Chapter 12: The Hierophant

•Akira•

Upon returning home, he was greeted by Sakura cleaning some dishes. He began walking past him, aiming to go upstairs and do his homework, only for the older man to stop him as he went. "Hey, you got a sec? Something I want to ask you."

He blinked, before nodding. After the events of the previous day, he could see that the man was attempting to be a bit nicer, though he was still very strict, so he would at least hear him out. Perhaps he would also go back to using a 'san' when addressing the man in his head… 'What is it?"

"Ah, just give me a second. I'll finish this set of dishes, and then we can talk. Why don't you set your stuff down in your room? You must be tired of carrying it all day after going wherever it is you go."

"Alright." He climbed the stairs to the attic, going to the workbench and setting down his bag. Morgana jumped out and shook his body to settle his fur. "I'm going to go see what Sakura needs. Do you want to examine the grappling hooks we got from the laboratory?"

"Wait, I thought you only stole supplies to make them? Where did you get these?"

Will thou tell thy companion? Or continue to hide the truth?

Not deigning to respond to Arsène, he quickly thought up an explanation. "I tried to see if I could use the materials we got to make functioning hooks. After all, if I picked out the wrong supplies and we weren't able to create the hooks after we got back it would have been rather embarrassing. Luckily, now we have extra material should we need it."

"Huh. Alright, Let me check these out. After all, you're definitely not at my level of making equipment!" He rolled his eyes at the cat's smug smile, turning to return to the ground floor.

"Yes, yes, you're much better than me at tool-making." He descended the last few stairs and sat at one of the booths, waiting for Sakura to finish the dishes. He looked around, noting how nobody was in the cafe. Well, it was rather late and probably close to closing time, but still. How did Sakura keep this shop afloat when no one came by?

"So, how's school going? You're not causing any trouble, are you?"

"I'm fine. I haven't drawn any attention to myself. Well, besides what I get from being on probation," he scowled.

"Good. I have to report to your probation officer twice a month, have you been keeping your journal up to date?" He nodded silently, patting his pocket where he kept it. Of course, he couldn't write down that he was exploring a castle during the afternoon, so he simply switched that with 'hung out with group.' Short and crude though it was, it likely would fit with a probation officer's view on what a troubled teenager would write down.

"Yeah, my whole life will be on file whenever they need it."

Sakura sighed softly. "That's just how society works. It's kept in check by laws and authority figures, people can go and get themselves killed if they want, but they shouldn't drag others into their mess." He bristled slightly at Sakura's words, figuring that they had been partially aimed at him, and also infuriated at the thought that his 'guardian' was so callous.

He opened his mouth to spit back a response, words forming on his lips, before Sakura's phone rang. He fished his phone out of his pocket and answered, speaking into it. "Hello? What's wrong? ...Yeah, I'm heading out now. Sorry about that." He chuckled, nodding. "I know, the usual, right? Okay, I'll see you later."

He crossed his arms as he watched Sakura speak into the phone, sighing as he talked to his wife, or girlfriend, or whoever the hell was on the other side of the device. After hanging up, Sakura looked at him. "As you can see, I'm pretty damn busy both at work and in my private life. If you could lend a hand, it'd be a great help." He felt his eye twitch at the man trying to rope him into helping around the shop after having partially insulted him, but managed to calm himself down by counting to ten in his head.

Once again, he needed to be polite so his guardian wouldn't kick him out. "Sure."

He wasn't exactly trying hard to hide his annoyance, so Sakura could clearly see that he wasn't happy about agreeing. "Don't worry, it won't be for free. Here, if you help me out, I'll, ah… oh, I'll teach you how to make the perfect cup of coffee. Not a bad trade, huh?"

That trade sucked. He was going to be paid in coffee tips? Ugh… Arsène chuckled within his head, while he just nodded his head. "Sounds fine to me."

"All right. Looks like we've got ourselves a deal." Sakura grinned at him, and he forced a grin onto his face in return. Well… Even if the deal sucked, at least it seemed like Sakura was being just slightly warmer towards him. He was clearly still wary of him, but it seemed like the man was beginning to trust him enough to assist him behind the counter.

In time, perhaps he will trust us even more.

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 Hierophant Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power…

Hierophant Arcana, Sojiro Sakura: Rank One

Huh. Well, he hadn't expected to gain a bond with Sakura… He wasn't exactly sure what the requirements for having a bond with someone were, but it seemed like he needed to strike some form of deal with them.

"I'll be counting on your help. Here, I'll let you handle the rest of the dishes, alright?" He sighed at being roped in already to help, but nodded and walked into the small kitchen and prepared to clean up.

"Right…" Soon enough he had finished with cleaning, and Sakura returned dressed in his everyday clothes.

The man nodded at his work, chuckling. "Gotta say, I'm glad you catch on quick with this stuff. Makes my life a lot easier. Just keep doing what you can. And don't cause any trouble, right?"

"Of course, Sakura-san."

"Glad to hear it. For today though, just make sure you lock the place up. And don't go too crazy with the stuff in the shop. You're staying here rent-free, so you should know not to go overboard. All right, see you tomorrow." He waved him off, before stretching and walking up the stairs to his room.

"How?!" He was immediately greeted by Morgana, wailing from the workbench. "How were these constructed so well?!"

"Maybe I just got lucky," he chuckled, sitting down and grabbing his homework, all while Morgana fumed at the sight of the expertly crafted devices.

