Author's Headnote: Woah, has it been almost a year. Sorry, my cat died, and I was feeling apathetic, I got two new kittens, though. But that's no excuse. Apparently Roosterteeth doesn't exist anymore, So I'll have to credit RWBY being owned by... "Viz Media" now... didn't know they were still around I thought it got killed by Crunchyroll. But they own RWBY now, Viz Media that is.
Also, I retconned Blake's Persona, FYI.
Remnant's Very Own Detective: Neopolitan
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: 3,988
Social Links:
Fool (Ruby Rose): Rank 1 (An Aspiring Huntress with a heart of gold. I've come across her a second time and felt something between me and her.)
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 (Blake Belladonna): Rank 2 (She awakened to her Persona during a visit to the metaverse, she used the newfound power to aidme in battle)
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:
Kill Neopolitan's shadow or change her heart
Destroy the Relic of Choice
Find the Fall Maiden
Open the Relic Door
Trick Neopolitan's cognition into thinking her desires are material
Find the remaining will seeds in Neopolitan's palace (Optional)
Sunday, August 27, 2175 - Monday, August 28, 2175
3 days left until Neopolitan attacks
City of Vale, August 28, Morning, Industrial District
Akechi has no time to waste. He only had a short time to find a way to trigger the change needed to make Neopolitan's palace vulnerable. Though, in his world: the phantom thieves would send a 'calling card' to trigger just that. However, that would leave a paper trail...
A theory he has is that he could use a white fang mook to relay a message. Yes, that could work. But he can't exactly use his real name. But he'll circumvent around it. But first, he'll have to come up with something.
That's when he remembered he has a little trick up his sleeve. The ability to bring others to the metaverse. He can drag a mook into there, beat him up (not kill him), have him relay a message to Neopolitan. And then the palace will trigger. Then he'll enter the palace and confront the shadow. From there, he can deal with Neopolitan's shadow as he pleases. And with Neopolitan out of the way, he can finally confront and arrest Torchwick. And thus, his rise to fame in Remnant will take hold. His aspiration to fame is only for strategic purposes, as he personally does not care how people think of him. If anything, he hated his fans back on earth, he can guarantee that his would be fans on remnant would be just as insufferable.
This is why his back at the storehouses, waiting for a mook to be isolated enough to sneak up on and bring into the metaverse to relay a message, and then bring them out of it. A simple alternative to calling cards, though, once the message gets through, he'll have to act fast. Normally he wouldn't have to do this step, but Neopolitan's shadow is quite elusive. So, he has little option lest he wanders around the palace trying to play cat-and-mouse with a shadow. Because he knows shadows typically stay in one place and that's that, and at times there's occasionally the wanderer, but this one can teleport. So he'll have to appropriate the phantom thieves' method just to get the shadow in one place and then, boom! Headshot. He cares little for the treasure, itself.
Luckily one goes out seemingly on a break, with his reflexes, he quickly tackles the mook and enters the metaverse.
Neo's Palace, August 28, Morning, Exterior
"You have now arrived at: Volcano Lair of Passion"
He's far from the actual palace so nothing looks different, aside from his change in clothes. The mook is ever the clueless. As the mook looks up the sky to see the rainbow-colored sky, he looks dumbfounded.
"Damn, someone must have spiked my drink." the mook said. It's clearly obvious the man thinks he's high on some drug.
Following this, Akechi began to grab the mook and point a blade towards his throat. The blade itself is touching the throat, but not penetrating the skin, making it seem like Akechi has murderous intent.
"I want you to relay a message. Do it and I'll let you live." Akechi threatened.
"Anything, i don't want no trouble from drug demons." the Mook said, still thinking he's high.
"Tell this to Neopolitan. I will come to steal her twisted heart and her distorted desires. And there's nothing she can do about it."
"Is this a love confession? Okay demon, but I don't think she'll like the way it's said."
"And if you don't, I will come back and kill you."
"Right, right..."
"Exact. Words."
"Okay, so the threatening love confession it is."
Akechi pulls the blade away from the mook and releases him, Akechi then begins to use the Metanav to bring the two out of the metaverse.
City of Vale, August 28, Morning, Industrial District
"You have now returned to the real world, thank you for your hard work."
