TW: Showing of abuse
Chapter 65: Arthur's Awakening
September 2nd.
I was at the Hazbin Hotel when Vaggie was looking out the window.
"Damn, when was there a shiver of sharks here?" She wondered,
I was stunned while working.
"Hey, Charlie, do you know why there are sharks in suits outside watching anyone in their paths?" Vaggie hollered,
Vaggie walked out of the room I was in. I sighed in relief.
"Close one…" I said,
September 3rd.
I chose this day for us to go into Crimson's Palace and find Crimson's Shadow and hopefully change his heart. Arthur was there with us outside of Café du Pécheur with the book he has in his hands.
"This is a bad idea for me to come with you guys and we only have 18 days until Crimson gets us." Arthur said to us, "Can't I sit this out?"
"No, you're still gonna press forward with us." Cattleya said, "Don't you want to learn your lesson?"
Arthur then realized what Cattleya said. He sighed.
"Yes…" He said,
"Alright, onward to Greed!" Cattleya said,
We were then at Greed as we sneakily went through the grass and hid behind some bushes. We were outside of Crimson's mansion.
"Alright, let's do this!" Cattleya said, "To Crimson's Palace we go!"
We then entered The Cognitive World Of Hell through the metaNav app on my phone. We then noticed that there's stairs leading down to Crimson's Palace from the crater.
"Hey look, stairs!" Lars said,
"Huh, interesting." Astrid said, "They weren't there when we first entered the Cognitive World."
"...I guess I should be thankful." Arthur said,
We turned to Arthur.
"I guess me going into Crimson's mansion is what made these stairs appear from your perspective." He said,
"Huh… Well, thanks." Cattleya said,
"You were a big help all of a sudden." I said,
"I know, let's just go get Crimson's heart and get out of here!" Arthur said,
"Alright, alright, let's get this done." Lars said,
We suddenly turned into our Phantom Thief clothes, except for Arthur as he was shocked by our outfits.
"What the Hell?" He said, "Your outfits have changed!"
"Oh, this is what happened when we entered the Cognitive World." Cattleya said, "We go into our Phantom Thief outfits just to not be seen."
"Oh, I see… Clever little bitches and bastards you all are…"
"Let's not argue about that. Come on, follow us."
"Uhhh, ok?"
We went down the stairs and to the entrance of Crimson's Palace.
"Well here we are, Crimson's Palace!" Cattleya said,
"And it's a theater?" Arthur wondered,
"Hey, it has something to do with him controlling lives for his amusement." Lars said, "I guess he sees it as a movie of some sort?"
"Well that's confusing…"
"Believe me, it is."
We saw that the entrance to it was locked through a lock and chains.
"Huh, it's locked." Astrid said as she looked around and saw a ticket booth, "No one is near that ticket booth."
"What if there was a ticket collector down here during our first time looking at this palace?" Boris wondered,
"Huh, you're onto something." Willow said, "There used to be security down there until Arthur came into Crimson's mansion in the real world."
"So what now?" Lars said,
"Guess we gotta go through the other side." Cattleya said, "When we went to find Arthur, we went through a window."
"That could be it!" Selene said, "Let's try and find a window!"
"Do you mean to say a backdoor?" Arthur asked,
"Right, right… I forgot, this is a theater."
We went to a backdoor and entered there. Inside, it was a hallway full of movie posters. Arthur looked at one and noticed that there was one with him on it!
"Oh my word!" He said, shocked, "To Fraud A Brat?! September 21st?! That's me!"
"He's already planting the seed in our minds…" Lars said,
Willow looked at another poster with an abused imp on it. It looks like one of his horns was ripped off.
"That poor thing…" She said, "Unnecessary Unicorn. Now In Theater…"
"This guy is sick…" Boris said, "I want to fucking strangle that guy so badly."
"...Me too." Arthur said,
"Well, you're on the same boat as me."
Then, alarms went off as shark demons as cyborg security guards went to try and detain us.
"Shit! We've let our guards down!" Astrid shouted,
"Leave it to me!" Boris said as he took off his mask to awaken Ullr, "Freeze them, Ullr!"
Ullr then shot out Buffula ice magic at the guards, but they were immune by it.
"Wh-What the fuck?!" Boris shouted, "That didn't do anything?!"
A security guard then used their laser guns to stun all of us, except for Arthur.
"Shit! I can't move!" Lars shouted,
"Neither can we!" Astrid shouted, "We're stunned!"
"What the hell is happening?!" Arthur shouted, "Boris, what was that you do?!"
