Author's Headnote: I had realized I made a mistake in the status report of last chapter, I have fixed that now.
Remnant's Very Own Detective: Third Infiltration: Neo's Palace
Goro Akechi:
Health: 100%
Spirit/Aura: 100%
Personas:
Robin Hood
Loki
Jeanne d'Arc
Weapons: Crude Beam Sword, Crude Laser Gun
"Semblance": Call of Chaos
Lien: 4,753
Social Links:
Fool (Ruby Rose): Rank 1 (An Aspiring Huntress with a heart of gold. Akechi has come across to her a second time and felt something between her and him.)
Magician (Unknown): Rank 0
High Priestess (Unknown): Rank 0
Emperess (Unknown): Rank 0
Emperor (Unknown): Rank 0
Hierophant (Unknown): Rank 0
Lovers (Unknown): Rank 0
Chariot (Unknown): Rank 0
Justice (Unknown): Rank 1 (A willing informant who'd relay any conspiracies in Beacon Academy. Although Akechi will need to make sure she doesn't learn too much.)
Hermit (Unknown): Rank 0
Wheel of Fortune (Unknown): Rank 0
Strength (Unknown): Rank 0
Hanged Man (Unknown): Rank 0
Death (Unknown): Rank 0
Temperance (Unknown): Rank 0
Devil (Unknown): Rank 0
Tower (Unknown): Rank 0
Star (Unknown): Rank 0
Moon (Unknown): Rank 0
Sun (Unknown): Rank 0
Judgement (Unknown): Rank 0
Trickster (Rival): Rank 9 (He defeated me in the last fight. Weakened, I was surrounded by a cognitive version of myself and the local security of the palace, I sacrificed myself so they could escape. I'd rather die than have Shido win.)
End of Main Character status report
Current Objectives:
Change Neopolitan's cognition OR recruit someone who can open the door in her palace.
Destroy the Relic of Choice
Find the Fall Maiden
Open the Relic Door
Find the remaining will seeds in Neopolitan's palace (Optional)
Sunday, August 20, 2175 - Sunday, August 27, 2175
City of Vale, August 27, Afternoon, Industrial District
After some information, he's acquired some information and evidence on Roman Torchwick robbing the dust shops, but he can't arrest him unless he deals with Neopolitan. He's also done some investigations on her. Supposedly after the 'Rose Incident' he calls it, he went from hiring normal mooks and mercenaries to contracting the White Fang for the Dust shop robbery. There's little reason those two would be co-operating with one another, Akechi thinks there's a conspiracy.
He sees the same two pair of White Fang mooks from last week, so he went in and eavesdropped on them. Hopefully those Beacon students don't interfiere, because that would make things even more annoying. He hears them preparing to start a conversation.
"Let me guess: Neopolitan?" one of the mooks asked.
"Appearently I disrupted her scheming and she tried to kill me... only to stop halfway through." the second mook said.
"That's odd."
"Ya, appearently on September 1, she's gonna kill the two huntresses that 'got away'."
"That's a lot of time."
"Five days is barely enough time for those two to pack up and leave."
"Unless something happens to Neo, those two are gonna die."
"You think anyone in the White Fang is gonna off her?"
"No. The boss said we are to cooperate with her. Not sure why Adam is playing nice with these humans."
"That's Major Adam Tauras to you and me. He hates informality."
"No doubt he's with those two and the client."
"Don't really know much about them."
"Whatever they're planning. It better be worth working with humans."
Adam Tauras? He's heard that name before. Blake tried to use Akechi's metanav to enter there, but he canceled the navigation before Blake could finish. He did this for a couple of reasons.
1: There's no reason to begin Navigation to a palace when it's far away. The metanav is not a teleportation device.
2: Depending on the distortion, it's safer to be next to the palace anyway.
3: He does not want to risk creating adversaries. Blake is an ally of the Rose girl, who if awakened to her persona, would interfere with Akechi's agenda.
But he did acquire some information from those mooks. Basically, he either has to get a gacha spirit of Adam Tauras, or find an ally of him. Getting him in the metaverse directly is a bad idea. Especially from the sound of it, he'd attack Akechi on sight. So he can't exactly bring Adam into the metaverse. Which just leaves finding someone he trusts, and if he trusts that person... Neopolitan would trust them. Which means the door would open.
"Any news on Blake?" the first mook asked.
"No, not really. The boss is still upset about her." the second mook said.
"Wonder why."
"Don't know, they must have had a falling out or something. She is a high ranked member of the White Fang, right below the boss so I doubt she's left."
"Ah, the miracles of Nepotism. She likely only gotten that far up because of her father alone."
"From what I hear, she pulls her weight."
"Hopefully the two can make up, she needs to catch up back on the loop of what we're doing."
"ya, the boss told those humans about her so she's welcome to any meetings they have with the client."
That was quite convenient. And unexpected. So... the key to getting deeper into Neopolitan's palace is Belladonna? He'll just have to find her because he doesn't have her scroll number. Being that it's Sunday, she'll be with Ruby at the fortune teller. Akechi proceeds to head downtown and find Tomi, where she'll be with Rose, Valkyrie, and Nykos.
