Good Day Readers! Obviously, I do not own anything connected to the Persona series in general or Persona 5 specifically, I DO own Chiba Natsumi and Anais Ouvrard, along with Natsumi's immediate family members.

I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy.

Chapter 4: - Infiltration of the Opera House

A small scream was forced from my lungs as I was sent flying backwards, my body roughly slamming into the ground and rolling a few times, feeling my half skirt flap, tangle and untangle around my legs as I felt the blaze of the fire spell run across my body before dissipating. But the pain remained, a small groan escaped my lips as I shakily began to push myself up, utilising my naginata as a crutch.

"Be careful Natsumi, you cannot afford to allow any of your weaknesses to be struck, otherwise the Shadows will utilise that opportunity to overwhelm you," Lavenza chastised. I looked up at my mentor, for a tiny girl Lavenza hit like a freight train moving at a hundred miles per hour, plus she always aimed for my weak points which made dodging her moves vital otherwise I was going to be feeling the pain like right now.

Lavenza cracked open the book she carried which she called the Persona Compendium, although apparently this wasn't her own instead being her sister's – at least that's what she said – from a previous group of Persona wielders' time. A woman appeared briefly and I felt the healing wave of energy run over me, removing the damage from the fiery attack, Lavenza didn't possess a Persona of her own but she was able to access the recorded Personas to fight.

"I know Lavenza," I responded. Standing up straighter, I took in a deep breath; in order to help prepare me, Lavenza and Igor had divided my training with Lavenza taking over my combat training whilst Igor taught me about how to use my eyes to perceive the history, strength and weaknesses of Personas. This allowed me to learn that each Persona could be one of six different affinities to the ten types of elemental magic or two types of physical skills; these were known as Strong, Weak, Neutral, Drain, Repel or Null.

By attacking a weak point, I could knock down an opponent – what I did to the Gnome in my first fight – and quickly strike again. Unfortunately for me, as a side effect of Phantom making me resistant to Earth and Gravity magic, I was weak to three different types of magic, those being Fire, Ice and Nuke. And getting hit by those hurt, morethan could be put into words. But thanks to Lavenza, I was improving with every battle and had become stronger with Phantom gaining new spells.

I'd also learned that the draining feeling I had sensed in my first battle had been because spells were powered by Soul Power, a kind of mental/spiritual energy that when taxed resulted in exhaustion, skills on the other hand drained Life Energy with the same result. Both could be restored by basic rest, good food and drink or other items from the real world that claimed to do that in which the Metaverse's 'if you believe it can happen' policy made real those effects and also sometimes made them stronger.

Lavenza proceeded to close the Compendium and her golden eyes darted around, I looked at our surroundings and fought down the heavy shiver. To train, Lavenza had brought me into Mementos which was in the Metaverse location of Shibuya Station with the place dyed black and red with veins coiling across the floor, walls and ceiling. The atmosphere here was heavy and spine tinglingly cold, Lavenza refused to go any deeper than the entrance but did encourage me to in order to get practice against Shadows, not that I could go very far, the second floor down ended in a dead end.

"Come Natsumi, we should return to my master," Lavenza insisted. She quickly marched over to the nearby door that linked to the Velvet Room and I followed after her, stepping into the place I'd tumbled into and had become quite the cosy place, its' atmosphere brighter and happier than Mementos filled with the charge of infinite potential and a song that hummed in harmony within my own soul.

"Welcome back," Igor greeted. Lavenza curtsey to the hooked nosed entity whilst I gave him a sharp bow, I'd come to respect him as he taught me how to perceive this other world and its' creations. "Now then Lavenza, how ready is our dear Maiden?" Igor questioned. He was always calling me that, I think it was a term of endearment as much as the equally often 'my dear' that he used.

"I believe so master, these two weeks of training have given her the reflexes and understanding of movement within the Metaverse that will aid her in combat. Her Persona is becoming stronger and her eyesight is keener. She is as ready as possible for her first Palace," Lavenza insisted. Igor nodded his head and proceeded to look over at me as if waiting for my assessment of my readiness.

"Like Lavenza said, I'm as ready as can be. If I don't do this soon Ouvrard might do something, she hasn't acted towards me any differently, but I don't want to risk it by waiting any longer. If my mentor says I'm ready, then I'm ready," I answered. Igor's almost permanent grin seemed to widen at my words and I lightly twisted the naginata within my hand as I looked at the man. "Might I ask a question?" I asked. Igor inclined his head as I sensed Lavenza looking at me. "I understand Philemon's purpose as the granter of Personas, but what exactly do you cultivate and what exactly am I meant to protect?" I wondered.