Ω • Ω • Ω

4/21, Thursday

•Akira•

DEADLINE: MAY 2ND

DAYS UNTIL EXPULSION: 11

Steal Kamoshida's heart

While readying his knife, he nodded at his teammates, before refocusing on the enemy shadow that was unknowingly walking towards their hiding place. Through the use of the shortcuts they had created the last time they were in Kamoshida's Palace, they had managed to return to the destroyed staircase quickly and easily. And with the use of the grappling hooks, they were finally able to make progress, after an amusing incident where Skull had crashed into the goat head they had grappled onto.

Though the very next thing that greeted them after they began moving forward was this new enemy, something they could all see was much more dangerous than the normal Shadows, even though the others didn't have his Third Eye. For one, there was a bright red aura around the knight, visible even to the naked eye, as though it were on fire.

Second, it was larger than the other patrolling knights, though only by a slight amount. It wasn't massive, but it was just noticeable enough. "I call those Savage Enemies," Mona explained. "They're way tougher than most regular Shadows. You can think of them like… a mini-boss! They can take a lot more damage, and are much more fanatical when it comes to obeying the Palace Ruler. If you want to negotiate with them, it'll only be possible when they're near death."

"I bet we can take it!" Skull whisper-yelled.

"Maybe… but we'll need to be careful."

"Your call, Joker." He hummed at Panther's words, preparing mentally. Gazing at the area just behind the Savage Enemy, he focused his mental energy, letting PSI flow through his veins. He still hadn't mastered it, but hopefully…

And just like that, he felt the shadows surround him and he burst forward, flowing between the guard's legs like water and near-instantly appearing behind it. He smirked, before leaping forward and onto its shoulders, grabbing its face and tearing it off. "I'll reveal your true form!"

As it transformed, his teammates rushed forward and attacked with the slash of a saber, crack of a whip, and slam of a bat, causing its still-blobby form to gurgle in pain. He flipped onto the ground and spun to face it as it's true body appeared.

Standing in the middle of the hall was, similarly to its guard form, a knight. Only this time, it was sitting upon the back of a horse and gazing at them furiously. It looked similar to the horseman that they had faced when Skull awoke to Captain Kidd, only this knight's armor was grey unlike the other's gold, and the horse it rode was red and slightly smaller, while the other's, which had been grey.

"You damn… how dare you attack a knight of King Kamoshida!" Its horse reared back and the knight spun its polearm, before charging towards them. They all split up, the knight galloping straight through where they had stood before its horse whinnied and reared back, turning to face them yet again.

"First, we'll figure out what it's weak to!"

Skull grinned at his orders. "In other words, blast it with random shit until it's stunned!"

He smirked back. "Essentially."

"Carmen!"

"Zorro!"

"CAPTAIN KIDD!"

"Arsène."

The Savage Enemy shuffled, wary for a moment about facing four Personas at once before the knight urged its horse on. It took a swing at Panther first, but she managed to dodge back in time while having Carmen hit it with Agi. It easily shrugged the attack off, and Mona cursed. "Damn, it's resistant to fire! Fine, let's see how you like a Garu!"

The whipping winds caused it to slow slightly unlike the flames, but it still was ready to keep fighting and swung at Mona. "Ha!" Skull placed himself in between the cat and the Shadow, grinning and yelling, "It'll take more than just a swat from you to— GACK!"

He was sent flying as the lance struck him but luckily Captain Kidd managed to catch him before he crashed into a wall. "Skull!" He turned his gaze to the horseman and snapped his fingers, glaring as he ordered his Persona to attack. "Arsène, Sukunda!" a green orb appeared around the Shadow, and when it next charged at them it was noticeably slower and less agile.

Mona jumped around the attacking Shadow, sending Zorro forward to use its healing spell on Skull. As the Dia healed his wounds, Skull growled and pointed forward as he grasped the hull of the ship. "Why you little—! Captain Kidd, let's get 'em!" The skeletal pirate grinned and launched a Zio, but yet again, the knight continued to stand strong.

It whipped its halberd around, which Captain Kidd barely avoided by floating away from it, while Panther summoned her Sterlidge and unloaded its entire magazine. Unfortunately for the team, the bullets just bounced off of its armor, not even denting it. "It's immune to gun attacks! Don't bother using those!"

Backflipping over a swing, he scowled at Mona's callout. "Ravage them, Arsène!"

"Shall we see how they like this?!" The Persona's hand was wreathed in black fire as the curse attack was powered up, before he launched the Eiha into the Shadow's face. It washed off as if nothing had happened, and Arsène grunted as the knight struck him in the side with its weapon.

He hissed in discomfort as the pain Arsène felt transferred to him, and a bruise formed beneath his coat on his side. "Switch!" If electricity, curse, and wind didn't work, but it was resistant to fire, then… "Saki Mitama! Bufu!"

"As you wish." The golden teardrop opened her mouth and blew out cold wind, forming small crystals along the ground in a path towards the Savage Enemy, before a ball of ice formed and shattered directly in the knight's center of mass. It immediately stumbled, the horse collapsing beneath it, and the Shadow atop it struggling to catch itself.

He immediately pounced on the opportunity with a cry of, "All-Out Attack!" The team began their assault, using their Personas, guns, and melee weapons to maximize the amount of damage they could do before the Shadow could get back up. Just before they could finish it off, it managed to recover and spun its halberd around before stabbing him through the shoulder. "GAH!"