The mook went chasing off towards Neopolitan. In the meantime, Akechi can head into the scarlet chamber, he's got some Liento quickly heads to the Scarlet Chamber door.
The Scarlet Chamber, Time does not exist in this realm, Hero Lottery
Back in this part of the Scarlet Chamber, where the real-life gacha mechanics determine his allies. Hopefully he doesn't wound up with garbage as he's going to roll for another 'Hero' with this device. He just has to wait for Airasor to show up so the process can actually begin.
"S-sorry I'm late! I had to do something!" Airasor said, running into the room.
"What were you doing?" Akechi asked.
"There was uhm... a matter that needed to be taken care of."
"Care to explain..."
"My master would prefer I don't."
"Very well, here's 1,000 Lien. Run the machine." Akechi said bluntly.
Airasor quickly grabs the Lien. "Okay, thank you. Now to put it in the machine..." Airasor said, before being interrupted.
"Why does the machine require money?" Akechi asked.
"It's how it was built."
"Could it be possible for you to modify it to bypass that filter?"
"I don't think so..."
"I see..."
The machine lights up like last time, performing a synonymatic tune whilst bumbling up the balls inside of it, he knows the process. It makes a lot of noise, waits exactly thirty seconds and then a card pops up. He wonders if he could use them in fusion... but for now, he has to wait for those thirty seconds to pass, and although this is the second time he's listening to this, it feels like the rhythm is different, it could very well be the fact the noise is coming from the balls that contain the cards. But those brief thoughts were enough of a distraction for thirty seconds to pass, and for a card to appear.
Maria Caldevera, Young, 3-Stars
Arcana: Death
Rpl: Light
Str: Dark, Psychic
Weak: Gun, Electric
Looking on the stats of this card, it looks like the spirit within it seems at least competent enough in a fight and he'll take it. Maybe this 'Maria Caldevera' gacha card will be more useful in a fight than Jaune... because at least she isn't weak to half of the attack types... including Almighty.
"Ooh, a three star-roll. Lucky you!" Airasor said.
"Maybe she'd have more uses then just being bait for traps." Akechi said.
"Was that what you've been using the Jaune card for?"
"Did you expect me to throw it away?"
"Yes..."
"Look, it may not be a good asset, but the Jaune card has it's uses. Better than nothing."
"Well... that's one way to look at it."
"I came here because I'll be needing all the assets, I can get my hands on, I can afford another, but I don't want to skimp out all of my Lien."
"Understandable. Is that all you came here to do?"
"No, guide me to the fusion chamber."
"I will do so."
After a couple of hours, Akechi went back to the warehouses and entered Neo's Palace. He knows he has a short amount of time before.
Character Change: Goro Akechi - Neopolitan
City of Vale, August 28, Morning, Industrial District
Within the warehouse and all of the boxes, this is a perfect place to hide from law enforcement, the military, and the huntsmen. And in plain sight, too. Despite this, there's this small-time gumshoe spying on this warehouse, and on Neo, specifically Neo. If it were Torchwick she would have killed him on sight, but why would he be spying on her instead? Fascination, possibly him believing to be the one to seduce her away from a life of crime? Or perhaps... he's not after Torchwick in the first place. Most likely the latter... that stalker gumshoe is clever, trying to find a way to get rid of her so Torchwick is left defenseless. But she has priorities like getting rid of that girl who should have died and that woman who saved her life, after that... and possibly some more bloodshed, she can kill the gumshoe.
A bounty hunter kills for money, a serial killer kills for the fun of it... she can be considered the latter, but Neo puts some more passion to her work, tracking them down, planning, and then doing her best to make it as aesthetically appeasing as possible. She cares little for the pleasure taking lives gives her, rather she takes passion in ensuring that no huntsman can ever defeat her and live. Passion and strength, and Neo is strong after all.
Right now, Neopolitan is in this very warehouse with Roman Torchwick, though the plans show she's not to show herself until phase 2, that dust shop incident would have gone south if not for intervention. It would have been embarrassing to let Torchwick get caught by some upstart squeak-toy with a farm tool. She still sees what could have been in her mind, the vision of life draining from her eyes, and then killing that huntress soon after. It would have been beautiful.
