"Here we go," says One somewhere to your right, and the sounds of the others summoning their Personas echoes around the high ceilings.

"Is somebody gonna get a freakin' light already?" shouts Hayate. You can hear him shuffling about nearby.

You go to flick on your flashlight, but realize that you'd never turned it off. Whether the batteries chose an inopportune time to die or the Dreamweaver has done something to it is irrelevant, the flashlight simply won't come back on.

"All right, Plan B. Agathion!" you whisper into the darkness. With a whoosh, the imp materializes before you and conjures a ball of fire between its palms. And as soon as it does, you realize why the flashlight's stopped working – the darkness around you has taken on an almost viscous quality, and even Agathion's flames can only carve out a few feet of visibility in any direction. Immediately, the others rush towards you, drawn towards the light.

"Stay close," says Mariko, "if we separate, she picks us off." Hayate flinches. One rubs her temples. Nisekao frantically attempts to boot up his laptop. Then, a single candle lights up behind Hayate. Your instincts flare to life.

"Get down!"

You fling yourself at him and drag him down to the floor just as a long, thin blade flashes out of the darkness and through the space where Hayate's neck had just been.

"Fufufu…so close…"

The Dreamweaver's eyes glint briefly in the gloom before the candle flickers out again. Hayate scrambles to his feet, clutching at his neck.

"Son of a…thanks…"

"Now we're even," you say.

"Quick, get back to back!" says Mariko. The five of you turn around and clump together, moving as one around the room. Suddenly, something flashes out of the corner of your eye.

"There!"

Mariko is the first to react, loosing off a shot in the candle's direction. Briefly illuminated by the muzzle flash, the Dreamweaver screeches and clutches at its side before the darkness swallows it again.

"Tch. I can't properly line up a shot like this," she says.

"You're not going to bring it down with that anyways," says One. She then drops her voice to a whisper, "If you can hold it in place instead, I can take care of the rest."

Mariko snaps her fingers. "Got it."

But before she can react, the candle then reappears again, this time right at Mariko's feet. Taking form out of the miasma in a swirl of color, the Dreamweaver lunges at Mariko's neck with its sword. Mariko screams and falls backwards.

"Kay!"

In a flash of blue, chunks of ice race up the Dreamweaver's figure, halting the blade only centimeters from Mariko's throat. Scrambling away from the point, Mariko gets to her feet, leveling her gun at the Dreamweaver's exposed face.

"Quick thinking, Hayate," she breathes.

"I'll say," says One, circling the Dreamweaver and tapping at the ice with her bat. "Even if it's not a real strong one. Got an annoying gimmick, but not real strong."

Hayate sniffs. "C'mon, now, gimme at least a little credit here. I got it stopped, didn't I?" He struts around to look the Dreamweaver in the eyes, a smug grin spreading across his face. "After all, I've only had my Persona for what – a couple hours? Could it be…that maybe I wasn't the loser after all? Almost can't wait to get you back to normal, just to remind you that this was the best you could do."

The Dreamweaver mutters something inaudible.

"What was that? Don't tell me you're a sore loser, too!"

Another terse, mumbled response.

"Hayate, don't be a jerk. Remember, this isn't really her," says Mariko.

"Really? But this is what she wanted, right? A nice big mansion where she can hunt down all the people she doesn't like? Perfectly well-adjusted, that. Let me have this, Mariko."

"-NA!"

With that one syllable, the ice shatters. Pulses of energy radiate outwards and nearly take you off your feet. All the light in the room – even the fireball in Agathion's hands – is extinguished completely. For a moment, everything is deathly, horribly still.

"Oh. That's bad," whispers One.

"W-What the hell was that? What's going on?" comes Hayate's voice.

A prickling sensation begins to crawl across your skin stronger than ever before, like thousands of tiny spiders burrowing into your pores and tunneling just below the surface.

"You didn't destroy the Enforcer, did you?" says One.

"N-No! We were kind of busy trying not to get killed by it!" says Mariko.

Around you, rings of candles flicker to life one by one, illuminating the room around you and moving inwards, forming the pattern on the Dreamweaver's mask. A high-pitched screech rends the air, and everyone covers their ears.

One tents her fingers pensively and sighs, which feels like a massive underreaction.

"Okay. My bad then for assuming. Just a word of warning, though – this is gonna get rough."

High above you, the Dreamweaver is floating and convulsing madly, its joints spasming as though being flooded with electric shocks.