City of Vale, August 27, Afternoon, Downtown
Akechi walks downtown to the Fortune Teller's table. He sees Tomi all alone. Either they haven't arrived yet or they already left. May as well find out by asking Tomi what's the situation with their fortunes. Akechi walks up to Tomi, but stands next to the table and doesn't sit down.
"Hello, might I ask you something?" Akechi asked.
"Sure, what is it?" Tomi asked.
"I was wondering if you've seen young Rose."
"You mean Ruby? She got her fortune, complained about getting the same fortune as last time, and then head back to train. For some reason they're using wooden weapons."
"I was looking for her friend, Blake."
"They're likely at Beacon Academy, visitors aren't allowed unless it's Pyrefest or during the Vytal Festival."
Akechi sighed. "Do you have her contact information at least?"
"Yes. I call usually only call Ruby when I'm not around."
"Can you give it to me?"
"Okay, sure." Tomi said, giving the contact info to Akechi.
First time calling someone on a scroll. He proceeds to enter the information and then place the scroll at his ear.
"Hello? Why are you showing me your ear?" Ruby asked.
"Hello Ruby..." Akechi said.
"Goro? Why are you placing your scroll on your ear?"
"Because I'm calling you and I'd like to keep this conversation private."
"You forgot to set your scroll to Audio-only, then."
"I'll do that later. Can you bring Blake over? I have something to discuss with her. I'm at the fortune teller."
"Right, I'll tell her."
"Thank you, I'll be hanging up now." Akechi said, hanging up. He sighed. He didn't know these things had video on their calls. If so, he would have known these things would get popular in Japan. He's not sure about the weapons of this world, though.
Akechi proceeds to wait for fifteen minutes, only for Belladonna to arrive.
"Well, what do you need me for?" Blake asked.
"Come with me." Akechi said.
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Palace Entrance
"You have now arrived at: Volcano Lair of Passion"
Neo's Palace:
Security Level: 40%
Shadow Identified: True
Akechi's outfit changed as he entered the metaverse, whilst Blake remained the same. They were at the entrance of Neopolitan's palace. Blake looks at Akechi confused. She likely doesn't know how the metaverse works.
"Don't ask why my outfit changed. There is no clear explanation for it." Akechi said.
"Oh, I was about to say... so... why bring me here?" Blake asked.
"Do you care for Ruby?"
"Yes, she's my team leader."
"Then you should know unless you help me here, she'll die in five days."
"Is that a threat?"
"No, a warning. Neopolitan plans to kill your leader along with one of your teachers on September 1."
"That's the day of the Forever Fall field trip."
"Of course, that makes sense."
"What do you mean?"
"Forever Fall has a White Fang camp, no?" Akechi asked.
"Ya, but it's deep in the forest." Blake answered.
"She could still use it to stake out and kill Ruby."
"Fair... but how do you know all of this?"
"I am a private investigator, after all."
"Okay, that's likely the best reason I'm getting out of you. So... why bring me here?"
"I want to test something. Most of the White Fang are unaware that you left their ranks. I want to see if that translates to Neopolitan."
"And how exactly would you do that?"
"Just follow me. And make sure you don't cause any unwanted attention."
"Why do you want me to follow you?"
"Do you want Ruby to die?"
"No?"
"Then you have to trust me."
"So... what exactly is this place, and what does it have to do with saving Ruby's life?"
"You're inside the metaverse, specifically the palace of Neopolitan's distorted desires."
"Oh... so this is... the metaverse?"
"It's not always a volcano, I can assure you."
"Oh?"
"If you look around, you'll notice we're near a tropical island, but behind the volcano lair, we'd see Vale at it's normal."
"So... is there any other palaces?"
"Yes and no, the metaverse isn't like our world, they're all separate from each other. The reason it's like this is because of the size of the distortion."
"So... she only sees the warehouses like the Volcano island, but the rest of Vale is fine?"
"For some, the distortion could span an entire city, or the whole nation, the world even."
"That kind of sounds creepy."
"Believe me, it is. It can span from a con artist could view a shack as a Museum, a Mob boss viewing a whole city district as his bank, or corporate executive seeing the corporate headquarters as a space station. Hypothetically speaking, of course."
"Wow... so, what are we doing here?"
"If my hypothesis is correct... I'll explain when I get there." Akechi said, heading to infiltrate the palace.
It might be a bad idea to have someone else with Akechi, but he doesn't have much of a choice, and he's not going to blow money on Gacha. Which means he's going to have to take a gambit and manipulate Blake's sense of morality to Akechi's advantage. Why would he care about saving their lives? Well, that's not the matter, if a member of a student of a huntsman academy dies whilst on a field trip, with it looking like murder, the whole city is going to go on high alert. So, it's less about saving Rose, and more so about making sure he preserves the sense of security the city has. Even then, getting neopolitan out of the picture means he can arrest Roman Torchwick without any fear. Pretty sure without that little girl, he's just another thug.
He just has to get her to unlock the door and keep her there until Akechi finishes exploring the other side of the palace. Assuming it unlocks that is.