Though, to call her selfish would be a lie. She doesn't do all her killings for herself, she dedicates them to Roman Torchwick, and to show that he is the man on top, and Neopolitan will make sure he's on top. Sure, that woman in the red dress may be calling the shots for now, but Neo will dispose of her once their little agreement ends. Neo only likes taking orders from Torchwick, no one else. The world and it's power belongs to him not some whore in a slutty dress with a demonic arm.
During her mental monologue, she heard a door open. An animal working for the White Fang interrupted whatever planning Neo and Torchwick were up to.
"Oh great, what do you want animal?" Torchwick demanded.
"I got a message... for Neopolitan." the animal said.
"A message... for Neo? Well, that's a first. Well, spit it out."
"Alright... the message is. He will come to steal Neopolitan's twisted heart and her distorted desires. And that there's nothing she can do about it."
Neo's heart skipped a beat. She didn't hear what Torchwick was talking about... though it may sound like a threatening love confession, she knows what it is... her passion, her bloodlust... someone or something is trying to put it to an end... that same someone and something is aiming to take Torchwick away from her for good... out of instinct Neopolitan grabs Hush and stabs the white fang animal in the heart, killing him.
And then the scene flickers... instead of seeing real neo, shadow neo is present and she does not seem please, the cognitive Torchwick walks beside her...
"Let them come to you, that way your 'admirer' will do the hard part for you. And you can do the easy part." the Cognitive Torchwick said.
Yes... that's right... let them come. She will end them no differently.
Palace Security: 100%
Character Change: Neopolitan - Goro Akechi
Neo's Palace, August 28, Morning, War Room
"You have now arrived at: Volcano Lair of Passion"
Neo's Palace:
Security Level: 100%
Shadow Identified: True
Looking by what's happening so far, the shadows are all searching head and tail for any intruders, which means the treasure has materialized, and with it the means the shadow will be guarding it with their life. Everything is going according to plan.
Objective Complete: Trick Neopolitan's cognition into thinking her desires are material
Whilst he is here, he may as well get that Will Seed. Though, he himself doesn't have it in his reach, he'll go and summon that Gacha Spirit. He summons the Maria spirit, like the Jaune spirit, she's mostly all red, but going by the shading, she would have dark skin with a dark blue outfit, along with black hair, in addition that skull mask of latin-american motif would also be of a dark shade. She appears to be wielding two sickles that combine into a double-sided scythe. The girl looks at Akechi with a dead-stare, likely waiting for a command, knowing the Jaune card, this one can't speak either.
"Retrieve the will seed above us." Akechi commanded.
The girl nodded and threw one of the sickles right on platform and she immediately zapped up there. He can't observe what's going on up there, but he hears footsteps, following by something being picked up, and then more footsteps, and a leap downward. The spirit hands to Will seed onto Akechi.
"Will Seed 4 of 4 acquired"
With the addition of the fourth Will Seed, the four of them combine into a singular object, meaning it has become a powerful artifact, a crystal. He knows the Crystal of Envy from Sae's palace was rather powerful in of itself, but the addition of another will seed should make it more powerful.
Acquired Crystal of Passion
The Crystal of Passion empowers the wielder with the diluted distorted powers of Neopolitan's Palace. So far, it doesn't seem to do anything.
Objective Complete: Find the remaining will seeds in Neopolitan's palace (Optional)
Akechi doesn't seem to sense any power from the Crystal, guess the power lies dormant. He does hear that someone in Earth's Mementos has the ability to enhance a Crystal's abilities, and transmogrify it into a ring, making its power even greater. Perhaps someone in Remnant's mementos can do the same. But now he doesn't have time for that. He has to rush to the treasure where no doubt the shadow would foolishly guard with her life.
Akechi continues to head toward the treasure. He has no time to waste.
Neo's Palace, August 28, Morning, Volcano Top
As Akechi ascended onto the top of the Elevator... he sees the weapon, and with it the treasure in plain sight. Yet, Shadow Neopolitan is nowhere to be seen, she's likely planning an ambush.
Akechi summons the Jaune spirit to retrieve the treasure. The Jaune spirit heads toward the treasure... only for the weapon to change it's direction from pointing toward the sky... and toward the Elevator. And as the Jaune spirit manages to retrieve treasure, it was too late, the weapon and fired and Akechi's first instinct was to dodge. The weapon had caused the elevator and the ground below it to be destroyed it, causing him to fall below. Along with the Jaune spirit that faded after being killed... typical, he did manage to spot the treasure that has also been falling from the ground.