"W-What is it doing?" asks Nisekao.

"When a Dreamweaver feels threatened, it summons the host's Persona and fuses with it. What you end up with is what we've been calling a 'True Shadow': an unhinged, unfiltered representation of someone's inner self. They're extremely powerful, and usually only used as a last resort because it forces the Dreamweaver to forfeit some of its control to the Enforcer."

"So you've fought one of these before, then," says Hayate.

"Me? No. The others, yes."

"And?"

"Just about killed them."

A strangled noise rises from Hayate's throat. One chuckles.

"Ah, don't be like that. This is the fun part, isn't it? Get yourselves ready, though. Once it's finished, it won't wait for you."

Just then, something resembling a mass of smoke sweeps through the room, swirling around you and accumulating over the Dreamweaver's head.

Cloud Three's Enforcer is just as wretched as you envisioned. A dingy, chipped orange mask draped in matted, tangled locks of hair peers out from a voluminous shawl of rippling effluvium, black Shadow blood dripping from beneath. Shriveled, purpled limbs hang loose, wrapped tightly in chains. Its hunchback heaves with every ragged, labored breath it takes.

Then, two spindly-fingered hands emerge from the shawl and clamp themselves tightly on the Dreamweaver's shoulders. Paralyzed by morbid curiosity, you can only watch as it lowers its head to the Dreamweaver's scalp. There's a sharp intake of breath.

SNAP.

As the Enforcer's jaw closes over the Dreamweaver's neck, their masks merge for an instant.

Mariko gains the presence of mind to fire at the abomination taking shape above you, but it's far too late. Bullets pass through the thing as if it were smoke, and curls of black miasma wraps themselves around its entire body.

When the haze clears, the form of Koharu's Shadow reveals itself. A tall, humanoid figure coated in some foul, black tarry substance steps forward, raising puffs of smoke with each footstep. Its face has been entirely obscured by a larger skull mask with one roving red eye swiveling about underneath. A cloak of ribbon-like entrails is draped over its shoulders and down its back, and in one hand, it carries a slender longsword bathed in deep purple flames.

It raises a finger, pointing directly at you. A skeletal jaw descends from beneath the mask, lowering itself almost to the Shadow's chest.

"PERISH."

And it vanishes into thin air.

"Guh!"

"Tetsuo!"

Without warning, something starts pulling you upwards, suspending you in midair by your arms. Six pillars of purple flame flare up in a ring around you, and a massive, rusted nail the size of your torso manifests before you, aiming at your heart.

"Whoa, no!"

One and Galahad spring forward, hands raised. A violet aura surrounds the nail as Galahad attempts to halt its advance. Beads of sweat roll down One's forehead as she struggles. As the point begins to puncture your clothing, you try to force yourself to slow your breathing, to pull yourself as many precious centimeters away from it as you can, but such a feat proves impossible. Your heart is pumping madly, your chest heaving uncontrollably, bringing the nail closer and closer.

[Young master!]

[Bifrons!]

[Summon me, quickly! I can nullify the Lady's magic!]

"Bifrons!" you exclaim in a strangled voice.

Bifrons springs forth from its card, and almost all at once, the nail begins to dissolve into chunks of black dust as it makes contact with your body. The invisible hands release you, and your body tumbles to the floor as the others rush over.

"Hey, are you all right? What did you do?" asks One.

"I-It's his Persona," says Nisekao. "It p-protected you, right?"

You nod, heaving yourself up and grabbing your guitar. "Yeah, but I don't think it can do the same for you. We have to figure out a way to take care of this, now."

"And how're we supposed to do that? The place is all lit up, but it can still turn invisible! How's that fair?" says Hayate.

"One, can you grab it with your Persona?" you ask. You'd be surprised if there was anything she couldn't do. Unfortunately, she visibly grimaces underneath her bandana and looks away.

"Not unless I know what I'm looking at."

You frantically cast your gaze around the room, looking for anything you might be able to use to pinpoint the Shadow's location. Then, your eyes alight on the four-poster bed.

There's no time to explain yourself – a low, rattling exhale of fetid breath echoes throughout the room. Grabbing Hayate by the back of his collar, you heave him bodily towards the bed.

"Wha-"

There's a sudden rush of air and a harrowing screech as Hayate tumbles towards the billowing hangings.

