Phantom Files Book 2: Rise Of The Monarchs

by sithlorde1988

The sequel to Persona 5-The Phantom Files. A few years after Ren returns home, the Phantom Thieves find themselves drawn back into the Metaverse once again out of nowhere after a mysterious app surfaces with the powers to access the Metaverse. Can the Phantom Thieves stop a mysterious new group of individuals called Monarchs? Better summary in chapter 1! BOTH STORY AND EDITS DONE!

30. Yongen Continued! Masked Memories part 4

A/N: sithlorde1988 here, with another chapter of Phantom Files, Book 2: Rise Of The Monarchs! Not really a lot to say here other than to note that there will be more of the Yongen Jail in this chapter, potentially all the way up to opening up the path to the Monarch. Depending on word count and other stuff, might even have the Monarch fight in this chapter. We'll see what happens. In any case, let's get on with the disclaimer, yeah?

Disclaimer: I, sithlorde1988, do not own the Persona series in ANY way, shape, or form ((excluding the OCs Kusa/Draconis, Taichi, Momoe, the OC Personas Malefor and Albus, and the Phantom Thief attire for Draconis, Pendragon, and Seraphim, all of which I do own. I do not, however, own the OC Persona Hester, nor the Phantom Thief attire concepts for Shiho/Flare.

Both of these were created by, and thus belong to, thalassatides (at symbol) bsky on X (or Twitter as it used to be called). If you happen to be on X, feel free to look up thelassatides (at symbol) bsky's work, as they do some good work.)) and the actual ownership credit for the Persona series belongs to Atlus and Sega (where it comes to Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal, as well as Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Reload), as well as to a point Koei Tecmo (where it pertains to Strikers). The rest of the spinoffs belong to various other companies, all of whom know who they are.

As far as Persona 1, Persona 2-Eternal Punishment, and Persona 2-Innocent Sin? As far as I know, they were made by a different studio, who also knows who they are. Full ownership credit for the Persona spinoffs (Phantom X, Tactica, the 'Arena' games, the 'Dancing' games, and the 'Q' games) belong to the studios that helped make them, as well as Atlus and possibly Sega. And full ownership credits for Persona 1, Persona 2- Eternal Punishment, and Persona 2-Innocent Sin belong to the studios that made those games, so all credit to them.

And with that disclaimer out of the way, I don't think I have a lot else left to say. So let's get on with the chapter! As always, keep reading after the chapter, since I'll probably have a longer end-of-chapter A/N where I discuss stuff. But for now, let's get this show on the road! Here's chapter 30!

Chapter 30: Securing Confidence and Charisma! Masked Trauma, Surprises, and More! Masked Memories part 4

(In the Yongen Jail, near the second Prison Keep, with Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, and Seraphim)

After taking a few minutes to recover from what they'd all gone through inside of the 'Labyrinth of Memories', Joker looked at the rest of the group and spoke up.

"Okay, is everyone ready to keep going?" Joker asked. After he got a series of nods from the others, he kept speaking.

"Good. Now that we're all back together, I'm going to re-form the groups, but with a few change-ups. In Group A, which I will personally lead, I want myself, Wolf, Mona, Seeker, and Seraphim. In Group B, which Draconis will lead, I want Draconis, Violet, Crow, Pendragon, and Noir. Finally, in Group C, which Queen will lead, I want Queen, Skull, Panther, Flare, and Fox. Oracle, for her part, will serve as our navigator as well as acting as our go-between for the three groups as we proceed. Any questions?" Joker said as no one spoke up to raise a question or an objection, prompting Joker to nod and keep speaking.

"Since we seem to be in agreement, let's keep going." Joker said, getting nods from the group as they kept moving. After a bit, they reached the Prison Keep, but once they scaled the steps, they frowned at the lack of a visible core for them to seize. Seraphim blinked at this before she spoke up.

"Umm, I might be wrong on this since this is my first time doing one of these Jails, but is it a common occurrence for a Prison Keep to not have a core in it?" Seraphim asked as Draconis spoke up with a frown. while shaking his head in the negative.

"No, it's not. Maybe there's an obstacle around somewhere preventing us from accessing it?" Draconis suggested as Skull huffed and spoke up.

"Oh, c'mon! For real!? You mean to tell me that effin' maze wasn't enough of an obstacle for us to get the core?" Skull asked as Wolf shrugged. However, before he could verbally reply to Skull, a dry-sounding yet unfamiliar voice reached the group's ears.

"So, you're the infamous Phantom Thieves, then? Hmph, from what my higher-ups have said about you, I was expecting a group of trained professionals. Instead, I'm looking at what can best be described as a motley crew of assorted individuals." The group heard, prompting most of the group to exchange confused looks, aside from Wolf, whose eyes slowly widened in recognition behind his mask as he recognized the voice.

In addition to Wolf, two other pairs of eyes widened, those being the eyes of both Draconis and Crow, who exchanged looks of surprise once they both realized that this was actually the same voice that had been coming from Wolf's phone when Crow and Draconis had overheard one of his conversations shortly after arriving in Kukojima, all while Draconis had been looking for the keys to the Ferrari which he'd left in the RV at the time. Wolf spoke up while looking at the person who'd spoken.

"I have no idea about these 'higher-ups' that you're referring to, but whoever they are, they're grossly misinformed about us. Also, why does your voice sound familiar to me?" Wolf asked. The voice's owner smirked as they spoke up again.

"Perhaps it's because we interact with each other a lot. After all, if I'm right, you're someone I know quite well behind that mask. Isn't that right, Inspector Hasegawa?" The group heard, slowly turning around to face the speaker, an older-looking woman with piercing brown eyes that she hid behind a pair of glasses that weren't unlike the ones Wolf wore, as well as copper brown hair that was pulled up into a bun with a black hair tie-off, a black business suit jacket with matching colored skirt, the jacket worn open to reveal a cream-colored dress shirt under the jacket, and under the skirt were knee-length brown leggings and black stiletto heels. Wolf gasped as he spoke up, instantly recognizing the person who'd spoken to the group.

"Wait, what!? How are you here, Commissioner!?" Wolf asked as Draconis spoke up, his eyes having widened fractionally behind his mask as he spoke.

"Commissioner? Are you trying to say that we're dealing with a cognitive recreation of your boss, Wolf?" Draconis asked as Wolf nodded and spoke up.

"Correct. That's my boss, Commissioner Miyako Kaburagi. She's had my back for years, ever since she helped take me under her wing after Aoi's death. I owe her a lot, but I also had to put a lot on the line when I warned you guys of the ambush being set up for all of you, thus giving you all ample time to escape." Wolf said as the now-named Kaburagi smirked and spoke up.

"Don't remind me about that. And in regards to what you asked just now? I'm glad you asked, Inspector. The person in charge of this facility offered me a chance to bring down the Phantom Thieves personally, so I of course seized it. But I won't be fighting you alone. I brought back-up." Kaburagi said as she snapped her fingers and a small army of Shadows appeared, most being armed with riot shields. Crow scoffed and spoke up.

"Gee, what a surprise. Of course you'd feel the need to call in a SWAT team to face us." Crow said as Joker spoke up.

"Well, no matter. We're prepared to take you on if necessary, Commissioner. We have a mission, and we can't let anything get in the way of that, no matter what." Joker said as Kaburagi spoke up.

"So you say. But I would advise that you not underestimate me, Phantom Thieves! Sure, Inspector Hasegawa may have ended up being swayed to your side, but I'm much tougher than he is! I won't go down easily without a fight." Kaburagi said as she shifted forms into a distinctly feminine-looking being who wore mostly black and had a book in one hand. which Joker instantly recognized from having previously owned one as a Scathach. After shifting forms, a fight began! As the fight started, Kaburagi spoke up.

"Think you can handle me, Phantom Thieves? Let's see it." Kaburagi said as Oracle frowned and spoke up, having discreetly performed an analysis on Kaburagi while she'd been speaking.

"This is bad, you guys. According to this scan, she has no weakness to exploit! Furthermore, Ice, Elec, and Curse moves are all big-time no-gos, so that's a bit of a problem for quite a few of us. But she's still beatable." Oracle said as Joker nodded and turned to the others.

"Okay, so here's how we're gonna do this. Fox, Flare, Skull, Seraphim, Crow, and myself will all go try and whittle down the reinforcements while the rest of you will all work together to try and whittle down Kaburagi. Agreed?" Joker said as the group nodded while Joker led the named group into battle against the smaller Shadows while the rest of the group worked together to try and fight Kaburagi, who proved she wasn't a pushover when she opened up her tome and cast a powerful Ice spell that blasted Panther, Oracle, Violet, and Queen all backwards, while pushing Draconis, Mona, and Seeker all backwards, leaving Wolf, Pendragon, and Noir to fight Kaburagi while Draconis, Mona, and Seeker all worked to get Panther, Oracle, Violet, and Queen back onto their feet. As this was going on, Wolf spoke up.

"Not bad, Commissioner. A bit overkill, but not bad. I didn't know you were so unopposed to lethal force, though." Wolf said as Kaburagi huffed and spoke up.

"Silence, Inspector! You might act glib now, but your little stunt cost us our shot at the Phantom Thieves. Furthermore, your betrayal made me look bad. The only reason I'm not taking your badge right now is because you did have a valid point before about us being a tad heavy-handed. That, and because I wouldn't want to put you and your daughter out on the streets because your lack of a job made it hard for you to pay rent." Kaburagi said as Wolf huffed and spoke up.

"So you say, Commissioner. But deep down, I know in my heart that what I'm doing is right. Now let me show you the strength of my new-found resolve!" Wolf said as Kaburagi smirked and spoke up.

"Is that so, Inspector? By all means, show me what you've got." Kaburagi said as Wolf nodded, feeling himself be coated in a faint glow as Draconis spoke up.

"Wolf! I think that light means your Showtime is ready! Think you can handle trying it out on this echo of Kaburagi?" Draconis asked as Wolf nodded and spoke up.

"No problem, Draconis. Leave it to me! Here goes! SHOWTIME!" Wolf said as his Showtime started! As it started, Wolf smirked and spoke up as he pulled his mask off.

"Give up already!" Wolf said as he waved an arm and Valjean rose up out of the ground whipping his chains upward, launching a shocked Kaburagi into the air. Wolf then grinned as he pulled his guns and took aim at the airborne army of Shadows along with Kaburagi and spoke up.

"I never miss my mark!" Wolf said as an explosion ensued once all of his bullets impacted the enemy forces, causing a massive explosion in front of Wolf, who smirked and twirled one of his guns and holstered it before holding up the other gun and smirking as he put it to his lips and spoke up.

"HA! And that's how it's done!" Wolf said as he blew the barrel of the gun as if it were smoking before holstering it, causing Kaburagi and the enemies to hit the ground with groans, the summoned army of enemies all turning to black mist from the onslaught and leaving Kaburagi to huff in a mix of annoyance and disbelief while she reverted back to her human form as she got to a knee while the Showtime ended. Afterwards, Mona grinned and spoke up with a closed-eye smile.

"Whoa-ho! You make this look easy, Wolf! Not bad!" Mona said as Seeker spoke up with her own closed-eye smile from next to Mona.

"Wow! That was amazing, Wolf!" Seeker said as Wolf smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, what can I say? I like to do my best." Wolf said as Kaburagi spoke up.

"Impressive, Inspector. I hate to say it, but you got me fair and square here. You win." Kaburagi said as the battle ended. Joker glared at Kaburagi and spoke up.

"Why are you so determined to capture us, Kaburagi? Surely you must have realized that we didn't kill that director! We're being set up here!" Joker said as Kaburagi spoke up.

"Can you prove it? Somehow, I doubt you can." Kaburagi said as Crow spoke up with a scoff.

"Of course we can't! And even if we could, would you believe us? After all, if Wolf's theory is right, the truth would involve implicating many of your co-workers and other high-ranking individuals. So it's far likelier for something like this to get swept under the rug instead of being taken seriously. Wolf knows this full well, now. And that's why he risked everything to give us that opportunity to escape.

I have no doubts that if our deal with him and his love for his daughter meant even a little less, he wouldn't have been able to do what he did that day. And we all greatly appreciate and respect him for doing what he did. I know it was very inconvenient for you, and for that you have our most sincere apologies, but we have to do this to expose the true mastermind behind this recent string of changes of heart. Besides, I'm sure that even you can tell that something's amiss within the police force. So tell us. Are you able to let us do what we have to do, or are you too blinded by your job to be able to do the right thing?" Crow asked as Wolf spoke up.

"I don't think it's strictly a matter of Commissioner Kaburagi being blinded by her job, but rather her being held back by the restrictions and regulations of her job. But that's just my opinion." Wolf said wisely as Draconis nodded approvingly and spoke up.

"Be fair, Crow. Wolf raises an excellent point when he says that Kaburagi-san probably has her own considerations to make too. Such as the likely high amount of pressure her bosses are exerting on her to bring us in. So we can't expect too much from her." Draconis said wisely as Wolf spoke up.

"That's true, Draconis. Commissioner Kaburagi here does walk a rather fine line between what's right and what's easy for her job. But I think she does have good intentions deep down, so that being said, I feel we can trust her. But maybe that's just the part of me that subscribes to the belief that to truly know someone, you have to face them on the field of battle and put it all on the line. I'd have said see their guts, but that's both extremely graphic, and not really something I agree with. Not to mention, that's not something to bring up around impressionable youngsters like Seeker." Wolf said as Violet gave Wolf an approving nod as Kaburagi smiled and spoke up.

"Well said, guy in the dragon mask. And you beat me here fair and square, so I have no right to interfere any further. As for the version of me in the real world, she's doing what she can to help, but the Inspector over there didn't do her any favors when he let you all escape, but both she and I understand why you did it. And Inspector? Well done.

You've gotten so strong and principled. I'm impressed. Maybe you're closer to seizing your own justice than I thought. Also, I do believe in you and the Phantom Thieves. Now go forth and don't let my belief in you all be a misplaced one. Farewell." Kaburagi said before disappearing into black mist and allowing the core to appear in a flash of light, which Joker seized to get a 'Charismatic Dueling Glove' key item, making Crow frown as he spoke up.

"Hang on, isn't that the glove I threw at you when demanding that duel from you after you beat me when we fought in Mementos, Joker?" Crow asked as Joker spoke up with a shake of his head.

"No. I'm pretty sure that's the matching glove from that pair. I know for a fact that it's not the one you tossed at me. This is because I still have the original glove, since you gave it back to me after I threw it at you to symbolize my intent of challenging you and Noir at darts. Granted, that challenge was made before you fell off the grid like you did three and a half years ago, but I think it still holds up to some degree." Joker said as Mona spoke up.

"Wow, I'm not sure if I should be impressed at how good you are at keeping promises, or surprised at how sentimental you an be, Joker." Mona said as Violet spoke up.

"Why not both? Joker is a man of his word, after all. I can recall three separate instances where he went out of his way to keep promises that he made to me during the year that he lived in the attic of Leblanc. Sure, there was the bit where he, along with the others who were on the team at the time, let me think that he died when Crow killed him under the orders of Shido, but I've accepted that it was for the best that I thought that.

As for Joker being sentimental, I think there's evidence to that as well. Off the top of my head, I can recall a certain Valentine's Day conversation where Joker was saying some rather cheesy lines that would've been cringy from anyone else. But that's just how Joker is, and I wouldn't change any part of it." Violet said as Crow blinked and spoke up.

"Yeah, I can see Joker being just that sort of overly sentimental fool. That being said, did you seriously keep the glove that I gave you this whole time, Joker? I'm not sure if I should be impressed, shocked, or amused at just how sentimental you can be. Possibly even all three." Crow said as Fox spoke up.

"Yes, well, regardless of how we might feel about his faults, Joker is still our leader when all is said and done. So we just have to accept him as he is." Fox said wisely as Panther spoke up.

"You say that like Joker didn't help you out as well, Fox. But if you think about it, he's helped all of us out to some extent over the time we've known him." Panther said as Skull spoke up with a grin.

"Truth, Panther! Joker's had all of our backs at some point or another since we formed this group. But then again, that's just the kind of guy he is! Selfless, kind, and just an all-aroud badass." Skull said as Draconis spoke up while shaking his head fondly.

"Oh, Skull. Are you ever going to learn to watch what you say around Seeker? That being said, let's try to be fair to Joker, Crow. After all, even after what you tried to do to him and to all of us, I think Joker still cares a lot about you. Not only that, but I also think that you were one of the few people to constantly push him to his limits and force him to better himself in order to keep up with you. So I think he has a lot of respect for you, not just as a teammate, but also as a friend, rival, and even as a brother, to some extent." Draconis said as Joker nodded his agreement and spoke up.

"Draconis is right. You might only be Draconis' brother, but as far as I'm concerned, you're as good as a brother to me as well. Yes, you tried to kill all of us, but you were acting under duress and weren't in your right mind at the time. So I think we can forgive you for that." Joker said, not seeing the confused looks that Flare, Seraphim, and Seeker exchanged at Joker's mention of Crow attempting to kill the others, the latter speaking up.

"Wait, Crow tried to kill you guys?" Seeker asked as Seraphim spoke up.

"I second Seeker's question. I wasn't aware of the fact that Crow attempted to betray this group? Sure, it was probably before some of us joined, but still, what happened?" Seraphim asked as Flare spoke up.

"I think that's something that the others will fill us in on when the time is right. Until then, let's not derail the conversation, yeah?" Flare said as Crow winced and spoke up with a mixed guilty and regretful look on his face, or rather what was visible of it under his helmet.

"That's all right, Flare. I don't mind Seeker and Seraphim asking about that. Besides, they're both right. I did try to betray the Phantom Thieves and kill Joker at one point. That being said, I want it on the record that it wasn't my proudest moment, and that I've regretted it deeply ever since. But at the time, I was so consumed by hatred, resentment, and pride, not to mention thoughts of revenge, that I didn't think about what I was doing, and allowed myself to carry out Shido-san's orders for the sake of proving myself to him. But I've since apologized to everyone that was part of the team at the time for what I did, and for the most part, everyone forgave me, even if some took longer to do so than others." Crow said as Draconis spoke up.

"Peace, Crow. It's not your fault that our father, and I use that term in the loosest sense possible, was such a lousy dad that he used anything he could to advance his own ambitions, including his own son. Moreover, that man was so cold and uncaring back then that he wasn't afraid to sacrifice anything and everything that he had to in order to achieve his goal of becoming Prime Minister of Japan, even if that sacrifice included basically forcing his other son to uproot his life in order to accommodate a court order to be his brother's court-appointed overseer." Draconis said as Pendragon spoke up.

"True, but you do have to admit that you did a very good job at being Joker's overseer, Draconis. Also, correct me if I'm wrong on this, but didn't you end up all the better for what Shido did to you and Joker?" Pendragon asked as Draconis blinked and spoke up.

"Hmm, that's a good point, Pendragon. Perhaps you're right. Maybe it was actually a blessing in disguise that he did that. After all, had both Joker and myself not been forced to move to Yongen when we did for a year, we'd never have met Skull, Mona, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Violet, and Crow, nor would we have become the leaders of the Phantom Thieves. And we especially wouldn't have managed to meet and woo our loving and amazingly beautiful better halves in Violet and Oracle, respectively. I don't know about Joker, but I feel like we found our soulmates when we met Violet and Oracle. So I think in a way, we owe Shido a thank-you for being such a bad father to myself and Crow." Draconis said sagely. Oracle smiled and kissed Draconis on the cheek as Crow spoke up.

"Good point, Draconis. Sure, I had a rougher path getting here than you two, but we all reached the same destination in the end. So I suppose it was for the best that Joker accepted my glove." Crow said as Joker nodded, pocketing the 'Charismatic Dueling Glove' while the group headed out of the second Prison Keep, just as the intercom blared to life once more.

"Would you look at that? You actually conquered the 'Labyrinth of Memories', Phantom Thieves! Well done. But that's only your second core. You still have one more to find. And unless you look carefully, I highly doubt that you'll be able to find where I stashed the third and final Prison Keep. But I will at least be nice and warn you that you will have to fight some more enemies on the way in order to open up the third Prison Keep. For you see, I have the final Prison Keep hidden behind what I've taken to calling the 'Gates of Chaos', which will only open once you've defeated the beings of Light and Darkness that I have stationed near the gate to guard the keys needed to open it.