The treasure appears to be a diamond, perfectly cut. Though the treasure may look like this in the metaverse who knows what it'll look like in the real world. As he and the treasure were falling into the lava pit, Akechi quickly navigated toward the treasure... only for a bird to snatch it up, Akechi looked down and saw he was heading straight toward the lava pit. Akechi quickly maneuvered himself so he lands on solid ground, the enhanced superhuman capabilities means he'll survive the fall no problem.
Neo's Palace, August 28, Morning, Molten Lava Pit Cavern
Akechi landed safely. Though he does not have the treasure on him. But knowing this cliche, Shadow Neopolitan will show up to attack from behind. And just as predicted, Akechi hits with a counter-attack, catching the shadow off-guard.
Shadow Neopolitan was then pushed back... a hovering device with the cognitive Torchwick can also be seen in the background.
"Well, well, well. It seems you're more of a problem to our plans than we thought, you know how expensive that elevator was?" The Cognitive Torchwick asked rhetorically. He is communicating to Akechi with a speaker.
"Unfortunately, you're in the way of my plan so I have to get rid of you." Akechi said.
"Of course, another fool trying to play the hero. You know if you want to play the hero, hurry up and play the-" the cognitive Akechi said, before getting interrupted by laserifre.
During the cognition's monologue, Akechi went ahead and opened fire on Shadow Neopolitan, like last time, she phased right through it.
"Oh, so we're not doing monologues, then? Neo, why don't you show him how you deal with heroes who get in our way?" the cognitive Torchwick said.
The shadow had begun to undergo its combatant metamorphosis, as Akechi fires two additional shots to interrupt it, the attacks phase through her however. Instead of turning into some giant monster, her bones simply crack a bit before reptilian features began to form, her pupils now vertical slits. Her mouth now bears large fangs and a long tongue, and her skin becomes more scale-like. A chameleon tail also has sprouted.
Versus: Shadow Nepolitan, "Harlequinn"
Shadow Neopolitan, in its shadow form which Akechi will dub as 'Harlequinn' during the fight... something he wished he would have avoided. Begins the fight by hissing at him and begins to spin her weapon, likely goading him to attack. Knowing the Phantom Thieves, they'd strike head on first before thinking of a strategy, much like they did fighting 'Leviathan'. However, he has a feeling that's exactly what she wants.
"By all means, have the first strike." the cognitive Torchwick offered.
Which means Akechi will have enough time to prepare. Given the whole predicament dispelled his spirits, he summons the Maria spirit, who then waits and does nothing.
'Harlequinn', looking a bit confused at first, then went back to her innate expression and began to flourish her parasol, and then flipped off Akechi, trying to taunt him into fighting.
"Well, take your time. We have all day to fight." the cognitive Torchwick stated.
And his time, he will take. Before even daring to attack, he uses hisanalysist skills to look for her strengths and weaknesses, something to exploit. Something tells him that he shouldn't attack her outright. After all, when observing the phantom thieves' fights with all of the major shadows, the shadows went ahead and go on the offensive, with the exception of 'mammon'. And given he's not seeing an army of robots trying to kill him, plus she's actively taunting Akechi means she wants him to attack her. He won't play her game.
The Maria spirit begins to silently whistle as she waits.
'Harlequinn' still seeing that Akechi still hasn't attacked, decides to go for a different approach from what Akechi sees, she eyes down Akechi's pants, puts her hand in a cup shape, placing it toward her mouth, opens her mouth, and chomps the air. This gesture is trying to suggest she's going to attack Akechi's manhood, but he's not so easily taunted.
"What are you, chicken? Are you scared of a little girl such as her?" the cognitive Torchwick taunted.
Akechi is still trying to find a weakness, it's going to be a while, so he's going to have continue waiting as he's analyzing 'Harlequinn' for any weak points. Patience is a virtue, and given that he already tried attacking her pre-emptively a couple times before, he's going to need that patience.
The Maria spirit is holding an invisible knife and has begun to carve an invisible wooden sculpture as she's waiting for the fight to actually start.
