to be asked to here instead," Brushing her bangs aside, Makoto shook her head with a smile. "It's… somewhat nerve-wracking though, to be honest."

"...I think I'm a bit nervous myself too," Taking in a deep breath, the blonde model let her gaze downcast for a split moment. "It's more to just set the record straight, but… I wanted to apologize."

Blinked in surprise, Makoto was taken aback when Ann suddenly stood up.

"I'm… really sorry for everything."

"What do you mean?"

"...About how I blamed you for everything that happened with Kamoshida," Ann said, the guilt still clear within her voice. "I… I've been meaning to apologize for this the whole time."

"No, I have my own share of blame too," Makoto shook her head in response. "I didn't do anything because Shinji left, and I just let myself drown in that downward spiral."

"But I treated you as if you're unscathed from this, when it couldn't be further from the truth," The blonde model continued, pausing for a moment. "Besides, I realized that Shiho was calling out for me, and I wasn't there to help her."

"If not for Akira, I don't want to imagine how things would turn out either," She bowed deeply. "I… just projected my guilt onto you. And I'm really sorry about this."

"It's fine. And to be fair… we're pretty similar in this regard too."

"Huh?"

"I wasn't able to save anyone. Not Suzui-san, not Akashi, and certainly not Kaneshiro's victims," Makoto explained, lowering her gaze. "After seeing that video, and realizing that I can't do anything to help Shinji… I grew desperate. And the rest is history."

"I'm deeply sorry too,"

Silence once again hung high above the two girls, and Makoto could feel Ann's gaze. Not necessary on her, but Ann was thinking, pondering.

However, the response was not what she expected.

"...In that case, wanna call it even?"

Her head snapped up with a widened gaze, the student council president genuinely didn't know how she should respond. But after a moment to collect herself from the surprise, a small chuckle couldn't help but escape from her mouth.

"You're right, how about we bury the hatchet and leave this in the past?"

"Definitely," Ann nodded, sitting back down. "Oh, and one more thing… you did save someone."

"Huh?"

"I admit that calling what you did "reckless" is an understatement. But not for you… we wouldn't be able to get into Kaneshiro's palace," She explained, looking directly at Makoto. Filled with a sense of gratefulness. "And if not for you, we wouldn't even know if Izumo would be alive or not."

"Not only that, you awakened your Persona all by yourself. And helped him to awaken his too."

"I… you're right. It's very 'you' but… you're right," Nodding, a smile emerged on Makoto's face. "As direct as ever, Takamaki."

"...Yeah, maybe I am a bit direct."

"And that's a good thing, sometimes being direct is the best choice," Makoto said, tilting her head as she thought for a moment. "Then… actually, can I call you Ann?"

"Huh?!" Taken back, Ann hastily nodded. "Y-yeah! I was going to ask you the same thing, Nii-M-Makoto… That's embarrassing."

"It definitely needs some time to get used to," With a small chuckle, the student council president leaned a bit forward. "Actually, how about we grab something to eat after school? Just before we meet up for the infiltration."

"S-sure! I know a crepe store in the central street, their crepes are totally stuffed!" Ann nodded, just as a thought popped up again.

"Sure, and… then can I bring Shin-chan too?"

"Hmm… sure, but why?"

"So next time we can go there again… and so he's paying for it."

Surprised by the idea, and who that suggestion came from. It took Ann a split moment to let the cogs in her mind spin, resulting in a small smirk. "And I thought you were all 'by the books'."

"I can... bend the rule if I want to, Shin-chan would listen to me too."


[Afterschool, Hideout]

"A new way to fight?"

With a mouth stuffed full of crepe, Ann stared at Morgana as he sat on the railing. Confusion was clear within her gaze. But in response, Morgana merely nodded once again.

"Yep! Like a new finisher, aside from the usual All-Out Attack!" With a confident smile, if one was kinda visible on a cat's face, the feline stepped closer toward Ann as he started explaining. "So the idea was…"

As Morgana just lowered his voice for some reason, Ren couldn't hear the exact details of whatever that "new finisher" would be. Instead, he turned his attention to the other two people, the newest members of the Phantom Thieves.

They were too busy eating a crepe together.

"That's pretty good, maybe I can grab some for Mom too," Shinji said, taking another bite into the crepe.

"Yeah, I'm sure Ise-san would love it," Makoto nodded, noticing Ren staring at them with a bit of surprise. In response, crimson immediately emerged on the couple's cheeks. "O-oh, sorry for not noticing you, Amamiya-kun."

"...It's fine," Ren shook his head, still upholding the hint of surprise on his face. "But uh… you two move on at lightning speed. It's only been like what? Just one night?"

"Well, we never really 'broke up' per se," Shinji said, using his fingers to air quote the word "broke up". "So it's almost like we never separated in the first place."

With a nod that was filled with awkwardness, Ren couldn't help but notice how Makoto hid her face behind the half-eaten crepe. For a million years, he had never thought he'd see a sight that was perfectly ripped from a Shojo manga, but here he was. And he would by lying if there was not the slightest bit of jealousy deep within his heart, followed by flashes of a certain redhead gymnast.

"That's uh... great to know-"

"That actually sounds pretty cool!"

Thankfully, a sudden exclaim from Ann took them out of the awkward conversation.

"What sounds pretty cool?" Makoto asked, lifting her face above the crepe.

"Oh, so basically Morgana suggested a special duo finisher, with special stages and stuff!"

"A special stage..." Trailing off, Shinji slowly grinned in recognition. "Oh, so it's like how Showa period Rider and Sentai would change where the fight scene takes place!"

