When exploring floors with weaker shadows, it wasn't uncommon for shadows to run away from the Phantom Thieves. Maybe they were coordinating, trying to see if they could team up and take them down with numbers. Maybe they were trying to save up their energy in case a weaker opponent wandered in somehow. Or maybe they were just afraid. The 7 students and 1 cat didn't really care. But on floors like these, the silence and atmosphere always unnerved them. In Luciano's domain, it was even worse. They rode in silence though the topmost layer of the accursed floor.
The featureless grey concrete at the end of the red fleshy cavern looked no less out of place than before. The metal door and faint glow of the exit sign above it provided no answers and all the Phantom Thieves could do was still their spirits. They didn't like it, but this would have to be where they'd split up, at least until they could find a way to get past the barrier that sat within the threshold of the door.
"What a stupid rule..." Ann pressed her shoulder against the force field Futaba and Akira had described yesterday. Just as she'd feared, it didn't budge. She scoffed.
"You're sure that American guy isn't going to show up?" Haru gulped as she spoke.
"It's like we said, Noir…" Morgana slapped his cheeks in preparation for their trek "If Luciano wanted us dead, we wouldn't be standing here right now."
She sighed uneasily under her hat.
"We'll be okay. Even if he does make an appearance, Oracle has enough Goho-Ms to get us out of here three times over." Makoto adjusted her mask.
"Nonetheless, stay on high alert. Thus far this floor has proven unpredictable at best." Yusuke walked through the barrier with ease, earning a twitch from Ann's eyebrow.
"Not helping, Inari…" Futaba shook her head.
The boys made their way to the door, no choice but to leave the girls behind.
"Queen." Akira said. The other boys had already gone through into the unknown, Makoto could see their faces peering back through the door in her periphery, but her eyes were locked with Akira's.
"You can count on me." She nodded.
He put his hand on her shoulder, gentle yet reassuring. He nodded back.
Akira shut the door behind him, drowning the boys in darkness. He figured Luciano wouldn't have any problems obliterating the thin metal it was made of, but anything to buy the girls even half a second of time would be valuable. Ryuji set his phone's brightness to maximum to light the way. For a long half minute, they walked in silence through the cold, stale air on rough concrete that matched the one on the walls.
The featureless stone floor eventually gave way to a shaky looking construction catwalk. The kind you might see sprawled just under the roof of a large warehouse. There were lights dangling above it, but the endless abyss below them swallowed up any light that made it further than the clanging perforated metal they walked on. After another minute, Ryuji, in spite of his earlier uncharacteristic silence, was the first to speak.
"Okay." He stopped walking and closed his eyes. "We need to talk…"
"Joker, when you told us Luciano cut the reaper in half, I thought you were just saying shit so the girls wouldn't sus us out. But I almost shat my pants when I saw you weren't kidding, man! I didn't know it was gonna be this bad!"
"It's too unbelievable to be a lie." Morgana said.
"Is there a meme for a nuclear bomb or sumthing? I seriously think that's our best bet at doing any damage to this fuckin' guy."
Akira looked away into the foggy abyss just beyond the catwalk railing. "We have to try."
"If he can do something that insane to the fucking reaper, imagine what he can do to us!"
"Luciano will not see us killed, Skull." Yusuke's hand gripped his sword tightly. "He wants to toy with us."
"Yeah, for now! What if he changes his mind? Nothing on this damn floor makes any sense, I mean, look!" Ryuji stomped his feet, sending a metallic clang reverberating through the catwalk "We're walking through a fuckin' construction zone here! The second he decides he's bored of whatever game he's playin', he's just gonna murder us! Or worse, take our dicks away!"
"Skull, get it together! You're freaking out!" Akira stepped forward and shook his friend by the shoulders. "If we run away then we're REALLY going to get killed. Right now, we have a chance, and no matter how small, we must take it!"
"Fuck this, man!" Ryuji slapped Akira's gloved hands off him, there was panic in his voice. He began hoisting himself up onto the railing "I'm gonna jump into this infinite foggy void here and die my own death! I'm not gonna let no fuckin' white boy decide how I die!"