The eye on 'Harlequinn' has begun to twitch, she appears to try and make the first move herself, only to stop before re-arranging her movement to be some form of improvised taunting gesture. It appears her patience has begun to wane.
"Come on, just attack her already!" the cognitive Torchwick said, sounding aggravated.
He has finished the analysis of 'Harlequinn'. And needless to say, he was right about his suspicion.
Neopolitan 'Harlequinn'
Arcana: Moon
Rpl: All (Conditional)
Wk: Counterattacks
Semblance: Glass-shifting
Attacks are only repelled when it's not her turn, unless she's knocked down.
He doesn't have any means of breaking any of the repels, guess he'll just have to resort to counterattacking. He shifts his persona to Robin Hood, which he managed to apply the High-counter passive on. He then casts Heat-Riser on himself. He's not attacking her directly right now; he'll have to wait until the time is right to make the perfect attack.
The Maria spirit in the meantime gets the junction and preps herself to defend, taking up a defensive stance.
'Harlequinn' has finally gotten the idea that Akechi is waiting for her to make the first strike, and out of rage, sheimmediately goes for a physical attack on Akechi, this gambit of her backfires as Robin Hood's High-counter kicks in, causing her attack to reflect back at her, and knocking her down. This makes her vulnerable to attack, unable to counter any attacks thrownby Akechi.
"What in-the!? You sly dog. Using our strategy against us." the cognitive Torchwick said.
Now to go on the offensive, he uses Robin-hood to cast Myriad Arrows onto 'Harlequinn', which does a fair amount of damage onto her. His patience has pulled off, if he had attacked haphazardly, he would have wound-up on the receiving end of a barrage instead of the giving end.
The Maria spirit then sees attacks being made and made some herself, using her sickles to form a double-sided scythe to attack the shadow, with a flurry of quick attacks. With the combined effort of those attacks, the shadow-neopolitan remains knocked down despite the blows coming from the attacks made by both Akechi and the Maria Spirit.
'Harlequinn' gets up and begins to change-form, turning into the Oni previously encountered. Right to a tee. Well, this is how the shadow attacks, by assuming the form of others. In her Oni shape 'Harlequinn' began to attack with her sword-staff, radiating an electrical aura, it seems to be aimed toward the Maria Spirit, which it hits and knocks down, a follow-up attack comes in the form of a Garudyne, aimed toward Akechi... which he managed to dodge, the blade is now radiating with wind power.
"Now don't stay in one form for too long, Neo. Sure, you can only be hurt in your true form, but you should mix it up sometimes. Get them off edge." The cognitive Torchwick said. He then threw a grenade from afar toward Akechi, with a quick reflex he picked it up and hurled it at 'Harlequinn'. This did a decent amount of damage, but the Oni form remained.
Akechi's priority is to break her out of that form. Another flurry of Myriad Arrows will do the trick. The constant barrages take 'Harlequinn' by shock. Akechi was right with his hypothesis, after all. She takes in all of the strengths and weaknesses of her current form, if she wants to be an impenetrable spiked wall, she'd have to go back to her true form.
The spirit maria, gets back and shakes her head, she then went and threw her sickles like they're boomerangs. The two attacks manage to hit 'Harlequinn', dealing minimal damage. But damage, nonetheless. Akechi isn't impressed, but it seems like the Spirit is holding back.
'Harlequinn' then follows up by casting Kougaon at the Spirit Maria, which was her mistake as the attack reflects back at her, dealing enough damage to break her Oni form, reverting her to her true form and knocking her down.
The Cognitive Torchwick threw an item at 'Harlequinn', which appears to have healed her slightly.
Akechi then switches to Loki and uses Megidolaon to attack both 'Harlequinn' and the Cognitive Torchwick at a very potent damage count, the attack seems to do reasonable damage to 'Harlequinn', but it seems the attack missed the cognitive Torchwick entirely. He was hoping that he can take out that annoying cognitition whilst killing the shadow, but it seems this shadow is more durable than Akechi thinks.
"H-hey! Watch where you're aiming!" the Cognitive Torchwick said. "Now I gotta re-adjust everything to get back into the fight!"