"I don't really understand what you're talking about, but in a way it's like that," Morgana nodded, but not with a hint of confusion.

"Aside from that, it's also the same as what you two did yesterday," Ren said, glancing at the couple. "I mean the Rider Kick finisher you two did."

"Oh, I remember," Ann said, nodding. "It's like those finishing moves, but a lot more elaborate and grand!"

"But uh... the thing is whether it's possible or not," Morgana said with a frown, somewhat dampening the mood. "Even though it's in the Metaverse, it's still a bit too grand and cognition-altering that it wouldn't work."

"Don't you have more experience with the Metaverse than us, Morgana?" Ren asked, just as a strange sense of warmth spread from within his pocket. "Huh?"

He pulled the pocket's content and came to the sight of Jose's star... shining, adding a subtle shade of blue to their surrounding. Even if the setting sun still dominated the color of their looked back up at the others, who were all staring at the star with a mixture of awe and shock.

"Wait, maybe this is the 'wish' Jose talked about?" The feline hypothesized, which only added another layer of confusion for Makoto and Shinji.

"Um... excuse me, who's Jose? And what is this?"

"Jose's a benefactor of us, we can introduce you to him after we're done with Kaneshiro," Ren said, raising a brow at the said star in his hand. "But uh... to be frank, I have no idea what's happening with the star either."

Ren stared at the star for a few more moments, but ultimately decided to put it back into his pocket, and spread his arms out of tiredness. And just as these moments, the rest of the thieves finally arrived. And mere moments later, the group disappeared in thin air, unnoticed by the public that walked by them. Nor the distortion of reality moments before the disappearance.


[Kaneshiro's palace, entrance]

Thankfully, even after what happened in the past two days, and the amount of chaos that occurred. The palace was surprisingly quiet and normal, with no alarm or even any increase in the level of security.

However, before the infiltration could actually begin, there was something else that's… somewhat more important.

"So, what are Shin-chan and I going to be called?" Makoto asked, facing the rest of the thieves. "You all were using codenames, and I was temporarily just called "Q" when we were saving Shin-chan."

"Oh right, I was about to bring this up as well," Joker said, lightly hitting his open palm with his other hand. "So… any ideas, team?"

"Codename, huh?" Shinji chimed in, blinking with intrigue in his gaze. "Oh hell yeah."

"You sound oddly enthusiastic about this," Fox commented.

"Well, it's just cool as hell to operate with codenames and stuff, reminds me of those Robin Hood-style heroes."

"You got a point, Shinji," Skull agreed, rubbing his chin as he focused on Makoto and her outfit. "But man, this one is a hard one though… What about somethin' like 'Shoulder Pads'?"

"Why on earth would you focus on that?" Morgana sighed in frustration.

"I'm just tryin' to be respectful, man. She's already spoken for," As much as he wanted to hide it, the awkwardness was still clear within Skulls' voice. "And her outfit… kinda left very little for imagination."

"Huh?" Looking down in confusion, a shade of crimson immediately emerged on Makoto's cheeks. "D-don't stare at me with weird intentions then! Also, I refused to be called that!"

"Well, Ryuji's right-"

"It's Skull."

"Oh, uh… Skull's right," With a faint shade of pink emerging, Shinji stepped closer and subtly shielded her. "Feeling a bit better now?"

"...A bit, thank you Shin-chan," Makoto nodded. "A-anyway, can we go back on track?"

"Right," With an awkward cough, Joker turned to his team once again. "Any more ideas?"

"What about "Rider"?" Fox asked, surprisingly unaffected by what just happened.

"No, we're Phantom Thieves. And a rider is a bit too loud as a codename, next," Makoto shook her head, and the faint shade of red remained. "I know it's pretty obvious though, Johanna bike, and have the belt and scarf on top of it."

"Um… as per the tradition of naming based on the mask…" Trailing off, Swan tilted her head in deep thought, her eyes locked right on the iron mask. "What about 'Iron Maiden'? Or just 'Maiden' for short?"

"That's a good one," Panther commented, nodding.

"Isn't that a band's name though?" Raven asked. "Besides, she doesn't really come off as a 'maiden'."

"I'm with Kamisaki…" Trailing off, Makoto furrowed her brow. "Excuse me, your codename is?"

"Raven."

"Okay, I'm with Raven here. It's a band's name too, so I'm gonna pass. Next?"

"Hmm…" Head lowered in deep thought, Jester suddenly raised his finger. As if a lightbulb suddenly lit up above his head. "Oh yeah, I got one! I bet it's the best suited for you!"

"You don't have to say it that loud, but sure. What is it?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Raven murmured, to which Shinji nodded in agreement.

"Oh, it's… 'Prez'!"

If there was a tumbleweed in the Metaverse, the said tumbleweed definitely rolled across them in the silence. During the silence, the grin on Jester's face gradually disappeared, replaced by a look filled with regret and embarrassment.

"I… uh… nevermind."

Rubbing her forehead with a sigh, Makoto turned to her boyfriend instead. "Shin-chan, any idea?"

"I was going to say "Rider", but Yusuke-"

"It's Fox."

"Yeah, Fox already suggested and you rejected it. So..." With his head tilted sideways, Shinji pondered for a moment. But just like a flash of lightning, an idea popped up. "Oh wait, didn't Ren-"

"Joker."

"Didn't Joker give you "Q" as a temporary codename?" Seeing a nod from Makoto, Shinji nodded. "Then what about "Queen"? It fits you."

"Huh, it's pretty spot on," Mona agreed, crossing its arms. "She did give out a vibe of an empress during battle."