"JOKER!"

He gripped the haft of the weapon as it stabbed through him, mentally switching from Arsène to Slime. With the viscous Persona's resistance to physical attacks, he was able to focus through the pain and rip the pointed tip of the weapon out of his body with another scream, before snarling as his eyes blazed with the blue flames that came with summoning a Persona. "Slime, Evil Touch!"

Evil Touch was a dangerously simple spell, and one that he found was incredibly useful. Evil Touch inflicted… Fear. It was such a simple emotion, but in the middle of a battle, fear was so incredibly useful. A single moment of hesitation on its own could decide the fate of a battle, but Evil Touch causes fear so intense that anyone afflicted with it would be completely paralyzed from terror.

His Persona appeared in place of Arsène, its already wide mouth opening even wider as a black mist shot into the Savage Enemy's helmet, causing it to begin coughing as it backed away. Skull had Captain Kidd catch him as he fell, and Panther quickly used Dia to heal him while the Persona placed him on the ground.

"Are you alright?! You were—"

"Yeah, don't worry about that…" he rolled his shoulder and winced. Dia, as much of a miracle as that spell was, only healed minor wounds. There was still a lot more missing flesh that hadn't healed, but at least his trench coat was beginning to repair itself and hide the damage so he didn't need to look at it. "For now, we need to unload everything we've got while it's scared!"

"Hell yeah!" Skull immediately jumped forward and began whaling on the Shadow, before letting Captain Kidd get in the last hit with a Lunge attack, sideswiping the horseman with his boat. As it stumbled back he quickly swapped again to Saki Mitama, and another Bufu sent it tumbling to the ground. Still paralyzed with fear, they unleashed another All-Out Attack, but somehow the Shadow was still standing.

"I told you they were tougher than other Shadows… come on, we need to take it down before it recovers!"

Of course, it was just their luck that the Savage Enemy managed to get over the effect of Evil Touch as they charged, and he immediately had Saki Mitama use Tarunda to weaken its attack as it reared back and smacked Panther in the side of the gut, the small daggers on the side of the main blade slashing into her stomach, and the only reason she wasn't impaled deeper was due to its weakened strength.

She bit back a scream, and Mona yowled angrily as he leaped up and slashed his saber into the small area between the knight's helmet and it's breastplate, cutting into its neck. "How dare you hurt Lady A— Panther!"

"Focus, cat!" Skull roared as he brought his bat down on the Shadow's head, with so much force that the monster was stunned for a moment. "Joker, they're—!"

"I see it! Panther?!"

"I'm okay, let's do it!"

He grinned, nodding at Skull. "You heard her!"

"Hell yeah! LET'S TEAR 'EM APART!" They began one final All-Out Attack, which was finally enough to take the Savage Enemy down for good. As it stumbled in place, Skull landed hard, before leaping back onto his feet and grinning as he made the sign of the devil with his hand and their cognition formed Skull's Finishing Touch behind him, police caution tape and the words 'freakin' boring!' in a graffiti-like style. "That's all she wrote!"

Everyone let out a sigh of relief as the battle finished, before Panther winced and held her side. Mona immediately summoned Zorro and had him cast Dia, and they all watched as Panther's flesh reknit itself, while her catsuit repaired itself. "Much better… thanks, Mona!"

As the cat-slash-not-cat giggled and wiggled in place at the praise, Akira sighed and rolled his arm, wincing slightly. "Oh, Joker, should I heal you too?"

"No, you already healed me once, save your energy for more dire circumstances and Garus. I can live with the pain."

"But man, Monamona, you weren't kiddin' when you said those guys were tougher! I already feel beat up and that was, like, the first Shadow we've fought today!"

"I call them Savage for a reason. And don't call me Monamona, Numbskull!"

After stopping another fight between the two before it could start, he led them through more hallways, eventually finding another Safe Room in which they rested for several minutes, before continuing their exploration. Returning to their exploration and comparing the hallways to their map, they discovered that they were in a part of the castle that had several small rooms and hallways, as well as a hallway deeper into the castle. However, after discovering that the path forward was locked behind a set of bars, they quickly set out to search through the various rooms.

Some of them had a few Shadows in them, but none had anything especially interesting in them, besides several books in the large bookcases that the rooms contained. In the two rooms they had entered so far, the books highlighted in blue by his Third Eye were the Beefcake Book and the Slave's Book, and, after slaughtering a Shadow guard that transformed into five Incubus' that they quickly slaughtered, he looked around the inside of the third room they had entered to find a book labeled the Queen's Book.

"What's so special about these things anyway?" Skull questioned as he slipped the book into one of his pockets.

"I'm not sure yet, but my Third Eye highlighted them for a reason."

"I thought your psychic eye thing only made what things glow if you were looking for them?"

"That's if I'm looking for something specific. When I'm not looking for anything in particular, it highlights objects that would be useful to me or valuables I can steal."

"Mwehehe… a skill worthy of a Phantom Thief!"

"Yes, yes, I can spot treasure from a mile away, am an expert with thievery, I'm incredibly chivalrous, and can seduce any woman, I'm a proper gentleman thief." Panther scoffed as he waved his hand nonchalantly, before looking at the map again. "Alright, it looks like this hallway here and the room next to it are the last areas we can explore. Let's move out and hope that the way to unlock the door forward is in there."

"Alright! Let's get a move on!"