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Trophy Room
On their way to the door, Blake made a detour wanting to check something out. Unfortunately for her, this was the wrong kind of room for her to investigate. The trophy room contains 99 plaques, each with a weapon of a huntsman or huntress killed by Neopolitan. But now, there are two empty plaques in the room, one large, one small. The long plaque reads: 'Reserved for the weapon of Ruby Rose'. The small plaque reads: 'Reserved for the weapon of Glynda Goodwitch'. No doubt Blake is reading why all these weapons are on display.
After a couple of seconds, Blake turns around to Akechi.
"So... she intends to kill Ruby and Professor Goodwitch in the Forever Fall Forest? Why?" Blake asked.
"Wounded pride, perhaps. She was likely humbled by those two and she wants to correct that, permanently." Akechi stated.
"And all these other weapons... they belonged to other huntsmen, some of them were members of the White Fang."
"Oh?"
"There were a couple of faunas huntsmen with ties to the White Fang, but not official members. They were found suddenly dead in a grotesque manner, hanging on streetlights with holes in their chests. That was 5 years ago. Roughly around the same time the White Fang became a violent movement."
The two of those could be connected, but Akechi would need more concrete evidence to back that up. Seeing it in the trophy room is proof enough she's the killer, but whether she was in ties with the conspiracy at the time is unknown.
"It's plainly obvious that Neopolitan killed them and took pride in it. However, this room can't qualify as evidence, as we can't exactly... bring the police here." Akechi lied. He may be working with the police here, but the police in Vale are likely too stupid to be useful. Although he has brought a group of police officers en masse into the metaverse before, though those ones can qualify as competent.
But regardless, Akechi escorted Blake out of the room and they continued to head onto the place where Akechi left off.
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Corridor Walkway B
Akechi and Blake arrived where the cognitively locked door is. If Akechi's hypothesis is correct, then Neopolitan wouldn't know about Blake being a beacon student, meaning that the door would open for her. (Believing that Blake is a high-ranking member of the White Fang, instead).
The two of them see the sealed door, it was in the same position as last time, with the notice being there the same as before.
"So... how do I open this?" Blake asked.
"Just stand next to it, and if Neo trusts you, it should open." Akechi said.
"How does that work?"
"This place is built around her distorted cognition of the world, which means if the White Fang and her are connected, and she believes you're in the White Fang, it should open."
"Alright. How do you know this, again?"
"I'm a detective."
"Fair..."
Blake walks up to the door, and it begins to open. The palace can now be explored further. It would seem Akechi was right about his hypothesis.
Objective Complete: Change Neopolitan's cognition OR recruit someone who can open the door.
New Objective: Kill Neopolitan's shadow or change her heart (4 Days Remain)
New Objective: Continue Investigating Neopolitan's Palace (Optional)
Though, it would be easier to kill Neopolitan's shadow, the only witness would be Blake. Though, doing so would mean that killing other shadows would be risky which means Blake would no doubt know he's behind it all. Though, to play it safe, he gets behind Blake and socks her behind the head, knocking her unconscious. He then picked her body up and began to carry her. Well, until he's in the nearest saferoom, where he'll just leave her there tied up. He only needed her to open the door. He will get her out of the safe room once he's done, though.
He had found a safe room at the end of the corridor; he had placed her there for the time being. She was tied up in a chair with a nearby rope. He also writes down a note should she wake up early. Given aura doesn't work in the metaverse, she'd be unable to escape. Though, he could just knock her out and convince her it's a dream, again. Worked the first time, after all. Though, if he's lucky, this would be the last time he has to be here.
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, War Room
Though, the War room of a lair would seem like the spot for the treasure for a volcano lair, it would likely not be the case. Then it would have to be whatever the comically villainous weapon would be. The treasure room would be important as the shadow would be nearby. And by killing the shadow, the real world counterpart would be vulnerable to a mental shutdown. Alternatively, if he would prefer to let her live... he would simply take the treasure and let the shadow live. The latter method was practiced by his rival and their entourage. Though, that process would require an additional trip.
Regardless, the room layout is far different, bearing a grey, metallic flooring and walls with several monitors and tables. The shadows now wear White Fang uniforms in addition to the other variant he saw earlier. The monitors all have maps of Remnant on it with various locations marked on it. Some of them just have the map of the city of Vale with map points marked. Though, none of this qualifies as evidence, as this place doesn't exist. Although he's gathered enough evidence to arrest both her and Torchwick. Trying to apprehend Neopolitan would be impossible, and he can't apprehend Torchwick without going through Neopolitan (which again, is impossible). He doesn't know how exactly that criminal got Neopolitan wrapped around his finger, though given the theme of the palace, she must care deeply about him.
He can hear a will seed nearby, it's somewhere above him, but he would have to go out of his way to find it. It would be considered a secondary objective, so the will seed is not at the highest priority. Supposedly, if he does fail to find them all, an inhabitant of the metaverse might collect them anyway. But regardless, this girl stands in the way of him arresting Roman Torchwick. It doesn't matter should she live or die.