"I... did?"

"Not only that, it's just a pretty cool codename," Joker said. "Huh, I never paid much thought when I just gave the "Q" one, but I guess it's a happy accident, yeah?"

"Yeah yeah, you ain't takin' any credit though," Skull deadpanned, choosing to ignore the hurt look on Joker's face. "But Prez, it's all down to you, you can say no."

"Well, I um..." Somewhat surprised, Makoto pondered for a bit. But still ended with a nod. "I do quite like it."

"Then it's settled then, Queen," Jester said, shifting his focus on Shinji instead. "Then about you Shinji..."

"King," Jester said, not bothered to waste even a single moment. "Any disagreement?"

"Wait a sec, I haven't said anything-"

"Nope," Raven said, shaking his head. "Sidenote, it's pretty spot on."

"No, it's not-"

"Yeah, the side cape kinda cemented the king vibe," Panther agreed.

"Wha- Of course not-"

"I completely agree with Panther," Fox said.

"Do I have any say in this?" Finally able to say a full sentence without being interrupted, Shinji facepalmed. "Besides, why "King" out of all things? Not even "Hero"?"

"Because it's such low-hanging fruit," Joker said, looking at Makoto (Now Queen).

"Queen," He shifted his eyes back on Shinji. "and King. Pretty fitting."

"Are you for real right now..."

"Yep, I am," With a nod, a smirk couldn't help but emerge on Joker's face. "Besides, that's Skull's line, you might have to pay for copyright."

Feeling the reply die in his mouth, all the list and thoughts Shinji had tried to come up with faded away. With it all ended in a long sigh, he turned to Queen instead. At this point, he'd rather ask Makoto about it instead of being teased again.

"Then um... Mako-chan?"

"Me?!" Surprised by the metaphorical "ball" landed in her hands, Queen glanced away with a bit of hesitation. "I um... I quite like that you're called "King"."

With his mouth left hanging open, Shinji froze for a few, long moments. However, it ended up as a long sigh. "...Well, if you say so. King it is then."

"Anyway, now that our codename is settled, shouldn't we go now?"

"You got a point," Joker nodded, but a teasing smirk remained. "I guess I'll just sprinkle the teasing in the infiltration then."

"Now, let's go! Shall we?"


[Kaneshiro's palace, Front Hall]

Surprisingly, the secret passage actually worked perfectly fine. As they crawled through the manhole from the ground, they found themselves back in the front hall. More specifically, a room on the right side of the main hall.

"I would say given this interior design…" Trailing off, Fox glanced at his surroundings. "We are inside the bank, it seems our plan went well."

"I guess Kaneshiro is THAT cocky then," Helping Swan to get up from the manhole, Jester shrugged. "Can't complain though."

"Nothing really changed, even after what happened for the last two days," Joker said, spinning his knife and gesturing for the team to follow. "That's fantastic. Now we just have to get to that elevator, and back to that Passageway."

"I feel like I lost some much-needed context here," Shinji, now called King, said. Even though the slight annoyance somewhat remained, it had mostly subsided.

"In order to get to the basement to save you, we kinda swept this entire floor," Queen explained, as Joker flashed a small keycard. "That Keycard would get us to the passageway below. And the floor below, which is where you were."

"Oh, so… now we just have to get back to that elevator room?"

"Precisely," With a nod, the leader of The Phantoms led everyone to the doorway leading to the main hall.

However, as they arrived, they were greeted by the sight of a hall filled with a couple of security officers. And a particular shadow that was shaped like a security dog, one that was suspiciously looking like coming directly toward them.

Without a need for anyone's calling, the group hid behind the corners. But even so, the dog still approaches them, one step at a time.

"It's sniffing us out, it's hard to outrun it…" Trailing off, Mona pondered for a moment and lowered his head. But then, as if a lightbulb lit up above his head, he turned to Panther with a grin. "But it could also work out in our favor! Panther, we have a chance to finally show off our surprise finisher!"

"N-now?! But-"

"Sorry to butt in, but we're spotted now!" Queen exclaimed.

With a loud howl, black goos suddenly emerged on the ground around it, and the shadow submerged itself. A yellow twin-headed dog with cyan fur emerged from said goos, facing the thieves with a roar. Just as the thieves got into their battle stances.

With her eyes flashed and Odani-Dono materialized behind her, Majesty exclaimed. "Got it! The name's Orthrus, it drains fire attacks but weak against ice and nuclear. It's also stronger than us-"

"Don't worry about that, we got a surprise finisher for this!" Cutting her off, the feline thief turned to Panther once again. "Love always burns the brightest when facing down a foe like this! Panther, I think the moment finally arrives!"

"Right now?!" Eyes widened in surprise, Panther just shook her head in response. But not before a small nod following that. "Geez… fine, let's do this!"

"It's SHOWTIME!"

With an exclaim in unison, the two thieves leaped in the air. All of a sudden, the Orthrus found itself in a land of flowers, a land filled with bright colors. Meanwhile, standing from a distance away from the shadow, Mona pulled out a bunch of wrapped red roses.

"For you, Panther!"

"Oh great!"

The two leaped together and toward each other, as shojo-manga-like portraits of them appeared in the background. She reached into the sea of roses and pulled out a pair of submachine guns. And she danced, letting bullets fly with Mona jumping around her.

With a pose toward an imaginary camera, the pair leaped above in total unison. And Panther reigned down hell, as Mona pulled out a cartoonish bomb and threw it with all his might. With their landing in sync with the bomb, they posed for an imaginary camera once again with the explosion in the background.

"Now that's done!" They said, also in sync with each other.