"Ah, yes, we forgot to tell you that," Igor realised. He steepled his fingers and looked at me. "Personas are born of the heart, typically that means one Persona per person. But occasionally there are people born, people who for some reason are not bound by this rule, something about them makes their heart open to all Personas, allowing these people to contain those Personas even if they aren't their own. Here in the Velvet Room, we allow these individuals to fuse different Personas they hold to made stronger Personas. To strengthen Personas they hold by increasing their capabilities or allowing them to be taught skills and spells they wouldn't normally learn. As the Protector, you must guard this individual, for when danger comes, they are the one who will confront it. The Wildcard who holds an infinite number of Personas, is humanity's greatest protector against those who would and could harm your kind. Thus, he or she need a guardian who stands between man and divinity," Igor explained.

"A protector of a protector… I understand. But at the moment this person isn't in my life, so what should I do," I wondered. I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted to keep fighting after this Palace, but I couldn't just say that to Igor, besides my opinion could change after getting through this obstacle so it was better to remain open instead of making a choice only to take it back at some point or another.

"Defeat Ouvrard. You cannot protect the Wildcard with the threat of a Palace Ruler hovering over you, it would be too dangerous for you and the Wildcard," Igor insisted. His eyes firm and intense, a completely foreign expression to the entity's face, but his words were completely true; defeating Ouvrard had to be my focus for now, everything else could wait until after I was done with her.

*Persona 5 Royal*

'Anais Ouvrard, my uncle's house, Opera House.' I thought. Those words echoed like a mantra within my head as I took a deep breath, I focused myself on the method Igor had helped me develop to perceive the other world and then cross over to it. An ominous pressure rested on my shoulders and when my eyes opened, I found myself standing before the path that led to the Palace.

A quick glance down showed that I was clad within the outfit that would protect me in this world, Igor had called it the Rebel's Armour and was created from my idea of what a rebel looked like… how a beautiful outfit with armour was a rebel I don't know, but I decided against questioning it. Twirling my naginata briefly and adjusting the position of the nisun-nobi I had brought with me to give me some range attacks.

The harmonic call of the Velvet Room echoed nearby, but neither Lavenza nor Igor could help me in stopping Ouvrard. Something about rules against interference, only a Betwixt or other Persona wielders could take a part in these kinds of battles. Swallowing a lump in my throat, I tightened my grip on my Rebel's Weapon before allowing it to vanish in blue flames as I willed it away – I could call it back at any moment – and strode into the area surrounding the opera house.

But this time, instead of foolishly entering the front door, which set off an alert that someone had intruded into the Palace, I proceeded to loop around the edge of the building until I spotted a smaller door that was partially hidden away. The door was a simple black colour and fairly small in size compared to the larger door at the front which meant this was most likely meant for the stagehands, calling my naginata back I quickly slipped it into the thin seam between door and frame.

Holding the belief that I could pry it open within my mind, I quickly started to pull back on my weapon, soon enough a loud creaking and crunching sound echoed and the door flew open. Grabbing a hold to it to prevent the wood from banging into the brick, I dismissed my weapon and quickly stepped inside and pulled it close behind me in order to avoid suspicion. Crouching into the shadows, I pulled out a notebook I'd brought recently and opened it up, revealing a rough sketch of a map that contained the places I had been and what I could recall from my first visit. Quickly looking around, I confirmed that I was in an area behind the stage so I would need to look around some more in order to locate the Treasure.

'The Treasure will be in a secure place, likely isolated from the rest of the people. Up is out, that's the boxes for V. and it's unlikely to be there, especially since the only place that seemed important was that box I was caught in and it was as empty as could be. I'll start by looking around down here.' I decided. Slipping the notebook away into one of my skirt's pockets – don't question it – I stood up and began to move down the hallway with careful steps.

As one would expect, the backside of the opera house was choked with ropes, props, clothes, and other miscellaneous items that practically choked of all of the red wood flooring. I had to stare hard through the deep darkness that surrounded this hallway in order to avoid tripping over any of the obstacles, it was lucky that I did that as I spotted a Shadow heading right for me.

I stepped back against the wall and ducked down, keeping myself out of sight as much as possible as the entity stomped passed, it's masquerade mask practically glowed in the darkness. I need to tear that mask off before anything else, pulling myself out I took a few steps forward before jumping onto the Shadow's shoulders, causing it to swing about in an attempt to dislodge me but with my hand arched into a claw I threw it down to grip the mask's edges.