And even if you do somehow get past the Gates of Chaos and find the final Prison Keep, there's still an obstacle inside the Prison Keep that you'll have to get past in order to open up the path to the final core. Besides, even if you do get all three cores, that will only open up the path towards my inner sanctum. That won't guarantee that you'll be able to reach my chamber. As you might recall from your past Jails, you still have a little thing called a Trauma Cell to contend with before you fully open the path to my private office, where you'll find me when the time comes to face me. So as you can imagine, you've still got quite a bit of work ahead of you before you've earned the right to face me.

So do your best to try and reach me if you can, Phantom Thieves. But this is farewell for now. Good luck. You're gonna need it. AHAHAHAHA!" The group heard as the intercoms shut off and Skull frowned and spoke up.

"FOR REAL!? Why the eff does the Monarch talk so much? Does he like the sound of his own voice or something? Stupid overconfident sounding cocky-ass son of a-" Skull said before Violet, Noir, Panther, and Queen all cut Skull off mid-sentence by speaking up.

"SKULL!" Violet, Noir, Panther, and Queen all said as Violet kept speaking.

"I said no swearing around Seeker! Are you an idiot, or do you just not have the ability to filter your commentary for Seeker's sake?" Violet asked as Crow smirked and spoke up while chuckling at Violet's unintentional roast of Skull.

"Heh, good one. I do believe that's quite possibly both the funniest and also the smartest thing you've ever said, Violet." Crow said as Joker gave Crow and Violet a warning look, making both of them quiet down as he looked at Skull and spoke up.

"Skull, calm down. I know how you feel, man. But we can't lose our cool here. We're just letting the Monarch win if we do that. Besides, I know you know better than to swear in front of Seeker. I know it's a habit, but please try and cut back on it when she's in earshot, man." Joker said as Skull winced and spoke up with a sheepish look on his face after being called out on his tendency to swear around Seeker.

"Oh, crap. You're right, Joker. My bad. I'll do my best to not swear around Seeker, but it's kind of an ingrained habit to swear when I'm mad, so it might be a slow process for me to learn to watch what I say in front of her, but I'll try to do better about it." Skull said as Violet nodded approvingly while the group kept moving.

As the group walked through the next parts of the Yongen Jail, they noticed the large amounts of prisoners being forced to do labor, seemingly hauling debris away. It was only on taking a closer look that the group realized the prisoners were helping to construct a statue, and not just any statue. It appeared to be the base of a giant silver statue of the Black Mask, making Crow scoff as he spoke up.

"Wow, this guy is unbelievably vain. A silver statue? Really? I can see a stone or a gold statue, but silver!? That seems like a bit much, if you ask me." Crow said as Seeker spoke up, a confused look on her face.

"Wait, so you think the statue is a bit much, and not the fact that most of these prisoners are being routinely whipped and abused?" Seeker said in surprise as Mona spoke up to get her attention.

"Unfortunately, we've learned to accept some rather unpleasant truths about the Metaverse. And one of the worst ones is that seven times out of ten, the person we're going after is usually a pretty messed-up piece of human scum. As such, whether we like it or not, the fact of the matter is that this is just par for the course, Lady Seeker. So far, the only exceptions to that rule that we've found were Oracle, Queen's sister, and Maruki." Mona said as Seraphim and Flare exchanged surprised looks at this and Flare spoke up.

"Wait, why would you guys need to go after Oracle? I thought you once told us that Palaces couldn't form inside of Persona-users, Mona?" Flare asked as Seraphim spoke up.

"That's true, Flare. From what Draconis mentioned to me when I was speaking to him and Mona shortly after the Okinawa Jail, Mona also mentioned that it's not impossible for a Persona-user to have a Jail, which Draconis said is something that Mona believes is unlikely to happen. But I'm sure there was a good reason for them to go after Oracle." Seraphim said as Draconis and Oracle winced before Draconis spoke up.

"There is. But it's a long story that I'm not sure we have time to get into now. Suffice it to say, Oracle was in a very bad mental place for a while before we were able to help her through her issues enough for her to open back up to the outside world and join our group. Then again, that Palace was definitely not one of my prouder memories, given how much I can recall giving both Skull and Queen lots of flack and grief both during and after Oracle's Palace. But it was worth it all to see the rare genuine and beautiful smile on Oracle's face after she finally recovered enough to start going back out into the world again and be able to start letting go of her feelings of guilt and self-loathing." Draconis said, smiling as he leaned in to gently peck a shyly smiling Oracle on the cheek before he kept speaking.

"And to be honest? I prefer Oracle smiling and cheerful. She's way prettier that way." Draconis said as Oracle blushed and spoke up.

"Y-Yes, well, I didn't think you were going to turn that explanation into a chance to flirt with me." Oracle said as Queen spoke up.

"That's Draconis, though. He nearly always takes any chance he gets to flirt with you, Oracle. I thought you realized that about him by now. But with that being said, I thought that Draconis knew that Skull and I forgave him for being a dick to us a while ago?" Queen said as Skull spoke up with a smirk.

"Truth, Queen! I think Oracle's not the only one in that relationship who has a tendency to blame themselves for stuff they shouldn't be blaming themselves for." Skull said sagely, getting a trio of surprised looks from Mona, Joker, and Crow, while Pendragon smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, get a load of Skull acting wise and mature. I like it." Pendragon said as Mona spoke up with a teasing smirk.

"I guess there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" Mona said as Skull blushed in embarrassment and spoke up.

"Shuddup! Also, you yourself are living proof that there's not a first time for everything. Or do I have to point out the fact that you've yet to have your first girlfriend, Mona?" Skull pointed out as an embarrassed Mona spoke up.

"HEY! Don't remind me about that, Skull! I can't help that I was stuck in a less-than-ideal form until recently! Besides, I have a feeling that my current lack of a girlfriend will solve itself in due time. And another thing, you have no room to tease me about not having a girlfriend when it took you and your girlfriend close to four years after the two of you started dating to wise up, stop tap-dancing around your feelings, and finally start getting around to fu-" Mona said as Violet and Joker both spoke up.

"MONA! NO SWEARING AROUND SEEKER!" Joker and Violet said as Skull surprised everyone in the room by chuckling as he spoke up while giving Mona an amused smile.

"Y'know what? That's entirely fair, Mona. You've legitimately got me there, man. Well played." Skull said, gently clapping Mona on the shoulder respectfully, as an embarrassed Mona spoke up after being chastised by Joker and Violet.

"Thanks, Skull. And to what Joker and Violet just said? I'm sorry for being so crass around Lady Seeker. I think it's an ingrained habit from hanging around Skull for so long." Mona said sheepishly, making Skull pout while the others laughed, causing Joker to feel an increased sense of closeness with his friends as the group kept walking.

After walking for a while, the group eventually ended up reaching what appeared to be a dead end with paths leading off to the left and right of what appeared to be an impassable wall that resembled a pair of doors, though Wolf and Pendragon both took note of the insignias on either of the door-like walls, one being the Bless/Hama insignia and the other being the Curse/Mudo insignia. Wolf spoke up after a bit.

"Hey, guys. Look at that wall. I see markings on it." Wolf said as the group turned to look at the wall as Joker spoke up.

"Well spotted, Wolf. Those walls do have symbols on them." Joker said as Violet spoke up.

"I think that's the Bless and/or Hama symbol on the left one." Violet said as Pendragon spoke up.

"And unless I'm wrong, that should be the Curse and/or Mudo symbol on the right one." Pendragon said as Panther spoke up with a frown.

"Oh? Could these be the 'Gates of Chaos' we were told about?" Panther asked as Queen spoke up.

"That's certainly possible, Panther. But why are the paths going two different ways if they both lead back to this area, which seems to be the Gates of Chaos?" Queen asked as the group paused to think about that. Eventually, Noir frowned and spoke up.

"Hmm. This is just a guess, but what if each of those paths leads to one of the wielders of Light and Darkness that we were told about?" Noir suggested as Crow spoke up with a proud smile.

"That makes a lot of sense, Noir. I respect the deductive reasoning there." Crow said slyly, leaning in to kiss a blushing Noir on the cheek, getting giggles from Seraphim, Oracle, and Panther for his efforts. Noir blushed and spoke up.

"Not that I mind what you just did, but are you usually someone who's known to engage in PDA, Crow-kun?" Noir asked as Violet giggled and spoke up.

"He's probably not. But it was still really cute to see him praising you, Noir. Reminds me of how Joker praises me from time to time." Violet said as Joker spoke up with a grin.

"True. But then again, I very much doubt Crow's idea of praising involves gratuitous amounts of intimacy, unlike mine. Heck, I bet Draconis has a kinkier way of praising Oracle than Crow has for praising Noir." Joker said as Crow and Draconis both sputtered at this and the latter spoke up.

"Excuse you? I always praise Oracle with my words, and occasionally my hands. I'm not like you, where you basically reward Violet for doing good with quickies." Draconis pointed out as Crow spoke up while frowning at Joker.

"How dare you say such a slanderous and inaccurate thing about me and Draconis, Joker? Also, I'll thank you not to judge me for how I choose to praise Noir, Joker. I've yet to hear any real complaints from Noir, so I take that as me doing my job well. Besides, Noir's not as shameless or kinky as Violet or Oracle for the most part, and I don't mind that about her one bit." Crow said as Noir smiled before Skull spoke up.

"Oookay, can we get back on task here? I thought we were supposed to be figuring out how to open these gates, not listening to Joker, Crow, and Draconis have a metaphoric pissing contest over who is the best at loving on their girlfriend?" Skull said as Queen smiled and kissed Skull on the cheek before speaking up.

"Well said, sweetie. Hmm. Well, if we assume that the 'Wielder of Light' likely is weak to Curse and the 'Wielder of Darkness' is weak to Bless, then I think at least some of our next move is obvious." Queen said as Draconis nodded and spoke up, getting what Queen was getting at and wanting to offer his input, unintentionally cutting Joker and Crow off of yelling at Skull as a result.

"I see what you're getting at, Queen. You think we should use the old 'divide and conquer' approach, then?" Draconis asked as Queen nodded and spoke up.

"Precisely. I was thinking we'd split into two groups, one of which goes after the 'Wielder of Light' and the other goes after the 'Wielder of Darkness'." Queen said as Draconis and Queen quickly had a huddle where they bounced ideas off of one another. While they did that, Seeker spoke up.

"I'm guessing that based on Queen's theory, am I to assume that all the Bless/Hama users will be sent after the 'Wielder of Darkness' and the Curse/Mudo users will be sent after the 'Wielder of Light', then?" Seeker asked as Violet nodded and spoke up.

"I'd believe so, Seeker. And if that's true, then the two of us and Seraphim are probably in the group going after the 'Wielder of Darkness'." Violet said as Joker spoke up.

"True, while both myself and Crow will probably be in the group going after the 'Wielder of Light' as the only two Curse/Mudo users in the group." Joker remarked knowingly as Crow nodded his agreement. At that point, Queen spoke up.

"All right, Draconis and I have roughly ironed out how the groups should be allocated for the next part. In the group going after the 'Wielder of Light', we have the following listed as going: Joker, Crow, Draconis, Skull, Panther, Flare, myself, and Noir. Which means the following are listed as going after the 'Wielder of Darkness': Violet, Seeker, Seraphim, Wolf, Mona, Fox, and Pendragon. Oracle, for her part, would act as our go-between and coordinate our two teams' efforts. Any objections?" Queen said as Fox spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Not an objection, so much as an observation. That being said, I notice that Joker and Violet are surprisingly unbothered by being put into different groups for this. Truth be told, I half-expected one or both of them to protest being split up." Fox said as Seeker smiled and spoke up.

"You underestimate how selfless Joker and Violet are, Fox. They can handle being separated for a while if need be for the mission. Besides, they just got done being separated for a time while we took on that overgrown hedge maze, so they can handle being separated for a time." Seeker said as Violet and Joker nodded their agreement as Mona spoke up.

"Lady Seeker's right. Joker and Violet are mature enough to put their feelings aside for the sake of the mission. Besides, I agree that those are probably the best teams for these battles. Now the question is, is the left path leading to the 'Wielder of Light', or is it the right path? And which path leads to the 'Wielder of Darkness'?" Mona mused as Draconis spoke up.

"Well, we know that each path has a 50/50 shot that the elemental insignia next to it indicates the Wielder waiting beyond that path. So I'd say we use that as a reference point and deploy the teams accordingly, unless Oracle wants to send her Personas to scout ahead and come back. That's an option too." Draconis said as Oracle spoke up.

"I could, but what if I do that and they both come back totally drained? I feel like it's a risky option." Oracle said as Draconis nodded and spoke up.

"That's true, but how else do we safely figure out which path leads where?" Draconis said as Seraphim spoke up.

"I think at this point, the best move is to send the team facing the 'Wielder of Light' down the path next to the Bless/Hama path and the team facing the 'Wielder of Darkness' down the path next to the Curse/Mudo path. Worst case, the opposite element awaits and we turn around and switch paths." Seraphim said as Joker and Draconis exchanged surprised looks, both clearly impressed by Seraphim's suggestion. Joker then spoke up.

"That's a smart idea, except for one thing. What happens if we do that and the paths close themselves off after we go down them? Might make it a bit tricky to swap paths." Joker pointed out as Seraphim spoke up.

"Good point. I suppose we should just go with it anyways. Worst case we choose the wrong paths and get stuck." Seraphim said as the others nodded and split into the indicated teams, with Joker's team heading down the path next to the Bless/Hama insignia and Violet's team heading down the path next to the Curse/Mudo insignia. Oracle, for her part, followed after Draconis' group inside of Al Azif as the two groups headed on to face their respective foes...

(On the 'Path of Light', with Joker, Crow, Draconis, Panther, Flare, Skull, Queen, Noir, and Oracle)

"Seems pretty straightforward to me so far." Joker said as his group kept walking along the 'Path of Light'. Skull nodded his agreement as he spoke up.

"You're not wrong, Joker. Still, why have such an out of the way path just to protect a gate? Seems like a lot of work to me." Skull said as Flare spoke up with a confused look on her face.

"Really? Doesn't seem like that much more work than usual. Besides, from what Panther told me about the first couple of Jails you guys went through after I was inducted into the group, this seems to fit right in with the M.O. of a Monarch, to make their Prison Keeps harder to reach for their enemies." Flare said as Queen spoke up with an approving nod.

"Flare's right, Skull. Besides, if we're right about who the Monarch of this Jail is? It makes way too much sense that he'd want to run us ragged getting to him." Queen said as Crow nodded sagely before he spoke up.

"Exactly. So don't be so quick to complain about a bit of an out of the way obstacle, Skull." Crow gently but firmly rebuked Skull, who nodded his understanding as the group kept moving.

After a bit, Joker's group reached a wide open square area with seemingly nothing in sight at first glance. However, on a second glance, Panther, Flare, and Oracle all cringed as the latter spoke up.

"EWW! Guys, I think I see our 'Wielder of Light'." Oracle said as the rest of Joker's group looked around before noticing the decrepit-looking monk-like corpse wearing a ragged-looking set of olive-colored robes with a matching headpiece meditating in one corner of the room. Panther cringed at the sight of the corpse and spoke up.

"Gross! Is that the 'Wielder of Light'!?" Panther said as Joker frowned and looked towards Crow as he spoke up.

"Crow, have either of us ever seen a being like that before? I feel like I might have fused something similar to it, but I'm not sure on that." Joker said as Draconis looked at the corpse and spoke up.

"Wait, I think I've seen that before too. Wasn't that one of those figures that were being given out in those capsule dispensers in Akihabara back when you were staying at Leblanc for your probation, Joker?" Draconis asked as Joker blinked and spoke up.

"Good question, Draconis. But you know, now that I think about it, I think you're right. I think that is where I saw it before. Now what was that figure called?" Joker asked as Crow spoke up in realization.

"Oh, wait. I've seen that figure before when I used to occasionally take trips to Akihabara. I think I recall hearing that it was called a 'Daisoujou'? And if so, we might have been smart to send Seraphim, Violet, and Seeker with the other group. I'll need Oracle to scan it and confirm this, but I recall fighting a 'Daisoujou' once during one of my solo runs into Mementos. If I recall right, it's very weak to Curse moves, but practically trivializes both Fire and Bless moves. If that is the case, and I'm right in my guess? Then that means that Panther might not be much help from an offensive standpoint here. But she could be a useful healer if nothing else, and maybe also provide Physical damage with her whip and Gun damage with her SMGs?" Crow said as Oracle spoke up.

"Let me scan it real quick." Oracle said as she did a quick scan on the corpse and spoke up.

"Hmm, okay, I have the results. According to my scan, that thing is called a 'Withering Monk'. And as Crow stated before, it takes no damage from Fire or Bless attacks, but is weak to Curse moves. So that means that Panther's mainly going to be relegated to healing detail and maybe chip-shot damage with her whip and SMGs." Oracle said as the group nodded before approaching the 'Withering Monk', as the scan had identified it, starting a fight!

As the fight started, the 'Withering Monk' glared at the group, waving an arm as he caused a giant glowing two-layer circle of yellow light to surround the group, spinning around a bit before slamming into the group and managed to knock down Skull, Flare, Crow, and Draconis, making Queen and Joker exchanged horrified looks as the former spoke up.

"No way! Was that some sort of super-charged insta-kill move?" Queen asked as Joker spoke up.

"I have no idea, Queen. But I'd buy that being the case. Crap, please tell me we have at least one person here with 'Recarm' to get Skull, Flare, Crow, and Draconis back up." Joker said as he frowned and mentally sifted through his Personas, before mentally swearing as none of them had 'Recarm'. Noir noticed this and spoke up with a worried look on her face.

"What's wrong, Joker?" Noir asked as Joker spoke up.

"Besides the obvious? I just realized the other massive flaw in the way we split the groups up. We sent almost all of the people with reviving skills after the 'Wielder of Darkness'. I believe that the only person who has a 'Recarm' spell in our group is Flare. However, since she's knocked out, not to mention the fact that I have no Personas on me that can revive the others, we have no one else here to get people back up after they're taken out of the fight." Joker said as Noir winced and spoke up.

"I see. That is a problem. But at least some of us are still standing, so this fight's not over yet." Noir pointed out as Joker nodded and signaled for those who were still standing to gather near him and regroup, which they did.

After regrouping, Joker, Queen, Panther, and Noir worked together to try and whittle down the remaining health of the 'Withered Monk', who tried and failed to hit another insta-kill move.

Eventually, Joker lucked into a Critical hit on the 'Withering Monk', allowing the Thieves that were still on their feet to finish off the 'Withered Monk' with an All-Out Attack, after which a yellow light rose up from where the 'Withering Monk' had been, heading back towards the Gates of Chaos, ending the fight. After the fight, Panther, Joker, and Queen used their best healing skills to patch up Skull, Flare, Crow, and Draconis, at which point Oracle spoke up.

"Hmm, so we've beaten the 'Wielder of Light', then. I wonder if we managed to open up the 'Light' side of the Gates of Chaos?" Oracle said as Joker spoke up.

"Let's head back to the Gates and find out." Joker said as Oracle nodded and the group started heading back to the Gates of Chaos...

(Over on the 'Path of Darkness', with Seeker, Violet, Seraphim, Wolf, Fox, Mona, and Pendragon)

As the group tasked with fighting the 'Wielder of Darkness' proceeded along down the 'Path of Darkness', Seeker spoke up with a frown.

"Hmm, for a place called the 'Path of Darkness, it doesn't seem very dark so far." Seeker said as Violet spoke up.

"That's because more often than not, twists like that reveal themselves further down the path, Seeker. As such, I'd wager that means that we've likely not found the dark part of the path yet." Violet said as Fox spoke up.

"True. Even so, I feel like this could've made for an interesting motif for my next piece. Alas, I didn't bring my art supplies, so I'll have to settle for committing this to memory and hoping I can remember it enough to recreate it later." Fox said as Wolf spoke up.

"Well, if nothing else, it's a long enough path." Wolf said as Mona spoke up.

"That's true, but at the same time, I think we should be more worried about what could be waiting at the end of the path." Mona said as Pendragon spoke up with a nod.