And just as they expected, the shadow was killed in an instant.

Meanwhile, with the "Showtime Stage" disappeared and returned to the bank, everyone else just stared at the scene with widened gazes. And stunned silence on top of it all, until Skull finally broke it after a few shutters.

"D-dude, what WAS that just now?!" He exclaimed, laying his hands out with a shocked look. "When'd you guys figure out something like that?!"

"Heheheh! It's simply the fruit of our secret, passionate training-"

"Which was just before we got here," Cutting Mona off, Joker smirked at his frustration. He pulled out the blue star from his pocket again, which was shining brighter than before. "Huh, I guess Jose's star did give us the power to do something like this."

"If so, then…" Trailing off, Jester pulled out his red star from his pocket. But unlike the one in Joker's hand, his wasn't shining at all. "Weird, I guess it's exclusive to yours or something?"

"Maybe, but maybe yours can let us do something different," Raven suggested, stroking his chin in intrigue. "Interesting."

Meanwhile, King and Queen exchanged a knowing look, and a smile filled with glee and excitement emerged.

"Still, it's a pretty good addition to our tactics," Majesty said, nodding in approval.

"Yeah, it'd be," Joker said, putting the star back into his pocket. "Anyway, we can think of those finishers later, we're moving on."

With that said, the team moved out once again. Choosing to avoid as many guards as possible instead of fighting them all, they moved from cover to cover. And it didn't take long for them to arrive at the elevator door, the one they unlocked before.

Moving in and seeing the now familiar sight of the opened vent for the elevator shaft, King crouched and leaned over the opened hole.

"So… we're literally riding on top of elevators?"

"Yep," Jester nodded, joining his side. "Classic thief action, isn't it?"

"Yeah, let's go."

As if their prayers were answered, an elevator happened to arrive on the top floor. And the thieves dropped from the hole, riding the elevator to the floor below.


[Banker Passageway]

"All security, listen UP!"

Once again, as if they hit some kind of trigger or something similar, the booming voice of Kaneshiro rang out from some speaker. The rage was pretty clear in his voice, not that they were the ones who would fear the said rage.

"It looks like some rats have infested this place! Don't you useless shitheads let those pests get any lower!" They could hear the increase in footsteps out of the door before them, as Kaneshiro's voice continued. "Get as much security as you fucking can, GOT IT?!"

"Thanks for pointin' out where the treasure is, dumbass," Skull murmured, a smirk couldn't help but emerge on his face.

"It's more akin to pointing out the obvious," Swan said, her arms crossed. "But still, thanks."

"The map didn't show anything lower than this floor though," Double-checking the map shown in the Meta-Nav app, Panther let out a small groan. "There's got to be another one somewhere around here."

"Then the best move is to keep heading down," Mona said, peeking over at the door and seeing what was on the other side. "Keep an eye out, and we're bound to find another map."

"Then we shall waste no more time then," With that said, Joker led the team forward.

Which ironically, merely a few twists and turns, and avoiding a long guard. They found themselves in the first safe room in the entire bank, not just on this floor. As they felt the comforting warmth that was the signature of a safe room, they both let out a breath of relief… and couldn't help but giggle at the irony.

However, they didn't stay long and quickly went back to their feet and continued on their infiltration. Which ended up with seeing a roll of security cameras in a hallway, with a suspicious-looking electric box in a very convenient position.

"Huh, so they kinda did up their security," Joker shrugged, closing his gaze and letting his mind's eye do its work. "...Okay, just follow my lead-"

But before he could even finish his sentence, a ball suddenly shot out from his side. And the said ball hit the electric box on the other end of the hallway, disabling both sets of cameras at once.

"This does the job easier and faster," Mona said, putting his slingshot back in his storage. "It's clear now, isn't it?"

"...Yeah, it is," With a short sigh, Joker gestured to the team to continue their infiltration.

And it was surprisingly smooth for them, with their approach to mostly avoiding the guards instead of fighting them head-on, it was much quicker than what they expected. And before long, they arrived before a door with… a bit too many security measures.

"Is that some kinda vault door?" Skull asked.

"Well, there's still a lot behind this, according to the map…" Checking the map on the Meta-Nav, Queen glanced over with a raised eye. "There must be some way to open it, or crack it open."

"OR we can just blast this door wide open," King added, arms crossed before his chest. "That sounds like a quick plan for me."

"A quick plan that probably wouldn't work, and only grab more attention from us," Majesty said, facepalming.

However, while all that bickering was happening in the background, Jester and Joker both caught intrigue at the two terminals beside the door. More specifically, the fact there's a keyhole for each of them.

"So we need some keys, huh?" Joker muttered out loud, grabbing the attention of everyone. "Maybe the two keys the shadows above talked about are for this door?"

"Consider they need cameras and electric fences… probably," Jester nodded.

"Then things are much more simple then," Swan said, leaning against the wall of the staircase behind the door. "We disable the security like before, and get the two keys."

"But even with all of us, it'd be a bit too risky fighting both of them at the same time," Fox said, to which Panther agreed with a nod.

"Then the solution is pretty simple, we just have to split them up then," Raven suggested, while Queen clapped her hands together as if an imaginary lightbulb lit up above her.

"Oh right, the security room in the main hall!" She exclaimed, and it didn't need any more words for them to recognize what she was suggesting.

"Besides, we can split up to deal with the two at the same time," Joker added, glancing over at Jester.

"Yeah, we got the numbers."

"Great, then let's do this."