There were several more fights on the way, some with a new Shadow that looked similar to a maid wearing a red, full-body dress with white hair that was quickly identified after he managed to recruit her by being dodgy and evasive with every answer he gave her. "I suppose you could only find out if you joined me," he smiled.

"Hm… thou do like avoiding the question," she sighed. "Well, I suppose I must forgive thou for that, since it's something I regularly do mysel… Wait… I remember…" She floated a bit higher into the air, her smile growing wider. "In truth, I am not a Shadow. I originated from the human's sea of souls… My true name is… Silky. Henceforth, I am thou, master." And, after transforming into a copy of his white mask and being absorbed into his face, they continued on.

Skull did grumble for a moment that he got a cute maid to hang out in his head, which he chuckled at.

After plundering another chest that held an honest-to-god medieval mace that Skull eagerly took to replace his bat, they found themselves inside a library. "There are more books in here than Skull has seen in his life," he murmured as Skull let out a 'hey!' from behind him.

"Oh, you know how in movies there are always secret passages in libraries? Do you think there are some in here?"

"Damn, I hadn't thought of that…"

"Excellent work, Panther! Come on, Joker, let's look around!" He rolled his eyes and began observing the room, finding nothing out of the ordinary at first, before switching to his Third Eye. Several spots around the room were glowing lightly, and when he examined one, he discovered that it was an open slot between two books.

"Hm…"

Thou art thinking thou should slip a book in, correct?

'Of course. What else would be logical?' Though, what book would make sense?

Perhaps examine the books around the slot? Silky suggested. He nodded and began looking more closely at the books, and quickly became disgusted.

"'The History of Kamoshida', 'Kamoshida's Heroisms', Tracing Kamoshida's Steps, 'Kamoshida's Law'... Disgusting."

Skull looked over as he read out the titles, recoiling. "What? All those goddamn books are about that piece of shit?!"

"Of course they are, Skull, this is his Palace," Mona sighed.

"Well, let's give this a shot." Grabbing the Beefcake Book and inserting it into the slot, he waited a moment for something to happen. "Let's try fitting the rest of the books into their slots."

"There's an open space here!" Approaching Panther, they observed the books around the opening. "The titles don't really match each other though, they're kind of ran— Hey, wait, that's Shiho's name!"

Skull scratched his head as he looked at the books as well. "Hey, ain't these other books got all the names of the other girls?" His eyes widened behind his mask as he saw one in particular. "'Ann Takamaki: The Charming Doll.' Holy shit…"

"What the heck is this?!"

"Just another example of Kamoshida's depravity." He grabbed and inserted the Queen Book, before looking for a space that the Slave Book would fit in. As he did, he noticed a fourth glowing book, and once he picked it up and read the title he furrowed his brow. "'The King Book…'"

Mona's yowling drew his attention as the cat jumped up and down near a bookcase. "Hey, here's another one!"

"Yo, these're the names of the volleyball team members! Wait… no, it's just the boys!"

"Heh, I found Skull's… 'Ryuji Sakamoto: The Vulgar Ape.'"

"That bastard!"

"Who does he think he is?" Scoffing, he lifted and inserted the Slave Book, and everyone waited for something to happen. The room was silent for several moments, which stretched into a minute, before Panther tapped her cheek with her finger.

"Um… shouldn't something have happened by now?"

"Did we get a book wrong?"

"I suppose… let's try replacing the Beefcake Book with the King Book. It's the only thing that makes sense."

"Or there isn't a secret passageway at all," Skull scoffed.

"If this wasn't anything special, my Third Eye wouldn't have highlighted anything." He replaced the book in the wall while slipping the Beefcake Book back onto his pocket, and as he did so, one of the bookcases slid into the wall revealing a backroom.

"Let's check it out!" Mona ran forward and they followed more leisurely, only to see what exactly was inside the room. It was another of the X-shaped contraptions that Panther had been strapped to when she had first Awakened to Carmen, while all around the room were candles and photos of Suzui.

"Ugh… the hell is this room?" Skull stalked forward and looked around in disgust. "There're tons of pictures of Suzui in here! Wait… every pic is of her!"

Panther stared silently, wincing for a brief moment, and he placed a hand on her shoulder, making her jump. "We'll make him pay for this. Don't you worry. But for now… will you be able to continue on?"

"Yeah… thanks. If anything, I feel even more motivated to do this now."

Mona nodded along, obviously pushing down the need to woo the girl and replacing it with the determination to achieve their goal. "I'm sure it'll feel awful, but we should search this room. There has to be something in here if he was hiding it with such an elaborate trick."

He nodded, but there honestly wasn't much else in the room, besides a small shelf to the left holding… "Is this… a medal?" Panther questioned.

"Really? We solved that dumbass puzzle for a medal?"

"Well, it has to be important. He went through all the trouble to hide it here, after all."

"Mona is correct. At the very least, let's take it with us."

As he grabbed it, Skull leaned forward to look at something that had been beneath the medal. "Hey, ain't that another map?"

"Ooh, and it's a different one from the map we have! Lucky! Let's take it with us!" He grinned and took out their first map, comparing the two, with Mona jumping onto his shoulder. "Let's see… yep, it's complete now!"

"So is it gonna tell us where the Treasure is?"

Mona's eyes practically began to sparkle as he indicated one section. "Yeah, look. It has to be here…"

"That's a pretty weird-shaped building… is it one of the towers?"

"Very astute Panther! I'd say it's a fair bet. And considering our current position, I'd say we're about halfway there."