"Let's see what you really look like!" I declared. Pulling the mask free, I jumped off the Shadow's shoulders just in time to avoid a tumble as it turned into goo; quickly summoning my naginata I watched as it reform into two Personas and their information flowed into my mind courtesy of my eyes, one was Saki Mitama of Shintō thought with a resistance to ice and weakness to wind and gravity shaped like a yellow teardrop on its' side with a bright smile on its' face and closed eyes, the other one was Kodama a little tree spirit that looked to be made of wavering green paper shaped like a person with red designs and an oval head with a resistance to ice and earth and weakness to fire.

"Sing Phantom!" I called. Tearing the mask from my face, I allowed it to burst into flames and reform into my Persona. "Gry!" I commanded. The green pulsing energy flew out and rattled Saki Mitama, dumping the spiritual entity to the ground and I took advantage of Kodama's panic to dart over and swing my naginata down through Kodama which caused it to burst into black smoke, in a purely physical fight I was a lot stronger thanks to my dad's training so I could actually beat Lavenza in that manner, unless she used a particularly powerful Persona or pulled out her damn chainsaw.

Leaping backwards, I saw Saki Mitama pull itself up and immediately launch shards of ice at me, I threw myself to the side, successfully dodging the attack and allowing me to stab my weapon into the Shadow, dissipating it and causing money to drop to the floor. With both of them gone, I sighed in relief and felt Phantom return to mask my face, I needed to be conservative about how much energy I used since there was a limit on my Soul Power and running out would put me in danger of being taken down. As for the money, I was rather surprised by its' appearance, but I scooped it up none the less, after all it could be useful if I needed anything for myself.

I returned to pushing deeper through the darkness, occasionally stopping to add more to my sketch of the Opera House in the hopes that it would aid me in ensuring I didn't get lost, not that there were many landmarks within this place for me to orientate myself by. I kept moving until I located a door, I pushed it open and saw a spiralling metal staircase rising upwards, I began to ascend the steps, taking care to make as little noise as possible on the climb upwards; once I reached the top, I pushed the door I found there open.

The door led me onto a catwalk that I realised connected to a catwalk that stretched across the airspace beneath the fresco ceiling – which was just as gaudy as the rest of this place – and it let to quite the intimidating chandelier, a massive cluster of crystalline items that were allowing light to spill down onto the seats at the bottom. There was a distinct lack of people up here but that didn't stop me from moving across the catwalk towards the chandelier since its' bird's eye view might help me in determining where to go next.

I managed to find a space in the chandelier to nestle myself safely since no one could look up and find me, I pulled out my notebook and quickly scratched in the new areas I'd seen before starting to observe the area below me. It was wide and open but there were no doors whose presence I couldn't explain with basic logic which despite everything this building did still seem to have an abundance off regarding its' construction even if its' decoration was tacky.

Suddenly the velvet curtains rose up and I saw a woman swanning on stage, dressed in a near luminous blue outfit that was much better looking than anything else I'd seen here, she opened her mouth and started to sing, the mezzo-soprano tone of her voice reaching high up as she sang. I didn't care to hang about and listen to the music to identify the opera, tucking my notebook away I stood to my feet and decided to try looking somewhere else when something tickled my ear.

Turning my head, I noticed that there seemed to be a pair of doors secluded away from the rest of the building at the other end of the chandelier's catwalk. Curiosity buzzed within me and so I quickly scampered over and found the doors were covered in musicals notes, treble clefts and staffs with red rope slashing across the ebony surface.

"My music is worshiped the world over," Ouvrard suddenly announced. I jumped and spun around with my naginata pointed out as I snapped my head and it around, but no sign of the Shadow or the real woman could be seen. "Such a beautiful voice and it's all mine," Ouvrard continued speaking. It sounded like she was right next to me, yet I couldn't see her and her voice sounded a little off. "I am the Prima Donna and the Maestro. Nothing can stop me," Ouvrard's voice added on.

"Okay, this woman is officially obsessed," I commented. Dismissing my naginata, I pulled out an arrow and sawed through the rope binding the door, pushing it open I saw a dank and dark room with what looked to be a deformed flower at the back of the small alcove; walking over I saw that nestled into was what looked to be a wooden skull with glowing red eyes. "What is this?" I wondered. Reaching out, I picked it up and turned it over, but I could see nothing special about it until a strengthening sensation washed over me. "Woah! Did… did my Soul Power just get restored?" I questioned.