The attack didn't hit him, but it did cause him to stall, which prevents him from helping 'Harlequinn', so at least that's something. Meanwhile, the Maria spirit decides to throw a bomb of some sorts at 'Harlequinn'. This attack deals fire damage, but it's effective, nonetheless.
'Harlequinn' gets up, she looks worse for wear. She then eyes Akechi and then somehow managed to clone herself threefold, meaning now there's four targets to deal with. Three of them shapeshifted into different shapes. One of them an Oni, another a Lamia, and the third a Skiki-Ouji. And the last one remaining in her true form. The three forms then all attack one at a time, trying to hit Akechi, and some of the attacks did connect, dealing some considerate damage.
The cognitive Torchwick is too busy meddling with his hovercraft to interfere, which is a good thing, which means he won't interfere for now.
This fight is getting annoying. Akechi decides to switch back to Robinhood and activates Heat Riser again. He should stay on the defensive as this shadow is rather powerful. Well, at least until the true form 'Harlequinn' gets countered.
The spirit Maria attacks the Lamia-formed 'Harlequinn' with her Sickles by jumping onto it and slashing it back and forth in a high-pace speed. Her speed is one to be admired for. She nevertheless manages to grab the attention of the Lamia.
The forms of the various 'Harlequinn' now swap between one another, the Oni becomes a Lamia, the Lamia a Shiki-Ouji, the Shiko-Ouji reverting to her true form, and the previous true-form shape into an Oni. The Lamia attacks by attempting to petrify Akechi, which failed. The Shiki-Ouiji attacks the Maria Spirit with a simple basic attack, which the Spirit Maria dodged. The one in her true form began to attack Akechi, only for High counter to take effect and knock her down. The Oni then attacks with Kougaon on the Spirit Maria... which is then reflected back at the Oni.
It seems the Cognitive Torchwick managed to regain composure over his hovercraft. "There, now that seems I'm back at the fight. Alright, Neo. Go get them." the cognitive Torchwick said, before throwing a healingitem at the true form 'Harlequinn'.
Akechi switches to Loki and casts Megidolaon again, which completely obliterates the current true form 'Harlequinn'. The remaining three are knocked down and back at their true form. The Cognitive Torchwick's hovercraft once again, evades the attack, much to Akechi's dismay.
"Easy there! Concentrate on Neo, not me!" the Cognitive Torchwick said, sounding annoyed.
With the remaining copies of 'Harlequin' down, Akechi uses Megidolaon once again. Although it didn't hit the Cognitive Torchwick's hovercraft, it did hit the remaining copies of 'Harlequin', which disintegrates 2 of them, and leaving one incapable of fighting...
Fight End
'Harlequin' is reverted to her base form. Shadow Neopolitan barely as the strength to get up, and she looks up at Akechi with fear, fear for her life. Akechi has seen this before; the shadow knows she's living her final moments. Akechi fires a round, which makes contact at her leg, knocking her down on her back. To further show off, he dismisses the Maria spirit, and then fires another shot 2 inches next to her heart.
The cognitive Torchwick comes down from the hovercraft and runs over to the shadow.
"Please... spare her. I don't want her to die, please. I'll cut her off from my criminal empire, anything! Just let her live." the cognitive Torchwick said, begging.
This the moment where normally the phantom thieves would spare the shadow and let it return to their real self... essentially changing their heart and adjusting their moral compass towards something with empathy. It's nominally considered brainwashing, but at least they live and would atone for their sins.
However, he is not a phantom thief, so their beliefs are not his own. He doesn't have to be the good guy, he doesn't have to spare her... so, why would he?
He looks at the shadow, there is only one expression her face brings: fear. Fear of death, irony, or perhaps of suffering. Eitherway, the irony of the situation is not lost on her,she's in the very same condition she put Ruby in not too long ago. Unlike Ruby, no cavalry is going to save Neopolitan. However, he does have a chance to turn over a new leaf, be the hero, be the savior of remnant. Oh? Who is he kidding? This isn't him. He's no hero, he's a sadistic bastard and that's never to going to change. Akechi fires a third shot, aiming at the shadow's head, killing it instantly. The shadow fades to dust, with the treasure she's holding dropping to the ground. Akechi picks up the dropped treasure.
