Chapter 62: Crimson's Palace
August 31th. We met with Arthur again outside of Café du Pécheur as he has his book that Selene used when we went to Sloth.
"Alright, that's everyone?" Arthur asked us,
"Yes." Cattleya replied,
"Right."
Arthur flips through the pages of his book and laneed on a page.
"Take us to Greed!" He said,
A portal to Greed appeared. Arthur looks around.
"No one else is watching, good." He said, "Right, enter Greed!"
We entered Greed through the portal Arthur made. It looked like a polluted city and the sky was green. Arthur was still in Pride on the other side of the portal.
"Hey, you're coming with us?" Cattleya asked him,
"Nope! I'll be staying right here in Pride!" Arthur replied,
"What?! You're trapping us here?!" Astrid shouted,
"No no no! I would never! Selene, if you need anything, call me, ok?"
"Uhhh, sure?" Selene said, confused,
"Right! Good luck!"
The portal faded. We were trapped in Greed for a while now.
"Great, we're stuck here." Boris said,
Selene then received text on her phone from Arthur. He showed her a picture of what Crimson looked like. He was an imp with white hair and wore a hat.
"So this is what Crimson looks like?" Selene said as she showed us the picture on her phone,
"Huh, he looks a lot like Moxxie." Cattleya said,
"But personality wise, Moxxie doesn't share his dad's personality." Willow said,
"Right, so now that we got what he looks like…" Astrid said, "Where are we"
We were outside of a mansion. Selene received another text from Arthur.
"Since I can pinpoint locations in different rings, I've teleported you all to where Crimson lives." Arthur's text read, "You're outside of Crimson's house. Make sure you're all on your toes and don't make any loud noises or not reveal yourself for too long. Good luck."
"Well, this is gonna be hard." Cattleya said, "Since we're exactly at the location Arthur sent us to."
"Right, so… are we changing his heart or not?" Boris said,
"We're doing it! Follow my lead!"
We went near a bush a few inches from Crimson's mansion. I pulled out the metaNav app on my phone.
"Ok, Astrid, this is where we use the metaNav app to see if someone like Crimson has a Palace." Cattleya said,
"Like me, right?" Astrid wondered,
"Yes, just like you… Anyways…"
Cattleya cleared her throat as I showed everyone else the metaNav app's microphone.
"Crimson Knowlastname." She said,
"Hit." The metaNav app said,
"A Mafia boss from Greed." Willow said,
"Hit." The metaNav app said,
"Manipulates his imp workers for his amusement and does illegal schemes to get away with it." Boris said,
"Hit." The metaNav app said,
"Right… So… This is where we gotta think of what Crimson's palace would look like." Cattleya said,
"Let's see… He controls his imp goons like puppets and gets away with it…" Lars said, "A circus?"
"Results not found." The metaNav app said,
"What? That's the best I can think of."
"Maybe we need to be more specific on where we can watch a puppet do its shit on stage." Boris said,
"On stage…" I said as I then got nothing, "Nothing out of here."
"Wait! I think I know something!" Astrid said,
"You do?" Cattleya said, "What is it?"
"...Theater."
"Results found." The metaNav app said,
We were surprised.
"Woah, a theater?" Cattleya said,
"That makes no sense." Lars said, "How does a theater have something to do with manipulation?"
"Don't know, but thanks for your help, Astrid."
"I appreciate it, I guess…" Astrid said,
Lars sighed.
"Well, guess I'm not arguing about it." He said, "Here we go to Crimson's Palace.
"Beginning navigation." The metaNav app said,
We then transferred to The Cognitive World Of Hell. When we arrived, we were in the middle of an amusement park.
"Huh, an amusement park is surrounding us." Willow said,
"Where's Crimson's palace?" Selene wondered,
Astrid looked down and gasped.
"Guys! Down below!" She said,
We all looked down and saw that Crimson's Palace was in a crater down below. His palace resembled a theater of some sort.
"It's in a crater?!" Lars said, "Does he not want his imp goons to leave ever?!"
"Guess not…" Cattleya said, "But here's the question… How do we get to the palace down below?"
"Maybe Selene can help?" I replied,
Selene sighed.
"Yeah… No." She said, "I would rather not. It's pretty far down and I feel like someone might get us if we do interfere from below."
"Well, guess we gotta head back and tell Arthur the news." Cattleya said,
"Right, let's return to the real world."
We returned back to the real world when all of a sudden, someone spotted us.
"Ah! Intruders sneaking around the boss's domain!" He shouted, "Get them!"
"Shit! They found us!' Cattleya shouted,
Selene called Arthur.
"Hey! They found us!" She shouted at him on the phone, "Help!"
"I'm on it!" Arthur shouted as he hangs up quickly,
A portal then appeared as Arthur was in Pride still.
"Hurry!" He shouted,
We went back to Pride in the nick of time as Arthur closed the portal up.
We were out of breath.
"That was nerve-wracking…" Lars said, "We almost got caught…"
Lars looked at Arthur.
"Hey, because of you, we're pretty much wanted now by Crimson and his mafia." He said to him,
"Oh, come now, that's not important." Arthur said, "What is important is Crimson's Palace, did you know what it looks like?"
"It's a theater." Boris replied,
"A theater? Did you find a way inside or did you find Crimson there?" Arthur asked us,
"...No." Cattleya replied,
"No?!"
"Hey, it was in a crater deep in the earth!"
"You couldn't just dive down with one of your Personas?!"
"They could kill us on the way down!"
Arthur sighed as he turned back.
"You're all useless…" He said,
"Useless?" Cattleya said, "We're Phantom Thieves! We've been doing this for a few months now!"
"Heh, that's because you were just lucky to be in Pride when you changed the hearts of three Overlords here."
Arthur walked away. Cattleya tried to stop him, but Selene stopped her from doing so.
"Please, we'll try and talk it out." Selene said,
"Hell, if that doesn't work, then can I kick his ass?" Cattleya asked,
"Sure."
"Thanks."