Skill grinned and slapped him on the back, making Mona yowl and fall off his shoulder. "All right! Let's hurry over there!"

"No, you Numbskull!" Huffing, Mona crossed his arms. "Now that we know how much we have left, we can calculate the best way to pace ourselves. Let's keep exploring, but take breaks when you need to, Joker."

"Hm… well, we got one-quarter of the way in with our first infiltration before we were forced to stop and we got another quarter deeper today… let's at least try and find one or two more safe rooms, and open some shortcuts to make getting back easier the next time we come in. What do you think?"

"Yeah, let's bust some heads!"

"Sure, I'm down."

"A wise choice of action, Joker! Let's go, then!"

Returning to the blocked doorway and finding a pull chain next to it with a circular lock, he inserted the medal they had found which finally made the bars blocking the way retract. Nice! We move on now, Master!

Chuckling at Slime's words, they walked through the doors and down a set of stairs, only to find yet another Safe Room at the bottom of them. "Wait, another Safe Room so close to the last one?"

"That's kinda weird… I mean the last few were spread out a bunch, yeah?"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Continuing onwards, they walked through another room and were greeted with…

"Whoa, this place is huge!" Skull looked around the large room, which looked to be some kind of chapel. There were rows of pews, stained glass windows, and even a massive statue of Kamoshida. "The hell is this?"

"Be careful, Skull!" Mona huffed and cautiously moved forward. "A place this big, with no guards at all? It's very suspicious."

"But the Treasure's up ahead, yeah? We just gotta keep movin' forward!"

"Well, Skull does have a point. This is the only path forward."

Mona sighed but nodded at Panther's words. "I suppose… still, we should be careful."

"It could be that Kamoshida wouldn't allow anyone into a place that he considers 'sacred'," he replied as he led them forward. "But yes, stay on guard."

The chapel was completely silent bar their footsteps on the carpet as they walked deeper inside, and Skulls tapping his mace against his shoulder. Suddenly, the room warped around them, and they could see that in the real world they were actually within the gymnasium, before it transformed back into the castle.

"That was…?"

Skull snarled before Panther could finish her sentence, glaring at the statue. "I get it… The gym's some kinda holy place to him. He's a god there."

"I can't believe he can think like that… especially after what he did to Shiho…"

"We shouldn't be surprised by Kamoshida's depravity by this point." He spat on the carpet in disgust, feeling a small measure of glee that he'd dirtied Kamoshida's sanctuary.

"God, that bastard makes me so freakin' sick! Just you wait, Kamoshida…"

"I see… so you're the ones who tampered with the library. It seems my time waiting here has paid off." Near to the statue, another golden knight appeared, and he, Skull, and Mona immediately readied themselves, remembering the last golden knight they had challenged, while Panther just grabbed her whip nervously, sensing something different about the enemy. "Just as that ape there said, this place is a holy ground for our great King Kamoshida. It is preposterous for miscreants like yourselves to come waltzing in like this!"

"Oh? You think you can stop us?"

The knight snarled at him as he smirked in response before the golden guard exploded into dark ooze, floating high into the air. When the black fog around it dissipated, it revealed a new Shadow they hadn't encountered yet. Hovering a few feet off the ground thanks to red-brown wings that hung lazily behind it, and wearing classic chainmail armor with a sword longer than he was tall, was an angelic figure glaring at them.

"I, THE HEAVENLY PUNISHER, SHALT MAKE YE PAY FOR DEFYING KING KAMOSHIDA… WITH THY LIVES."

It twirled its blade, and he looked around the chapel. "We're going to treat this thing as if it were a Savage Enemy, be incredibly cautious, and use the open space around us to your advantage. We were in a tight corridor earlier, but now we can move and duck and dive, so go all out"

"THOU WOULDST CONVERSE CALMLY, AND DISCUSS THY PLANS BEFORE THINE ENEMY? QUITE BOLD. BUT DO NOT THINK I WILL GIVE YE RESPITE!" The Heavenly Punisher reared back and thrust its blade downwards at Skull, who barely jumped out of the way with a grin.

"Ha! Nice aim, asshole! Captain Kidd!" The pirate appeared behind Skull as he ripped off his mask, surging forward and slamming his hull into the angelic figure. It recoiled in pain, before ripping its sword out of the ground, sending torn carpet and shattered stone flying. Sweeping its blade to the side, it tried to slice them all in half, only for Mona to narrowly duck beneath it while Panther and he flipped over it.

When he landed he sent out Arsène, and he could somehow tell that his Persona was smirking at the Punisher even though he didn't have facial features. "Thou may weareth the wings and guise of an angel, but thou serves a monster most foul!" The Shadow was enraged from Arsène's taunting words, but with a simple Sukunda, the Shadow's movements visibly slowed, allowing Ann, who had been boosted by him, to jump onto Arsène's back and then whip the monster across the face.

It snarled and tried to backhand her away, but Arsène ducked back, throwing her to safety at his command. "You know," he spoke to his other self, "you also have angel wings, but you don't look like any angel I've read about." Arsène just chuckled, before grabbing his arm and tossing him into the air, then dissipating from the world to reform as his mask.

"I THINK NOT, KNAVE." The Heavenly Punisher swung at him and he barely twisted out of the way, frowning as the clothing on his arm was torn. However, he had accomplished his goal of distracting and making the Shadow forget about their smaller teammate.