[Main Hall, security room]

To say that the Shadow was confused when it heard the call for back-up, would be somewhat of an understatement. As it walked through the mundane-looking hallways of the bank, the path that it had engraved in his mind, it just felt… a bit weird about the call.

"We got the intruders in the security room in the main hall, requesting backup immediately!"

However, his suspicion was only increased as it arrived at its destination. Which was just an empty room, with no sign or a single trace of anyone.

Until a click rang from behind, followed by the sound of guns pointing at him,

Turning back, the shadow found itself facing the intruders Kaneshiro specifically warned. And as they watched the panic start to set in, a smirk couldn't help but emerge.

"Huh, the plan worked out great," Joker said.

"Yeah, I still can't really believe they fell for the oldest trick of the book," Queen agreed, sharing the same smirk as everyone else.

"I guess we overestimated how these shadows are with their surroundings," Fox said.

"Damn you…" Trailing off, it immediately tried to reach for the microphone behind.

"There's no point in calling your buddy, dude," Skull said, pumping his shotgun. "He's prolly getting his ass kicked right now."

"And the same is going to happen to you," Panther added, exchanging a sneak glance with Skull.

Meanwhile, as the surrounding thieves closed in on it, the shadow roared before the pool of black goo emerged from below. As the same shade of darkness and crimson engulfed the shadow's body, it burst and revealed a giant demon with a white apron over its purple armor. But the most signature feature of all was the hollow hole on his head.

"Ready, team?" Joker asked, receiving a nod as the response. "Good, then let's finish this quickly then."

With that said, he fired his pistol.

[Banker Passageway, Security Room]

Dodging a reflected bullet from his machine gun, Raven couldn't help but frown at the shadow before him. A giant demon made out of gold, with a traditional-looking outfit consisting of red and green over the said golden body.

"It repels gunfire, huh… That's annoying," With a small groan, Raven put his light machine gun away and took off his mask. "Fou Roux-"

But before he could even finish summoning his Persona, a blur of red and black leaped from somewhere right behind him. Leaving a trail of flame behind, Majesty sent a flurry of slashes toward the shadow.

"Aside from having resistance against physical attacks and reflecting projectiles, it has no other affinity," She said, rolling away as the shadow slammed both his arms toward her. "Just go all out!"

Without a second word, another blur of white rushed in, followed by a trail of yellow lightning. The blade parted and changed into a blade-whip, Swan wrapped the said whip around it's leg. And a burst of electricity immediately spread from the said whip to its entire body.

"Jester!"

"Killing Wind!"

With the blue-colored Persona emerged behind Jester, it sent out a burst of curse-embedded wind. Leaving the shadow shaken and knocked back, retaliating with a blind strike toward the closest target it could set its gaze on.

"Kouha!"

Before it could even have a chance to breathe, a flash of light burst out from within its chest. Feeling the momentum of the blast counter his strike, the shadow turned to see Le Pucelle de-materialized, returning to be Swan's mask. It squeezed and let the gaze fill with newfound rage, raising its fist once more.

However, its strike was stopped prematurely with a loud "bang", and the sight of King holding the shadow's fist could be seen. It was obvious that he was somewhat struggling to withstand the strength of the shadow, but a smirk still emerged on his face.

"Zan."

In response, a burst of shockwave blasted from Napoleon, who materialized and hovered behind him. The shadow was knocked back and sent crashing into the wall behind, with a massive crater left on the wall.

But it still wasn't enough, as shown by how the shadows shrugged off their assaults as they broke off from the cracked wall. Much to The Fools' surprise.

"Not enough, huh?" Jester looked back at his fellow thieves, and they all shared the same thought. "Well, I guess we need to continue then."


Meanwhile, back in the security room in the Main Hall, the battle continued on The Phantoms' side.

With a backflip, Queen leaped away from a strike from the shadow's glaive, letting a barrage of buckshot impact it from Skull's shotgun. Taking the opportunity from the staggered shadow, Joker followed up with a quick dash, slashing it with his dagger.

"It's strong against bullets!" Mona said, the blue flame started to emerge in a circle around him as Zorro materialized. "Let's try this then, Garu!"

With a rush of razor-sharp wind, the shadow endured it all. Contrary to what the feline was expecting in the first place. "Dangit, it's strong against Wind!"

"At least we know what to avoid now," Joker said, just as a small mascot-like devil with a blue hat materialized behind him. "Jack Forst! Bufu!"

In response, a burst of ice emerged from the ground below the shadow, encasing the lower region of it before shattering. Taking this opportunity, Fox leaped in with his blade drawn. With Panther beside him, her whip was drawn as well.

"Sukukaja!"

With the familiar green glow surrounding his body, Fox could feel his body become as light as a feather. And in an instant, he moved in and delivered a flurry of slashes, as if he was merely a blur. Staggered and hurt by the slashes, the giant demon raised his glaive and slammed down again.

However, before the said glaive could impact anything, Panther's whip wrapped around its arm. And she pulled, holding the arm in place as Carmen appeared behind her.

"Carmen! Burn it up!"

In response, a barrage of fireballs shot out from the Persona's hand and staggered the shadow. But before it would fall on the ground, it steeled its back leg. Overpowering the hold Panther had with her whip, it swung and threw her toward the wall.

Thankfully, before she crashed into the said wall, Skull dashed to be in between her and the wall. With his arms wrapped around her, as they both crashed toward the wall, he acted as a cushion to soften the crash.

With a visible hole left on the wall when the two crashed into it, Panther's gaze widened at the feeling of a softened impact, and the arms wrapped around her. And more importantly, the pain-filled yelp from Skull right behind her.

"Skull?!" She exclaimed, looking back at him with worry.