Akechi snuck around the war room and avoided any confrontation with the shadows, he focused on finding Neopolitan's shadow. As he wandered around the war room, he saw that the room with the will seed is out of reach. Though, if he had a grappling device, he could get it no problem. But he cannot get distracted now, for now he has to leave the war room. He needs to find the shadow, kill it, and then get out before the palace collapses. He's done this time and time again.
Akechi looks around and sees a doorway, in which he sneaks through it.
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Corridor Walkway C
Another corridor. This time it's more so a series of staircases leading downward, with pathways between them. There were some shadows guarding the place and some clutter to hide between, obviously. But the color and appearances are similar to those of the previous corridor.
However, as he continues traveling downward, he noticed that it gets hotter, chances are they're traveling deeper into the Volcano. The corridor much like the one in corridor A is trapped, so he has to navigate through the traps carefully. He's not near any stairs right now, it's actually just one big hallway right now between two flights of stairs, and a trap covering the walls and floors is blocking the path, being it covers the entirity of the floorwall and walls up into the walking points to the stairs. He could use precise and dexterous movements to sneak through the traps unharmed. Alternatively, he could use the gacha Jaune and just disarm them through triggering, much like back at earth.
He summons the gacha Jaune, and has him walk through the trap, and it kills him easily, having the walls pierce and puncture the poor fella with its massive blades. However, the trap seems to re-arm itself and self-repair at peak quality, the spikes had then vanished. It seems having a mute gacha card walk into their death isn't the ideal way out of this one. Akechi began to observe the trap. It seems that not everything on the floor has an identical design. The floor design appears to be in tiles, and the tiles seem to have various patterns. The Gacha Jaune walked into a tile with a blue bear on it, which killed the gacha Jaune.
He also sees the various other tiles designs: Red Cat, Green Wolf, Orange Pumpkin, and Pink Parasol.
He summons the gacha Jaune time and time again and have him walk through all of them to his death. He's seen the gacha Jaune die so many times, that if the real one die, it wouldn't really phase him. Not that it would anyway, the guy has a bland personality... like that one kid in Shujin Academy... Nishima? Mishamo? Nishida? Majapahit? Couldn't bother to remember his name, his personality is so bland he's basically forgettable. As for what the various tiles do.
The Red Cat lasered Jaune to swiss cheese, the Green Wolf filled him with holes with bullets, the Orange Pumpkin summoned a shadow which killed him instantly, the shadows are still present on those tiles, but don't seem to move from the orange tiles from they were summoned from. The Pink Parasol seems to do nothing. This would mean he would have to navigate through the pink parasol tiles. The problem is, they're sparse and in between the other tiles so he would have to jump through them to keep him safe from certain death.
Akechi began to hop on the tiles, juggling his life in balance between each and every one of them. His leaps were precise and careful, avoiding the confrontations of shadows and tiles of death, by sticking to the pink tiles. Through 28 hops between tiles, he managed to get to the other side, where he finds a lever. Akechi pulls the lever and the traps are disarmed, turning all the tiles into pink parasols. This means he won't have to do that again. Akechi continues to travel downstairs to the next area.
Character Change: Goro Akechi - Ruby Rose
Beacon Academy, August 27, Afternoon, Outdoor Training Field
Blake is late. She even had to get dressed and prepare the wooden weapons. Though, for some reason Blake grabbed the wooden replica of gambrol shroud instead of the real one. It's quite obvious to tell apart the real weapons from the fake ones. Guess Blake was in a hurry. Too bad it can't even do much to defend her in melee combat. But the bullets would incapacitate humans since they're made of rubber, not metal. In addition, with the Rubber bullets, the gun won't do much damage against any grimm, especially since they're gunpowder bullets, not dust ones. Gunpowder has no effect on grimm.
Ruby normally uses Rubber dust bullets, which are much more effective. Sure it may not pierce through grimm like metal bullets, but they can stun the grimm allowing for an opening, in addition it's less lethal towards humans. Ruby follows a rather strict 'no-kill' rule she places on herself. Of course, in the event she's expected to only fight grimm, she also packs metal bullets. She's not stupid, after all. She's skilled in taking on large groups of people, but one on one is what she struggles with. Hence her partaking in the training, she'll have Nora moderate the sparing as Ruby will be sparring against Pyrrha.
She and Pyrrha are lined up, wooden weapons at hand. Pyrrha has gotten some practice with fighting without her semblance, which she uses as aim assist. So she can basically fight at above beginner level without her use of a semblance. An opponent like that would be enough for Ruby to take on one-on-one with a replica of Crescent Rose.
But as the spar is about to begin, she was interrupted by the math teacher, professor [REDACTED]. Who interjected with the event.
"You seem to be missing a person." the math teacher said.
"Oh, Blake's out with Goro. She'll be back." Ruby said.
"Who's Goro?"
"Some guy I met wandering the streets of Vale. He's a private eye, and he doesn't know how to turn off a scroll's video."
"Private eye?"
"Ya, I think he's around the age of the second years. He was offered to attend Beacon but turned it down."
"Turn down to attend a huntsman academy? Quite intriguing."