"Indeed, Mona. I feel like with it being called the 'Path of Darkness', that the 'Wielder of Darkness' could be a number of things. We'll probably have to wait for the end of the path to see what we run into." Pendragon said as Seraphim nodded and spoke up.

"Good point, Pendragon. We should be ready for anything at this point." Seraphim said as the group eventually reached the end of the path, where the only thing visible in the wide-open room at the end of the path was what appeared to be a blonde-haired little girl wearing a white headband, a blue dress with a white sash tied around the waist of the dress, and black stiletto slippers. Seeker spoke up after noticing the yellow eyes that the little girl had.

"Is that our target? She doesn't look like she'd be the 'Wielder of Darkness'. She looks really cute." Seeker said as Seraphim spoke up, her eyes widening in recognition behind her mask as she realized what this little girl actually was.

"Don't let looks deceive you, Seeker! That 'little girl' is actually a Shadow! If I recall correctly, she's also a Persona. I say that on the grounds that I'm pretty sure I remember seeing that Big Bro used one of her against Kunino-Sagiri. If I recall right, he called it 'Alice'? Either way, she caused a lot of havoc in that fight with her potent Dark-based insta-kill moves." Seraphim said as Mona nodded after doing his best to do a scan in the absence of Oracle.

"Seraphim's right, Lady Seeker. That's one of the Ultimate Personas! Alice, as her name is, is the Ultimate Persona of the Death Arcana! And as such, she is not to be taken lightly! She can use Curse and Mudo skills to great effect, and is good at what she does. I think we made the right call by not bringing Crow, Joker, Queen, or Noir to this fight, since Alice also repels Curse moves, and nullifies both Psy and Nuke damage. However, she seems to have a glaring weakness to Bless moves, such as what Seraphim, Violet, and yourself can wield." Mona said as Seeker nodded before the little girl turned to face the group and spoke up in a deceptively innocent and adorable-sounding voice.

"Oh, what's this? More toys to play with? Goody! I was just getting bored, too. Well, let's see what you've got then." The little girl, or the 'Maiden of Darkness' as Mona had managed to identify her as, despite her being an 'Alice', said as she stood up to face the group as a fight began! As the fight started, the 'Maiden of Darkness' spoke up.

"How will you hold up against this, I wonder? Let's find out!" The 'Maiden of Darkness' said as she waved a finger and caused a rain of playing cards to cascade down towards the group, many of which had spears in hand. On instinct, most of the group dove out of the way of the attacks, though Violet did have to shove Seeker out of the way of a card that nearly hit her, taking the hit instead and being downed by the insta-kill move, taking her out of the fight. Mona and Seeker gasped and spoke up.

"VIOLET!/MOM!" Mona and Seeker said as they worked together to get Violet back on her feet while Seraphim pushed the 'Maiden of Darkness' back with her attacks, being assisted in this endeavor by Wolf, Fox, and Pendragon. After a bit, Violet struggled back to her feet and looked over at Mona and Seeker as she spoke up.

"This opponent's no joke! I think we might have to break out our Triad Special to take her out before she can do any more damage! You two up for that, Mona and Seeker?" Violet asked as Mona spoke up.

"I'm down for it, Violet. If nothing else, it'll give us a better chance of taking out this Alice in Wonderland-looking little girl? I assume you're up for it as well, Lady Seeker?" Mona said as Seeker smiled and spoke up.

"Of course I am! This little brat tried to take M-I mean Violet out of the battle! I'm definitely up for helping her get some payback!" Seeker said as Violet nodded approvingly as she, Mona, and Seeker spoke up in unison.

"GO, TRIAD SPECIAL!" Violet, Mona, and Seeker said in unison as their Triad Special started! As it started, Violet spoke up.

"ELLA, YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO! LET'S DANCE!" Violet said as Ella nodded and fired an orb of Bless energy as Mona spoke up.

"DIEGO, SHOW YOUR MIGHT!" Mona said as he summoned Diego to generate a torrent of Wind power as Seeker spoke up.

"PITHOS! CHARGE UP YOUR WEAPONS AND THEN FIRE AT MAXIMUM POWER!" Seeker said as Pithos nodded and fired a giant laser of Bless power, which joined the torrents created by Ella and Diego, causing an ominous looking cloud to spread over the 'Maiden of Darkness' at the same time that Violet spoke up.

"As for our enemies, it's time to bring judgment upon them." Violet said as Mona spoke up.

"Agreed! The divine powers have spoken, and it's time to hear their verdict!" Mona said as Seeker spoke up.

"And their verdict? They have sentenced our foe to divine execution!" Seeker said as Violet, Mona, and Seeker spoke up.

"AND NOW TO CARRY OUT YOUR SENTENCE! GO, STORM OF HEAVEN!" Violet, Mona, and Seeker all said as the cloud burst open and a rain-like torrent of energy cascaded down on the 'Maiden of Darkness', pelting her with a mix of Bless, Wind, and even Elec damage, eventually culminating with a gigantic lightning bolt that crashed down and massively damaged the 'Maiden of Darkness', who let out an agonized wail before she keeled over backwards and dissolved into black mist, ending both the Triad Special and the battle. Afterwards, Mona noticed a reddish-pink light go up into the sky from where the 'Maiden of Darkness' had been, heading back towards the Gates of Chaos. Wolf then spoke up.

"I wonder if that opened up the Gates?" Wolf asked as Pendragon spoke up.

"Good question. Only one way to find out, don't you think?" Pendragon said as Violet nodded and spoke up.

"Yep, only one way. Let's head back to the entrance." Violet said as Fox spoke up.

"True, we should head back. Hopefully Joker's group was able to defeat the 'Wielder of Light' already, so that way we can proceed once we get back to the Gates of Chaos." Fox said as Seeker spoke up.

"Good plan, Violet. Let's head back." Seeker said as Mona and Seraphim nodded their agreement along with Fox and the group headed back to the Gates of Chaos, where Joker's team was waiting. Once there, the reassembled group turned to the double-doors and saw that one side glowed yellow, and the other glowed reddish-pink. At that point, a rumbling sound was heard as the doors slowly slid apart and receded into the walls, opening the path to the Prison Keep. After blinking at this, Joker spoke up.

"Well, that was certainly anti-climactic, am I right?" Joker said as Draconis spoke up.

"True, but I think at this point, let's just take whatever small victories we can get and keep going. After all, I doubt it's going to be a straight shot to the last core by any means. And who knows what, or possibly even who, will be guarding that third Prison Keep?" Draconis said as Oracle spoke up with a nod.

"Good point, Draconis. We should be prepared for anything." Oracle said as the group headed through the open doorway. After a bit of walking, they came to a fork in the road. On one side, they could see the final Prison Keep of the Yongen Jail, and on the other, they could see what appeared to be a path leading towards a giant birdcage in the distance. Mona blinked and spoke up.

"Are we seriously going to have to go one way to get the final core of this Jail, and then the other to get at the Birdcage of Desires, which will have the lock blocking access to the Monarch's domain?" Mona asked as Skull shuddered and spoke up.

"Perhaps. To be honest, though? I'm not lookin' forward to havin' to touch the cage just so we can get an idea of the source of this Monarch's trauma." Skull said as Crow spoke up.

"Honestly? I think for this Jail, I should be the one to handle the cage-touching. If I'm right, this trauma will be one that is also linked to me." Crow said as Noir spoke up.

"To you, Crow-kun? What do you mean?" Noir asked as Crow spoke up.

"Exactly what I said. Draconis, Pendragon, Joker, and myself all believe the Monarch of Yongen Jail to be my darker half, or the Black Mask. So if I'm right, the source of his trauma is likely going to be linked to a very familiar face from the pasts of myself, Joker, and Draconis." Crow said as Draconis spoke up in realization after his and Joker's eyes widened behind their mask/helmet once the implications of Crow's last words fully sank in for them.

"Oh, so you think we could end up running into HIM again, then?" Draconis asked as Crow nodded, neither one needing to clarify what Draconis meant by his question, despite the confused looks on the faces of everyone else in the room. As the group headed into the Prison Keep, Crow frowned as he noticed both a lack of a staircase leading up the tower, as well as a lack of a visible core at the top of the tower. Crow then spoke up once more.

"How predictable. The Monarch hid both the stairs AND the core this time. Clearly, he doesn't want us to get this final core. But what could be awaiting us here?" Crow asked as the others shrugged. After heading towards the tower, the doors closed behind the group, who gasped in surprise before an unfamiliar voice spoke up in a mixed derisive/taunting way.

"Oh, man. What is it with meddling fools and sticking their noses where they don't belong nowadays? First it was Dojima-san's punk of a nephew and his meddling friends, and now it looks to be another gaggle of do-gooders who don't know how to mind their own business. How annoying." The group heard, most of them exchanging confused looks with one another.

After a bit, a pool of red-and-black mist formed in front of the group, and from it slowly rose a sneering man with black hair who was wearing a black business suit with a white dress shirt underneath and a red and black striped tie, as well as brown leather shoes. However, what made Seraphim's eyes widen in recognition behind her mask more than anything was both the voice the group had heard, and the piercing brown eyes that this man had. As the rest of the group remained confused by the new arrival, Seraphim gasped and spoke up.

"NO WAY! Out of all people, why are we having to face YOU!? I thought my Big Bro and his friends defeated you and put an end to your sick game almost nine years ago! How are you back in the Shadow World, much less out of prison, Adachi-san!?" Seraphim asked as Crow and Wolf both spoke up in simultaneous shock.

"ADACHI!?" Crow and Wolf asked as Draconis spoke up.

"You mean to tell me that this pathetic-looking sad-sack is the cowardly piece of shit that was terrorizing Inaba with a string of serial murders and disappearances a few years ago!? Forgive me if I have a hard time picturing such a pitiful-looking pissant being capable of such atrocities." Draconis said as Joker spoke up.

"Heh, same old Draconis, being annoyed at scumbags. But even so, can you not swear around Seeker, Draconis?" Joker said to Draconis, who winced sheepishly and apologized to Joker and Seeker for his swearing around the latter of the two as Crow spoke up.

"Cut him a break, Joker. At least he's just grumbling. He could've done a lot worse." Crow said before turning to look at Draconis as he kept speaking.

"That being said, I hope you're aware that you shouldn't underestimate scumbags like Tohru Adachi, Draconis. As you might recall, I wasn't that different from Adachi-san here when I was the Black Mask. Like him, I killed quite a few innocent people. Sure, I mainly did it for the lucrative paychecks I got for it, but I also did it because for a time, it was my main sense of enjoyment. Granted, after I met you and Joker, plus the others, I slowly started questioning myself. Eventually, I realized I needed to change my ways while I still could, since I wasn't going to accomplish anything just killing people senselessly." Crow said as the now-named Adachi scoffed and spoke up.

"Shut up! So what if you were the Black Mask? You were nothing more than a glorified attack dog, and an attack dog that was the go-to option for a bunch of spineless cowards who didn't have the balls to get their own hands dirty when it comes to getting rid of their rivals. So you and I are nothing alike! I would never be anyone's hired attack dog!" Adachi said as Oracle turned to Seraphim and spoke up.

"Was this guy really your dad's partner at one point?" Oracle asked Seraphim, who nodded and spoke up.

"Yes, he really was Dad's partner. But by the end of it all, Tohru Adachi ultimately ended up turning out to be a sad, pathetic man who only cared about keeping his own sick, twisted game going, or so my Big Bro told me once." Seraphim said as Crow spoke up while glaring at Adachi.

"You're one to talk about being spineless, Adachi-san. Weren't you the one that goaded that deluded fool Namatame into doing most of your dirty work for you, even despite that Kubo guy trying to copy you?" Crow said as Adachi spoke up.

"Before I answer that, let me quickly clarify what the brat in the angel outfit asked me. You say this is the Shadow World, but I have it on good authority that this place is actually called the Metaverse. That being said, to address the question that was just asked about Namatame? That man was just a means to an end. Sure, I could've thrown most of those other victims in myself, but then I'd just draw unneeded attention to myself.

And why should I have to do that when I can just let a delusional fool with a savior complex like Namatame do my job for me and watch the game unfold for the most part? As for Kubo, he was just a delusional brat who was just thirsty for attention. But enough about him. We were talking about Namatame, weren't we? That being said, I will admit that Namatame deciding to kidnap Nanako-chan when he did was an unexpected turn of events, but it made my job easier at the same time.

After all, had he not done it, I probably would've had to do it myself anyways if Narukami didn't heed my warning letters and stop investigating the murders. Of course, little did I suspect that Dojima-san would happen to intercept one of them and watch Narukami open it before bringing him to the station to question him. Luckily for me, Dojima-san didn't believe Narukami when he tried to explain everything to him. Unfortunately for me, I underestimated the tenacity and backbone of Narukami and his friends. And that led to my defeat, as well as the end of my fun.

However, I am a man of my word. So when Narukami told me to abide by the rules and atone for my sins, I knew I was honor-bound to do as he asked. However, what neither Narukami nor myself could have predicted was that fate had other plans for me, when I was broken out of prison not once, but twice.

The first time was shortly after Narukami moved back to his hometown and came back for a week to visit his friends for Golden Week. I was going to do my assigned sentence and repay my debt to society. But then some red-headed weirdo calling himself 'Minazuki' summoned me to his lair atop a real-world recreation of some mysterious tower that apparently only appears during a time period that is apparently hidden between one day and the next, or so Minazuki-san said when he explained it to me. I didn't really understand any of it, though.

To make a long story short, in the end, it turned out that 'Minazuki' was just a puppet that a much darker entity made use of in an attempt to try and summon back a very dark being with the intent of destroying the world, all for some bullshit prattle about fulfilling some foolish brat's wish. Fortunately for me, Narukami was willing to put our differences aside so we could work together and destroy the entity, or 'Hi-no-Kagutsuchi' as it called itself. Once Kagutsuchi was out of the way, I went back to my prison cell to continue repaying my debt to society. And that leads to the second time I was broken out of prison.

As it turns out, I was approached by one of the guards with an anonymous letter, which was apparently from some woman who claimed she was writing on behalf of someone called EMMA, and that they wanted my help in setting a trap for you fools. However, what I wasn't expecting was for the letter to also come with a smartphone that activated once I took it out of the envelope, allowing the person who'd sent the letter to me to suck me into someplace that the letter had called the Metaverse, even if I always had called it the 'Shadow World'. From there, I woke up in an unfamiliar location, which I surmised to be a Jail based on what the letter had mentioned of them. And once I figured that out, I was led inside to an out of the way chamber where I met the Monarch of this place.

Apparently, the Monarch of this place must have been desperate for help, since he said that if I help him defeat some meddling intruders who were seeking to take him out, he'd release me to go back to my jail cell in the real world. I figured it was a reasonable deal, so I took it. And judging from the amount of you that I'm looking at, you're probably the meddlers he was talking about. I might not be happy about it, but a job is a job." Adachi said as he pulled out a gun from his pocket and pointed it at the group as he spoke up, not seeing Crow and Draconis' eyes widen in realization under their helmets at Adachi's mention of a 'woman', having an idea of who he was referring to.

"Nothing personal, but I'm going to have to put a stop to your infiltration of this facility here and now. However, I'm not fool enough to try to take you all on alone." Adachi said as he snapped his fingers and a large army of Shadows materialized behind him. At that point, Joker scoffed and spoke up.

"No shit you're not foolish enough to take us on alone, Adachi! The 'Fool' Arcana is usually reserved for Wild Cards, like myself and Nan-err, I mean Seraphim's 'Big Bro'. So of course you're no fool! Also, you seem like a coward to me, if anything." Joker said as he gestured for the others to take battle-ready stances. As the group took battle-ready stances, Seraphim spoke up while smirking at Joker's rebuke of Adachi.

"Joker has a good point. That being said, I'm not thrilled by this either, but if you're going to stand in our way, we're not holding back either, Adachi-san! So if you want a fight? Then bring it on!" Seraphim said as the group charged in as a fight began! As the fight started, Adachi spoke up.

"So, you annoying bunch of do-gooders think you can defeat me!? Let's see what you've got!" Adachi said as the group charged into battle, fighting their way through the army of Shadows, with the exceptions of Seraphim and Crow, both of whom were facing off with Adachi himself. As he clashed weapons with Adachi, Crow spoke up.

"It's just as I thought, Adachi-san. You're too cowardly to do anything by yourself. Hence why you had Namatame doing most of your work for you. You sicken me." Crow said as he swung his sword at Adachi, who dodged out of the way and spoke up.

"So you say. But I don't think you're any better, you know. After all, how many people did you accept money for killing? Surely a lot more than I have. And in any case, at least I didn't go to elaborate lengths to stage my death just to get a fresh start, like you did. And before you ask how I know about that, the Monarch of this place told me all about you, Akechi-san. He even went so far as to mention how you strong-armed your own brother into lying to his friends for years about your disappearance. You say you've changed, but the way I see it? You're no better than I am. We're both just self-serving men who only care about our own agendas." Adachi said as Crow gritted his teeth and spoke up.

"And that, my deluded foe, is where you are wrong. Yes, I did do a lot of messed-up things in the past few years, but unlike you? I feel a great deal of remorse for every life I've taken, every crime I've had to commit, and especially for every lie I've had to tell to get where I am now. However, I was blessed enough that my friends here all saw fit to at least forgive most of what I did and allow me to work with them.

So unlike you, I have a shot at redemption, Adachi-san! Whereas you keep squandering yours with all the times you let yourself be broken out of prison instead of refusing and staying behind to repay your debt to society. So you have no call to lecture me about anything." Crow said as Seraphim spoke up.

"Good point, Crow. But you left out the part where this man, and I use that term loosely, had the audacity to have the man who kidnapped and eventually tried to use me as a meat shield to stop Big Bro and his friends from saving me from him be put in the same hospital I was in for his recovery, presumably knowing that I was in that hospital. Luckily for Adachi-san, Namatame made no attempt to finish what he started. But that was even luckier for me, since I almost died in that hospital as it is." Seraphim said, glaring at Adachi behind her mask as he spoke up.

"Would you shut up already, you annoying brat!? Although, come to think of it, I think I actually recognize your voice. You might be hiding behind a mask and a borderline-slutty outfit, but I'm pretty sure I know who you are behind that mask. You're Nanako-chan, aren't you?" Adachi asked Seraphim, whose eyes widened behind her mask at Adachi's question before she spoke up while glaring at Adachi.

"Not that I have to answer a question from a cowardly man like you, Adachi-san, but if you must know? Yes, that's right." Seraphim said while briefly lifting her mask up so Adachi could see her face as Adachi chuckled darkly and spoke up.

"I knew it. Your voice might be slightly deeper than it was when I last saw you, but it still has that certain innocent inflection to it that's easily recognizable, even after eight years. But even so, it's hard to believe that it's already been eight years since the last time I saw you, but you've definitely grown up a lot, matured quite a bit, and even gotten a lot prettier in that time, Nanako-chan. Very nice.

But then again, I get a funny feeling that both Dojima-san and Narukami would probably have heart attacks if they saw you dressed like this. As for me? I like that you're trying to assert your independence. I approve of your new look, Nanako-chan. It suits you." Adachi said as most of the group frowned at Adachi's remark before Skull spoke up to voice what most of the group had just realized, a disgusted look on his face as he spoke.

"Wait, hold the eff up. Did Adachi really just hit on Seraphim!? EWW! You disgusting creep! Not only is she entirely too young for you, but she's likely not even interested in your cringy ass that way!" Skull said as Fox spoke up.

"I agree with Skull. I didn't think Adachi, who's supposed to be a grown man, was so hard up that he had to resort to attempting to pick up unwilling teenagers in order to have a sex life. With all due respect to Skull, I think Adachi-san has a more pitiful track record with the ladies than he does. Heck, I think I've seen cats with better luck than Adachi." Fox said as Seraphim spoke up with a wince before Mona could do more than huff once he realized that Fox had also taken a shot at him with his last remark.