"...I'm alright, it's not that bad…" Trailing off, Skull released the hold around her waist. However, it was obvious with how much pain there was in his voice. "Are you alright though, An-Panther?"

"You're in worse shape than me right now-"

Before she could even finish her words, the roar from the shadow overtook their attention once again. And it already had its glaive raised again, aiming right toward them and swung down.

Thankfully, with a different kind of roar from a motorbike's engine, a cluster of cyan-shaded explosions knocked it away. Then followed by a green aura of healing appeared around the two, easing them from the pain and wound.

Queen came to a screeching halt with Johanna, and cast a knowing glance toward the two behind her. She didn't have to say a word, not at all. Judging from the blush on Panther's face, she knew what exactly that glance meant.

Turning her attention back toward the shadow, she revved the bike's handle once again and dashed. Followed by another burst of bright cyan, it was clear that she was buying time for the two to recover. And the same could be said when a different burst of darkness knocked the shadow aside. A darkness that came from Arsene.

Pushing themselves from the hole in the wall, Panther noticed Skull's limp as he landed on the ground. But before she could even say a word, he shook his head and looked directly into her.

"I'm fine, for now, Queen's healing should do the trick," With his gaze shifted to the shadow, there was something like a… fire that started to burn within them. For a split moment, she couldn't help but just feel confused about the said… anger. Who was it for?

"Captain Kidd!"

With the mask gone from his face, she could have a better look at the said anger within Skull's gaze. It was familiar to her, she had that exact same anger before… for Shiho. However, she wasn't daring enough to finish that line of thought, nor could she finish it.

Following Skull's order, the pirate-looking Persona launched a cannonball from its arm cannon. One that was filled with electricity. It hit directly at the shadow's chest, accompanied by a sudden burst of lightning from somewhere above, piercing through the ceiling just to hit it.

And the shadow roared, not out of rage, but out of pain.

The lightning subsided a moment later, leaving the shadow scorched with smoke coming out from everywhere around its body. And it fell to its knee, struggling to stand up straight. And it was clear to the thieves what just happened.

"It's weak to lightning!" Joker said, hastily switching out the Personas in his mind, and the mask melted away amidst the azure flame. "Pixie! Zio!"

Obeying his order, another lightning struck from the same hole above, further knocking it down.

"Now! All-Out Attack!"

The thieves of The Phantom followed without a second thought, slashing and striking the shadow with incredible speed. For an outsider's perspective, it might as well looked like a blur of black kept passing and attacking the shadow.

Landing with a brief slide to forcefully stop their momentum, they turned toward the shadow and… only to see it still alive. It might not in a good shape right now, but it's still alive.

"Not enough, huh?" With one hand on his mask, Joker tightened his grip when Jose's star suddenly started glowing. But unlike before, it felt like the star was harmonizing with something else. And in response, a smirk emerged.

"Team, I got an idea."


"Zan!"

King planted his fist right into the golden shadow, and the now-familiar shockwave exploded out once again. It was better than what they tried before with just physical attacks, but it still wasn't enough.

Following King's attack, a barrage of ice shards rained down upon the shadow. And with the ice emerging and coated around its arms and legs, it was effectively held in place.

With a trail of flame left behind her wake, Majesty leaped with her flipping in the air. She slashed the shadow while also twirling her naginata, leaving mark after mark on the shadow with a dance of fire. And just behind her, Jester leaped with his scythe high, its blade burned and glowed with a crimson-shaded darkness.

"Reaper's Edge!"

Jester dropped in with a downward slash, leaving a deep wound right in the middle of the shadow. However, with a deafening roar, the shadow slammed his fist on his chest and glowed. "DIE, YOU INSOLENCE PESTS!"

With a sudden burst of wind that knocked them back, The Fools all shielded their face with their arms. "A power-up, huh?" King said, letting a smirk emerge as his belt's turbine sped up. "That's interesting… Zan!"

He leaped with a burst of shockwave from his feet, along with the same vibration emerging on his billy clubs. However, as the club was about to contact the shadow, an imaginary barrier suddenly appeared, blocking his strike and repelling him.

"It changed its affinity!" Majesty said, her gaze widened. "It's now repelling everything."

"It always just has to be something like this, huh?" Raven groaned, rolling away from a strike that left a notable crater on the ground. "First was Togo-san, then now this shadow too!"

"I guess they're just lacking any kind of creativity then-" her worlds were cut off by another blind strike. The sudden blast of shockwave sent her flying backward, almost hitting the wall as Jester caught her, just in time.

Being the receiving end of a bridal carry, the two kept a deep gaze at each other. And lingered for a moment, with a small smile emerging on both of their faces. Thankfully, they turned their mind back to the battle in an instant, with Jester releasing her from the carry and standing back up.

Meanwhile, the rest of The Fools could only continue dodging the shadow's attacks, brainstorming for a way to overcome this situation.

However, for Majesty, she just stared at the ring on her index finger. The same ring Mitsuyo gave her along with her treasure. And just like how it normally was when she examined a shadow, the same happened with the said ring.

Her eyes widened, and a confident smile crept up on her face. Majesty turned back toward the shadow, glancing at Raven as she did. "Eye of Yahata: Sukukaja!"

The familiar emerald-shaded light glowed from the ground and surrounded her, and she leaped with just a blur left behind. She weaved through the blind strikes from the shadow, and placed her hand onto the shadow's torso, just as the ring glowed in white.

"Secret Technique: Shoobute!"

The light on said ring increased in brightness, spreading and covering the entire shadow itself. And just as the light started to subside, Majesty turned to her fellow thieves.