"Mwa ha ha ha ha!" A Masculine voice laughed,
"...D-Did you guys hear that?" Selene said,
A top hat was tossed at Arthur, but Arthur launched it back. The hat landed on the ground and then magic came out of it to reveal Crimson, but with yellow eyes! He was also a magician of some sort.
"Well, well, well… What do we have here?" He said to us,
"Crimson!" Arthur shouted,
"That's not Crimson, Arthur!" Cattleya said, "That's Crimson's Shadow!"
"Crimson's… Shadow?"
Shadow Crimson chuckled menacingly as he tipped his hat.
"Welcome to The Great Crimson's Theater Of Washed Up Wannabes!" He said, "That's one of the few names I wanted to try and come up with until you brats show up!"
Shadow Crimson then pointed to Arthur.
"Especially you." He said, "You're important…"
"M-Me?" Arthur said, scared,
"Yes… I gave ya a deal… Pay up or else on September 21st, a brat like you is gonna regret it. Same goes for your little friends behind ya."
"How much did you want me to pay in the first place, if I dare to ask?"
"I probably never give it to ya because even if ya do get the money, I'll still give ya Hell!"
"Wh-What?! You're setting us up for failure, aren't you?!" Boris shouted,
"Indeed I am!" Shadow Crimson replied, "And it's that brat's fault for bringing you all into this mess in the first place! Some dumb Goetia he turned out to be!"
Arthur looked down in anger while Shadow Crimson laughed menacingly.
"I've had enough of your sorry ass…" He said, "And I'm literally at my breaking point because of you…"
"Huh?" Shadow Crimson wondered,
Arthur then raised his voice at Shadow Crimson.
"So shut your FUCKING mouth you greedy asshole!" He yelled at him,
"Uh…" Shadow Crimson stuttered in shock,
We were shocked as well. Then, a voice spoke to Arthur.
"Have you finally decided your justice?" He asked him,
"Yes…" Arthur replied, "...I'm ready when you are!"
"Very well, let's proceed with your contract at once!" The voice said,
Arthur then gasped as he caught a really bad migraine. He put his hands on his head and loudly groaned in pain.
"I am thou…" The voice said, "...thou art I…"
Arthur then looked down while continuing to groan in pain.
"You have finally found your real sense of justice…" The voice continued,
Arthur then stomps the ground as he was seen with a mask on his face.
"And now, use this reward as a commitment for getting rid of your false self!" The voice said to him,
Arthur then took off his mask easily and screamed in pain as blue fire blazed around him.
"What the fuck is going on here?!" Shadow Crimson shouted,
As the blue flames died down, Arthur was revealed in a new outfit and a Persona behind him.
"Woah… Kick ass." Boris said,
Arthur looked at Shadow Crimson and pointed at him.
"I've had enough of your bullshit!" He said, "But! Before I take care of you!"
Arthur then twirled around and pointed at Shadow Crimson's guards.
"I'll take care of your little goons!" He shouted,
Shadow Crimson then groaned in anger.
"You all heard him!" He shouted, "Earn your keeps if you want to live!"
Shadow Crimson then faded away into magic.
The guards aimed their laser guns at Arthur and fired away. Arthur used his new Persona to reflect the lasers back at them, weakening them.
"I'm sorry, but that's not gonna work!" Arthur said, "As long as I have Montezuma on my side, I'll be able to take on the world!"
Arthur turned to us as we were freed from the lasers.
"...But I need some help overall." He said to us,
"Right!" Astrid said as Jingu appeared to feel her head while looking at the guards through her mask, "Huh, they're weak to Almighty magic… I never heard of that before!"
"That's exactly what Montezuma has!"
Arthur then pointed Montezuma to the guards.
"Go!" He shouted,
Montezuma then used his orb to create a blast of Megidola Almighty magic at the guards, destroying them all!
"Unholy shit, that was amazing!" Cattleya said,
"Damn, I think I'm in love…" Boris said to himself,
Arthur's Persona, Montezuma was recalled as his mask returned to his face. Arthur was then on one knee as he was tired.
"Arthur!" Cattleya said as she and Boris got him back up, "You good?"
"Yes… Thanks…" Arthur said as he looked at himself, "Interesting, this is what I look like when I'm with you guys here?"
Then, more guards appeared from the other side of the hallway we were in.
"Guys, we got company!" Astrid shouted,
"Let's get out of here!" Cattleya shouted, "We need to retreat!"
We all escaped Crimson's Palace as we made it out of the crater and returned to the normal world.