"Ya, but it's been a bit, so we're starting without her."
"You're willing to keep Ms. Belladonna behind to advance yourselves?"
"No, we're gonna do another one focused on her when she gets back."
"I see... you are rather diligent for your age."
"Well, it's good to keep up training, we don't have much time for recreation."
"I figure you should schedule some time for it, you only have less than 30 days left of Summer. I suggest you take some time to relax."
"Thanks, but we'll focus on training."
"You and your friends could die whilst fighting the grimm? Do you want to remember them as just training partners, or rather have them remember you as such?"
"That's why we're training, so that won't be the case. We'll need to be strong if we're fighting against the grimm. Right, Pyrrha and Nora?"
Ruby looked toward her teammates.
"Yep." Nora said.
"That's correct. I don't intend to die so easily." Pyrrha said.
"I'll return to my duties. Ms. Rose is invited to join me in my classroom on September 3. we'll discuss privately there." the math teacher said, leaving.
"Are you... in trouble?" Nora asked.
"I don't know." Ruby said.
"Well, I suggest you visit him. Don't want to stand a teacher up."
"We should also tell Blake when she gets back." Pyrrha said.
"Right. For now, we should focus on training." Ruby said.
The training session had begun. Though, without Blake they really can't do much other than improve their individual skills. So, it isn't much of a good training session.
Character Change: Ruby Rose - Blake Belladonna
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Safe Room B
Blake woke up... tied up, in a chair across a table. Though, there is a note.
"If you are reading this, you have regained consciousness earlier than expected. My apologies, but the metaverse is simply too dangerous for just anyone to venture, it's simply for the best if you just ignore the metanav app on your scroll. I kept you tied up so you wouldn't try to escape, mostly because if you leave, I would likely be stuck here and die in the event my plan succeeds. So, I need you to stay put until I get you out."
- Akechi Goro
Isn't Goro his first name? Why did he write it behind his last name? Well, that's beside the point, he thinks Blake can't fend for herself here? She'll prove him wrong. But first, she has to break free from this rope. She reaches for gambrol shroud aaand... wait, she grabbed the wrong weapon. She grabbed the training copy of gambrol shroud. Guess she'll has to force her way out, she tries to use her semblance to escape aaand... oh wait, aura doesn't work here. Damn.
Guess she'll just try to jump the chair, she begins to chair jump constantly jumping whilst in the chair trying to knock herself over. She continues to do this, over and over... and she gets knocked over... facing backwards, meaning she's facing the ceiling. Well, her plan backfired greatly. She's stuck with no way to escape. Blake sighs as she's basically going to have to wait before she can be set free.
"I have so much questions to ask him once I get out of this." Blake said to herself.
She waits, staring at the ceiling basically accepting defeat until she remembers Ruby's life is on the line. She can't just sit by and do nothing, she has to at least try to break out. She moves her chair left and right in hopes of breaking it, but only knocks it sideways. She tries pushing it back, but it's to no avail. Alas, it seems her only hope is for Goro to not die.
Character Change: Blake Belladonna - Goro Akechi
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Molten Lava Pit Cavern
Of course, it can't be a volcano lair without one of these. The Lava pit. Where-as most of the volcano has man made infrastructure all around. The only man-made stuff was the ceiling. There also seems to be devices connected to the Volcano, likely to keep it from being active. Though, the 'throwing people into the lava pit' thing is a bit cliché in his opinion, too over-the-top for his taste. If someone wants someone dead, they just kill them and be done with it. Alternatively, the lava could be powering the base...
The mountainous floors and walls seem stable. They better be, he doesn't want to die in a palace (again).
He also seems to hear a will-seed nearby. He spots the will-seed door being above where Akechi is. He can easily climb up there. Being the series of rocks on the walls make it easier to climb to the top. He proceeds to do so, climbing them one at a time. Shortly after, he reached the top and entered the will seed chamber, and grabbed the will seed. This one had a black aura around it.
"Will Seed 2 of 4 Acquired."
He knows where one is, but he doesn't want to bother to backtrack to it. He will have to get Belladonna out, assuming she doesn't escape. Given the type of school she goes to, it would mean she always has a weapon on her. She could easily use it to break out, well assuming it's in a place she can use it to do so. With her arms tied up it's hard for her to reach most places. Unless some third party intervenes, or she somehow breaks the chair... she really wouldn't get out otherwise.
As for the path ahead, he can only see himself going further down. Akechi jumped off from the ledge and proceeded to head further down the palace caverns. He'll have to find wherever Neopolitan's shadow resides, and then off her. The issue is that he has to get Blake out of there as well. If she disappears, he will surely be in trouble. Thankfully she's in a safe spot.
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Cavern Corridors
What's with this place and corridors? It's a spiral corridor, heading downward, consisting of a cavern-like structure. No traps, which means Akechi can travel downward no problem. However, it would seem a high-ranking shadow is down there, waiting for Akechi. The shadow approaches him.