"Pull him down!" you shout at One, who wastes no time seizing his body with Galahad's power and wrenching him into the carpet.

Suddenly, the hangings flutter upwards and tear themselves free of the four-poster. The desperate shapes of writhing limbs flail about underneath, trying to extricate themselves from the fabric. One's eyes widen as she realizes what you're doing. Galahad seizes the corners of the hanging and pulls them to the floor, trapping the Shadow underneath.

"All right, everyone! Dust it!" you shout.

The four of you leap forward, raining blows upon the thrashing figure. With every swing of your guitar, the struggling grows weaker and weaker, until finally, it ceases. Hayate wipes his brows and steps over the beaten lump towards you. He'd been going at it particularly hard.

"O-Okay. Whaddya think? That's it, right?"

But the words are barely out of his mouth when a sudden force blasts the hangings off and puts the lot of you flat on your backs.

Battered and covered in bruises, the Shadow rises before you nevertheless, its eye emanating murderous hatred.

"VERMIN."

And then it vanishes again.

Kay darts in front of Hayate as he doubles over and starts pulling at his hair.

"Shit. Shit shit shit! How do we kill this fucking thi-" he begins, but is cut short as the Shadow's blade materializes out of thin air and plunges itself into Kay's shoulder.

"GAHHH!" Hayate cries, falling to his knees and clutching his own shoulder.

"Hayate! Hold on, I'll help!" shouts Mariko, but an invisible force sweeps her into the air, drags her all the way up to the ceiling, and lets her drop. A scream escapes your lips as she hits the floor with a sickening crunch. You move to run over to her, but One puts a hand across your chest and stares you in the eyes.

"Hey! Stop. You start panicking too, and it'll pick us off one by one. That's how it wants to fight." She casts a glance over and Mariko and Hayate. "They'll be all right. You're tougher in here, remember?"

With some difficulty, you manage to steady your breath and put your back to One and Nisekao's.

"OK. OK, I'm OK. Thoughts?"

"I-I think I have an idea…" says Nisekao.

"What?"

"I'm t-trying to get your p-personal camera feed to output in infrared. It's n-not much, but maybe I m-might be able to see its sword?"

One nods. "Yeah, yeah, okay. How long's that gonna take?."

"Uh, well, I-I've never really used it before, b-but I'll go as fast as I can!"

Just then, the red eye of Koharu's Shadow flashes out of the darkness in front of One.

"Shit!"

She dives to the floor as the Shadow's wide maw snaps shut around the space where her head once was. The fluttering edges of its shawl trace the edge of your face as it sweeps past overhead and vanishes, leaving behind the insatiable urge to itch the places where it touched your skin.

"Nisekao, you have it up yet?" you shout.

"A-Almost…there! F-Found it!"

"Let me see," says One, scrambling towards Nisekao.

Looking over their shoulders, there are three windows open on the screen: one whose feed has gone completely dark, one facing towards the ceiling, and yours, which illuminates the room before you in bright blues, greens, yellows, and reds. You turn yourself about in an attempt to locate the Shadow's blade, but the only heat signatures on the screen are coming from yourselves and the candles. And then you look up.

"Galahad! Now!" One cries, pushing you to the floor.

Your hands clasped together atop your head, you venture a glance upwards. The silhouette of Koharu's Shadow, blade extended, hangs above your head in mid-thrust, lit up in purple like the chalk outline of a murder victim, its frame tense and quivering as it struggles to plunge its sword down your throat. Casually, One saunters over and pulls you out of the way.

"There we go," she says with a sigh. She curls one hand into a fist, and the outline of the Shadow contracts. With a groan of pain, the Shadow substantializes again, unable to maintain its invisibility, the lone eye rattling about in its mask.

"All right, let's get this over wi-urgh!"

Almost as soon as One begins to relax, the Shadow begins to surge against her, its rippling body visibly straining to free itself from Galahad's grasp. One drops to one knee and attempts to push back. For the first time, she appears to be struggling to contain it, her brow furrowed with effort as she wages an invisible battle with the creature.

"Tetsuo! I can't hold it for much longer! You need to finish it!" she shouts.

The tension in her voice snaps you back into action, and you go with the first idea that comes to mind. With a running start, you slide underneath the Shadow.

"Launcelot!" you cry out, and with one swift move, Launcelot thrust its spear up through the Shadow's throat.