It didn't look like I could use the object in such a manner but the more I looked at the object the more I felt something, something trying to press itself into my mind. Recognising the sensation form when Igor had been teaching me to read Personas, I relaxed my mental state and this allowed the information to flow into my mind and I learned that the thing in my hand was called the Will Seed of Attachment.

"Attachment, could this represent Ouvrard's distortion? But it isn't a Treasure. Both Igor and Lavenza seemed certain I'd know it when I saw it," I muttered. With nothing else to do, I slotted the object away and proceeded to return to the chandelier catwalk. The opera singer continued to sing which covered my steps and I reached the metal stairwell, descending down it towards the bottom in order to continue searching the other areas.

"Halt intruder!" A voice bellowing. Twisting around, I saw one of the Shadows charging towards me with a truncheon raised to strike, however, the moment he was in range, I kicked my left leg up crunching it into the mask and the force tore it off; the shadow stumbled back in shock at the pain before dropping into goo as I called my naginata back to me and dropped into position as the shadows emerged.

"EEWWW!" I shrieked. One of the Shadows had taken the form of a lump of what looked to be meat, rotten and thick in appearance with red eyes. "GRY!" I cried. On impulse, I threw out an attack that would work against it which caused the Shadow, known as a Slime, to flop downwards. I quickly twisted my attention to the other one and saw that it was a turtle with a black shell and a snake or dragon curling around it, the appearance made me think of the Four Symbols entity Genbu… which it was and unfortunately resistant to both of my Spells.

Realising that this enemy would be more dangerous than the Slime creature, since it was likely capable of using ice from the aura it gave off, instead of attacking while it recovered, I instead chose to increase my magical defence. The training with Lavenza had been brutal, but thanks to that I had managed to gain a new spell which caused that effect, a dark greenish glow surrounded me and I felt my body become hardier as it took effect.

The Genbu opened its' mouth and unleashed a plaintive cry which caused shards of ice to shoot forward, even with my body made sturdier to magical attacks, I wasn't about to risk taking an attack like that. Dodging out of the way, I felt the cold of the ice streak passed me as the Slime proceeded to pull itself upright, with a dangerous aura radiating from it, I barely flipped away from the ability in time to dodge it, but I felt the strange sensation that being caught by that energy would have been dangerous for me.

I quickly sent another Gravity Spell at the Slime which dissipated it into nothingness, darting over I stabbed down sharply into the Genbu which caused it to rear up but clearly it was more resilient than the Kodama which forced me to dodge around it as it unleashed more Ice Spells at me. That song and dance continued for another couple of physical strikes but eventually it was turned to smoke, more money clattered onto the ground but a clasp that looked to be made from some kind of metal and a small bead in a pink-purple colour that gave off an odd sensation dropped alongside. Picking both up I slipped them into another of my skirt's pockets – there were quite a few of those – and continued making my way down the hallway but I sensed a tension tingling through the air.

Creeping through the dark corridors, I soon found the tense sensation lighten somewhat, instead a sensation of safety and comfort blanketed the air. I perked up and looked around curiously until I spotted that pressed against the wall was a door that wavered in and out of focus, it was nothing like the door to the Velvet Room and the hymn of the soul wasn't present. Furrowing my eyes, I walked over to the door and found it quite firmly despite being hazy, pushing it open I ducked inside and found a barren wooden room with an empty bookcase and coils of ropes, weirdly enough there were several chairs and a table nestled safely in the centre. However, the appearance of the room suddenly wavered and instead changed to look like the kitchen at the house before reverting back.

"Oh…kay," I let out. Deciding not to question the Metaverse's weirdness – I had to preserve what was left of my sanity someway – I took a seat and proceeded to add to my sketching of the Palace, but the more I worked on it, the more I felt like I was getting nowhere closer to the Treasure even if I had found a Will Seed, whatever that was worth. "I need to keep going, otherwise I'll never get free," I commented. Pushing up from the table, I tucked my stuff away and pushed open the door.

Seeing no Shadows or cognitions hanging around, I stepped out fully and set the door closed behind me. I'd wandered around the entire back end of this place, but I hadn't seen anything and it was doubtful to be up near the booths which left the front of the building. As I contemplated how to reach the front, sounds started to come near me, I dived into the shadows and curled in on myself to ensure I wasn't seen as I focused on my hearing to determine what was going on just now.

Cognitions breezed passed, a flurry of activity and loud – well loud after the near silence that had engulfed me for the first part of the infiltration – words. Words that seemed to be discussing the show that had just been on, how well the main singer had performed, the 'Maestro's' latest demands and how worried they were about completing them, and something about a squeaky piece of wood on the stage that had been a pain for them to fix.