"Fox has a good point. However, this technically wouldn't be the first time he's hit on a teenager. From what Big Bro said, he apparently also came on to a high-school girl during the initial string of murders that happened in Inaba nine years ago. And then when she refused him, Adachi tossed her into the TV world and left her to die just because she turned him down. I recall that Yosuke-kun was quite devastated when that girl passed away too, since he had a crush on her. Or so Big Bro said. Either way, it's not news to me that Tohru Adachi is a sick and twisted piece of human trash." Seraphim said as Noir spoke up.

"I see. With all apologies to Crow here, are all men in power just a bunch of corrupt, greedy scumbags!?" Noir said as Panther spoke up.

"Not to mention sick, disgusting creeps?" Panther added as Flare spoke up.

"At least to Adachi's credit, he hasn't driven anyone to kill themselves yet. Not that that's saying a lot, though. From what I can tell, he's done some pretty fucked-up things. So it might not be a stretch to say he's as bad as Kamoshida!" Flare said as Pendragon spoke up.

"Perhaps, but we're not stooping to his level, even if he might deserve it." Pendragon said as Seeker spoke up.

"Stooping to his level? Is that an expression?" Seeker asked, her head tilted to the side in confusion. Adachi noticed her and spoke up while giving Seeker a very unsettling grin that had Joker and Violet both exchanging wary looks while Adachi spoke.

"Oh, is this another pretty young lady? Very nice. What's your name, good looking?" Adachi said coyly as Joker and Violet's eyes twitched at the flagrant pass Adachi had made at Seeker, the former brandishing his knife and pointing it at Adachi as he spoke up angrily, giving Adachi his best death glare while he spoke.

"Adachi? If you're smart, you'll keep your despicable, scummy, perverted ass self away from Seeker, unless you don't care about what I'll do to you with this knife if you keep trying to hit on her like you are. She's not nearly old enough for you. Moreover, she's far too precious and innocent to let scum like you have their way with. So if you're going to insist on trying anything, you'll do it over both my dead body AND Violet's, as well as after getting through Mona first!

And that's not even getting into what the others would do to you afterwards! So leave mine and Violet's daughter alone, you sick-ass disgusting son of a-!" Joker said before Violet, Pendragon, Draconis, Crow, and Wolf all cut off Joker by speaking up, shocked by the rare edge of venomous vitriol and hatred in Joker's voice, unintentionally cutting off the shocked gasp that came from Seeker as she heard Joker refer to her as his daughter.

"JOKER!" Violet, Pendragon, Draconis, Crow, and Wolf all said as Pendragon kept speaking.

"Calm down, Joker. I get you and Violet are quite protective of Seeker, but surely Adachi's not worth getting in trouble over." Pendragon said as Mona spoke up.

"I dunno about that one, Pendragon. His rather pointed and explicit remarks about Adachi aside, I might have to agree with Joker here. How dare Adachi try and come on to a pure and innocent lady such as Lady Seeker like that!? She's far too pure, beautiful, amazing, and precious to be allowing scumbags like Adachi to try and take advantage of her in order to potentially soil her purity and innocence for their own sick means." Mona said as Joker and Violet nodded approvingly to Mona's words as Noir spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to her and away from the now-blushing Seeker, who was in shock and awe of how much Joker and Mona were both coming to her defense.

"I think I also agree with Joker-kun. After all, Adachi-san sounds a lot like my ex-fiance, Sugimura! At least to Adachi-san's credit, he doesn't go around kicking cats into walls out of spite. But again, that's not saying much." Noir said as Queen frowned and spoke up.

"Seriously. The fact that this guy used to be a detective is a disgrace to all good detectives everywhere." Queen said as Seraphim nodded and spoke up.

"I agree, Queen. He makes respectable detectives like my father and Chie-san look bad by his mere existence. Granted, his badge was revoked the instant he turned himself in and was arrested, but that's besides the point." Seraphim said as Mona frowned at Noir and spoke up.

"Did you REALLY have to bring up my previous form like that, Noir? I get you were making a point, but still! That wasn't my fondest memory nor was it my proudest moment, especially given what that incident happened on the heels of." Mona said in embarrassment as Draconis spoke up.

"Good point, Mona. You and I made so many mistakes on that occasion, it's almost embarrassing." Draconis said as Violet spoke up.

"Yes, well, we all forgave you two for that a while ago. As for Adachi-san!? I'm not so sure I'll forgive HIM for basically hitting on an innocent young girl like Seeker." Violet said as Adachi spoke up after aiming his gun at Joker and pulling the trigger, only missing him because both Mona and Seeker pulled him down and out of the path of the oncoming bullet, which flew over the Prison Keep and off into the distance.

"Really? You're going to threaten me with a knife, you dumb idiot? You seriously brought a knife to a gunfight!? Are you stupid? Well, no matter. Time to punish you!" Adachi said as he tried to fire his gun again, only to find out that he was out of bullets due to using his gun in his fight with Crow and Seraphim. Wolf smirked and spoke up.

"Well, well, from the looks of it, you're out of ammo. And unless you want us to take you in by force, surrender now, and return to your cell in the real world Adachi." Wolf said as Adachi smirked and as he let out a chuckle before it turned into laughter as he spoke.

"Well then, I guess it has come to this. I didn't think that I'd ever have to use this again. But I'm going to have no choice. No more fooling around." Adachi said as he started to grip his head with his hands as he grunted as if he had a headache. The Thieves were confused by this as Crow spoke up.

"If you're trying to scare us with some new tactic, you are not doing so well," Crow said as he walked towards Adachi to apprehend him. However, it wasn't until Oracle, after taking a quick scan on Adachi, gasped and yelled out that Crow realized something was wrong.

"CROW! GET BACK!" Oracle yelled as Crow spoke up.

"Get back? What are you talking abo..." Crow said but was cut off by Adachi screaming out as a flash of red flame engulfed Adachi. The resulting flash causes Crow to be knocked back as Noir speaks up.

"CROW!" Noir said as she rushed to help her boyfriend up. Once Crow was back on his feet, Noir spoke up again.

"Are you ok?" Noir said with concern as Crow spoke up.

"I'm fine, Noir. But I think we should be concerned with that, rather than worrying about me." Crow said as he and the rest of the Thieves looked at the red energy that was engulfing Adachi. As the Thieves watched in shock, Draconis spoke up.

"This power. IT CAN'T BE!" Draconis said as Adachi spoke up with rage in his eyes.

"MANGLE THEM! MAGATSU-IZANAGI!" Adachi said as a red and black being appeared behind Adachi that had Seraphim gasping at how similar it looked to Yu's default Persona, Izanagi. Seraphim then spoke up, her eyes wide in shock behind her mask at the sight of Adachi wielding what appeared to be a Persona as she spoke.

"YOU HAVE A PERSONA TOO, ADACHI-SAN!?" Seraphim said as Adachi smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, surprised? Apparently, the same being that gave your Big Bro his powers gave myself and Namatame similar powers. And now to put them to use! ATTACK, MAGATSU-IZANAGI!" Adachi said as Draconis frowned and spoke up.

"Oracle, you were the one to sense this new Persona coming. Any chance you can get a scan off on it to try and figure out its affinities?" Draconis asked as Oracle nodded, doing a quick scan before she spoke up.

"Hmm. Well, according to this, Magatsu-Izanagi isn't weak to anything. However, it does nullify both Bless and Curse moves, meaning around a third of us aren't going to be much use outside of chip damage with their melee weapons and/or guns. But at the same time, let's keep anyone weak to Curse moves back, since my scan indicated he knows a number of Curse moves, plus a mix of physical skills and insta-kill moves." Oracle said as Seraphim groaned and spoke up.

"Of course. Between those last two fights we just had to open up this Prison Keep and this one, that's three fights in a row where the enemy was able to throw insta-kill moves around like candy. Luckily, those of us with Bless and/or Curse skills, or myself, Joker, Crow, Seeker, and Violet, should be able to rely on our Physical skills and our melee and ranged weapons to still deal damage at a good rate. And Joker being a Wild Card is also to his benefit for sure." Seraphim said sagely as the now-named Magatsu-Izanagi nodded and waved his double-edged sword.

The ensuing attack would end up making a rain of mixed Elec and Curse energy rain down on the group, only for Crow and Seraphim to easily absorb the oncoming attack as Joker slowly got up after being shoved to the ground to avoid the bullet aimed at him. Once he saw Joker get up, Adachi frowned and spoke up.

"You mean to tell me that didn't take you down!? How about this, then? SHOW THEM YOUR FULL FURY, MAGATSU-IZANAGI!" Adachi said as Magatsu-Izanagi nodded before spinning his double-edged sword around and slamming it into the ground to cause a torrent of flaming kanji to rise out of the ground and try to pelt the group, only for Crow and Joker to easily absorb the oncoming attack thanks to their higher resistance to Curse attacks, along with Draconis also tanking some of the damage thanks to Malefor's resistance to Curse attacks. Joker then spoke up as he slowly got to his feet while the rest of the group had to dodge out of the way to avoid the torrent of oncoming insta-kill moves thrown their way by Magatsu-Iznaagi.

"Hmph, not bad. Too bad you're too incompetent to know how to properly hit an opponent's weakness, Adachi. Seems like all you're good at is using others to do your sick and twisted bidding, and hitting on underage women. Perverts like you disgust me." Joker said as Draconis nodded before Crow spoke up.

"Agreed, Joker. Clearly Adachi-san didn't get the memo that we respect women around here. But maybe he'll get the memo if we beat that lesson into him?" Crow suggested as Joker nodded while getting to his feet. After Joker recovered from almost getting shot by Adachi, the Thieves got enraged at Adachi's attempt to shoot Joker and started attacking Adachi, who flew backwards into a wall, but soon recovered as he then used his Persona to buff himself with 'Heat Riser' before launching a powerful Wind spell to knock everyone back as Draconis spoke up.

"Ok, I must admit. For a low life such as him, he's good when it comes to using a Persona." Draconis said as Adachi laughed and spoke up.

"Face it! You fools have no idea who you're messing with. As I mentioned before, this isn't my first tussle with Persona users. I know all of their tricks. Meaning that any skills that you try on me, I will know how to counter it." Adachi said as Oracle spoke up.

"This is bad. If what he says is true, then is there anything we can do that can be able to take down this creep?" Oracle said as Seraphim spoke up.

"Actually, there may be one thing that Adachi-san might not know about that can stop him. Besides, if anyone here has the right to finish this sniveling little scumbag off, it's me! And I think I have just the thing in mind for it, too. You see, Draconis told me about these things you guys can do that are basically combo skills with three people, which I saw for myself during some of our earlier fights like with Namatame. I think he called them Triad Specials?

In any case, I had the idea for a potential Triad Special of my own that came to me in a dream when I was resting it off after my Awakening. However, it's a bit of an intricate move, so it will require some specialized help to pull off. Specifically, I'll need your help, Fox. And yours, Noir. Are you two up for helping me out?" Seraphim said as Fox and Noir looked at each other and the former spoke up.

"I can't speak for Noir, but I'm certainly willing to lend my assistance to your move in any way I can." Fox said as Noir smiled and spoke up.

"I'm also willing to help out any way I can, Seraphim-chan. So, shall we try it out?" Noir asked as Seraphim nodded and spoke up.

"I agree. Let's finish this guy off!" Seraphim said as she, Fox, and Noir spoke up in unison.

"GO, TRIAD SPECIAL!" Seraphim, Fox, and Noir said as their Triad Special started! Fox then spoke up.

"GOROKICHI! LET US STRIKE!" Fox said as Gorokichi appeared and breathed a torrent of ice out that he carved up into a set of small pointed objects as Noir spoke up.

"TOUCH HIM, LUCY!" Noir said as Lucy waved her hand and coated the pointed objects in Psy energy as Seraphim spoke up.

"SRAOSHA! PUT THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON THE MOVE!" Seraphim said as Sraosha nodded and waved his cane, causing small torrents of lightning to hit each of the pointed objects, charging them with electricity and causing all the pointed objects to aim at Adachi as Seraphim, Fox, and Noir spoke up in unison.

"TASTE THE POWERS OF OUR KARMA STINGERS!" Seraphim, Fox, and Noir said as the pointed objects flew at Adachi, exploding as they hit his torso and arms, blasting him backwards off his feet and sending him into a roll to the ground, where he landed with a heap as Seraphim, Fox, and Noir spoke up once more.

"JUSTICE IS SERVED!" Seraphim, Fox, and Noir said as Adachi slumped over and hit the ground with a groan, ending both the Triad Special and the battle. Afterwards, Adachi struggled to his feet and spoke up.

"Heh, I'm impressed. That wasn't bad, you lot. You're pretty tough. You beat me fair and square. And as for you, Nanako-chan? You've gotten quite resilient, mature, and strong over the past almost nine years. I bet Dojima-san's proud of how much you've grown up in that time. Though at the same time, I bet he'd rather not have to start breaking out the shotguns and/or baseball bats to keep all the boys and/or girls away from you just yet." Adachi said as Mona spoke up.

"Shut up! Do you really have nothing better to do with your life than hitting on teenagers and little girls, Adachi-san? We already beat you, so why are you even still here? Get out of here while you still can. After all, the last guy that managed to lose to us in one of these fights and not immediately turn into black mist literally got burnt alive until he burnt to ash and turned into black mist. So I'd get out of here while you're still able to do so. Who knows what the Monarch here might do if he knows you failed him?" Mona said sagely as Adachi blanched and spoke up.

"Ehh, that's a good point. I think I'll get out of here now. I would much rather be back in my normal prison cell than continue staying in this place anyway. It was nice to have the chance to face off against you guys, but I'm not about to lose my life in this place." Adachi said as he opened up a portal using Magatsu-Izanagi's power and vanished into it, leaving the area. Once he was gone, a rumbling sound preceded the staircase appearing for the group to take up to the top, as well as a core appearing atop the tower. As the group scaled the final Prison Keep, Joker seized the core, which took the form of a silenced pistol, which Joker gasped on seeing as he secured the 'Confident Man's Pistol' key item and spoke up.

"Wait, hold on. Isn't this the same gun that-?" Joker asked as Crow winced and nodded as he spoke up.

"Yes, I'm sure of it. That's the same gun that was used to kill what was thought to be you. I still can't believe you all tricked me into killing a cognitive look-alike of Joker, by the way. And here I thought I was confident in my success that day. It seems you all had similar confidence in your ability to fool me." Crow said as Draconis frowned and spoke up.

"True. But none of us counted on how authentically heartbroken Violet wound up being when she thought Joker was dead because of you, nor on how authentic Pendragon's reaction would be to hearing about Joker's demise. And that's not even getting into how scared and heartbroken most of Joker's Confidants were after his 'death' was aired on the news." Draconis said as Violet blushed in embarrassment and spoke up.

"In my defense, I thought I'd lost the love of my life that day. So of course I was gonna be heartbroken. Speaking of, sorry for basically crying into your shirt for twenty minutes after I thought Joker died, Draconis." Violet said as Draconis spoke up while giving Violet a reassuring smile.

"It's fine, Violet. If not for being in the loop on the plan, I'd have probably cried too when that news report of Joker's apparent demise was broadcast. Joker is my brother, after all. So of course I love him, despite how stupid and insufferable he can be at times. Same with Crow and Mona, really. They're also like brothers to me. Well, Crow is actually my half-brother, but that's besides the point." Draconis said as Joker spoke up.

"I see. Somehow, I'm not surprised that this is the final core. After all, the first core was Crow's briefcase, and the second was the twin of the glove I kept after Crow tossed it at me, so it makes sense that the third one is the gun that nearly ended me." Joker said as Wolf spoke up with a frown.

"I still can't believe Crow was able to bring a gun to interrogate a prisoner, much less have the authority to get enough alone time with a prisoner to end him. I feel like that's a bit of a gross misuse of power." Wolf said with a frown as Crow spoke up.

"True. But at the same time, it wasn't my power being abused. It was Shido-san's. He was the one who pulled the strings to get me in a position to be able to potentially end Joker. But to be honest, I'm glad I didn't actually kill Joker. I'd have probably lived with the guilt and regret of it for the rest of my life, not to mention lived with all of you wanting my head on a spike for taking Joker from you, and rightly so." Crow said as a familiar voice was heard as the intercoms came on.

"Impressive. You've actually obtained all three cores of this Jail. Well done, Phantom Thieves. However, you still have yet to reach the Birdcage of this Jail. But if you go back the way you came and take the opposite fork you took to get to this Prison Keep, you'll reach the Birdcage. However, I'm afraid you're going to have to come back later for that part, since there's currently an insurrection being contained, so my security staff are all out in force trying to stop the insurrection.

And the entrance to the Birdcage is likely locked off at this point due to the elevated security, so you couldn't access it now even if you wanted to. So I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave and come back tomorrow. Tough luck, Phantom Thieves. But just think, you're so close to your goal now. Good luck. You're gonna need it. AHAHAHAHAHA!" The voice of the Monarch of Yongen Jail said over the intercom as Joker growled and spoke up.

"Dammit! I hate that he's right. But we can't wear ourselves out too much here. Besides, I'm quite sure most of us are likely emotionally drained from that last fight with Adachi, to say nothing of what we all faced in that labyrinth before. So I think it would be best for us to take the Monarch's advice in this instance and go back and regroup. We can return tomorrow, once we've recharged and rested. Is that fine with everyone?" Joker asked as most of the others reluctantly nodded before everyone exited the Metaverse...

(At the same time, in the lair of the Monarch of the Yongen Jail)

"Huh, those fools are making more progress than I thought they would. Interesting. Maybe I won't have to hold back when I face them after all? Either way, I'm ready to get revenge on those pesky Phantom Thieves, especially the Amamiya brothers for convincing 'me' to abandon me like he did. They'll know how it feels to be discarded soon enough. AHAHAHAHA!" The Monarch of the Yongen Jail mused to himself before letting out an evil laugh as he sat on his throne, planning his next course of action...

(Later on, back in the real world, in the RV, with Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Goro, Sumire, Kusa, Sophia, Sojiro, Shiho, Zenkichi, Nanako, and Akane)

"Well, that was an anti-climactic way to force us out of that Jail." Goro said dryly as Sojiro spoke up.

"You're not wrong, Goro. After all I'd heard about these roadblocks, I was expecting something a bit more dynamic, like possibly the Monarch personally chasing us out." Sojiro said as Zenkichi spoke up.

"Perhaps, but I think the way we left that Jail was plenty sufficient in and of itself. What I'm more worried about was that very dark moment Ren had against Adachi. I wasn't ready for him to take his knife out and all but hold it to Adachi's throat like he did." Zenkichi said as Sumire spoke up.

"Can you blame him, though? That sick creep tried to hit on Sophia! And that's after he hit on Nanako before that." Sumire said as Akane's eyes widened and she spoke up.

"Wait, hold up. WHAAAAT!? What do you mean, some sick and disgusting creep was hitting on Nanako? How dare they try and make a pass at her like that!" Akane asked in shock as Nanako hugged Akane to calm her down as she spoke up.

"Easy, Akane. I'm pleased you're so protective of me, but it's fine. Nothing happened. Besides, I'd have probably punt-kicked him in the nads if he did try to make a move on me." Nanako said, not seeing every male in the room all subconsciously cover the body part in question with a wince after hearing what Akane said in response.

"Ooh, so you'd give him a nutcracker, then? Might I suggest you wear steel-toed boots when you do that, so your kick does more damage?" Akane said as Nanako giggled and spoke up.

"That's an idea. Or even better, I could wear spiked shoes." Nanako said as Kusa spoke up, deciding to cut the two off before they could traumatize the guys any further.

"Ooookay, that's enough. We get it. You two won't stand for guys trying to force themselves onto you. We don't need to hear more about how you'd mutilate their man-bits over it. Besides, wouldn't all that time you spend plotting something like that be better spent on more pleasurable things?" Kusa said as Nanako spoke up.

"Perhaps, but I'm pretty sure neither myself nor Akane are foolish enough to try anything with all of you in the room?" Nanako pointed out as Kusa grinned and spoke up.

"That can easily be remedied. After all, I believe that it's been some time since most of us went out for a night on the town." Kusa pointed out as Ryuji spoke up with a nod.

"Truth, Kusa! I think the last time that most of us gathered together for a night on the town, was during Yusuke's birthday four years ago." Ryuji said as Futaba giggled and spoke up.