"My other self… Garu!" Zorro attacked from behind, the whipping winds battering at the Shadow and causing it to grunt. In that brief moment, he switched Personas and ripped his mask free as he landed on the Shadow's head, kicking it towards the ground.

"Pixie! Ravage them!"

"Whip 'em! CAPTAIN KIDD!"

"ZIO!" Both of them launched the electric attacks at once, catching the Heavenly Punisher between them and causing it to spasm wildly in pain, before Panther summoned Carmen to set it alight. As its armor heated up he switched once again, summoning Slime to have it Lunge at the Shadow.

Finally having had enough, it attacked through the pain, slicing straight through Slime's body. He screamed in pain as Slime dissipated from the damage, and all of the pain transferred into him at once. Thankfully Slime's body was just a blob, so instead of the pain focusing on one point, it spread across his body, making it just slightly more manageable.

He fell to the ground and spasmed slightly, while Skull and Panther sprinted forward to distract the powerful Shadow as Mona quickly cast a Dia on him, ridding him of some of the pain. Skull suddenly flew past, skipping along the ground like a stone as he yelped, and Panther crashed down next to Mona.

"This thing is tough!" She gripped her arm and winced, blood leaking from a wound on her bicep. Skull couldn't say anything because he had hit the ground so hard that his head was stuck in the floor, so he turned his gaze back to the angel only to frown, concerned by what he was seeing.

It seemed to be charging up, red light beginning to swirl around it and its eyes glowing brighter. "Uhh…"

"EVERYONE, MOVE!" Mona yowled our and jumped onto Panther's back as they both jumped aside, and the angel's blade cleaved through the ground as though it wasn't even there, shattering it with even more ease than every strike beforehand.

Trickster, look out! Trusting Arsène's words from within his head, he rolled to the side and dodged another slash. He grabbed his gun and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet into its face and sending the powerful Shadow into another rage as it attempted to stab him through the stomach.

It wound up, only for a blue sphere to surround it for a moment before breaking apart into tiny bubbles that floated gently away. He looked at the Shadow in confusion, only for it to crash to the ground, asleep. He turned to Ann and saw that she had summoned Carmen while glaring at the Shadow and breathing heavily. "What was…?"

"Carmen just learned it… it's some kind of skill that puts Shadows to sleep, so attack, quick!"

"Don't have to tell me twice." He breathed in and switched Personas again to Arsène, summoning his partner behind him. "Panther, Mona, get ready to hit it with everything you've got after I attack. Skull, get back on your damn feet, and get ready too!" His teammate finally freed himself from the floor and groaned, stumbling to his feet and readying his mace.

He ran forward and ripped off his mask as he went, Arsène appearing next to him and striking as he did. As he swung his blade Arsène swung his blade-heels, waking the angelic figure and causing it to fly back into the path of Zorro's whipping winds and Carmen's burning fire, before Skull jumped and swung his mace, bringing its head down on the Shadow.

It's helmet was dented inwards from the blow, and it wobbled as it flew back into the air while more red light swirled around it, before he had Arsène blast it with an Eiha. It weathered the attack, while Captain Kidd battered it from behind and Carmen and Zorro continued to try and overwhelm it before it could finish Charging.

It floated in silence, continuing to focus its power, and he scowled as he jumped away. "Everyone, get back, don't risk making any other att—!"

"HUOOOOH…" The Shadow spun, cleaving through the pews it's blade struck as it aimed towards Panther. He saw her try and jump away from it, but she wasn't fast enough and it cut through her stomach, splashing the battlefield with blood. The battlefield went silent for just a moment as they all watched Panther stumble, holding a hand to her wound as her pink gloves became redder and redder, before Mona ran for her.

"P-Panther!"

"Shit!" The angel made to stab at the cat, before Skull roared and tackled it, Captain Kidd firing some kind of beam that made the boy's body glow red. Surprisingly, Skull managed to push the angel just out of range, so the sword sliced through the air just over Mona's head as he began trying to heal Panther.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He snarled and looked around, trying to find anything that could help them. The Shadow was beginning to look winded and its armor was dented and damaged in places, but they clearly weren't going to kill it any time soon, especially with Panther out of the picture. His eyes locked onto Kamoshida's disgusting statue, and his grimace became a grin.

"Skull, I'll keep it occupied, I need you to knock down that statue!"

"Eh?!" Skull turned to look at the massive statue, before nodding and disengaging. "Y-You got it! Just make sure you whoop this thing's ass for Panther!"

"THOU WOULD DARE DEFILE KING KAMOSHIDA'S STATUE? I THINK NOT, KNAVE!" Before it could chase after Skull, he jumped onto one of the pews, quickly summoned Arsène to jump onto his back and have him launch him higher, before recalling the Persona and switching back to Slime, bringing him out and using Lunge from above.

They crashed to the ground, the angel turning and trying to slash his body in half, only for him to roll beneath the blade and pulled out his Tkachev handgun to unload several bullets into its face. While it recoiled in pain, he dove through its legs, onto another undamaged pew, and then its back. He raised his dagger and stabbed into the gap between helmet and breastplate, causing black ooze to spew from it.

He withdrew and stabbed again, knifing the bastard as quickly as he could, before it suddenly flew backward and slammed him into a pillar, crushing him between it and the Shadow. He gasped as he felt pain flow through him and he lost his grip on the angelic knight, crumpling to the ground.