The creature shudders as Launcelot's lance slides straight through it and out the other side. Its limbs fall limply to its sides. Beside you, One, relaxes her grip and slides to the floor. As Launcelot pulls its weapon from the Shadow, roiling, smoking black viscera spills from the wound, hitting the ground and bursting into clouds of black butterflies. The rest of the Shadow's body follows suit, falling away like streams of miasma until all that remains is the skull-shaped, orange mask. It clatters to the floor before you, the sound magnified in the sudden silence.

"Phew." One recalls Galahad and starts rummaging around in her pockets, pulling out a couple more of the large balls she gave you and Hayate and moving over to the prone forms of your friends on the floor.

Nisekao, closes his laptop with a rattling sigh of relief and rolls over towards the four poster, which, without its hangings, appears to be where the Shadow had been keeping Koharu's body.

You, however, can't take your eyes off the mask the Shadow left behind. These masks...are they being left behind for a reason? The promise of seeing more tugs at something deep in your heart, an unfulfilled hunger you can't justify. Fingers trembling, you reach out and brush its cool surface.

White.

A room this time, its boundaries barely defined where the walls, ceiling, and floor meet.

A reclining figure, shape hazy and indistinct before you.

Your voice, again not your own, yet familiar.

"I know we never spoke much, but…at a time like this, even I don't think it's right to be all alone…"

And then your eyes snap open again to find yourself back in Cloud Three. As the mask begins to dissolve, you find yourself sure that these visions must mean something – three times is too many to be inconsequential. However, there is one thing you're fairly sure of. The voices you've been speaking with were the ones who created the Clouds – last time it was Hayate, and this time it was Koharu. However, none of that explains who it is you've been speaking to...

"Tetsuo!" calls Mariko, waving you over to the four-poster. On it, Koharu is sitting up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. All around you, Cloud Three falls away in wide strips, leaving you in the cramped confines of one the manor's bedrooms, tatami mats, futons, and all.

Wordlessly, Koharu's eyes shift from one person to the next as she reorients herself. Her hands rove over her face, as if to confirm that it's still there.

"What…what just…" Her gaze alights on One, taking in her hood, bandana, and mask. "W-Who's…? Was I…?" She then turns towards a pair of empty suitcases in the corner, and whips her head towards Hayate.

"Wh-what are you…"

"Eh?" says Hayate, lifting an eyebrow.

"What are you doing in my room? Out, out, OUT!"

And with that, you, Hayate, Nisekao, and One stumble out into the hall with a barrage of complimentary pens, plastic cups, and bottles of shampoo in your wake.

"Come on!" says Hayate. "Is she trying to wake everyone up?"

Mariko pokes her head out the door.

"Sorry. It's probably a lot for her to take in right now. I'll try to calm her down and explain things the best I can. Meet you in the morning?"

"S-Sure," you nod.

The three of you then turn to One, who's giggling to herself and running her hands through her hair under her hood.

"Yeah, you don't usually get a lot of 'thank-you's when it's all said and done, do you?"

"No kidding," you say with a sideways glance at Hayate.

"Well, all things considered, I guess it's a good thing we found each other. That thing was more of a hassle than I was expecting. I owe you one."

"Hardly. I'd have been dead a while ago if it wasn't for you guys. You're incredible," you say.

One sighs. "You think so, huh?" Her eyes drop to her shoes for a moment. "Well, anyways…I guess we'll call it even, then, if that's all right with you."

She makes to start heading down the hallway, but Hayate calls after her, "Whoa, hold on! Where're you going?"

One regards him incredulously. "Home? It's late, you know. I'd like to sleep in my own bed tonight, thanks."

"But…the Yatabuya, they're gonna murder us the second we get back to Toshima! We can't handle those guys by ourselves!"

Hayate makes a good point. There'll be no hiding, no more plausible deniability after tonight. One heaves another sigh and rubs her temples.

"I dunno what you'd expect us to do. On this side, we're just as powerless as you. We don't go around in these getups for fun. If the Yatabuya knew who we really were, it'd be over."

"Yeah, we know!" says Hayate. "There's gotta be something we can do!"

One regards you with an expression that, while partially hidden, still reveals a touch of sympathy. "I can't promise anything…but I'll do what I can. What Two doesn't know can't hurt him, I guess. In the meantime, the only other thing I can suggest is that you make some really tough friends. That said, I really hope we run into each other again, y'know?"

With that, she gives you a small wink, and strides off down the hallway and out of sight.