Chapter 67: A Bond With Arthur, Crimson's Treasure

September 6th. Arthur and I decided to hang out today before going into Crimson's Palace in The Cognitive World Of Hell. He wanted me to help him become a better person.

"Alright, I'm gonna become a better person!" Arthur said to me, "I want to start doing something nice to you guys!"

"Like what?" I wondered,

"Uhhh… I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"...No. I… I don't know what to do… How will I try and help myself be nicer to others? …It's not hard being an Envy hellborn…"

I patted Arthur on the back.

"Hey, it's ok." I said, "We'll get there."

Arthur smiled at me.

"Thanks, Ren." He said,

Arthur sighed.

"If I don't have patience, then I can't find ways to be a nicer person." He said, "How will I find my patience first?"

"Just focus on something else." I said, "It's not hard, but there's a lot of other things for you to be patient of."

"Huh… Like what?"

"Whatever is there for you. Something that's important to you in life."

Arthur thought for a moment.

"You're right…" He said, "I gotta focus on myself alongside what's important in my life."

"There you go." I said,

Arthur looked at me and patted me on the back.

"Thanks, you're a true friend." He said to me,

"No worries." I said,

Me and Arthur suddenly understood one another.

Fast forwarding to a month or two later. Bernie was still interrogating me.

"As Phantom Thieves, you would also find answers on whoever you're gonna change the heart from." He said to me, "Someone on your team must have the skills to get information from the outside world without hesitation."

I was silent.

"Whoever it is, tell me right now." Bernie said,

Back to the present moment. A voice spoke to me.

"I am thou... Thou art I…

Thou hast acquired a new vow…

It shall become the wings of rebellion

That breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Justice Persona

I have obtained the winds of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…"

I have formed a bond with Arthur. I'm gonna try my best to get him in the right direction.

"Alright, I'm gonna go home and clean the house." Arthur said as he waved goodbye to me, "Goodbye."

"Bye." I said as I waved goodbye to him back,

September 8th. Only 13 days until Crimson gets us. We were ready to go to Crimson's Palace in The Cognitive World Of Hell.

"Alright, are we ready?" Cattleya asked us,

"Yes, we are." I replied,

"Then let's go!" Arthur said as he brought out his book, "To Greed!"

Later, we were in Crimson's Palace as we took the backdoor again.

"By the way, you guys go by your code names here, right?" Arthur asked us, "Like how Ren is called Joker?"

"That's right!" Cattleya replied, "Since you're a Phantom Thief, you can assign yourself a code name to hide your identity."

"Hmm, I'm looking at my attire and I gotta say, it's giving me Spanish vibes."

"So we need someone that's Spanish for something?" Boris wondered,

"Nah, I need something related to the vibes my attire is giving off."

"Like Mamba?" Willow wondered,

"Ehhh, no."

"Or how about Señor?" Selene wondered,

"I like that, but it doesn't suit me."

"Ok, Hunter? Got any ideas?"

"Hmm, you look like your name could be Tango since you can probably dance to one." Boris replied,

"Tango… I like that name… And it suits me well!"

"So you're good with Tango?" Cattleya asked,

"Indeed I am!"

"Good, welcome aboard, Tango!"

"Thanks, Pirate!"

"Alright, let's go in there and find Crimson's treasure!"

We were sneakily roaming around the halls to find Crimson's treasure.

"So what does Crimson's treasure have to do with changing his heart?" Arthur asked,

"His treasure is the heart of his palace." Cattleya replied, "If we can steal the treasure, then we'll change Crimson's heart."

"I see… Well, I'm looking forward to this ride."

Then, we come across lasers covering up another hallway.

"Oh, great, we gotta do some acrobatics!" Lars said,

"Acrobatics!?" Arthur said, shocked,

"Wait, I see something!" Cattleya said as she looked at a button at the end of the hallway, "There's a button! Maybe that will deactivate the lasers!"

"I'm on it." I said,

"How will you do it, Joker?!" Arthur said,

"Yeah, I need to see this too!" Astrid replied,

I did some acrobatics through the lasers. It went well. I pressed the button and the lasers were deactivated.

"Impressive!" Astrid said,

"Wow… I need some acrobatics too." Arthur said, shocked,

My friends caught up to me as we pressed onwards.

Unfortunately, we made a stop at a giant red sign that said, "DO NOT GO FURTHER"

"Great, a road block of some sort!" Arthur said,

Lars felt the atmosphere around the sign.

"There's nothing blocking our way, so…" He said,

Lars then used his gun to blast the sign down.

"There!" He said, "Now we can–"

Alarms went off.

"--Damn it!" Lars shouted, "Not again!"

More cyborgs came out to attack us.

"They're here on behalf of Crimson's Shadow!" Astrid said as Jingu appeared to feel her head, "And it looks like the two of them are weak to Wind magic!"

"Leave the wind power to me!" Selene shouted as she took off her mask to reveal Evaki and soared, "Evaki!"

Evaki then breathed Magarula Wind magic at the two cyborgs, but one was still standing.

"The other one is weak to Almighty magic!" Astrid said, "Tango, that one is all your's!"

"I'm on it!" Arthur shouted as he took off his mask to summon his Persona, "Montezuma!"

Montezuma then used his glowing orb to shoot down Megido Almighty magic at the last cyborgs, weakening it.

"Now's your chance!" Astrid shouted, "Get 'em!"

We performed an all-out attack on the cyborg. While that was happening, Astrid used Jingu to create a giant blast of magic.

"Jingu got something on her sleeve!" She shouted, "Coming through!"

Jingu then blasted at the cyborg, killing it. It seems that Astrid got the final blow.

"That was easy!" Astrid said,

Then, we went to the room where the sign previously destroyed was blocking the way to. There, there were seats and a stage with curtains. The treasure was on stage, which was a glowing ball of light.

"What's that?" Arthur wondered,

"That's the treasure." Cattleya replied, "But it's not in this physical form yet."

"Huh, wonder what it will look like." Astrid wondered,

"So… Now what?" Arthur wondered,

"Now, we sent out a calling card to Crimson. For now, let's go back and think of when is the right time to do so."