He gasped and turned over, his arms wobbling as he tried to push himself to his feet, looking up to see the angel flying towards Skull, who was barely managing to move the massive statue with Captain Kidd's help. "TAKE THY DISGUSTING HANDS OFF OF THE KING'S STATUE, KNAVE!"

Master, the skill that put the enemy to sleep, I wield it as well.

"S-Silky!" After hearing her words he immediately switched Personas and brought her out, pointing at the angel. "Dormina!" Another blue sphere appeared around it and separated into bubbles, causing the Shadow to hover lower to the ground for a moment, before it shook itself back awake with a snarl.

"THOU WILL NOT STOP ME."

"Alright, be like that…" He struggled to his feet and pointed at the statue instead. "Bufu!" Silky pressed her hands together before blowing between them, sending cold wind flowing past the Heavenly Punisher and freezing the statue's knees. "SKULL!"

"RRRAAAGGGHHH! CAPTAIN KIIIIIIIDD!" Skull's Persona took a long wind up before crashing into the statue. The stone sculpture, already having tilted slightly from the boy and his Persona's combined strength, fell forward more, before the ice covering its knees shattered, and caused the upper body of it to collapse directly on top of the Heavenly Punisher.

The CRUNCH of metal being crushed rang out, and the Shadow screamed as it was killed. The chapel became silent, besides some pieces of frozen stone falling to the ground and pews finally collapsing. He let his head hit the floor and groaned while he heard the sounds of their Personas vanishing and their masks reforming as Silky and Captain Kidd were dismissed.

"I… we need to get back… to the Safe Room…" He struggled to his feet, his breathing still ragged from being squashed against the stone pillar.

"Yeah, I think I'd be fine with leavin' and not comin' back for a while…"

"Mona, how is…?"

Mona sighed, Zorro gently laying the girl on one of the pews, her wound no longer gaping, but a thin red line was still visible, Zorro's healing skills not having been able to heal it fully before Mona had run out of energy. "She should be fine, but she's still unconscious."

"The shock from such a sight and attack must have knocked her out. We'll have to carry her."

"Oh—!"

"No. Skull, you're the only one of us who's strong enough," Mona wilted, "and still healthy enough to carry her. Once we're at a Safe Room we're going to rest until Panther is back on her feet and we can all run reliably. We can't fight, since the only one here who has any energy is Skull."

"You got it, Joker." He stalked over and squatted, grabbing Panther before sitting there awkwardly.

"Skull?"

"Uh, how should I carry her? I don't want another situation like, uh, that other time…"

"Oh for— just throw her over your shoulder or something."

"You shouldn't treat a woman like that! Especially not Panther!"

"Zip it," both boys spoke back deadpan. Sighing and deciding to do as he'd ordered, Skull picked up Panther and carefully placed her in the fireman's carry position, blushing slightly beneath his mask.

"A'ight, let's—" Skull was cut off when multiple explosions of ooze suddenly went off, and suddenly they were surrounded by knights. "Oh shit!"

"Where'd they come from?!"

"Mrow… we're surrounded!"

"Get them! For King Kamoshida!"

Can thou think up a way out of this situation?

'I'm thinking, I'm thinking!' He looked around for any way out of their situation, as the knights charged towards them. Spotting what looked like a walkway above them, with metal scaffolding extending from it and holding several flower beds and pots, he immediately grabbed Skull's free arm, pointing it at the scaffolds. "Skull! Grapple, go, go!"

"Right!" His teammate shot his grappling hook out, trying to balance Panther on his shoulder as Skull flew up, while he bent down to let Mona jump onto his back before doing a flip over a guard, landing on another's shoulders, and launching his grappling hook upwards. Mona yowled as they began flying up, and he used his momentum to jump up over the beam and land expertly on the platform next to it, while Skull struggled to climb up onto it.

"Whew… nice grappling, Joker!"

"Y-Yeah, nice job, now could you help me up?!" After grabbing Skull's arm and pulling him up, they all breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay… what now, Joker?"

"We can't go back to the last Safe Room…" The floor below was still covered in guards, all yelling and waving their weapons up at them. He grimaced as a sensation of warning went down his spine, the security level of the Palace skyrocketing. "We'll just have to keep moving."

"Wait!" Mona suddenly hopped off his shoulder and reached into his fanny pack, digging around inside of it. "I can't believe I forgot about these things… Here!" He raised an eyebrow as the cat handed him some kind of orb. It looked similar to a smoke bomb capsule, but written on it was the term 'Goho-m.' "These things will take us straight to the entrance of the Metaverse whenever we use them!"

"Well that's useful," he smirked. "Alright, let's see if this works!" He threw it against the floor, causing it to shatter and a golden smoke to explode out, surrounding them. He closed his eyes and felt as though the ground had vanished out from underneath him, causing his stomach to drop, before he felt solid ground beneath him again. When he opened his eyes, he found that they were back at the drawbridge outside the castle.

He let out a small disbelieving laugh, before falling to the ground, splaying his arms and legs out. "Thank god," Skull groaned, sitting down and laying Panther next to him. "Joker, I'm goin' on, ah, what's the word… Ah, yeah, strike."

"I feel the same… we are not coming back here for a few days at least." They all breathed for a few minutes, before he reached into his pockets and retrieved some of the medicine purchased from Takemi. "Here, everyone heal up, Mona doesn't have the energy to cast anymore Dias."

"What about you?"