"Skull! Dumbass!" It took all of Yusuke's and Akira's combined strength to keep the former track star from wrenching free and ending it all. "Mona, help!"
"Get offa me!"
As the others were struggling, Morgana looked down at his feet. He didn't move.
"Mona!" Yusuke yelled "Use a soul drop on Skull! His sanity is waning!"
"…Heh heh…" Morgana chuckled.
"Mona! Come on!"
"Skull's right…" the cat wobbled unsteadily on its feet. "There's no point… Saw it myself… We're fucked…!"
Akira saw a tsunami of desperation sweep across Morgana's face for an instant before their feline companion turned around and bolted. Having mostly gotten Ryuji to calm down, Akira chased after him. "Mona, come back!"
"HELL NO!" his hind paws had lost their silhouettes and blended into a little cartoonish swirl underneath his hips as he ran. "I'M GONNA GO FIND A NICE DIRTY POTHOLE AND CUM MY FUCKIN BALLS OFF, THEN I'LL JUMP INTO A DUMP TRUCK AND GET CRUSHED LIKE THE WORTHLESS WASTE OF SPACE I AAAAAMMMMM! UAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"
Akira's longer legs were an advantage, he caught up to the depraved creature in just a few seconds. He pounced, stopping Morgana in his tracks. "Stupid cat! This isn't about you! We've been through worse and made it out alive, don't you give up on us now!"
The leader of the Phantom thieves could hear muttering and a faint, rapid slapping sound from Morgana. He turned the cat around in his hands.
"LadyAnnLadyAnnLadyAnnLadyAnn…ouhhhhh…" He was masturbating.
Akira pried his friends paws away from his little red rocket. "Stop! Stop it, Mona!"
"You can't stop me now! PERSONA!" Morgana's body glowed blue as Zorro materialized behind him and continued jerking him off.
"RRRRRRRRRWWWWWWAAAAHHHHHHH!" Morgana shrieked "MY DESTINY BELONGS TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Ryuji and Yusuke caught up to them and recoiled in horror. "WHAT THE FUCK!?"
"Help!" Akira pleaded.
"MMMRRRREEAAAAOOUUUUUUWWHHHH!" Morgana screamed "I'M GONNA CREEEEEAAAM!"
Akira let go of Morgana's paw and slapped his friend across the face. Hard.
"What are you doing, Morgana!?" he screamed. "Just last week you couldn't shut up about how you were gonna burry your disgusting cat penis so far up Ann's ass her breath would smell like spunk for a week?!"
"LADY AAAANNNNNN! GUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" That didn't help.
"Joker! Outta the way!" It was Ryuji. He shoved Akira to the side and got right up into the masturbating cat's face.
"MMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNN!" his scream sounded like it could break his skull mask.
"MEN! MEN MEN MEN PENIS DICK COCK WIENERS DICKS MEN MEN SWEATY GREASY OLD FAT MEN WITH UGLY ASS WRINKLE DICKS!"
"SHUT UP! I CANT CONCENTRATE! LET ME KILL MYSELFFFFF!"
"UGLY ASS FAT ASS BEER GUT HAIRY ASS BEARDED ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION MEN WHO DON'T BRUSH THEIR DISGUSTING TEETH AND NEVER FUCKIN SHOWER! WITH TINY ASS MICRODICKS BANGING THEIR UGLY ASS 80 YEAR OLD SUGAR MOMMAS AND THE ROOM SMELLS LIKE CELERYYYYYYYYY!"
"…" Morgana stopped, his dick limp in Zorro's hand. Pure rage in his eyes. He leaped for his face.
"I WILL FUCKING SKULLFUCK YOU YOU PISSHEAD!"
As Morgana and Ryuji clawed at each other on the catwalk, Yusuke pressed his fingertips to his temples.
"Joker, we cannot keep going like this." He sighed. "This is the third attempted suicide since we undertook this challenge."
He sighed back.