"Ooh, I know! Is there anyone who would object to us trying to book the Crossroads for another round of the King's Game?" Futaba suggested as nearly immediately, most of the group cheered, even though everyone except for Sophia, Sojiro, Zenkichi, Nanako, and Akane all got embarrassed looks on their faces as they recalled the last time they'd played the King's Game. Eventually, Zenkichi shook his head and spoke up.

"Sorry, but I don't think that's a good idea, Futaba. We need our wits about us for the return to the Jail tomorrow. But if we did something less wild, like maybe some darts or billiards, that might be more of an option." Zenkichi said as Sumire spoke up.

"That's a valid suggestion, Zenkichi. But what about this? I know we were supposed to have a nice soak in the hot springs back in Kyoto, but then between what the guys tried to do and what happened to Zenkichi afterwards, our plans kinda got derailed. And I know for a fact there's a nice bathhouse across from Leblanc, so maybe us girls could go have a soak there while the guys all head to Kichijoji for some darts and/or billiards. And us girls can even bring Sophia into the bath-house, since the bath-house by Leblanc doesn't prohibit cell phones, as Futaba knows full well." Sumire said, aiming a sly smirk at a blushing Futaba, who pouted and spoke up.

"Sumire? You do realize this means war, right?" Futaba said as she tackled Sumire to the ground and started a tickle-fight with her, which ended with Futaba slyly pinning Sumire to the ground and straddling her as she spoke up.

"How does it feel to be on the receiving end of a pin, Sumire?" Futaba said as she playfully patted Sumire on the head and pecked her teasingly on the cheek, making Kusa and Ren gape before exchanging wide-eyed looks of shock as the former spoke up.

"Wow, would you look at that? I guess Taba didn't outgrow that bi-curious phase after all, eh Ren?" Kusa said as Ren spoke up after recovering from his shock at Futaba's sudden tackling of his girlfriend.

"Guess not. Oh well, at least it's all in good fun, right?" Ren said as Futaba helped Sumire up with a sly smirk as a 'BIP!' from Sumire's phone, which was on the table, preceded Sophia speaking up.

"Was that Futaba trying to seduce Sumire? I thought Futaba was over her crush on Sumire?" Sophia asked as Sumire spoke up.

"No, that was her being a brat and teasing me. But at least she was merciful about it. I just hope she didn't give either of the two girl/girl pairings in our group any ideas." Sumire said as Akane spoke up with a sly grin.

"Not at all. Besides, if I wanted to, I could pin Nanako to the bed easily and dominate her. But I'm refraining from doing anything like that out of respect for her." Akane said as Shiho spoke up.

"Good plan, Akane-chan. Respect your crush's boundaries." Shiho said as Akane nodded before a red-faced Nanako spoke up while cutely pouting.

"I hate that you're right about that, Akane. But you left out the part where you'd probably have kissed me while pinning me." Nanako said as Akane smirked and spoke up.

"Ah, yes. So I did. Very perceptive, Nanako." Akane said as Sumire huffed and spoke up.

"Enough, you two! If you're gonna make out, at least wait until Sophia's not around. I'd rather not have her exposed to that if I can avoid it." Sumire said. Ren then spoke up.

"So it sounds like the guys are heading into Kichijoji for a guys' night and the girls are headed to the bath-house by Leblanc for a girls' night, then?" Ren said as everyone nodded and dispersed to partake of their respective activities...

(A while later, in Yongen-Jaya, at the bath-house across from Leblanc, with Ann, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Sumire, Sophia, Shiho, Nanako, and Akane)

As the girls relaxed in the hot bath together, Nanako spoke up.

"Ahh, this feels amazing. I didn't think there was a difference between a hot bath and a hot spring, but there definitely is." Nanako said as Akane giggled and spoke up.

"You mean besides the fact we have to come in here with nothing but our birthday suits on? I'd say the difference is that hot springs give you a bit more room to move around. But this is also nice to a point." Akane said as Haru smiled and spoke up.

"Yes, it is quite lovely. I thought that eight of us sharing one of these, nine if we count Sophia-chan, who's inside of Sumire-chan's phone, would be awkward. But it's surprisingly quaint and cozy." Haru said as Makoto spoke up.

"True. And the best part? We don't have to worry about the guys trying to peep on us again like in Kyoto. Sure, we found out later they had a valid excuse for being in there, but the point that they shouldn't have been in there at all still stands. Besides, I'm sure that some of us are enjoying this more than others." Makoto said, giving a knowing look to both Ann and Akane, who both blushed at being caught out checking out Shiho and Nanako respectively. For their parts, Shiho and Nanako just gave their girlfriend (in Shiho and Ann's case) and/or crush (in the case of Nanako and Akane) amused smiles. Sumire just shook her head and spoke up.

"What are we going to do with you two? We get it. You're both into women, and specifically you're into Shiho and Nanako respectively. But at least refrain yourselves from jumping them with the rest of us here. Sure, some of us might enjoy it, like Futaba, but not all of us." Sumire said as Ann blushed and spoke up.

"True, but you left out the fact that Futaba has a well-known bi-curious streak to her. So of course she enjoys the idea of us girls jumping each others' bones. Besides, I've yet to hear any complaints from Shiho when I jump her, so I think she enjoys it as well." Ann said with a sly grin as Shiho blushed and spoke up.

"We also only do that in private for the most part though, Ann. Unlike a certain other pair of girls I could name that don't seem to be bothered by the idea of others walking in on them fooling around, if what I caught them doing was any indication." Shiho said as an embarrassed Akane spoke up.

"I can't believe you brought that up, Shiho. Also, you could've knocked louder if you didn't want to catch us doing that. I mean, if Nanako and I had heard you knocking on my door earlier, we'd have made sure we were decent before you came in." Akane pointed out as Nanako spoke up.

"That's true, Akane. But I seem to recall that Shiho also said that she didn't judge us for our choices at all. That being said, let us turn to what Sumire brought up. I think the best way to respond to that is by pointing out how being shameless and naughty brats is just Ann and Akane being themselves in a nutshell, Sumire. Besides, it's not like it's the first time that Akane's looked at me naked anyways. I'm sure it's the same for Ann and Shiho as well. Then again, I could see it making sense for you, Futaba, Haru, Makoto, and probably Sophia to not have looked at another naked woman before." Nanako said as Sumire blushed and spoke up.

"Good point. And to be honest? While I can't speak for Futaba, Haru, Makoto, or Sophia, I've seen a few different girls naked before." Sumire said as both Haru and Makoto gave her surprised looks and the former spoke up.

"Is that true, Sumire-chan? Have you seen other women naked before?" Haru said as Sumire nodded and spoke up.

"Mmhm. When she was alive, Kasumi was a pretty shameless bisexual who openly leaned towards women. And given the fact that there was a time when Kasumi and I had to share a bedroom, it shouldn't be a surprise that there were a lot of times when I'd come home to put my stuff away and find Kasumi in bed with a girl, usually a different one each time. So I've seen quite a few naked women before, Kasumi included." Sumire said as Futaba blinked and spoke up.

"Oh? I didn't think you and your sister were that open with one another? Mwehehe, how interesting." Futaba said as a 'BIP!' from Sumire's phone, which was currently sitting on a barrel behind the tub next to Sumire, preceded Sophia speaking up.

"Umm, is that related to what Aunt Kasumi told me about in regards to incest when we ran into her in that labyrinth before?" Sophia asked as both Shiho and Makoto's jaws dropped and they both turned to look at Sumire, the former speaking up.

"Hold up. What does Sophia mean, 'what Aunt Kasumi told me about in regards to incest'? Although now that I think about it, didn't you mention back in the Jail that you and Sophia ran into Kasumi as your maze obstacle, Sumire?" Shiho asked as Sumire spoke up with an embarrassed nod.

"Yeah. First we had to fight a corrupted cognitive echo of her that basically said a lot of rude things to myself and Sophia, and may have literally backhanded Sophia across the face before we defeated her. After that, we saw the spirit of the real Kasumi, and had a very nice talk with her. Part of that talk might have involved Kasumi having to give Sophia 'the Talk' while explaining incest and to a point lesbianism and harems to her. You had to be there to understand it, honestly." Sumire said as Futaba spoke up.

"That's fair, Sumire. But that's ironic that your obstacle involved running into a deceased loved one, since Sojiro and I had to fight a corrupted cognitive echo of my Uncle Youji. Without going into too much detail, let's just say that I was given a sharp reminder of why I used to despise him so much. But once Sojiro and I defeated him, my mom's spirit showed up and lectured Uncle Youji, who then apologized and disappeared.

After that, we had a talk where Mom laid a bit of a bombshell on Sojiro and I about how Sojiro is apparently my biological father, thanks to some test she had run without either his knowledge or mine after she gave birth to me. But I'm not mad at her, since it worked out for the best." Futaba said as Haru spoke up.

"How wild. I think that maze was just all around a time for reunions. I got to reunite with my father's spirit too, after I defeated Sugimura again. Turns out my father actually did have a change of heart before he passed away. He actually apologized to me for everything he did to me, including trying to force me into a loveless marriage to Sugimura, and he even gave his blessings to my relationship with Goro. Pretty neat, if I do say so myself." Haru said as Akane frowned and spoke up.

"Wait, what's this about a maze and reunions? What are you guys talking about?" Akane asked as Nanako spoke up.

"Oh, right. You had to wait in the RV, so you weren't part of that. Let me explain what we're talking about for you, Akane. One of the obstacles we had to face recently was a maze where most of us had to face obstacles from our past. Suffice to say, a lot of us had rough stuff to face. But many of us had nice resolutions from them." Nanako explained while Akane spoke up.

"I see. Although from what you told me, you seem to not have encountered anyone from your past aside from that guy who kidnapped you as well as that killer detective. So I'm not sure what you'd have faced, Nanako." Akane said as Nanako blushed and spoke up.

"Funny enough, I did end up fighting Namatame and Adachi in the Jail, in which the former was the one responsible for me getting my Persona. But when it came to my obstacle in the maze, I ended up having to face the Shadow of my Big Bro. And that was quite enlightening, mostly since he said that I was free to make my own choices, including whether or not I decide to make a naughty little brat like you my girlfriend, Akane. And before you ask, I'll let you know what I decide later." Nanako said as Akane nodded her understanding and spoke up.

"Fair enough. I stand by what I said before, though. I don't care what anyone has to say. I'd love to be able to call you my girlfriend, Nanako." Akane said as Nanako blushed but spoke up.

"Thank you. That's good to know, Akane." Nanako said as Sophia spoke up.

"Ah, so apparently baths aren't just for cleaning oneself. They can also be good bonding opportunities if shared with another." Sophia said as Futaba spoke up with a nod.

"Very perceptive, Sophia. Mind you, you usually only see girls sharing baths with girls. It's pretty uncommon if not unheard of for a man and a woman to share a bath together, unless they're dating and/or married. If that's the case, then it's much more acceptable and commonplace. Heck, I lost count of the amount of times that myself and Kusa have shared a bath, to say nothing of all the times Sumire's probably shared a bath with Ren in the time they've been dating." Futaba said as Sumire blushed and spoke up.

"FUTABA! Don't teach Sophia things like that! Even if you're not wrong, that's not age-appropriate for her." Sumire said as Sophia spoke up.

"And that talk Aunt Kasumi gave me was age-appropriate for me? It wasn't any worse than what Futaba said, after all." Sophia pointed out as Sumire blinked and spoke up.

"That's a fair point, Sophia." Sumire said as the girls all laughed companionably at the embarrassed look on Sumire's face before they enjoyed the rest of their soak in companionable silence before heading back to the RV to get comfortable, excluding Sumire, Sophia, and Futaba, who headed to Leblanc and the Sakura residence respectively...

(Meanwhile, in Kichijoji, at the Penguin Sniper darts lounge with Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Yusuke, Goro, Kusa, Sojiro, and Zenkichi)

As the guys gathered inside of the Penguin Sniper darts lounge in Kichijoji, Ryuji looked at Ren and spoke up.

"Well, here we are at the Penguin Sniper once again. It's been a while since you came here last, hasn't it RenRen?" Ryuji asked Ren, who nodded as he spoke up.

"Yep. I think the last time I came here was with Goro about three and a half years ago. I remember it rather well, since it was the night before Yusuke's birthday. And that was the birthday where Yusuke got a girlfriend for his birthday, as Kusa so aptly pointed out at the time." Ren said as Kusa grinned and spoke up.

"Ah, yes. I did point that out back then, didn't I? Heh, good times. Though to be honest, I probably owe Togo-san an apology for embarrassing her as much I did with all the teasing I was doing of her and Yusuke. And probably an apology to Yusuke as well for somewhat putting him on the spot to an extent. But I don't think he's apt to complain, given the results that his being put on the spot like that had for him." Kusa said as Yusuke nodded and spoke up.

"Indeed, you are correct. The only difference between now and then, aside from the lack of females in the room, is the fact that Sojiro and Zenkichi hadn't joined us at the time, so they weren't able to be part of that party." Yusuke said as Sojiro spoke up.

"True, but at the same time, we're here now, aren't we? So that's got to count for something." Sojiro said as Zenkichi spoke up.

"Granted, neither myself nor Sojiro have really played darts before, so we're likely not that good at the game, but I'm sure we can figure it out as we go." Zenkichi said as Ren spoke up with an understanding nod.

"Ah, I forgot. You two aren't that experienced with darts, are you? I suppose in that case, Kusa and I should each pick one of you to pair up with so we can show you the ropes as we go. Meanwhile, we can pair Yusuke with Ryuji, and put Goro with Morgana. Any objections?" Ren said as everyone nodded their agreement and Ryuji spoke up.

"To be honest, I think you and Sojiro should pair up, as well as have the first game, RenRen. And that would leave Kusa to pair up with Zenkichi." Ryuji said as Kusa shrugged and spoke up.

"That's true. I think that's probably the best arrangement for all involved anyways. After all, I doubt Goro would be very lenient if we'd paired either Sojiro or Zenkichi with him. But if we're having Ren and Sojiro go first, then I think the order from there, if no one objects, should be as follows: myself and Zenkichi second, Ryuji and Yusuke third, and Goro and Morgana last." Kusa said as Goro spoke up.

"Ignoring the frankly slanderous remark you just made about me, I do agree that Morgana and I should be last. Save the best for last and all that." Goro said as Ryuji spoke up.

"Gettin' a bit cocky there, aren't you Goro? Besides, I seem to recall a time that you lost when playing with Morgana. Methinks someone can't handle the pressure of playing with Morgana." Ryuji said as Ren laughed and spoke up.

"I'm pretty sure Goro tanked that round on purpose to sabotage Morgana, probably to put Morgana's ego in check. Also, I think Goro didn't want to be paired with, and I apologize to you in advance for this Morgana, a cat. So that could be why he threw that game." Ren said as Goro grinned and spoke up.

"Ah, you noticed? Besides, if anything, that was Morgana's fault for trying to keep up with me." Goro said as Morgana pouted and spoke up while giving Ren a stink eye.

"Ren? You're lucky that you were making a point. So I'll let the 'cat' remark slide this time." Morgana said as Yusuke spoke up.

"Cheer up, Morgana. I bet you and I will make for a rather dynamic muse with our darts throwing." Yusuke said as Ryuji sweat dropped and spoke up.

"Uhhh, sure. If you say so, Yusuke. I feel like Morgana would much rather be a dynamic muse with someone else. Someone who is a lot shorter, more feminine, and more digital." Ryuji said with a smug grin as Morgana blushed and spoke up.

"Shut up! Besides, at least I didn't take half a freaking year to finally tell my crush how I felt about her, much less try to spend time with her. You, on the other hand, took easily the longest of all of us to get a lot of significant quality time in with Makoto, and even longer to finally get her in bed with you. Even Yusuke got to base before you did, and he and Hifumi got together WAY after you and Makoto did." Morgana said as Ryuji spoke up in embarrassment.

"SHUT UP! At least I made my crush my girlfriend, and didn't have like four other girls I simped for before finally having a solid crush." Ryuji said as Yusuke spoke up.

"If I may interject Ryuji. I believe you left out the part where Morgana had a hard time getting a girlfriend because of him being stuck in a cat form for the past few years. I think that's kind of a key detail to take into account." Yusuke said as Kusa spoke up.

"Be nice, you two. Is it Morgana's fault that his luck can be arguably worse than Ren's at times? As for Morgana's struggles with the ladies, his simping for both Haru and Ann was mostly in good fun. And before anyone points out how he managed to fall for a lesbian, that could happen to anyone, as Ren knows full well. Granted, that worked out for the best for him in the end, since he actually found the girl he was meant to be with in the end when he found Sumire. So let's not be busting Morgana's balls too hard, yeah?" Kusa said, getting a grateful nod from Morgana at his intervention as Sojiro spoke up with a smirk.

"That's rich, coming from the guy who spent half the damn summer practically stuck to Futaba's side like glue during the year Ren had to stay in Yongen-Jaya for his probation. Sure, some of that was at my request and/or invitation, but still, I didn't think that invitation extended to getting her comfortable with sharing a bed with you." Sojiro said as Zenkichi smirked and spoke up.

"Really? So I'm not the only one whose daughter is quick to give their heart away, then? Interesting." Zenkichi said as Ren grinned and spoke up.

"I'd agree with that observation, Zenkichi. But let's not forget that there's a big difference between giving one's heart away to a man, like Futaba did, and giving one's heart to a woman, like Akane seems to have done with Nanako. Granted, Futaba does have a rather pronounced bi-curious streak, but that's both irrelevant and immaterial to my point.

Oh, and Sojiro? If you're going to roast Kusa for his attachment to Futaba during the summer of 2016, don't leave out the part where he spent half of July and most of August being a straight-up asshole to Ryuji and Makoto. Sure, he apologized for it, but regardless, he didn't have to bite their heads off nearly as roughly or frequently as he did. I realize he did it to watch out for Futaba, and also yourself to a point, Sojiro. However, even so, that's no call for being a douche." Ren said knowingly as Kusa winced and spoke up in embarrassment.

"Damn, talk about giving a guy a critical hit to the ego, Ren. But when you're right, you're right. I was a pretty massive asshole to both Ryuji and Makoto. But I've also already apologized to them numerous times. And if you think about it, I got my karma for it already, given what I went through that summer." Kusa said as Zenkichi raised an eyebrow and spoke up.

"What do you mean by that, Kusa?" Zenkichi asked as Sojiro spoke up.

"Oh, right. You weren't part of the group back then, were you, Zenkichi? See, Kusa used to be the captain of the Okinawa High karate team before moving to Yongen-Jaya with Ren for a year so Ren could serve a probation sentence for a crime he didn't commit." Sojiro said as Kusa spoke up.

"Yep. Of course, I only moved out here with Ren because I was court-ordered to accompany him here as an overseer. Mind, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise that I did, since not only did I get to meet Futaba after moving out here, but I also found real friends and family in Ryuji, Morgana, Yusuke, and all the rest of our fellow Phantom Thieves, present company included, even if I moreso consider Zenkichi a friend rather than family for now. But to sum up what Sojiro was about to say, basically I was invited to a dinner by a friend of mine, where I was unexpectedly reunited with the karate team I left behind to move to Yongen.

But as it turns out, they came with revenge in mind. Suffice it to say, I was led out behind the diner into a back alley, where my former teammates took turns beating the crap out of me. Those cowards not only busted up my nose, but they also fractured my right kneecap in two places. I had to spend close to three weeks with a knee brace on recovering once I got out of the hospital following a two-to-three day stay there, since I had to be hospitalized after some of my former teammates found me unconscious and got me medical attention after one of them fixed my nose back into place." Kusa explained as Zenkichi winced and spoke up.

"Ouch, that sounds rough, Kusa. But the fact you used to lead a couple of different karate teams is probably why you go by the nickname 'Kung-Fu Dragon', if I had to guess." Zenkichi said as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"Well spotted. But then again, Akane calling it out like she did probably made it obvious. But enough about the past, we came to play some darts, right?" Kusa said as the others nodded and Morgana spoke up.

"Good point. We did come here for that. Although, this will be interesting for me in particular, since this is the first time I've played darts since getting my human form." Morgana remarked, getting nods from the rest of the group as the guys all took turns playing games of darts in pairs, during which it was made rather readily apparent that both Sojiro and Zenkichi were terrible at darts, while Goro, Kusa, and Morgana still ruled at darts. Ren, Yusuke, and Ryuji, for their parts, were quite average at it.