"I'm saving my energy to use Dia on Panther." He turned and raised an eyebrow at Skull. "If you hadn't noticed, she's still unconscious. So we'd need to give her the medicine ourselves. By feeding an unconscious girl. Meaning we'd need to stuff the pills down her throat. And if she wakes up while—"

"Alright, alright, I get it! I get it!" Skull coughed into his fist and turned away, causing him to snicker.

"Pixie, do you mind?"

Nope! Pixie popped into existence as he removed his mask, and she fluttered over Panther's body. "I'm happy to help, Mister Joker!" Given the fact that Panther's suit had repaired itself long beforehand, he couldn't exactly check whether the wound on her stomach had fully closed yet, so he had Pixie continue to heal her until he was fully out of energy.

As for the rest of them, they began swallowing the pills, grimacing at having to do so without any water. Another wonder of the Metaverse was how the simple cognition of the world that 'medicine heals people' let the small pills, which were just painkillers and shouldn't have actually done anything to help their wounds close and bruises vanish, managed to do just that. That got him thinking though... what would happen if he brought in coffee, or soda? People thought those things energized people, so logically, it should have the ability to restore their energy...

"Looks like we'll need more medicine soon," Mona murmured, interrupting his thoughts, "should we visit Takemi tomorrow?"

"Yes, that's probably for the best. We'll—" Panther stirring drew his attention, but before he could do anything, Mona had run over and lifted her head.

"Panther, are you alright?!" He rolled his eyes at Mona, while Panther groaned and opened hers.

"Uh… what happened?"

"You got knocked the fuck out," he snickered.

"Joker!" Mona glared and chastised him, before turning to the girl. "Oh, Panther, I'm so happy to see that you're alright!" He saw her roll her eyes as she slowly sat up, holding her head.

"Yeah, thanks, Mona… wait, what happened to that big Shadow?!"

"Skull crushed it with Kamoshida's statue," he explained, "just in time, too, all of us were basically out of energy by that point."

"Hey, you're the one that came up with the plan to crush it! I couldn't think up somethin' like that myself! Oh, and Captain Kidd learnin' that Tarukaja thing helped a ton!"

"Tarukaja?"

"It's like, I'm… oh, that Tarunda thing your tear Persona uses, that like, weakens Shadows!" He hid a smirk as Saki Mitama made an offended noise in his head at being called a 'tear,' even though she technically was, while Skull continued. "Except, you know, the opposite, it powered me up a ton!"

"Sounds useful… now can we please get out of here? I just want to go home and sleep…"

"Can't sleep without doing your homework first, Panther."

"Ugh…"

"Eff that. I'm definitely jus' sleepin' the second I get home."

"Have fun getting shit grades."

"I was already gettin' shit grades, not doin' homework'll change nothing!"

"Uh-huh." They all began snickering, before outright laughing. "Well, let's get going, and take a few days off. We all really need it."

"Agreed."

"Yeah."

"Smart move, Joker."

He got up and let Mona jump onto his shoulder, before leading everyone to the Metaverse's exit and tapping at his phone, leading the world to distort before they were spat out in the alley by the entrance of the school. The pain and exhaustion immediately slammed down onto them tenfold, and everyone silently looked at each other in pain, while Morgana jumped into his bag.

"Alright, let's divvy up the spoils we got today, then head home." He reached past Morgana, grabbing the money that had made from killing Shadows that day, counting it up before dividing it between them. Ryuji and Ann each got twenty-five percent, while he got fifty percent. The only reason he got more was that while half of that fifty percent was for himself, the other half would be for supplies and weapons, which he was, of course, in charge of purchasing. "Well… I'll see you all in class, tomorrow."

"See ya, Aki, Ann, Monamona."

"Don't call me that, Numbskull!"

Ann laughed as Morgana hissed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah, see you guys tomorrow."

The Heavenly Punisher... the only mini-boss I really had trouble with when trying to complete Palaces in one day on a New Game, but that's only really because I kept trying to get through the battle with everyone still conscious. Plus, it's so early in the game that you don't have enough max SP or good Personas to absolutely body it. And fun fact, this chapter was originally going to be called 'The Hierophant and the Heavenly Punisher, since I always name chapters with a new Confidant as such, and because the HP was a major part of the latter portion of the chapter.

Also, thanks for the reviews last chapter! Like I had said, I was already leaning towards The World as Sapphire's Arcana, and it seems like you guys agree that it would fit better. Also, HiIExist gave a great idea for Sapphire's Persona. I had already pretty much finalized the design and all that before the story had started, as well as what its name would have been, but I'd forgotten about the Personas' Second Awakening... So I'll definitely be using your idea as a reference to what that Second Form should be! Thanks again for the idea, HiIExist!

I'm sure some who've played the game are wondering why I had Akira order Ryuji to push down the statue to take down the Heavenly Punisher. That's because I loved the 'Special Orders' you could use during boss fights, but felt that they were underutilized. They only ever appeared for a few of the Palace Ruler boss fights, and I get why, normal battles go by too quickly for 'Special Orders' which can take multiple turns to complete, but I still liked the idea enough that I want to incorporate it more into the battles.

Now, I normally update this story on the 14th of every month, but with the problems Fanfiction has been having with new chapters not appearing, I'm uploading this a week in advance in the hopes that it'll be up by then, just in case. Not much else to say for this chapter, so leave a review on everything you liked in the chapter or just a 'nice.' Both are always great to read. See y'all next time!