"It would seem that you made it this far. However, this is where your life ends. As the boss' mistress would demand it." the shadow said, before transforming into it's true form, a giant slithering snakewoman. Unlike the earth versions, this one has white skin, red eyes, and a black tail. It would resemble a grimm according to images he's seen. The slithering snakewoman attacks first with some foul breath, which is a rare move he's seen. But supposedly it makes one more susceptible to status ailments. He should change to Jeanne d'arc for this. This Persona has a innate ability to resist status ailments. And has an ability to recover from status ailments. Robin Hood has that, too. But Jeanne D'arc is more aligned with countering ailments, with restoration and healing abilities.
It's not his prefered Persona, but he'll have to do with fighting something with ailments. This one is better suited than Robin Hood, after all. After switching to Jeanne d'arc, he began with a sword attack... but surprised. It's immune to physical attacks.
The slithering snakewoman goes in and attacks with a strange ability, he's never seen. From the looks of it, it's a status effect that he's never seen. For the control, he uses the gacha card to summon Jaune... again. Though, he feels like it's a bad idea to summon that gacha card. The gacha went and tried to attack the shadow, but the attack was nullified. The shadow then attacked again, using foul breath. Akechi responded by using his gun to shoot at the shadow, which did a good amount of damage to it, but he's out of ammo for the fight. The gacha Jaune attacks... by throwing rocks at it, the rocks do hit, but deal 0 damage each. Wow, this is just sad.
And now the slithering snakewoman is using that attack again, and from the looks of it. The gacha jaune had turned into stone. Petrification is a new status effect. And one he's glad he's not afflicted with. Akechi uses an item to attack the shadow, chipping its health. The shadow attacked again, shattering the stone gacha jaune, and then went to attack Akechi. Which knocked him back, but he quickly got back up.
He then uses another item, the item seemed to strike its weakness, which was nuclear... Unfortunately, he doesn't have any personas that specialize in that sort of thing. So he just has to toughen it out. He uses Jeanne d'arcs base attack, it does damage, but not much. He'll just have to toughen his way through it until he can kill it. The slithering snakewoman then did another attack, which then poisoned him. Taking damage every turn is a damn, but it'll protect him from other status ailments, so he'll have to toughen it, he attacks again and is hurt by the poison in the process. The shadow attacks again and to inflict another status ailment... which was the burn status ailment and it connected... supposedly in Remnant, status ailments stacks. Which sucks badly. He uses the persona to heal status ailments.
The slithering snakewoman then went to attack with another status attack, which failed, luckily. The foul breath worn off, meaning he's free to attack again for the shadow to cast it again. Akechi strikes again with another attack, chipping away... the fight takes a couple of hours. Eventually Akechi toughs it up and proclaims victory.
With the shadow dead... he heals up and continues to travel onward.
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Science Lab
The fourth will seed has to be here, which means his exploration campaign here is almost over, there is also a safe room here. The room is small, and unguarded. There seems to be elaborate designs, one which appears to resemble an umbrella. The room is circular, with three small corridors, one of which is where he came from, one leads to an elevator, the third leads to the will seed. The room looks like a typical villain's research lab otherwise.
The equipment is typical of that he'd see from a supervillain lab. He's not knowledgeable about the contents in the lab, as it would seem too impractical for any real scientist to use, guess this is what Neopolitan thinks a science lab looks like.
He heads toward where the will seed is, and it is of course, guarded by a strong shadow. The shadow transforms into a laughing snow king... he switches to Loki and megalodaons the thing dead and then heals up at the end of the battle. He then grabs the will seed, which is glowing yellow.
"Will Seed 3 of 4 Acquired."
He knows where the last one is, but he has no means to get to it. All that's left to do is to traverse the elevator. He enters the elevator and travels onto the destination across.
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Volcano Top
The elevator landed, and he wound up at the top of the volcano. There appears to be a weapon at the top of it, with a glass floor below where the volcano pit would be. The weapon is pointed toward the sky, like a typical villain machine. The odd thing is that the weapon is what's holding the treasure... supposedly, what's powered by it. He can't take it right now, though. Treasures are the source of the distortion of the palace but can only be taken when the palace holder views their desires themselves as material desires. If taken to the real world, it would transform into what drove the person into their distorted desires. Sometimes it's valuable, other times sentimental. Though he does not know any examples on the top of his head as he would kill the shadow instead of taking their desires.
Speaking of, shadow Neopolitan is nowhere to be seen. He combed out the path to the treasure, he would just need to trigger neopolitan for her palace to go to high alert... but that would be rather difficult.
Objective Complete: Continue Investigating Neopolitan's Palace (Optional)
New Objective: Trigger Neopolitan's desires to go material
He knows if the palace goes to high alert and their desires feel threatened, the shadow will go directly to the treasure to defend it. However, he would have to fight it. It's a risk he's willing to take. When he wins, one of two things can go down. Either he could kill it and it would be the same as if he did it the usual way, or he could take the treasure and the shadow leaves the palace. Either way, the palace will collapse and get erased, destroying everything and everyone within it. When that happens he would need to go outside of the palace and then return to the real world unharmed. Afterwards, traveling to the palace again would be outright impossible.