"It's now weak against gun and physical!" She exclaimed, gritting her teeth as she kept her hand on the shadow itself. "I can only hold it for 10 seconds! Don't hesitate!"

"Not planning to!" With the hand cannon held firmly in his hand, Jester raised his gun and fired. Not even bother to aim down the sight, but only put faith in his muscle memory to point at the shadow.

Thankfully, his gamble paid off. The bullet hit dead-set on the shadow's chest, knocking it down instead of being reflected like moments ago. The other thieves followed and raised their ranged weapons at it, as a crossbow pistol materialized in King's hand.

The bow was fully drawn in her hands, a scowl appeared on Majesty's face. "Bad news, a single All-Out Attack wouldn't be enough to finish it off, we need something more."

For a split moment there, Jester was about to say something else when he felt a faint sense of warmth in his pocket. The same star Jose gave him was glowing, with a different idea that came into light instead.

And jester smirked.

"I got an idea."


[Main Hall's Security Room]

"A Showtime that involves the whole team, I like the sound of that," Upon hearing Joker's proposal, Mona nodded in agreement and drew his sightshot.

"Just like a cooler version of the usual All-Out Attack… I like that," Panther agreed, moving to Joker's side with her submachine gun drawn. Soon enough, everyone else followed, facing the shadow before.

"Mona, Panther, we'll barrage it with bullets," Joker commanded, readying his pistol with a pull of its slide. "Skull, Fox, Queen, you three will deliver the finishing blow."

"Finishing blow… That should be simple," Fox said, slowly unsheathing his katana. He held it in a reverse grip, with his other hand supporting the back of the blade.

"Just as usual then," Queen nodded, swaying both her arms to her right. Her belt's turbine started spinning violently, azure flames burst out from its vents.

"Let's finish this, leader!" Skull said, swaying his bat around before resting it on his shoulder, and slowly lowered himself into a half-crouch.

In response, Joker merely chuckled, turning his gaze back at the shadow again.

Suddenly, the space around the shadow and thieves dimmed into pure darkness. The shadow kept frantically looking around himself until the glow of multi-color caught its attention. Appearing as if they were ten times further than it was before, the aura of dark crimson started to glow around them.

"Grand Finale: Phantom's Finish!"

Before the shadow could properly react to what was happening, an unending hail of bullets and steel balls kept striking it. And unlike how it should be, for some reason, the space around it seemed to nullify any elemental resistance it had.

However, its mind couldn't even come to that conclusion.

Covered by the barrage of gunfire, Fox and Skull dashed forward while Queen leaped. Closing in as if they were both just a blur, Fox slashed through the shadow's midsection. Followed by a swing to the head by Skull.

Meanwhile, as the turbine's spin quickened, Queen flipped in the air before extending both of her legs. Propelled by a burst of cyan-shaded energy, she struck right at the center of the shadow. And straight-up pushing it back with the rest of her momentum, she leaped away in a wide arc as the shadow exploded. Landing right next to Fox and Skull.

And from the explosion before them, Joker caught the vault key that got blasted by the shockwave.


Back to The Fools, all of them quickly understood what Jester was plotting off, and agreed just as quickly as well.

Before the golden-shaded shadow could even realize what's gonna happen, the world around him dimmed and engulfed in nothing but darkness. However, soon after, a glow of multi-color took his attention. Standing not too far from the shadow itself, The Fools all readied their ranged weapons.

Usually, it shouldn't work on the shadow as its body would reflect those projectiles. However, just like The Phantom's realm, it also nullified it's affinity as well.

With the bolt quaked into a blur, a coat of greyness King's crossbow pistol.

Raven's machine gun glowed in a mixture of blue and cyan, with a bit of ice formed on the barrel itself.

With the arrow engulfed in a bright flame that flashed through different colors, Majesty pulled back the string of her bow. And the flame spread and covered the entire bow itself.

Swan operated her sniper rifle's bolt, Swan loaded a bullet made out of pure light. And she set the crosshair right on the shadow's head.

Finally, Jester raised his hand cannon, a smoke made out of darkness leaked from its cylinder.

"Grand Finale: Fool's End!"

The thieves announced the name of said attack, pulling their trigger in unison. In an instant, the shadow was hit by each and every single one of those projectiles, its affinity being completely nullified. And with each hit, it staggered a step backward, somehow still standing.

Not letting it to have a single moment of a breather, they sprung forward. Their weapons were drawn. And Shinji put on his pose, his left arm straightened toward his left, while the right first rested on top of his belt.

With a slide that evaded a blind punch, Jester slashed through him with his scythe.

Then followed by a thousand cuts from Swan's sword whip.

And then a slash to the middle by Raven's cane sword.

Majesty's flurry immediately struck after Raven's attack, quicker than any eye could perceive.

Finally, as he leaped high into the air, King felt the turbine of his belt speeded up. He flipped at high speed, extending his right leg as he forcibly stopped. And propelled with a huge blast of shockwave.

He struck dead on the shadow's chest, sending it flying backward. Meanwhile, he hastily stood on his two feet, the momentum carried him into a slide forward. Stopping right beside the rest of The Fools, just in time as the shadow exploded.

From the ball of fire that was rapidly extinguishing, a lone key got thrown out into Jester's hand.


With the two keys inserted into the keyhole of the console beside the vault door, Jester and Joker twisted them at the exact same moment. The ground started to hum and tumbled lightly just as the vault door unlocked and opened, revealing another set of hallways before them.

Unlike what they've seen though, the very first thing that caught their eyes was… just the overflowing amount of cash. All of them floated down from somewhere above, some piled up on the floor, and some dropped into the abyss below.