He looks at the cognition, there is no life coming from him nor does he respond to any movement, as if the cognition has suddenly lost all life in him. And that's when he takes a closer look... the cognitive Torchwick... is nothing more than a mere life-sized wooden doll, a life-like one too. Neopolitan's cognition portrayed him as nothing more than a puppet, a mere mouthpiece to speak from. The words spoken from the cognition weren't its own, those words belonged to Neopolitan, only she couldn't say them herself. Despite this,he acted lifelike and very much in-character, as if he were his own person. And in addition, this palace is revolved around Torchwick, not Neopolitan. did she really care about him, or was he nothing more than a means to express herself through words? Perhaps he'll never know.
"Fitting, really. Without Neopolitan, Roman Torckwick is nothing more than a mere puppet without strings. And now those strings are cut off." Akechi monologued.
As the wooden doll collapses on the floor, the palace begins to shake. Which means it's collapsing, Akechi immediately went bolting toward the exit, along with any remaining shadows in the palace. He's not dying in a palace again, after all. Akechi quickly bolts out of the room and to the extent of the palace. As he quickly makes his way toward the stairs, a cave-in started to occur, thankfully he reached the other side of it.
Neo's Palace, August 28, Morning, Corridor Walkway C
Akechi travels upstairs, only to see a plethora of shadows fighting each other in the chaos. They also re-activated the trapped floor he had disarmed yesterday... this is going to be annoying. Akechi sighed and jumped on the heads of the shadows to avoid triggering the traps, so he doesn't get killed or worse. The various shadows barely notice his presence as he continues to hop one head to another.
He reached the other side of the corridor, and his feet touched the ground, upon this... the other shadows stopped fighting each other and looked at Akechi. They immediately started to pursue him, concluding he is the source of the chaos. Akechi quickly makes a break for it.
Neo's Palace, August 28, Morning, Corridor Walkway B
He manages to sprint past the war room, and into Corridor B. Unfortunately for him, the safe room is blocked off by a cave-in so he can't give the shadows pursuing him the slip. He does see another group of shadows fighting each other ahead across. Akechi proceeded to jump on their heads and go across. And then land on the other side. Unlike last time, the shadows chasing him earlier are now fighting the ones from this corridor. Which means he can make a break for it without his tail being chased for now.
Neo's Palace, August 28, Morning, Entrance Hall
Freedom almost in sight. Problem is, both the elevator is destroyed and the pathway to the Underground walkway is caved in, so he's trapped unless he finds another way out. He looks up and sees a large window near the ceiling. Given how those sickles from the Maria spirit function, perhaps it'd be a good idea to call up the spirit.
He summons the Spirit Maria and grabs one of the sickles.
"Throw the other one at the window up there and make sure you go to it. And then recall the one I'm holding." Akechi ordered.
The spirit nodded and throws the sickle in her hand up high nearly reaching one of the windows, in which then the spirit maria then smashed open. Following this, Akechi felt a strong pull from the sickle he insistently grasps onto it like his life depends on it. The sickle pulls Akechi high up in the air, and in the heat of the moment he steps on the Sickle, jumps off of it, and grabs the windowsill. He then climbs up on the top of it... ensuring he escapes the palace.
City of Vale, August 28, Morning, Industrial District
"Destination Deleted: Thank you for your hard work."
The palace is gone, which means Neopolitan's distorted desires are gone, though in time all of her other desires will too, causing a mental shutdown. However, he should rest first. That scene took a lot from him. The mental shutdown won't be instantaneous, so Akechi has some time to wind off and relax. He heads back to his apartment where he'll spend the rest of the day trying to recover from that exhausting palace escape.
Author's Footnote: Neopolitan's inevitable real-self demise will be covered in the next chapter, in addition some point-outs.
-Why no Blake? She's not officially part of Akechi's party yet, in addition, she has classes whilst Akechi doesn't have to bother with the timeframe.
-Why those strengths and weaknesses for Spirit Maria? well, I just felt they fit.
-I was originally going to call Shadow Neo 'Changeling', but I decided on 'Harlequinn', because "Harley Quinn". Get it?
Yeah, sorry for long upload, I was in an apathetic state, so I had no mood to continue writing fanfiction. So sorry if the quality of my writing is sub-par, I'm just trying to get back into writing. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.