Nothing he can do now but leave the palace and get Blake out of the safe room. He'll do it quickly so he can do so before she wakes up.
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Safe Room B
Akechi returned to the safe room to see Blake in the chair knocked down. He facepalms and then proceeds to ask her something.
"You tried to escape, didn't you?" Akechi asked.
"Yep." Blake said.
"I take it you're mad at me."
"Yep."
"And now I will have to untie you, since we will have to leave."
"Did you resolve the problem?"
"Unfortunately, no. We would have to trick the real world one into the thinking the palace is in danger, first."
"This sounds more complicated than it has to be."
"I agree... but sometimes the only option is the complicated, now excuse me." Akechi said, getting behind the chair and preparing to untie Blake.
The ropes have gone loose, and Blake fell on the floor, and immediately gotten up. Akechi stood up afterwards as well and the two of them exited the safe room.
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Corridor B
As the two exited the safe room, they proceed to head past the corridor door, which remains open. Thankfully it remains permanently open. However, it seems by pure bad luck or good luck shadow neopolitan appears with cognitive Roman Torchwick.
"You two, again." the cognitive Torchwick said.
"You saved me the effort of finding you, anyway." Akechi said, proceeding to shoot shadow neopolitan, but she simply phased through the attack as if it was nothing. Leaving Akechi confused, that usually works.
"Her... semblance?" Blake asked.
"For some reason shadows can use their real self's semblance... interesting to note." Akechi said.
Shadow neopolitan teleported behind Akechi and tried to stab him in the back, but Blake deflected the attack completely.
"Well, you're just making this difficult." cognitive Torchwick said. "But given the voice, I feel like Neo should recognize the guy in black."
"What do you mean?" Akechi asked.
"You really think you can sneak behind the warehouse without Neo here noticing you? She knows you're snooping around. However, she has no intention to kill you, yet."
Akechi paused and let the cognitive Torchwick finish monologuing.
"You see, Neo here is saving up her bloodlust to kill those two who humiliated her back at the dust shop robbery she interviened in, she'll also kill any possible witnesses. After that, you will be next."
"You plan to kill all the first-year class, just like that?" Blake asked.
"Not me, Neo here. She does what it pleases, but whatever she does we both benefit in the end. After all, we rose to the top together."
"I feel like you're using her."
"It's a cognition, it can't be reasoned with." Akechi said.
"Oh..."
"He's not real, so I will just cut to the point." Akechi said, shooting the cognitive Torchwick in the head, only for the cognitive Neopolitan to catch it. She appears to be fine, though.
"Oh, that's it. Animals, get over here and teach these two a lesson." the cognitive Torchwick said, as Shadow Neopolitan snaps her fingers, summoning an array of white fang themed shadows.
"Animals? Is that all you see the faunas as? Just mooks for you to use?" Blake asked aggressively.
Oh no, the one thing he was trying to avoid is going to happen. Akechi sighs as he knows exactly as what's going to happen next. He's seen it happen a couple of times.
"Civil rights activists turned terrorists turned pawns for a greater scheme for the winning team. Their leader is more than willing to be a puppet to the greater scheme. He is wrapped around my finger and if he acts up, Neo here will set him straight."
"You're making this up, the White Fang would never aid scum like you."
"That's the thing with the White Fang, in the end. They're nothing more than mercenaries willing to work for the highest bidder, which just so happens to be us. Now then, kill them."
The shadows then transformed into an array of Zealous Messengers (Angels). With Shadow Neopolitan and Cognitive Torchwick in the background. Akechi prepares to attack.
Character Change: Goro Akechi - Blake Belladonna
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Corridor B
As Goro was fighting, Blake felt something within her. A piece of her stretching to escape, she felt her heart beat painfully and clutched it as she collapsed on the floor, her head began to swell in pain. A voice began to be heard from her head.
"You wish to hide your true self, and yet still defend the honor of your kin?"
Blake began to clutch her hand onto her arm whilst the arm being clutched is twitching out of reflex, trying to divert the chest and headpain. It does not work but for she some reason she kept gripping harder.
"You know you can't hide yourself forever, would you rather live a lie or die with your pride intact?"
A mask is formed around her face, it bears resemblance to a Nekomata mask. The pain is now concentrated on the mask, as if it was part of her body. She continues to clutch her arm.
"There is no shame in who you are, but you'll reveal yourself sooner or later. Thou art I, and I art Thou. Sign this contract and my power will be yours.."
Blake had let go of her arm and grabbed the mask on her face.
"Alright, Mulan. I'll play your game." Blake said, ripping off the mask, and thus removing the pain. Her face, now covered in blood.
As for her clothes, it began to change. Though, still resembling her initial outfit, it is now almost entirely black, with some purple. the heels have been replaced with boots, her leggings and shorts now pants. her torso now split in two articles, a purple tank-top and a black jacket, a purple emblem resembling a flame is on the back of her jacket. a pair of metallic gloves appear on her hands.
And thus, a strange persona, the personification of her soul... a mistrallian warrior in full-plate armor. weilding a mighty naginata at her beck and call. She has glowing purple eyes, and cat ears, similar to Blake's own. Blake would be in awe of it if not for the fact she had to fight right now. In her heart is a mighty warrior, and a mighty warrior she will show.