After several rounds of darts where the group shuffled partners around, the guys eventually settled up the tab and headed back to the RV to get settled in for the night, excluding Ren, Kusa, Sojiro, and Zenkichi, whom the former headed to Leblanc while the other three headed to the Sakura residence...

(Time skip-the following afternoon, in the RV with Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Goro, Sumire, Kusa, Sophia, Sojiro, Shiho, Zenkichi, Nanako and Akane)

Once everyone was gathered together in the RV, Ren spoke up.

"Well, now that we've delayed ourselves long enough from that roadblock, what say the majority of us go and head back into the Metaverse to try and reach that Birdcage? Also, I'm sorry that you're being left out Akane, but until you can defend yourself, it's just not safe to let you accompany us. But I have a feeling you won't be left out like this for much longer, if that makes you feel any better." Ren said as Akane spoke up with a smile.

"It really does help, but I don't mind being sidelined for now. After all, unlike a certain someone I could name in this room, I'm not about to throw a tantrum of sorts just because I keep getting left out of things. Luckily for her, Nanako's so cute when she does it that I can't really stay mad at her. That, and she's so sexy when she pouts, that it's difficult to stay mad at her." Akane said as a red-faced Nanako shyly blushed while pouting cutely as she spoke up with her arms crossed.

"Akane? Shut up. I'll deal with you later for teasing me like that. But in all seriousness? We'll do our best to come back safely to you. Now wait here for us, okay?" Nanako said as Akane nodded as Kusa spoke up.

"Actually Nanako, we might be coming back to the real world much sooner than we did the last time we went into the Yongen Jail once we reach the Birdcage. Since I'm pretty sure that we're going to need to find the location of the Monarch's Trauma Cell before we confront him." Kusa said as Akane spoke up in confusion.

"Trauma Cell? What's that?" Akane asked as Makoto spoke up.

"Oh right. You, Nanako, and Zenkichi have not been informed of this. But after we reach the Birdcage of the Jail that contains all the captive Desires, as well as figure out the cause of the Monarch's trauma, we will then have to come back to the real world so that we can find the place that relates to the source of the trauma. Once we find that place, we enter the Jail from there and that will take us to the Trauma Cell.

From there, we then have to fight a Warden/Lock Keeper who is keeping the Jail's Monarch within their traumas and preventing them from returning to their real selves by reminding them of their painful past. Once we beat the Warden, that's when we can confront the Monarch by sending him a calling card." Makoto said as Akane spoke up.

"I see. So wait, when you guys were trying to change my heart earlier, did you end up having to find a Trauma Cell for me?" Akane asked as Goro spoke up.

"Surprisingly, your Jail was different to every other Jail we'd explored to that point, other than maybe the Okinawa Jail, Akane. From the looks of the Kyoto Jail, that one had only recently been created. So I don't think it was developed enough for you to have suppressed your trauma in a cell and therefore be guarded by a Warden. Besides, all of us had already gotten a general idea of the trauma you went through anyway by that point." Goro said as Akane spoke up.

"You have a point. That being said, I still appreciate you all saving me earlier. After all, if it wasn't for you guys, my dad and I would've not reconciled. With that out of the way, I wish you all good luck in there." Akane said and soon after, the others headed to the cabin to return to the Metaverse...

(A short time later, in the Yongen Jail, at the fork in the road near the third Prison Keep, with Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, and Seraphim)

Once the group got back to where they'd left off the day before, Joker spoke up.

"So, all that should be left is to take the left-hand path and get to that Birdcage, so we can try to identify the root of this Monarch's trauma." Joker said as the group nodded and headed up towards the Birdcage, quickly fighting their way through a series of easy fights to get to the top. Once there, the group saw an ominous looking building atop the tower that appeared to be a cast-iron fortress made of black metal walls with silver spikes on the tops of the walls.

Much to the disgust of most of the group, they noticed more of the flags they'd seen when they first entered the Yongen Jail, which were black and blue flags with the words 'GLORY TO OUR BENEVOLENT AND WISE DICTATOR! VIVA LA BLACK MASK!' written on them in red blood-like ink, making the girls shudder as Queen spoke up.

"Yep, this Monarch definitely has some issues, to be sure." Queen said as Crow spoke up.

"You're not wrong. So, this is the part where one of us has to reach out and try to touch that fortress, right?" Crow asked as Joker nodded and Crow kept speaking.

"I see. In that case, I'll do it. I think it makes sense for it to be me this time." Crow said as Skull spoke up.

"You sure, Crow? I can do it if needed. After all, I've done all the other birdcages thus far." Skull said as Crow spoke up.

"It's fine, Skull. If I'm right about this trauma, I might be the only one, other than maybe Joker and/or Draconis, who can handle touching the barrier anyways." Crow said before reaching out and feeling his hand collide with the expected barrier, which flashed red as he cringed but otherwise didn't react to the surges of pain in his arm as a flash of light overtook everyone's vision before a familiar voice could be heard speaking up.

"So, you've done your job, then? Not bad, kid. Not bad at all. Maybe you're more useful than I gave you credit for. In any case, I have another assignment for you. Take your newfound powers and go out and eliminate these people. Do it in a creative way. I dunno, maybe make them have a mental shutdown, or snipe them from a distance. Something like that. But let me warn you now. You do not want to know what happens if you fail me. So as long as you keep succeeding, you'll hopefully never have to find out what happens to those who cross me." The voice of what most of the group recognized to be Masayoshi Shido said as an equally familiar voice spoke up.

"Yes, Shido-san. I hear and obey you. What you ask, I will do. Leave it to me." The group heard what sounded scarily like Crow's voice, albeit a younger version, say.

After exchanging shocked looks when the white light briefly receded, Mona spoke up.

"Wait, that voice. Was that who I think it was?" Mona asked uncertainly as Crow nodded and spoke up.

"Yes. I have no doubts that was Shido-san's voice. As for the other voice, I'm pretty sure that was a younger me we heard speaking. If I'm right, this next bit is going to be right before our fateful run-in we had inside of Shido-san's Palace." Crow said. Noir frowned as she saw the haunted look on Crow's face and wrapped her boyfriend in a hug in an attempt to try and comfort him as best she could while speaking up.

"Crow? I know this is probably extremely painful for you to relieve, but I want you to know that none of us hold anything we take in here against you." Noir said, getting a grateful nod from Crow as he let himself be comforted by Noir. Around that point, as if trying to prove Crow right, another flash of white light obscured the group's vision once more as a time-skip happened as Shido's voice could be heard speaking up once more, this time decidedly angrier than before, prompting the group to exchanged worried looks before falling silent to keep listening.

"Stupid brat! Are you questioning me!? You don't want to know what happens to those who cross me. The lucky ones end up like Wakaba Isshiki or Kunikazu Okumura-given a swift and painless death. The unlucky ones, like that foolish Amamiya brat who dared to get in the way of my fun? They get given the long, drawn-out punishments. But never mind them for now. What I want you to worry about for now is to go around and get rid of all those people on my payroll that you deem to be suspicious. Only once we've removed all the obstacles in our path will our triumph be at hand." Shido snapped at a younger Crow, who spoke up.

"Very well, Shido-san. As you wish." The younger Crow said before hanging up the phone and speaking to himself.

"Why is he in such a rush? This reaction of Shido-san's is much too sudden. Unless-!" The group heard before their vision went back to normal and Oracle spoke up.

"Well, if nothing else, we know one thing for sure after hearing that. Whatever trauma the Monarch of this place has? Masayoshi Shido is most definitely involved in it, one way or another." Futaba said as Seeker spoke up.

"But didn't the real Masayoshi Shido die in an assassination while serving his prison sentence, according to Draconis?" Seeker asked as Draconis spoke up with a nod.

"Yes, that's correct. That was what I was told, Seeker. However, I can't help but note that there was never a body found after that. So, for all we know, he could still be very much alive and in hiding just like Crow was until recently. I suppose we'll find out for sure once we figure out where we need to go to open the path to the Monarch's lair." Draconis said sagely as Crow spoke up.

"I think that part is rather obvious, given what Shido-san was after for most of his career." Crow said as Joker spoke up, also knowing what Crow was getting at.

"So you're thinking what I'm thinking, then?" Joker said bluntly as Crow nodded. Oracle then spoke up.

"What, are we headed back to the Diet Building or something?" Oracle said as Joker nodded before Violet spoke up with a frown.

"Wait, what? Diet Building?" Violet said as Draconis spoke up.

"You don't remember, Violet? That was where Shido's Palace, or the Palace that we first brought you into the fold for, was located. You were there for most of that Palace. The only one of our original group that wasn't there for the majority of it was Crow, sort of. Let's just hope that this encounter with Shido, if he is the one guarding the Monarch's Trauma Cell, doesn't play out the same way that Joker told me it played out when you guys fought him the last time." Draconis said as Mona spoke up.

"Wait, what? I thought his Palace collapsed after we defeated his Shadow?" Mona asked as Seeker spoke up.

"Assuming his Palace went through the same sequence of events that the rest of the Palaces had undergone after you guys stopped a target, then it's probably a safe assumption that Shido's Palace did collapse. However, I think Joker, Crow, and Draconis believe that the Monarch has a Trauma Cell where Shido's Palace used to be. Am I right?" Seeker asked as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"Very observant, sweetie. That's exactly what we think." Joker said as Flare spoke up.

"Um, mind explaining what you're talking about for the five of us who weren't there for that mission?" Flare asked as Draconis spoke up.

"I suppose we can do that to some extent, even if that wasn't a Palace that most of us who were there for it want to relieve. Anyways, to make a long story short, after narrowly managing to defeat and conquer the Shadow of Queen's older sister, paving the way for her to have a change of heart in the process, we almost got beaten by a trap set by Shido and Crow.

However, what I'm sure neither Shido nor Crow were counting on was the fact that we were able to use their own trap against them to trick them into thinking Joker had died at Crow's hand after he got himself arrested buying the rest of us time to escape from the Palace of Queen's sister. Unfortunately, it only worked for a couple of weeks before Crow figured out what we did. But it bought us enough time to get most of the way through Shido's Palace before Crow caught up to us and confronted us in an engine room near the end of Shido's Palace.

Suffice it to say, the ensuing confrontations were both very messy, and very painful to discuss. By the end of it, we'd defeated Crow, but not before his cognitive counterpart for Shido's Palace appeared and tried to murder the others. However, this next part is one I only know since Joker filled me in on what I missed later, since by that point, I'd been blasted into a room behind Crow and knocked unconscious after being disarmed and skillfully defeated by Crow. The others were still in one piece, though Crow had to take some rather bold measures to stop his counterpart from murdering them.

If not for me luckily regaining consciousness in time to use a throwing knife to block said counterpart's attempt to shoot Crow and kill him, Crow might very well have died that day with his counterpart. As it is, I barely saved him. After that, he and I fled the Metaverse and headed to another location to settle our differences.

After we fought it out, we were interrupted by more Shadows, at which point I had to basically give myself up to buy Crow time to get out of the area we'd been fighting in and guide the others back to where we were to save me. Suffice it to say, that area wound up being the Palace of the last person either myself or Joker expected to have a Palace. But that's a story for another time. The point is, we need to not underestimate this Trauma Cell, especially if our theory is right and we end up having to fight Shido instead of a Lock Keeper there." Draconis said as the others nodded and Queen spoke up.

"Well, I suppose we should head back to the real world for now and start heading to the Diet Building to test our theory." Queen said as the others nodded and returned to the real world...

(A while later, back in the real world, outside of the Diet Building, with Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Goro, Sumire, Kusa, Sophia, Sojiro, Shiho, Zenkichi, and Nanako)

As the group stood outside of the Diet Building, Zenkichi spoke up.

"Huh, so we're really out in front of the Diet Building? Why here of all places, again?" Zenkichi asked as Futaba spoke up.

"Because this is likely the place where that sequence we overheard between Shido and what we believe to be a younger Goro happened." Futaba said as Goro spoke up with a nod.

"If that's the memory I think it was, the first half was the day I was tasked with monitoring both Kobayakawa and the SIU Director who was in charge during that point in time. The second half, meanwhile, was shortly after an interview I'd done where someone's throwaway comment about the people in the audience needing to turn off their phones before the Phantom Thieves changed their heart made me recall the time I ran into Sae-san at the station, and it was then I began to get suspicion of those events when I went to try and kill Ren.

It was only after the rather heated-sounding and frankly livid remarks by Shido-san, as well as his reactions to my questioning of going to such extremes such as murdering all of his possible opponents that he thinks is suspicious, was when I finally put all the pieces together and realized that I was ultimately tricked." Goro said as Zenkichi spoke up.

"Ah, I see. Forgive my question, then." Zenkichi said as Ann spoke up.

"No, that's an understandable reaction for someone not in the know of what happened back then." Ann said as Kusa spoke up.

"But let's stay on task, shall we? Ren, would you do the honors this time?" Kusa asked as Ren nodded and spoke up.

"Got it." Ren said before he took his phone out and spoke into it as he kept speaking.

"EMMA? Add Goro Akechi to my friend registry. The keyword is 'Black Mask'." Ren said as a 'BIP!' from his phone preceded EMMA's voice speaking up.

"Keyword successfully entered. Beginning navigation." EMMA said as the group found themselves sucked into the Metaverse...

(In the Metaverse, inside of the Trauma Cell, with Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, and Seraphim)

Once the group sat up, they looked around and frowned at the unmistakable sight of prison cells as far as the eye could see. Mona spoke up with a nod.

"Yep. No doubt about it. This is a Trauma Cell. But is there a Lock Keeper here?" Mona asked as an unexpected voice spoke up to answer the question.

"A Lock Keeper? Don't be absurd! Why would there be a need for such a crude and frankly unreliable means of defense as a Lock Keeper, when the Monarch can task me with stopping you instead? And I must say, I'm happy he did, since there are some of you here that I quite relish the chance to get a rematch with." The group heard, slowly turning as one to see a familiar figure approaching them.

Surprisingly, most of the group recognized the figure instantly despite his face being mostly concealed beneath a white spiked helmet that covered most of his eyes and part of his nose, golden spiked shoulder pads, a red flowing cape, a black long-sleeve sweater with what appeared to be medals on the front, a white sash across the chest, black leather jeans, silver spiked boots, and white gloves. Most of the Thieves that were present for the original battle with this person gasped as both Joker and Draconis' eyes narrowed before the latter spoke up.

"Hmph. So Joker and the others weren't bullshitting Crow and I when they said how ridiculous your attire looks. Guess it's finally time for us to settle things head-on. Isn't that right...Dad?" Draconis said dryly, glaring at the figure as Crow spoke up.

"Does he really deserve to be called 'Dad', though? We should just stick to calling him Shido-san instead." Crow said as Pendragon scoffed and spoke up.

"I think even calling him that is far more respect than a despicable bastard like Masayoshi Shido deserves to be shown! He caused pain for nearly everyone in this room to some extent! For starters, he turned Joker and Draconis' lives upside down, all because Joker had the courage to stop him from forcing himself on some unsuspecting woman when he was drunk. And that's not even getting into the fact that he actually did force himself onto both Draconis' and Crow's mothers, thus resulting in both of their conceptions. And then there's the fact that he had the scumbags who allowed monsters like Kamoshida, Madarame, Kaneshiro, and even Kunikazu Okumura to make the lives of Panther, Skull, Queen, Flare, Fox, and Noir hell on his payroll!

And for the icing on the cake, he was the one who gave the order to terminate Oracle's mother, as well as take away the one person I care about deeply just to stymie her research! I think out of everyone in this room, the only ones he DIDN'T do wrong by in some capacity are Seraphim, Violet, Mona, Wolf, and Seeker.

I know that we're all about doing the right thing and making the bad guys change their ways as the Phantom Thieves, but if you ask me? The only thing that a piece of shit like Masayoshi Shido deserves is a knife in the neck and a good swift boot in the-!" Pendragon said before five different voices spoke up to cut him off before he could swear too much.

"PENDRAGON!" Joker, Violet, Draconis, Queen, and Noir all rebuked Pendragon as Violet kept speaking.

"I know what he did, but still, no swearing around Seeker!" Violet rebuked Pendragon, who winced and spoke up.

"Err, right. Sorry, Seeker. I just let my emotions get the better of me a bit." Pendragon said as Seeker smiled and spoke up.

"It's fine, Pendragon. I understand." Seeker said as Shido's eyes narrowed before he lifted his helmet to glare at Pendragon, his eyes glowing a very ominous shade of yellow that had Mona gasp as he spoke up.

"NO! It can't be! I thought Shido's Shadow was destroyed when the real Shido tried to kill us by collapsing his own Palace close to four years ago. So how is he here now?" Mona asked as Shido, or rather Shido's Shadow, chuckled and spoke up.

"Finally, one of you asks an intelligent question. And since I'm in a generous mood, I'll answer you. A certain being brought me back and asked me to be a Trauma Cell guard to stop some meddling fools from beating their sixth Jail. I'm guessing that's all of you? But anyways, now that you're here, I think it's time we settle our battle from four years ago, since it was an inconclusive bout last time, especially given what happened afterwards." Shido's Shadow said. Draconis spoke up with a frown.

"So you say. But let's not forget, some of us weren't able to be part of that bout due to having things happen to them beforehand that prevented them from being part of that fight." Draconis said as Shido's Shadow smirked and spoke up.

"Ah yes, that's right. Two of you weren't able to take part in that battle. You and my traitorous son over there were tied up when I sent the latter's cognitive clone to eliminate you back on my ship. All so that Goro couldn't impede my plans so close to the endgame. Too bad I didn't count on you being able to put your hatred for your brother aside, which ultimately led to the both of you escaping from my grasp, Kusa. That was a definite miscalculation on my part, to be sure." Shido's Shadow said as Joker spoke up.

"You mean like how you miscalculated when you assumed you'd finished me off after having me arrested as a scapegoat to cover up your misdeeds with that poor defenseless woman? And for the record, you also failed to acknowledge the behind-the-scenes deal you cut with the authorities to get them to strong-arm mine and Draconis' parents into agreeing to let me go into probation for a year in order to avoid Draconis also being brought up on charges." Joker pointed out as Crow spoke up.

"Really, Joker? Somehow that doesn't surprise me that Shido-san would stoop to such measures to try and stamp out his potential enemies before they could pose a threat to him." Crow said before looking at Shido's Shadow as he kept speaking.

"As for you, Shido-san? Much like everyone else who's tried to take him out, not only did you manage to underestimate Draconis, but you also failed to squash either him or Joker. For a supposed ruthless tyrant, you have a very poor track record with finishing off your foes.

But then again, that seems to be a common pattern with every Palace Ruler we ran into, with the exceptions of the rulers of Oracle's, Okumura's, and Sae-san's Palaces. None of them have yet to truly be able to stop him. Granted, Takuto Maruki has come the closest thus far, but even he inevitably underestimated Draconis' tenacity and resourcefulness." Crow said as Shido's Shadow spoke up with a scoff.

"Hmph, is that right? I'm not surprised, given the events that happened all those years ago. I always suspected that Kusa was the worthy heir that I was after. It's too bad that our paths didn't cross sooner. I feel like it was bad luck that we ended up as adversaries." Shido's Shadow said as Draconis spoke up.

"Worthy heir, you say? Is that why you couldn't be bothered to acknowledge either my existence or Crow's until they were practically shoved in your face? And is that also why you seemed so unbothered by our apparent demise when the others mentioned it to you before they fought you four years ago?" Draconis asked as Shido's Shadow spoke up.

"I can see why you'd be angry at me, Kusa. And I even understand that anger. But the truth is that I legitimately had no idea you existed at all until I ran across you and your brother that fateful night. I assure you, if I had even an inkling that either you or Goro existed, I'd have at least made an attempt to get to know you. I might not have a lot of regrets, but the fact I never got to get to know you is definitely one of those few regrets I did have." Shido's Shadow said as Draconis spoke up.

"Even if that is true, I don't know that we could've managed to work things out, between the fact that you not only had my girlfriend's mother murdered, but you also tried to have one of my brothers convicted of a crime he didn't commit, and basically reduced my other brother to a psychotic attack dog that you sicced on anyone you damn well pleased.

