Miss Violet: Hello students. Please sit down and get ready for this doozy of a chapter. Class is now in session!

Persona V: Reversing the Wheel of Fate
Chapter Fifty-Four

[Opening Scene: Brothel of Fraud - Shōgi no Kinboshi Club
Theme of Overwhelming Battle: Last Surprise from Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers]

"Come on, Gorgeous! Do something more than look pretty and hit me!" Shadow Makoto exclaimed as Lioness blocked each of her fast and hard-hitting jabs. Lioness honestly felt overwhelmed by the Shadow's fighting style.

Lioness could feel her shield warping from each blow landed. After the follow jab, Lioness swapped her spear for her sword and lunged her blade, but Shadow Makoto grabbed her wrist and tossed her off her feet and into the air.

Lioness crashed onto her back in front of President and groaned in pain. "Are you okay?" President asked, concern thick in her voice.

"She's really strong," Lioness panted as she turned her body and knelt. In the distance, she could see Shadow Makoto hopping from foot to foot, an amused smirk on her face. "Do you fight like this?"

"Yes, my father taught Aikido to Sae-nee and I. Admittedly, she's way better at fighting than I am," President softly answered.

"Tell that to my left arm," Lioness joked. "She landed so many hits to my shield, that my left arm has gone numb. I can't even lift it now."

"I'm sorry, Lioness," President whispered. "I wish I could stop this somehow…."

Lioness stood on shaky legs and gave President a smile and a thumb-up. "Don't sweat it. While I'm having a hard time, you'll be able to stop her one day, I know it," Lioness said.

"Oh, goodie, more bonding," Shadow Makoto said. "Why bother trying to cheer Useless up? She'll only let you down in the end."

"That's not true!" Lioness shouted.

"It's not? Then tell me why you were so angry at her during Kamoshida's reign?" Shadow Makoto challenged. "Tell me why you hated her for so long."

Lioness halted.

"We both know you did. Boudicca told me a long time ago how much she despised me whenever we crossed paths, How much she hated me," Shadow Makoto taunted. "And as we all know, she's your true self. So, why did you hate her so?"

Lioness frowned, only for a flourish of cobalt-blue flames to appear around her, bringing forth Boudicca.

"Speak of the devil, and she shall appear. How have you been, sweetheart?" Shadow Makoto taunted.

"B-Boudicca?" Lioness stammered, confused. "I d-didn't summon you…."

Boudicca scoffed and said, "Still as irksome as ever, Jo—"

"Don't say my name, Boudicca!" Shadow Makoto sharply interrupted. "No one, especially Useless, deserves to hear it!"

"Why not?" Boudicca questioned. "It's not my fault she lost sight of it again. That you allowed her to lose sight of it again, even after you swore that you wouldn't!"

"Lost sight of what?" President whispered.

"What do you know?!" Shadow Makoto hissed. "You were still swimming in the Sea of Souls while the rest of us fought against injustice! You have no right to speak to me about what I allowed!"

Boudicca chuckled, pointed her spear at Shadow Makoto, and asked, "Why so defensive? Champion Advisor of Century's End? Did I hit nerve somewhere?"

Shadow Makoto hissed, nuclear energy flowing from her fists.

"Oh, I did, didn't I?" Boudicca asked. "You're right, I despised you. You're so arrogant, selfish, and a massive control freak, but the difference between you and the Makoto that's trapped here, is she's willing to change and has been changing. Meanwhile, you allowed yourself to backtrack."

Shadow Makoto narrowed her eyes.

"You allowed yourself to turn back into the tool you fought so hard to overcome. And because of your harsh attitude, you're allowing Makoto to remain as powerless as you were back then. Arsène would be ashamed if he were here instead of me," Boudicca shamed.

"You're talking a lot of trash for someone who can't back it up," Shadow Makoto growled. "Don't delude yourself, Boudicca. You didn't overcome anything on your own, and neither did Shiho. Neither of you wouldn't be here if not for Arsène!"

Boudicca scowled.

"Arsène is the only reason Ren was able to get Shiho strong enough to finally see the light. If he wasn't here, you would still be the suicidal coward you were before, and you would be forced to watch Shiho walk down the same path you went down!" Shadow Makoto screamed.

Both Lioness and Boudicca growled.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve?" Shadow Makoto hissed, a dark smirk on her face. "It's quite ironic that your Arcana is Passion because while you both are passionate about Useless, here, neither of you can summon up that amount of passion when it comes to yourselves. Looks like you both need to grow more."

Cobalt-blue flames ignited as Lioness dismissed Boudicca, rage filling her veins as her second wind hit. "You have some nerve in saying that about us in that way!" Lioness exclaimed.

"Can't take the truth?" Shadow Makoto teased.

"I've had enough of talking! Time for action!" Lioness exclaimed.

"I agree!" Mage's voice yelled from behind Shadow Makoto. Shadow Makoto turned around, only for Mage to ignite the smoke-bomb pellet against her face.

Seconds later, a large black billow of smoke surrounded the entire area. She felt someone grab her wrist and Mage whispered, "Hang on. Magravkaja." Lioness floated out of the smoke, and after the sounds of metal hitting metal, President and Mage floated out as well.

He grabbed both of their wrists and said, "Time to bail!"

Lioness looked back to see Shadow Makoto watching them leave. Lioness knew from the enraged expression on the Shadow's face that Boudicca had hit a nerve somewhere.

She just hoped that President wouldn't pay for it.

Hifumi opened her parasol and blocked the three swings from Woman Who Brings Ruin, then withdrew her sword and lunged it at the Shadow's head.