She was ready for whatever the metaverse was to offer her. She sees Goro fighting a wave of those shadows, and she was gonna give it her all to help him. She was acting purely on instinct at this point.
"Mulan! Maeiha" Blake shouted. The persona then casted a dark shroud around the remaining shadows, killing them. Blake then collapsed on the ground.
Character Change: Blake Belladonna - Goro Akechi
Neo's Palace, August 27, Afternoon, Corridor B
She's out cold all right. The mask reformed on her face, but it would seem that awakening a persona for someone from Remnant takes up even more out of a person than it does on earth. He would have to carry her all the way back to the entrance. Before doing so, he checked his surroundings. It would seem Shadow Neopolitan is nowhere to be seen. He then picked up Blake and proceeded to carry her out of the palace area. He could have handled all of that himself. Though, it would have taken awhile since those more powerful shadows he had to fight took a lot out of him.
Regardless, he is carrying the now unconscious Blake Belladonna out of the palace.
City of Vale, August 27, Afternoon, Industrial District
"You have now returned to the real world, thank you for your hard work."
As Akechi returned to the real world, he felt Belladonna escaping from his grasp. He then looked and saw her in an upset mood, she looked tired, too.
"You woke up quickly." Akechi said.
"Whatever, we'll discuss whatever happened tomorrow, for now I need to sleep. I felt like my aura broke." Blake said, walking away from Akechi.
Akechi sighed as he knows this won't be the last time she'll accompany him, especially considering what happened. And he knows that Blake will want to help deal with neopolitan considering her friend is at risk. Though, she could be useful in the metaverse if she can keep her mouth shut. Akechi wonders if she could turn into a car in the metaverse, though. Given she's part cat and all... likely doesn't work like that, anyway.
Social Link Advancement (Justice): Rank 1 - Rank 2
Rank 2 bonus: Status Recovery: When Blake is in the active party, she has a chance to recover an ally from all afflicted status effects.
Author's Footnote: Before the Summary, I'll just chalk down the Persona explinations, and then the explinations
Jeanne D'Arc
Arcana: Justice
Str: Ailments, Light
Weakness: Fire
Jeanne D'Arc is a woman warrior in France back on Earth. In Remnant, however, she's known as a combat medic who managed to save a nation-state in Solitas from a pandemic with her healing semblance. She also fought in a skirmish with two realms in Western Sanus, where she mysteriously vanished.
This persona is support based focused on curing ailments and some healing. Though, it can be used to for offense if utilized for doing so.
Loki
Arcana: Justice
Null: Dark
Str: Nuclear
Weak: Light
The Norse god of trickery, mischief, magic, and fire. He is one of the most notable trickster deities amongst the Earth Pantheons, with characters modeled from him in modern popular culture dating back to the nineteenth century, though in recent fiction he is more often antagonistic than not.
This is one of two of Goro Akechi's starter Personas, this is an offensive Persona with dark, physical, and almighty attacks. Along with debuffing, and passive buffs. This Akechi's go-to Persona.
Robin Hood
Arcana: Justice
Null: Light
Str: Gun
Weak: Dark
An english folk hero known from stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, though in context at the time his earliest appearance in fiction takes place, The 'rich' is referred to as Norman nobility, and the 'poor' being Anglo-Saxon peasants. It is theorized that Robin Hood is a depection of Anglo-Saxon rebels fighting off the norman invaders of England.
This is one of two of Goro Akechi's starter Personas, this is an all-around Persona with offensive, support, and healing abilities. A jack of all trades, but a master of none.
Mulan
Arcana: Moon
Str: Dark
Weak: Fire
Lua Mulan is a Woman Warrior who disguised her identity as a man to pass as a son of her father who was ill and could not fight. She had fought nomadic hordes to decent efficiency. Depending on the sources, she either succeeded and was offered a high-office, or failed and took her own life.
This is the Persona of Blake Belladonna. The attacks are affiliated with dark, along with the ability to break resistance to dark attacks, and an ability to cure petrification. This persona attacks with a balance of physical and magical attacks, but is over-all considered a supporting class keeping the party strong.
Yes, Blake would have unlocked her Persona anyway. I could have just copy-pasted someone else's persona, but I wanted to be different. Besides, it would make the guessing game for Akechi in Volume 2 too easy.
Sorry it took so long, I got distracted.
I figured I should end the chapter here because it got too long-winded. Worry not, Goro Akechi will finally deal with Neopolitan next chapter.
Given that I intend for Akechi to use Loki and Robinhood for most of the story, a slight affiliation buff is given. Hopefully this doesn't annoy you.
I forgot to mention this, but if the Gacha card is fallen in combat, it can't be used for the rest of the battle.
oh ya, surprise! Shadows can use their real self's semblance!
I had retconned Blake's Persona to more so suit both herself and a motif, an obscure Aztec God is basically out of nowehere.
So ya, I hope this answers all of your questions, if you have any more, feel free to ask. Again, sorry it took so long. See you next chapter.