Sure, I might be happy to hear my biological father finally acknowledge me after so long. However, even with that being the case, I can't overlook what you've done to those closest to me, Shido." Draconis said, crossing his arms and aiming a similar scowl at Shido's Shadow to the one on the face of Shido's Shadow, making him smirk as he spoke up.

"How unfortunate. I must say though, the resemblance between us is quite uncanny, Kusa. Tell me, why do you waste your time protecting these people, when you know full well several of them have hurt you in the past? If it were me in your position, I'd have ended several of these fools you called friends by now." Shido's Shadow said as Draconis spoke up.

"So you say, Shido. However, to answer your question? The reason I protect these people is a simple one. That being the fact that unlike YOU, I am man enough to forgive those who hurt me in the past! Yes, it hurt to have my own inadequacies pointed out to me, and it hurt a lot when I thought that Joker had taken Oracle from me, and even when I thought Mona died. But I'm not about to hold a grudge over that.

Hell, I even stopped holding a grudge against Crow for what he did to Noir, Oracle, Pendragon, Violet, and even Joker four years ago. So if you're about to try and turn me against the others, it's not gonna happen! I think it's past time that we had it out, Shido! And it's time for you to finally face up for what you've done!" Draconis said as Shido's Shadow huffed before snapping his fingers as a giant golden lion beast appeared, landing by Shido's Shadow, who climbed on its back as Shido's Shadow spoke up.

"It seems we agree on something, Kusa. Since we appear to be at an impasse with our current views, we must fight it out! So prepare yourselves, because THIS time I'm going to crush you all myself!" Shido's Shadow said as the group assumed battle-ready stances as a fight began! As the fight started, Shido's Shadow spoke up.

"So, here we are again! Time to teach you all a lesson, once and for all!" Shido's Shadow said as the Thieves huffed and Oracle spoke up.

"Careful! This form is highly resistant to Physical moves!" Oracle said as Joker spoke up.

"I see. In that case, let's have our magic users, or Seeker, Mona, Panther, myself, Draconis, and Oracle, fight this form while the rest hang back and wait for the next." Joker said as Skull, Fox, Queen, Noir, Crow, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Violet nodded as Joker and Panther made good use of 'Concentrate' to blast through the health of the 'Beast of Human Sacrifice', as Oracle's scan had identified the current opponent, before the opponent shifted forms from a grounded beast to a flying one, which Oracle then scanned and spoke up.

"Ok, his affinities have changed! Now he resists magic skills instead of Physical skills!" Oracle said cautiously as Joker nodded and had Panther, Seeker, Mona, Draconis, and Oracle hit the sidelines while Skull, Fox, Queen, Noir, Crow, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Violet took to the field. Partly due to the large number of battlers in play, the group quickly ran through the health of the 'Wings of Human Sacrifice' as the second phase's scan identified it before the winged beast screeched in pain while shifting forms once more from the form of Shido riding a winged beast into a fused pyramid with a very familiar spiked helmet on top of it. Oracle then spoke up.

"We have to all be out here for this part, since aside from this form being resistant to Gun attacks, it has no other resistances to speak of." Oracle said as Shido's Shadow spoke up from inside of the 'Tomb of Human Sacrifice' as his mount had become.

"Not bad. You've gotten stronger since our last encounter. So have I, though! Have a taste of this!" Shido's Shadow said as the 'Tomb of Human Sacrifice' fired an ominous-looking purple laser from the top of it that landed between Fox, Skull, Mona, and Pendragon, causing an explosion that scattered all the nearby Thieves and knocked them to the ground. At that point, Shido's Shadow spoke up once more.

"Had enough yet? I've got plenty more where that came from. Now, stop this foolish struggle and yield already!" Shido's Shadow said as Oracle glared and spoke up.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you!? Too bad for you, we're not giving up! You see, you're not the only one with new tricks here! A lot of us have perfected new moves that would be useful to try out against you!" Oracle said before turning to Queen and Pendragon as she kept speaking.

"Queen! Pendragon! You two up for helping me show this scumbag what I mean?" Oracle asked as Pendragon spoke up.

"I've got your back, Oracle! Let's put this despicable scumbag in his place!" Pendragon said as Queen spoke up.

"I agree with Pendragon. It's time we show Shido what we can do!" Queen said as she, Oracle, and Pendragon spoke up in unison.

"GO, TRIAD SPECIAL!" Oracle, Queen, and Pendragon said in unison as their Triad Special started! As the Triad Special started, Oracle spoke up.

"ALBUS! SET UP OUR SURPRISE!" Oracle said as Albus nodded, waving a hand as a stream of psychic lightning appeared at the same time that Pendragon spoke up.

"COME, KOHRYU! LET US GO FORTH AND FORGE THE MEANS OF OUR ATTACK!" Pendragon said as Kohryu breathed out a stream of Psy flame into the attack, making something start to take shape as Queen spoke up.

"CHARGE, AGNES! TEMPER OUR SURPRISE!" Queen said as Agnes did a wheelie and caused a burst of Nuclear energy to hit the object, making it take the form of a double-edged sword, in Nuclear energy, making it crackle with psychokinetic lightning as Oracle hefted it as she, Queen and Pendragon spoke up while glaring at the 'Tomb of Human Sacrifice'.

"TIME TO TASTE OUR FURY! GO, JUDGMENT STRIKE!" Oracle, Queen, and Pendragon said as Oracle raced up, energy blade in hand, and slashed forward, driving it through the mid-section of the 'Tomb of Human Sacrifice', which reeled backward and hit the ground, screeching as it exploded into black mist and reformed into the downed mount of Shido's Shadow, and Shido's Shadow, who stepped off of his defeated mount as it dissolved into black mist as the Triad Special ended while the battle paused as Wolf spoke up.

"Is it over?" Wolf asked as Seeker spoke up.

"I don't think so. From the looks of it, I don't think he's yielding just yet." Seeker said as Violet spoke up.

"You're right to assume that, sweetie. From what I remember of the last time that most of us fought him, Shido's Shadow still has another form he can use to fight us." Violet said as Shido's Shadow spoke up.

"Not bad. You managed to eliminate my mount, but now you face me! And I won't be as easily dispatched as my mount was!" Shido's Shadow said as he whipped off his cape and sweater, leaving him bare-chested, but with what was clearly metallic training weights on his torso and arms, making Draconis cringe and spoke up.

"Eww, what the hell? I can understand wanting to toughen up, but to go to THIS extent!? Shido's Shadow looks like he took freakin' steroids! And not only that, but his current appearance suggests that he might be into stuff I don't think I want to mention in front of Seeker, since some of it is very adult in nature." Draconis said as Crow spoke up.

"Hmph, you mean bondage, right? I could see that potentially being a kink of Shido-san's, but I doubt that's what this is." Crow said as Joker frowned and spoke up.

"I can say for a fact that what we're seeing is not bondage-related, since from what I remember of the last time when most of us fought Shido's Shadow, those are likely restraints to keep his true power in check." Joker said wisely as Skull spoke up.

"Dude! Even then, that doesn't change the fact that Shido's effin' jacked!" Skull said as Flare spoke up.

"And even that's almost an understatement! I'm pretty sure that's the most cut and buff I've ever seen a guy get in my life." Flare said as Seraphim spoke up.

"He is pretty damn buff. You're not wrong, Flare. But how much of that is actual muscle, and how much is artificially induced muscle?" Seraphim pointed out as Fox spoke up with a frown.

"So, you think that Shido's Shadow could be giving himself counterfeit muscles, Seraphim? An interesting observation, as it does remind me of Madarame's Shadow's ability to create counterfeits. But I'm quite sure those muscles are the real deal." Fox said as Noir giggled and spoke up.

"And if that's the case, imagine how much buffer Draconis and Crow could get. On the one hand, I find myself slightly excited and intrigued by the idea of a super-buff Crow, but at the same time, I also think he's pretty sexy as he is. So I respect whatever he chooses in terms of whether or not he wants to buff up." Noir said as Oracle giggled and spoke up.

"True, our boyfriends are quite the pair of dishes. But I don't think they need any more muscles. They're basically perfect as they are. To be honest, if anyone needs a bit more muscle around here, it's probably Mona and/or Fox, since they're easily the scrawniest males in the Phantom Thieves." Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"Be nice, Oracle. Fox and Mona are doing their best. Besides, I think we were in the middle of a battle here." Draconis said wisely as Shido's Shadow cackled and spoke up.

"Kusa is very correct to say that our battle isn't over yet. As for his brother Ren, I have to admit that his observation of my restraints being to keep my power in check is quite well spotted, for a damn brat. Too bad it won't save any of you in the end. It's time for you to get a taste of my full power! Come at me with all your might, Phantom Thieves! I'll be sure to end you all myself for certain this time!" Shido's Shadow said as the battle resumed! Once it resumed, Shido's Shadow spoke up.

"Ready for more? Here I come!" Shido's Shadow said as he charged forward and pulled Wolf into a grapple, twisting him around before taking aim with his legs and kicking Wolf backwards to the ground, making him grunt on impact as he felt a pair of pops in each of his arms. As most of the group raced to Wolf's side, Joker and Draconis traded blows with Shido's Shadow, who easily shrugged off the attacks as he spoke up.

"Is that really the best the two of you can do? Pathetic! Then again, why am I surprised? Of course you're all pathetic! After all, Goro, despite all of his posturings and claims of being the ultimate ace detective of justice, was so pathetic that he let himself be outplayed by a mangy pest of a cat, a pair of meddling do-gooders, and the daughter of the bitch that tried to use the same research as me! Of course, she got what she deserved in the end! I had her killed by my personal assassin.

The fact he did such a good job that her shutdown hit at just the right time to make it look like she was killed by an oncoming vehicle was just the icing on the cake, if you ask me. The only reason I can't call that day a complete victory is because that bitch's deluded burden of a daughter survived to be a witness to what happened." Shido's Shadow said as Draconis glared at Shido's Shadow and spoke up.

"HEY! You shut your filthy effing mouth, you disrespectful asshole! That's my girlfriend AND my girlfriend's mother you're talking about! I'll have to insist that you show the proper respect for women, you scumbag!" Draconis said as Oracle and Pendragon gave him grateful nods as Draconis turned to Crow and spoke up.

"Crow, what do you say? Do you want to teach this despicable scumbag a lesson with me?" Draconis asked as Crow nodded and spoke up.

"Absolutely, Draconis. Time to teach our father, and I use that term loosely, a lesson!" Crow said as he and Draconis called out Hereward and Malefor to hit Shido's Shadow with their most powerful moves available (Megidola for Crow and Garula for Draconis), which pushed Shido's Shadow back and made him wince from the damage as the restraints on his body strained dangerously before exploding off of Shido's Shadow in a shower of metal, which missed the group as the pieces of the shattered restraints hit the ground and became black mist. At that point, Shido's physique got even more swole than it already was, if that were possible, and his body started turning red! Oracle winced and spoke up.

"Oh crap, that's not good! He's even stronger now!" Oracle said as Shido's Shadow nodded and spoke up.

"Very observant! But that's enough out of most of you! I think it's time I settled things with your leader, and with my sons, personally!" Shido's Shadow said as he punched the ground and caused an explosion that threw everyone except for Joker, Draconis, and Crow backwards to be cut off by a barrier that separated Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Violet, Seeker, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, and Seraphim off from Joker, Draconis, and Crow. After that, Panther spoke up.

"No, not again!" Panther said as Wolf spoke up.

"Wait, this happened before?" Wolf said as Mona spoke up.

"The last time this happened, Joker had to fight Shido one-on-one and we weren't able to help. Now, it's him alongside Draconis and Crow going up against Shido." Mona said as Violet spoke up.

"If I have to guess, Shido wants to settle the score with the three people that he hates the most. So it makes sense that he would fight Joker, Draconis, and Crow personally and have us not interfere." Violet said as Seeker spoke up, not noticing the fact that what she said next would have the eyes of most everyone else in the room, excluding both Joker and Violet, who just fondly shook their heads, not that surprised to hear Seeker say what she said next.

"YOU CAN DO IT DAD! SHOW THAT BAD MAN WHAT YOU'RE CAPABLE OF! SAME FOR THE TWO OF YOU, DRACONIS AND CROW!" Seeker said as Shido's Shadow spoke up.

"Hmph. Somehow I'm not surprised that the brat managed to find a woman with low enough standards to spread her legs for him and give him a child. Granted, that child looks a bit old for her to have realistically been conceived by that brat and whatever low-cost whore felt sorry enough for him to spread her legs and let him sow his oats inside her, so to speak." Shido's Shadow said dryly as Crow, Joker, Mona, Skull, and Draconis all spoke up at the same time.

"EXCUSE YOU!?" Crow, Joker, Mona, Skull, and Draconis said as Joker kept speaking, glaring venomously at Shido's Shadow behind his mask.

"What did you just say about Violet and Seeker!? I can handle you throwing insults and slights at me, but I will NOT let you insult my girlfriend OR the girl I've come to think of as a daughter. And another thing, how dare you call Violet a whore!? She is far from a whore! She is an amazing, kindhearted, talented young woman who has a bright future ahead of her. And I intend to be there for her every step of the way." Joker said as Violet spoke up.

"What Joker said! Also, I am NOT a whore! Sure, I might like to get loose and wild with Joker from time to time, but that's it! Also, can you not use such language in front of impressionable young ladies like Seeker?" Violet said as Shido's Shadow scoffed and spoke up.

"Like I care. All of you are little more than mere minutiae to me. And if you didn't want that brat exposed to such mature topics, you shouldn't have brought her into battle. So this is just as much your fault as anyone else's. And with that being said, now that those pests can't interfere any further, time to destroy the three of you myself!" Shido's Shadow said as Crow spoke up.

"You think you're man enough to finish us? Prove it!" Crow said as Joker spoke up.

"Easy, Crow. Don't underestimate this form of Shido. I had to fight him solo once, and it was not an easy fight for me! And I doubt it'll be much easier, even with you and Draconis fighting this part with me." Joker said as Draconis spoke up.

"It might not be easy, no. But we can't let that stop us, Joker. We've still gotta give it our all! Not only do we have to defeat this guy to open up the Monarch's lair, but we also have to let this scumbag know we don't negotiate with, nor do we tolerate, would-be dictators. And to that end, I think this is a good chance for the three of us to try out another Triad Special I came up with while in the car with Wolf, Seraphim, and Crow on the way to Kyoto." Draconis said as Crow spoke up.

"Wait, a new Triad Special?" Crow asked as Joker spoke up.

"With me and Crow, specifically? Interesting." Joker said as Draconis spoke up.

"Yes, you two. A new Triad Special. However, this attack is ONLY possible with you two helping me since we're the only trio of brothers in our group. Sure, I could probably sub in Mona for one of you two, but not only is he not actually our brother, but he's already gotten a new Triad Special recently, so he really doesn't need another. So you two are the only options left." Draconis said as Crow spoke up with a nod.

"I'm intrigued. Very well, let's give this Triad Special idea of yours a try." Crow said agreeably as Joker nodded. Shido's Shadow frowned and spoke up.

"How dare you ignore me! I might have underestimated your leader once, but I refuse to be defeated by mere minutiae like you a second time!" Shido's Shadow said, aiming a punch at Crow, only for Draconis to easily catch it in one hand and push it back as he effortlessly hefted Shido's Shadow with one arm and slammed him to the ground behind him, to the shock of everyone watching. While Draconis brushed off his hands, Crow gave Draconis a surprised look and spoke up.

"Since when can you lift up the equivalent of Masayoshi Shido's body weight, Draconis? That's pretty impressive." Crow said as Joker spoke up.

"I think it might be a side-effect of Shido's current form. After all, he is both yourself and Draconis' father, Crow. So it stands to reason that if he can give himself that kind of strength, the two of you could do it as well if you tried hard enough. Also, you clearly underestimate how much Draconis has been keeping himself in shape over the past few years." Joker said sagely as Crow spoke up.

"I see. Interesting. I think I'm more surprised that Draconis isn't crazy ripped like Shido-san's Shadow is, if he's worked out as much as you say he has." Crow said as Draconis scoffed at this remark. After brushing off his hands, Draconis spoke up.

"Hmph. I might work out a lot, but I also spread my workout around so every part of me is equally buffed. Why do you think Oracle was so quick to throw herself at me when the two of us and Pendragon first caught back up to he others?" Draconis said as Crow nodded his understanding before Draconis glared at Shido's Shadow, who was still struggling to get back on his feet, and spoke up.

"How dare you try to sucker-punch Crow like that, you damned dirty coward? And now that that's been stopped, let's try this move out! Ready, Crow? Ready, Joker?" Draconis said as Crow and Joker nodded before the three spoke up.

"GO, TRIAD SPECIAL!" Draconis, Crow, and Joker said in unison as their Triad Special started! As it began, Draconis spoke up.

"MALEFOR! YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Draconis said as Malefor nodded, whipping his tail at the ground, which caused a chunk of it to lift up as Draconis easily split the ground into three pieces with a couple of well-placed punches as Joker spoke up.

"That's my cue! RAOUL! FIX THOSE CHUNKS UP SO THEY'RE FIGHTING-READY!" Joker said as Raoul nodded, using Curse energy to forge the uprooted ground pieces into the shape of blades as Crow spoke up.

"HEREWARD! GIVE THOSE WEAPONS YOUR ALMIGHTY TOUCH!" Crow said as Hereward nodded, shooting a 'Megidola' at the improvised weapons, causing them to shift forms into a trio of weapons that Draconis, Crow and Joker grabbed before speaking up.

"AND NOW TO FINISH YOU! GO, WRATH OF THE CHOSEN ONES!" Draconis, Crow, and Joker said as they swung their improvised weapons at Shido's Shadow repeatedly, pushing him backwards until he was backed up against the wall, at which point Draconis took the pointed end of his improvised lance and slammed it into the chest of Shido's Shadow, who grunted and spoke up as he hit the ground.

"URGH! THIS CAN'T BE! HOW COULD I LOSE!? AND NOT ONLY DID I LOSE, BUT I LOST TO A TRIO OF BRATS LIKE YOU!? INCONCEIVABLE!" Shido's Shadow said as he hit the ground with a groan, ending the Triad Special and the fight. After the fight, Shido's Shadow reverted to the form he had been in prior to the start of the fight before he looked up and spoke up after struggling to one knee.

"Very well, I concede. You have defeated me this day, fair and square. Well done." Shido's Shadow said as he turned to Draconis and Crow before he kept speaking.

"And I must apologize to the two of you in particular. I acknowledge that I've wronged all of you repeatedly, but I wronged the two of you the worst. I basically turned Goro into a psychotic assassin with the powers that he showed me, and caused Kusa to have to grow up being called a bastard, among other hurtful names. I've been a terrible father to both of you. I know I can never begin to try and make it up to the two of you now, so I won't even try to beg for your forgiveness." Shido's Shadow said as Draconis spoke up with a huff.

"Nor should you, Shido. Yes, I appreciate that you seem to actually be somewhat remorseful now, but it's much too late for it to really matter. After all, not only did you basically fail to acknowledge my existence, much less know that you had a son, but you also basically used and discarded both my mother and Crow's once you were done with them. To be honest, I have a lot of respect for not only Joker's father, but also for Pendragon, since both of them were able to refrain from beating you to a pulp like you most assuredly deserve for what you've done to the women they care about the most, those being mine and Futaba's mothers.

And that's not even getting into the no doubt incalculable amounts of mental and emotional scarring you gave poor Goro with how you treated him. Instead of treating him like he's your son, you used him as your own personal attack dog and minion. All Goro wanted to do was get you to acknowledge him, and maybe even love him a little. But going by your actions, it would seem as if that was too much for you to handle!" Draconis said angrily, before sighing sadly as he kept speaking, shocking basically every other Phantom Thief present as they saw a stray tear hit the ground from under Draconis' helmet as he kept speaking, the lone tear being the only indication that Draconis was slightly crying at that point.