With great effort Yusuke and Akira managed to break up the fight. Tensions were high and the mood was far from ideal, but Yusuke was right, something had to be done. They knew this challenge was going to be monumentally difficult, but to have chaos and order break apart so catastrophically not even a week in? The situation was dire. The four men sat cross-legged on the cold uninviting perforated metal of the catwalk.
"Gentlemen." Akira put his hands on his knees "I know how difficult this is for all of us."
"Easy for you to say! You've practically got your own hare-…!" Morgana blurted out, but stopped himself. Letting his emotions get the better of him almost just cost him his dick. "Sorry. Please, Joker. Continue."
Akira nodded pensively. "For all of us… But we need to stay strong. We are going to pull through. We aren't going to lose our dicks. And we are not going to lose to Luciano."
He took off his glove and bit on his finger, causing a small trickle of blood to crawl its way down his skin. He looked at the dejected man to his left.
"Ryuji" He didn't use his codename. This was no time for pretense.
"…" he swallowed a lump.
"How much material do you have saved up?"
"W-what?"
"Answer the question."
"Uhh… T-three old phones and 2 laptops…" Ryuji dug his chin into his chest in shame. Akira slapped him on the shoulder. Much in the way a dad would silently congratulate a son after scoring the last home run of the inning, or how a brother would encourage a sibling to finally talk to that girl he's been crushing on since middle school. It was a proud, loving slap.
"They're waiting for you, man." Akira smiled. "Are you gonna abandon them like that?"
Tears found their way to the corners of Ryuji's eyes. "You're right, Akira. I have to keep running. The finish line gets closer with every step."
"Yusuke." Akira looked at the artist.
"…" he gulped.
"The BBWs, Yusuke. They need you." Akira spoke from the heart.
"Ayoto…" his brow furrowed, his voice was weak.
"Their forms Yusuke. Only you have the knowledge and passion required to convey their beauty on canvas. Without you, chubby girls will become nothing more than a simple fetish. A fad."
"…no…!" a small flame had ignited inside Yusuke's stomach. The thought of those meaty plump bodies invigorated him, made him feel whole. He nearly stood up from the renewed energy "I have to paint them…! The world must know of their glory!"
"Morgana."
The cat sighed.
"Just last week, all you could talk about was how you couldn't wait to get your human body back."
His ears twitched.
"I remember. You were so excited. You were going to use your sexy human body and 8 inch package to finally enamor Ann. What was it you said…? Right! 'I'm gonna bury it so far up her ass, her breath will smell like my spunk for a week.' Did I get it right?"
"Heh…" another chuckle escaped his furry lips, this time full of longing. Morgana shifted his weight onto his arm and crossed one leg over the other. The image reminded Akira of an old CEO or company executive, staring out onto the horizon on the porch overlooking a grassy field and reminiscing on the intense trade wars of his youth from the comfort of his retirement home. "A month, actually."
Akira slammed his fist on the metal ground and startled Morgana and the others to attention. Droplets of blood splattered on the railings.
"Where's that commitment now, huh?" Akira raised his voice "You gonna throw all that away?"
"I-"
"This is what you've always wanted!"
"…Yeah…" Morgana rose to his feet, still at eye level with the others
"Who's in control!?" Akira leaned forward.
"Me! My destiny belongs to me!"
"Are you gonna give up on us now!?"
"No! We're gonna fuck that Luciano guy up!" Morgana was starting to sound like Ryuji.
"Gentlemen…" Akira stuck out his thumb, blood still oozing out of it.
"We must do whatever we can to make it through this." Akira looked each one of his teammates and friends in the eye. The cold air around them seemed to warm with their mutual determination and resolve. "It's not going to be easy, but I know we can do it. We have each other's backs."
"Yeah! Let's kick some white boy ass!" Ryuji whooped.
"A marvelous pep talk, Joker. My heart has never felt more sturdy." Yusuke wiped a tear from his cheek
"We got this, guys. We can do this!" Morgana meowed.
The four exchanged knowing looks. Their resolve would be tested, they all knew. But it would be worth it. Spoils untold awaited them at the end of this arduous quest. By relying on each other, the boys knew they'd be able to make it through, no matter what obstacles came at them or at what angle!