Woman Who Brings Ruin flew to the left to avoid it and shouted, "Bufula!" Hifumi jumped back off the stage and onto the smoke-filled ground as the iceball landed on the stage and then exploded into ice spikes.

Hifumi skidded on her feet as Fox ran up and grabbed her wrist. "We must retreat," Fox warned.

"I'm not retreating," Hifumi hissed as she escaped his grasp. "I will stop this, and stop her!"

"Hifumi, I understand your frustration and anger," Fox said as he forced her to look at him. "I'm going through the same thing, but our lives are in danger. We are not strong enough to stop this foe."

"I am," Hifumi argued.

"No, I can see that you're wearing down, and you're wounded in several places. We must retreat," Fox urged.

Hifumi opened her mouth, only for Woman Who Brings Ruin to flap her wings, clearing the smoke away to reveal the pair. "No one is going anywhere! Lullaby!" Woman Who Brings Ruin shouted as she kissed two of her fingers and blew them, revealing a white mist in the shape of triple Zs.

Fox pushed Hifumi aside and took the attack to his head. Fox rocketed off of his feet and landed on his back, where he began to snore out triple Zs. "You idiot!" Hifumi yelled.

Woman Who Brings Ruin shouted, "Lullaby!"

Hifumi was hit by the triple Zs next, which sent her off her feet as well, and began to snore.

Joker, Panther, and Skull managed to get near the entrance of the club, their Phantom Thief attires torn in several places. The trio had battled against waves of Twilight Prostitutes and they were exhausted.

The smoke bomb had worked in letting them dwindle the numbers of their enemies, but more were pouring in. It was only a matter of time before they were completely overrun.

The trio tore through three more Twilight Prostitutes that stood guard at the entrance, but Skull was taken off balance when a Twilight Prostitute collided against his left knee, sending them both to the ground.

"Skull!" Joker and Panther screamed as they rushed forward, only for two Twilight Prostitutes to fly down and attack them.

Joker dodged the first two swipes of the Prostitute and slashed his knife toward her, but the Shadow flew into his personal space, kissed her two fingers, and said, "Marin Karin!" She blew a pink heart directly at Joker's face, causing it to explode upon impact.

Joker could feel the sultry whispers of the Twilight Prostitute in his mind fighting to drown out the alarmed voices of his Personas.

Joker's eyes flashed from storm-gray to pink as he gritted his teeth to try to fight against the attempt.

He turned his head and saw that Skull had decapitated his enemy with a hard swing of his spiky bat then watched as Panther, who had been clawed in her left side, whipped her opponent into death.

He forced the attempt down and quickly sliced the neck of the shadow in front of him, defeating it, but her whispers continued to filter his mind.

"You alright?" Joker asked with a strained voice as Skull limped toward him.

"Damn Shadow fucked my bad knee up," Skull said.

Joker noticed that Panther was holding the left side of her body. He saw that there were claw marks on her side which was bleeding.

"Kill them….." Twilight Prostitute's voice whispered in his mind.

"W-We need to get out," Joker struggled, his eyes flashing between gray and pink.

"Joker, are you alright?" Panther asked.

"F-Fine," Joker struggled as he forced himself to walk ahead.

Panther and Joker opened the large club doors to the outside and turned around for Fox and Hifumi, but to their horror, they saw both Fox and Hifumi were down, with Woman Who Brings Ruin floated above them.

"Oh no," Joker whispered.

"Fuck man," Skull groaned.

"Guys! What do we do?!" Panther yelled.

"We need to go back to them," Skull responded but he buckled as he took a step forward with his left leg. "I can still fight."

"Same," Panther winced. "What about you Joker?"

Joker stared at his best friends and lowered his head as the sultry voice whispered, "Kill them now….."

Joker could feel her will beating his exhausted mind. There was only one thing he could do….

Joker forced himself to take two steps forward in front of his friends and whispered, "I've been compromised. I'm sorry."

Without warning, Joker turned around, his right iris glowing pink and his left iris storm-grey, placed his hands on Skull's and Panther's chests and pushed them out of the door.

The two tumbled to the ground and Joker yelled, "Go! Now!"

Horrified, Skull and Panther got to their feet, only for Skull to fall onto his face. Joker watched as Panther rushed to the door, but he quickly closed the doors to lock her out.

He heard Panther slam against the door and tried to open it, but she couldn't. "Ren! Open the door now!" Behind the door, Joker bowed his head as Panther banged on the door.

"Ren! Open the door now!" Panther pleaded. "Please! You can't do this on your own!" Joker placed his forehead against the door, closed his eyes, and locked the door.

"Ann-nee….Please…." he whispered.

[Scene Change: Brothel of Fraud (Outside)
Theme of Sadness: Living with Determination from Persona 3]

"Get out of here," Joker whispered as Panther fell to her knees. "I can't hold on anymore. Please, go before I kill you both. G-Get back to the base. We'll be okay…."

Skull limped by her side and while Panther didn't look at him, she could hear the rage and sorrow in his voice as he said, "We'll get them back….but w-we need to go…."

Panther balled her fist against the ground as tears fell against the pavement.

"Ren…." She helplessly whispered as she looked up at the door.

Miss Violet: So, a lot of implications of this chapter regarding our favorite group of thieves' Personas and Shadows. Blues hinted at this a few times and wanted me to further that hint, so I did. Also, things have gotten worst for our team. Down their leader, and their newest Persona users. This had to be done to show our little thieves what can happen when they enter a new palace/continue to go through a palace with no resources and super weak.

What will happen next? Find out in our next lesson. Class dismissed.