"However, not all is lost. I know it's unlikely to happen, but all any of us can hope for at this point is that maybe you might somehow have enough decency in you to at least own up to what you did. I don't even care that much about what you did to me, since I ultimately was able to do pretty well for myself despite you not being around. Not only that, but my life has changed for the better, as I was able to find some supportive and caring friends and family in Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Noir, Crow, Violet, and even Seeker, Wolf, Flare, and Seraphim.

As far as Oracle? She is something far more precious than a simple friend or family member. She's the woman I love, and even my soul mate. I know that last one's a bit of a bold claim, but that's truly how I feel about her. And I left Pendragon for last on purpose. It might not have seemed like it at first, but over the course of the year that Joker and I lived in the attic of Leblanc under his care, Pendragon helped Joker and I grow and mature a great deal in his own way, even if he was a bit gruff and abrasive at first.

But in the end, Pendragon turned out to be like the father I didn't have in my life for most of my early years, even if I probably did make things awkward for him when I got together with Oracle. But being the great man that he is, Pendragon managed to put that aside and still be there for not only myself, but for Joker and Oracle as well. Even after the truth of us three being Phantom Thieves was revealed to him the same night that Oracle and I got together. I respect Pendragon a great deal because of that." Draconis said, seeming to pause as he collected himself a bit before he kept speaking.

"Moreover, not only do I respect Pendragon a great deal, but I'm also glad for the unconditional support that Pendragon shows both myself and Joker, especially given the fact that he had every right to want to be mad at both myself and Joker for not trusting him with the truth of our secret sooner, but instead he just accepted our reasons and promised to be there for us as best he can. And why is that, you might ask? It's very simple. Unlike someone like you, who put his career and his sick and twisted aspirations above his own children, Pendragon is such a great man that he doesn't discriminate between friend and foe in his line of work. He gives all he meets the same friendly and accepting environment to enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee and/or a nice hot plate of his curry, no matter who he's serving said coffee and curry to.

Pendragon is man enough that he doesn't let his ambitions, much less his personal feelings, stop him from doing the right thing. To be honest, I'm not too proud to admit that I could actually stand, even now, to take a few cues from him in being more tolerant and understanding of others. I've gotten a lot better than I was when Joker and I first moved to Yongen-Jaya for Joker's probation, but I still have my rare moments of blind hatred and irrational hatred every so often. Fortunately, they're not as frequent as they used to be, but I've still got a ways to go before I'm even CLOSE to being on the same level of greatness as Pendragon.

But I know that I can get there one day if I keep at it. So it's for that reason, among others, that I'm proud to say that I see Pendragon as more of a father figure in comparison to you, my biological father. But honestly, I don't think it's that big of a shock that neither myself nor Crow think much of you as a father, Shido. But I'll let Crow say his bit on that for himself." Draconis said as Crow nodded and spoke up, smirking as he saw Pendragon walk forward to gently pat Draconis comfortingly on the shoulder, the small smile on his face as he did so being the only indication of how much Draconis' words had moved him.

"Draconis is correct. You were far from a great father, Shido-san. You not only failed to acknowledge my existence at all, but you basically forced yourself onto my mother, just as you did with Draconis' mother, thus resulting in myself and Draconis being the most unlikely of half-brothers. And the irony of it all is that Draconis literally couldn't stand me the first few times he and I crossed paths. I lost count of the amount of times I'd see Draconis aim a disapproving scowl or glare at me when he'd see me. Sure, we managed to reach an understanding eventually, but that was only after Draconis put himself at great risk not once, but TWICE, to give me the chance to not only survive the trap you laid out for all of us, but also to do the right thing.

And the fact that Draconis could put his own personal feelings aside to be able to make such a selfless and mature decision was a very large wake-up call for me to realize that I didn't have to spend my days as a hateful, bitter person. I could choose to be better than I was acting, and actually try to make something productive and respectable out of myself. Not only that, but the fact that Draconis literally gave himself up to buy me time to escape from Maruki's Palace on two separate occasions caused me to rethink my opinions of him." Crow said, giving Draconis a wince that prompted Draconis to smile and give Crow an encouraging nod, as if telling him non-verbally to keep going with his story, which Crow did as he kept speaking.

"Prior to that point, I originally thought of Draconis as being a long-winded prick with a bigger ego than my own who was too self-righteous for his own good. But after he saved me multiple times, I started to realize that maybe there was something to be said for not being a selfish, hateful fool. It was only after we escaped Maruki's Palace together for the final time following Maruki's defeat and subsequent change of heart that I knew I had to turn over a new leaf. It was at that point that I got the idea to stage the death of Goro Akechi, so that I could free myself of the stigma and scorn that my past actions had left me saddled with.

Yes, it was a cowardly and shameful act, but I was desperate to get my enemies off my back, all so that I could try to get a fresh start to begin the long process of atoning for all of the many and varied sins I'd committed in my young life up to that point. And to his credit, Draconis didn't even bat an eyelid when I asked him, as well as his and Joker's parents, to help me escape the public radar for a time, so that hopefully the furor over my many crimes could somewhat die down.

Sure, he could easily have told the others the truth and let them in the loop much sooner than he and I ultimately did, but instead he chose to keep my secret for three and a half long years, until he and I, along with Pendragon, caught up to them in Sendai around two and a half weeks ago. At that point, the truth came out to them and I was able to apologize to most of the others for what I'd put them through in the past. Granted, some of the group, such as Wolf, Seraphim, and Flare, hadn't joined yet, so they weren't privy to what I told the others. So I apologize to them for catching them likely unawares with this information." Crow said as Wolf, Seraphim, and Flare all gave him understanding looks as they nodded to signify they didn't hold Crow's actions against him as Shido's Shadow spoke up.

"I see then. So both of you acknowledge that I haven't been a very good father to either of you. And the truth of the matter is that both of you are right, given the actions that I have done that impacted both of your lives. Kusa, I didn't even bother to try and be a part of your life at all, that is until that day you and your brother happened to run across me with that woman on the night I got your brother arrested on false charges.

Not only that, but I caused you to grow up with all manner of hateful and likely painful insults hurled at you, due to you not having a father for most of your life. And on top of that, I hurt your girlfriend deeply by taking her mother away from her, all because I wanted to use her research to solidify my position as Prime Minister. And that hurt both her and her father a great deal, given how much the latter surely loved your girlfriend's mother. There's no amount of apologies or remorse I can offer that would change that. As for you, Goro? I hurt you even worse than I did Kusa, if that's possible.

I forced myself on to your mother, just as I did for Kusa's mother. And then I dumped her when I learned she was pregnant, and didn't even try to acknowledge you, much less be a part of your life. Surely, my actions have hurt you a great deal, especially when I turned you into little more than a blindly obedient attack dog that I sicced onto my enemies to try and eliminate anyone that could pose a threat to my plans.

And to make matters worse? Instead of being a father to you and Kusa like I should have done, I instead cause you both immeasurable and irrevocable amounts of pain over the years. Sure, one or both of you could find it in your hearts to forgive your foolish father, but I wouldn't blame you in the slightest if you didn't, since I've done nothing but cause the both of you, as well as those closest to you, lots of pain and suffering. I know it doesn't change anything or mean much, but I am so, so, sorry for all I've done to you both." Shido's Shadow said as Draconis spoke up, surprising most of the others with the sight of a few tears falling from his eyes as he spoke.

"You think we wouldn't forgive you? Yes, it is true that what you've done hurt both myself and Goro a lot, and a lot of your actions are unforgivable, but nowhere in there does it mean that we have to constantly have hatred and resentment towards you, Shido. We're all grown men here, so surely we can at least try to put the past behind us, even if we don't necessarily forgive you." Draconis said as Crow spoke up, drawing the attention onto him and off of Draconis, who seized the chance to wipe his tears behind his helmet while Crow spoke.

"That is true, Draconis. However, it's going to be difficult for me to just instantly forget all that Shido-san put me through over the years. Even if you want to try and put it behind you, it isn't that easy for me. It'll probably be quite some time, if ever, before I can even begin to consider letting go of what he did. But I guess I can at least be nice and give him points for owning up to what he did to us, if nothing else." Crow said as Shido's Shadow winced and spoke up.

"That's entirely fair, Goro. I don't blame you one bit for feeling that way. And Kusa? I'm impressed you can be so accepting of what I've done. After all, how many people have called you names like 'bastard' over the years? And despite that, you would still try to move past it? I'm impressed with your maturity. Maybe I was too quick to dismiss you and Goro as potential heirs. Not that either of you would want anything to do with my soiled legacy after what I've done to it. But very well, I've heard what you both had to say. And I think at this time, the only thing I can really do by way of making reparations for my past misdeeds is to finally return to my real self, as I should've done years ago.

Yes, I'm aware of the rumors of my demise, but let's just say that like Goro over there, my demise may have been greatly exaggerated to throw my enemies off my trail. But I think that's all I feel comfortable divulging about that situation for now. Maybe one day, if fate wills it, the real me will find a way to try and reach out to you two and try to make amends for the pain and suffering he's caused you both. Until then, I bid you farewell, and wish you all good luck against the Monarch, Phantom Thieves! You're gonna need it!" Shido's Shadow said as he faded away in a flash of light, causing Draconis to speak up.

"And that's how things play out with Shido after all this time. Huh. That was deceptively anti-climactic for how emotional it ended up being." Draconis said as he felt someone pat him on the shoulder before turning to see Pendragon looking at him as he spoke up.

"It might have been anti-climactic, Draconis, but at least you and Crow got to say your piece to your dad, or at least to his Shadow, before he returned to his real self. And to be honest? I'm proud of how you handled yourself just now. You would've been entirely in your rights to end him, as would Crow. But instead, you chose to take mercy on him and let him return to his real self to try and really make amends for his crimes. That takes a real man to be able to do something like that. I respect that you were able to do that." Pendragon said as Draconis spoke up.

"Thank you, Pendragon. That means a lot to me that you respect me. And for the record? I meant every word I said before. Including the bit where I said I see you as a father, because I totally do see you as a father." Draconis said as Pendragon smirked and merely pulled Draconis into a one-armed manly hug as he spoke up.

"I know you do, Draconis. I could see it in your eyes. Why else do you think I was so okay with you dating Oracle? Besides the fact that you always had her best interests at heart, that is." Pendragon said as Draconis spoke up while blinking back tears.

"Of course I do. I might not always say so, but I love you like a father, Pendragon. Moreover, I love Oracle like she's the love of my life, because she is." Draconis said as Oracle smirked and spoke up.

"Aww, look at the touching bonding moment with Draconis and Pendragon. Mwehehe, how wholesome." Oracle said as Pendragon spoke up.

"Don't tease him, Oracle. You know you're happy to see your boyfriend opening up to us like this too." Pendragon said as he and Noir pulled Draconis and Crow, respectively, into hugs while Mona spoke up.

"So, that's it, then. Not only did Crow and Draconis make their peace with their father's Shadow, but we've finally opened the path to the Monarch's lair. At last, the time is at hand for us to confront the Monarch of the Yongen Jail. I say we should head back to the real world for now, since a lot of us were put through a lot in this fight, some of us more than others." Mona said, noticing the conflicted looks on the faces of Crow and Draconis. The rest of the group nodded and returned to the real world to prepare for their next move...

END OF CHAPTER

A/N: Yeah, yeah. I left you on a small bit of a cliffy, but it was a needed cliffy. Now that the group has defeated the Trauma Cell of the Yongen Jail, all that remains is the Monarch fight! And that will likely be in the next chapter, along with the aftermath of said Monarch fight, and maybe some other stuff to pad the chapter length if needed.

Either way, the next chapter should more than likely be the finale of the sixth Arc. After that, we move into Arc 7, and finally get to the next actual Jail of Strikers in the Osaka Jail. And Arc 7 should be when some more interesting stuff happens, but you'll have to wait for that Arc to see what I mean by that. In the meantime, let me take this chance to thank everyone who's read this far into the story, as well as this chapter, since your continued support of the story is very much incredible!

Real quick aside before I keep going, I need to let anyone reading this know that going forward, instead of twice a week uploads, I'm cutting the updates down to one a week, mainly since I actually ran through my backlog of posted chapters, so I might not be able to keep up with a twice a week uploads schedule. Not to mention, it makes life easier for jdimock since he has to help point out edits with these chapters, so this gives him more time to do so, thus allowing him to juggle his schoolwork and his other work. So yeah, that's going on. Sorry for the inconvenience to anyone who enjoys the twice a week uploads, but from here on, the uploads will only happen every Wednesday. And now to continue with the end-of-chapter A/N.

Next, I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who's followed and/or favorited this story, along with all who have left reviews on the story so far, as your feedback and input are greatly appreciated! And also, I want to give an extra special shout-out to jdimock, who's been really good about helping point out edits and stuff I miss on each chapter of the story so far, for the most part. If you're reading this, your work is very highly appreciated!

And to anyone else reading this, if you have thoughts on the story, ideas for stuff to put in it, or even feedback on things, don't be shy about expressing those in a review, or even sending me a PM with said thoughts/ideas/feedback, and even any constructive criticism you might have, since that lets me make this story even better for my readers! So don't be shy about making your thoughts known!

Before I finish this A/N, I also want to mention that I'm probably going to put up another poll at the start of Arc 7 that will run for the rest of the story, and that poll will be to determine which story I do next after finishing this one. However, I will say up-front that there won't be any Persona options on this poll since I'm going to take a bit of a small breather from doing Persona stories, since as of the point of typing out this end-of-chapter A/N, I've been working basically non-stop on Persona stories for a bit over a year and a half straight, minus periodic free days between chapters.

And as such, I think I've earned a bit of a break from Persona stories for a bit. But, I don't intend to step back from fanfics as a whole. The poll, once I post it, should have between 5 and 8 options on it. The idea is to allow the option to vote for up to two (or three if I do go for more than six options) options. Once the poll goes up, it'll stay open until I finish posting the last chapter of this story. So there will be plenty of time to vote on the poll once it goes up. Figured I'd put that out there. Anyways, that'll do it for now! Until next chapter, sithlorde1988 out!

PHANTOM THIEF SKILL LISTINGS AND ALLY LIST AS OF THE END OF CHAPTER 30

JOKER (Ren) - Level: 54 Current Personas: Raoul (Level 32), Jack-O'-Lantern (Level 42), Jack Frost (Level 42), Okuninushi (Level 48), Pixie (Level 35), Pisaca (Level 35), Norn (Level 54), Ganesha (Level 54), Queen Mab (Level 51), Fortuna (Level 54) Equipped Persona: Queen Mab Persona Moveset: Mazionga (Elec), Bufudyne (Ice), Makajamaon (Ailment), Concentrate (Support/Buff), Mapsio (Psy), Makouga (Bless), Garula (Wind), Agidyne (Fire)

SKULL (Ryuji) - Level: 49 Current/Partner Persona: William Persona Moveset: Zionga (Elec), Megaton Raid (Physical), Matarukaja (Support/Buff), Attack Master (Passive), Mazionga (Elec), Rebel Soul (Passive), Swift Strike (Physical), Shock Boost (Passive)

MONA (Morgana) - Level: 49 Current/Partner Persona: Diego Persona Moveset: Garula (Wind), Diarahan (Healing), Mediarama (Healing), Magarula (Wind), Wind Boost (Passive), Samarecarm (Healing), Masukunda (Support/Debuff), Dodge Elec (Passive)

PANTHER (Ann) - Level: 50 Current/Partner Persona: Celestine Persona Moveset: Agidyne (Fire), Burn Boost (Passive), Fire Boost (Passive), Soul Thief (Passive), Maragion (Fire), Matarunda (Support/Debuff), Marin Karin (Ailment), Diarama (Healing)

FOX (Yusuke) - Level: 50 Current/Partner Persona: Gorokichi Persona Moveset: Bufula (Ice), Speed Master (Passive), Masukukaja (Support/Buff), Knockdown Style (Passive), Vicious Strike (Physical), Tempest Slash (Physical), Mabufula (Ice), Dodge Fire (Passive)

QUEEN (Makoto) - Level: 49 Current/Partner Persona: Agnes Persona Moveset: Freila (Nuclear), Dekunda (Support/Buff), Marakukaja (Support/Buff), Mafreila (Nuclear), Diarama (Healing), Flash Bomb (Physical), Mediarama (Healing), Nuke Boost (Passive)

NOIR (Haru) - Level: 49 Current/Partner Persona: Lucy Persona Moveset: Psio (Psy), Psy Boost (Passive), Heat Riser (Support/Buff), Triple Down (Gun), Evil Smile (Ailment), Amrita Shower (Healing), Mapsio (Psy), Gun Boost (Passive)

ORACLE (Futaba) - Level: 54 Current Personas: Al Azif and Albus Equipped Persona: Al Azif Persona Moveset: Analysis (Passive), Moral Support (Passive), Active Support (Passive), Moral Boost (Passive), Active Boost (Passive), Moral Boost EX (Passive), Active Boost EX (Passive), Final Guard (Passive)

SEEKER (Sophia) - Level: 49 Current/Partner 'Persona': Pithos Persona Moveset: Kougaon? (Bless), Bless Amp? (Passive), Diarama? (Healing), Makouga? (Bless), Mediarama? (Healing), Marakunda? (Support/Debuff), Divine Grace? (Passive), Recarm? (Healing)

WOLF (Zenkichi) - Level: 53 Current/Partner Persona: Valjean Persona Moveset: Megido (Almighty), Gun Boost (Passive), Dekaja (Support/Debuff), Technical High (Passive), Triple Down (Gun), Heat Riser (Support/Buff), Enduring Soul (Passive), Sukukaja (Support/Buff)

VIOLET (Sumire) - Level: 50 Current/Partner Persona: Ella Persona Moveset: Kouga (Bless), Dodge Curse (Passive), Diarama (Healing), Bless Boost (Passive), Heat Wave (Physical), Makouga (Bless), Tempest Slash (Physical), Samarecarm (Healing)

DRACONIS (Kusa) - Level: 49 Current/Partner Persona: Malefor Persona Moveset: Agilao (Fire), Garula (Wind), Mediarama (Healing), Rising Slash (Physical), Masukunda (Support/Debuff), Vicious Strike (Physical), Megido (Almighty), Almighty Boost (Passive)

CROW (Goro) - Level: 49 Current/Partner Persona: Hereward Persona Moveset: Eiga (Curse), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Maeiga (Curse), Deathbound (Physical), Debilitate (Support/Debuff), Mudo (Curse/insta-kill), Megidola (Almighty), Curse Boost (Passive)

PENDRAGON (Sojiro) - Level: 49 Current/Partner Persona: Kohryu Persona Moveset: Psiodyne (Psy), Assault Dive (Physical), Concentrate (Support/Buff), Mediarama (Healing), Mapsio (Psy), Evade Nuke (Passive), Spell Master (Passive), Psy Boost (Passive)

FLARE (Shiho) - Level: 49 Current/Partner Persona: Hester Persona Moveset: Bufula (Ice), Oni-Kagura (Physical), Mediarama (Healing), Divine Grace (Passive), Recarm (Healing), Freila (Nuclear), Ice Boost (Passive), Nuke Boost (Passive)

SERAPHIM (Nanako) - Level: 48 Current/Partner Persona: Sraosha Persona Moveset: Zionga (Elec), Heat Wave (Physical), Divine Grace (Passive), Mazionga (Elec), Recarm (Healing), Elec Boost (Passive), Hama (Bless/insta-kill), Dodge Curse (Passive)

Allies: Ichinose, Akane, Taichi, Momoe, Sae, Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Teddie, Naoto

LIST OF KNOWN TRIAD SPECIALS AS OF THE END OF CHAPTER 30

DIVINE BLIZZARD (Draconis, Fox, Violet)

PURGATORY ARROW (Crow, Noir, Panther)

REBELLIOUS VENGEANCE BURST (Joker, Skull, Seeker)

SNOW CAT-JUTSU (Mona, Flare, Wolf)

JUDGEMENT STRIKE (Oracle, Queen, Pendragon)

STORM OF HEAVEN (Violet, Mona, Seeker)

HELLISH ELEMENTAL TRINITY (Skull, Panther, Flare)

MIRROR OF THE ORDAINED (Pendragon, Mona, Draconis)

KARMA STINGERS (Seraphim, Fox, Noir)

WRATH OF THE CHOSEN ONES (Draconis, Crow, Joker)