"Glad to hear you're not all talk, fellas…" A haunting voice swept through the void. It came from all directions and from none at the same time. The boys froze. Boat shoes slapped harshly on sheet metal, something was coming.
"…L-" Ryuji whispered under his breath.
Every muscle in their body doused in adrenaline, the men pivoted their heads to the source of the steps. A man of Caucasian descent wearing a white button-up, shorts, and a black belt emerged from the fog and leaned on the railing. The overhead lights cast his face in unsettling shadows, only made worse by the emotionless smile he wore on his lips.
"Luciano…" The man who had sliced the reaper in two stood before them, they were at his mercy once again. Powerless.
"I knew y'all'd pull through." He clasped his hands together over his stomach. "You guys're a good pick for the ol' triple N challenge."
"What…" Yusuke tripped on his words. "What do you want from us, Luciano…?"
"Me!?" his sudden jolt forward caused the boys to flinch. "Oh, no, no, no! This ain't about me!"
He took a step forwards. The Phantom Thieves took a step back.
"This is about you!" he gestured to the four with extended arms. "Don't you remember Tuesday? All y'all have to do is not choke the chicken for a bit, and you get a huge powerup! All that I want is to be your humble chaperone!"
"Hmph." Akira remembered what they'd discussed earlier. Luciano wasn't here to kill them. Not yet, at least. This helped him get a bit of confidence back. "You won't get away with this, Luciano. You'll eat your words soon."
Joker took off his mask and summoned the little green meme frog Pepe that he'd absorbed during his first meeting with the white demon. It 'Reeee'd' as menacingly as it could, ready to pounce. The others took out their personas too. It wouldn't help, but it was an intimidating sight.
"Oh to be young and innocent…! I've already gotten away with it, y'think this is my first rodeo?" Luciano. "Y'know what? I'll give you a little extra motivation."
His voice came from behind them now. The victims whipped their heads around in shock to see him leaning on the opposite railing. He flexed the fingertips of his free hand before snapping them.
A familiar, atrocious pain enveloped the boys' groins; all their personas shrieked and fizzled away. The same pain they'd felt back on Tuesday. Immobilized in anguish, they could do nothing but writhe on the floor in agony as Luciano casually closed the distance.
"IF…! If Y'make it to next Friday, I'll give y'all a little reward!" He pivoted his trunk forward, bringing his face close to a screaming Akira. "Ain't that exciting?"
None of them could respond. It was taking all of Akira's focus to process Luciano's taunts and not give into animalistic wailing as he clutched his crotch for dear life. Luciano rose to full height. His features were reduced to a mere silhouette underneath the fog and the overhead lighting of the catwalk.
"I'll be waiting for you. Don't keep me waiting, now! Huahahahaha!" His laugh echoed off walls that didn't exist, crawling up the Phantom Thieves' spines as he vanished into the mist. Just as quickly as it had come, the pain between their legs, too, had gone.
They looked at each other as they caught their breaths and shakily rose to their feet. Akira's uplifting words and Luciano's sheer power fought for space in their consciousnesses, fighting to see which side they would choose. Hope, or Despair.
Akira stuck his thumb out. The bleeding had slowed, but it still dribbled red. His gaze was unwavering. Something about that look from their leader brought back just enough of their drive for the others' brains to make their choice.
"Friday…" Akira said. "We can do this."
The other three looked at each other. Morgana was the first to bite down onto his paw and connect it to Akira's bleeding finger. Ryuji and Yusuke exchanged a knowing look. They joined in. This was a blood pact.
"We can make it." Morgana breathed in sharply.
"It's not gonna be easy…" Ryuji sighed.
"But we will prevail." Yusuke joined in.
"…" They could do this.
They would do this.
The four men walked onwards down the catwalk.
A/N: Hello again my wonderful readers. Things are moving forwards. I don't know if it says something narcissistic about me, but I was laughing my ass off writing this latest chapter, so I hope you guys got a good chuckle out of it, too!
Not much else to say, see you next time!