A scene of fantasy that merely reflected the horror in the real world.

From what the map named this part of the palace, it was called the "Laundering Office".

"Dude… there's money all over the floor," Skull said with widened gazes.

"All this money…" Swan trailed off, feeling a comforting hold on her shoulder. One from Jester. "How many victims has he chewed through?"

"That's…" Scanning through the hallway with a widened gaze, King felt his fist tighten. "I won't forgive him…"

"...He's gonna pay for this," Queen followed, staring at the money with a fierce glare.

"We're making sure that we will," Joker said, stepping out to the front of the group. "Let's go."


Somewhere deep inside the Laundering Office, just before an elevator that led to somewhere else deep below, Kaneshiro felt fear for the first time ever. To think his flawless security just being bypassed as if they were nothing, it shouldn't be how it was, but here he was.

"What do you mean by that they got into the Laundering Office?"

WIth his face twisted into an ugly scowl, Kaneshiro's shadow seethed at the guard before him. Instead of the usual black uniform, it was wearing yellow, showcasing its captain status.

"B-boss, they're just too good-"

"First you got those two annoyances to ruin things, and now this?!" Cutting it off, Kaneshiro closed in, a finger pointed at the guard's mask. "How in the fuck are you that bad at your job?"

"As I said, boss. They're just way too quick and sneaky-"

"Then just go quicker and catch them in their act!" With a look as if steam would come out from his nose, the bank's boss merely intensified his glare. "I did not have you here just for show, fix this problem!"

"R-roger, boss."

With that said, the guard's captain immediately turned away, only to be frozen at the sight before him. Following what its gaze went, Kaneshiro also widened his gaze at the sight before him.

It was the Phantom Thieves, all of them.

"Huh, I guess it saves you time from searching for us," Joker said, pulling out his pistol and spinning it around in his hand. "You were saying something about fixing a problem about us… Here we are."

Even though Joker didn't say it out loud, the sarcasm was clear as day.

And this only made Kaneshiro seethed even more, pushing the captain toward them. "You deal with them, and don't come back if you can't!" He exclaimed, stepping backward toward the elevator.

"So you're just gonna toss the problem to your lackeys?" Jester added with a raised brow, also having his hand cannon raised.

However, just as he was about to continue, the guard suddenly curled into itself. Its body twisted into an inhuman shape, and the familiar pool of dark and crimson leaked from the ground and covered him. Revealing a huge figure built from gold, with even more shadows rising from the same pool of darkness.

For the thieves though, they weren't overcome by shock or nervousness. Instead, it was a sense of… annoyance.

"We just fought with them right before getting here…" His pistol lowered as he let out a sigh, Joker turned back to see the same reaction from everyone else. "Well, at least we got the whole team here."

"It really is their elite squad, Kin-Ki, Sui-Ki, Oni, and Fuu-Ki…" Repeating the name displayed in her gaze, Majesty merely readied her naginata. "It's nothing we haven't faced before."

"Then let's deal with this quickly," Fox said, unsheathing his katana and changing into his battle stance.

"Certainly," WIth a smirk, Joker raised his pistol once again. "Let's do this, team!"

With that said, the thieves sprung to their feet and dashed.

(To be continued)


Preview:

The infiltration continued

and the thieves found themselves deeper into the rabbit hole, as the elevator leading to the very bottom opened.

Meanwhile, back in the real world,

Life goes on.

Next Chapter:

"Break A Safe (Part 2)"

Stay Tuned!


Well... So exactly 3 months had gone by... I'm sorry for taking this long. But Chapter 47 is finally here!

So actually, it was going to be quite a lot longer and somewhat conclude the first half of the palace. But consider the length (it's already crossed the 10K mark with just this chapter.) I decided to split it up. The next chapter would also have some real-world scenes too. In a way, it kinda needs it for some other characters.

Anyway, back to the current chapter. So we finally introduced Showtime into the mix! And yep, there are quite a lot of new ones, both exclusive to The Fool's members, new cross-team between The Phantom and The Fools, or brand new combinations in The Phantom! Especially with additional character dynamics like Ryuji and Ann, it'd be a bit weird to not make some new ones for them, right?

Also, I also introduced a new finisher: "Grand Finale"! I originally intended to call it "Finisher Showtime", but I think this name is a bit better here.

As Ren said, it is basically another form of a normal All-Out Attack. And yes, this is also what the red star Jose gave to Akira for. And I actually got this whole idea from finishers in Super Sentai (the series that got adapted into Power Rangers.) And I purposely made a bit of contrast between the two in their approaches. Phantom Finish is a bit more organized with uses of cover fire and such (and it's inspired by DonBrother's finishers too.) While Fool's End is more focused on "single-high-damage range attacks", and the whole team involes in both parts (For inspiration, it's a combination of Lupinranger VS Patranger and Gokaiger.)

Overall, I'm somewhat proud with both finishers. As I've actually concepting it for quite a while :)

And besides, I've been going for a different approach to the introduction of new skills. Both for Akira's Killing Wind, Reaper's Edge, and Hifumi's Secret Technique: Shoobute. So as you all can see, I always would have a brief description of what the skill itself does. However, since it's distracting and kinda kills the flow, I'm moving to show what the skill does instead of dropping in the description. It's still an experimentation so if it works well, I'd go and change the descriptions in previous chapters. But it doesn't work, I'll put them back in this chapter.

Still, let me know if you like this approach or not in the reviews!

And of course, I hope you all like the story so far, reviews and favourites are welcomed!