'Squeaky piece of wood?' I thought. This entire building had been gaudy, bar these back areas, seemingly meant to representative of how Ouvrard viewed these kinds of buildings and that meant everything should have been overbearingly, insanely perfect; a piece of wood that was likely odd didn't fit into it. 'Interesting.' I decided. My goal was no longer the front of the building, instead I was going to check out the stage.

Once the people passed and the corridor was empty once more, I pulled myself out of the darkness and immediately started to creep my way towards the stage. Reaching the wing that led to the stage, I found it empty and barren of people and props; stepping out onto the dark stage, which I could still see perfectly fine, I carefully made each step as heavy as possible testing for which wood was making a sound.

I made my heavy steps across until I was roughly near the centre when the sound echoed up to me. Freezing, I waited for the squeak to fade then rocked back on my heels to put my foot down again and causing the sound to bubble up again. Pulling my foot back I stooped down and pressed my hands against the wood, trailing my fingers all over the grain until the tips caught on something. Focusing upon that area I found a thin gap in the wood which ran a distance up and down.

Gripping the edge as firmly as I could with just my fingertips, I started to lift it up until my fingers could wiggled further underneath and allow me to firmly lift the wooden plank which pulled up a larger section of the stage. Once fully lifted, the trapdoor revealed a vast underground space that was shrouded in darkness and had a chilling cold air blowing through it to blast up into my face; the Treasure would likely be located down there since it was so out of the way and most people wouldn't be able to locate it.

A roar echoed towards me, I released the trapdoor allowing it to slam back down and I immediately threw myself out of the way of whatever was coming. It slammed heavily into the wood near the trapdoor as I pulled myself to my feet and brought my Rebel's weapon towards me, I looked over and saw a rather large Shadow looming near, much larger than any of the Shadows I had come across both here and in Mementos.

"Defiler! You dare to return! And even after sullying the great Maestro's private box, you dare go further! You would dare to enter the Maestro's sanctum! The place she crafts masterpieces!" The Shadow bellowed. Woah, Ouvrard really thought she was that great of an individual, she needed a pretty serious reality check. "I will not allow you to go any further!" The Shadow declared. It did the turning into goo thing and emerged as a tall humanoid clad in green and blues with a helmet and wings extending behind it as it clutched a spear.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to let you or Ouvrard continue to ruin my life, so get out of my way. Before I make you," I insisted. The Shadow brandished its' weapon as the information of its' existence proceeded to flow into my mind revealing its' name was Principality and it was resistant to both Bless and Fire but thankfully weak to Gravity, along with Curse. "Makakaja!" I declared. I immediately felt the strength in my body increase as pale green light surrounded me, a sign my magical attack had been temporarily increased.

The Principality summoned a large bolt of light before sending it flying towards me. I dodged out of the way but still felt the burning heat of the light shoot passed me, I wouldn't be surprised if some of my skin had taken on a slightly tanned shade. Twisting around, I slammed Principality with a Gravity Spell, or at least I tried to do that.

Sadly, the damned angel fluttered its' pretty wings and glided out of the way. It then proceeded to use those same wings to charge towards me with the spear thrust out before it. Clear in its' intent to pierce me. Bringing my naginata around I caught the tip of the spear on my shaft and threw it up. This caused the weapon to fly above my head as the Shadow lunged forward with its' momentum.

I lifted my leg up to slam a hard kick into the Shadow's torso. It flinched backwards exactly as a human would, but it recovered much quicker and gathered more Light. I took the blast point blank, sending me grinding back across the wooden surface, but my stance held true. I recovered and summoned Phantom to release another Gry Spell at the Principality, willing it to strike true this time.

This time the attack succeeded. Gravity's green energy rattling the Principality like a ragdoll until it slumped to the ground in a useless heap of fabric and feathers. Seizing the opportunity, I charged over and sharply stabbed down with my weapon, piercing through the Shadow. It threw itself up with a scream that seemed both high and low at the same time, echoing around us. Pulling my weapon free, I jumped backwards.

Principality twisted around with an eerie fire burning in its' eyes and it charged towards me. A burst of light sliced through the air. Sliding my legs out, I ducked underneath the attack and dismissed my naginata. Jumping back up quickly, I readied my bow, I quickly fired off an arrow which forced the Shadow to swerve in its' approach. Quickly knocking another arrow, I fired this one. But this time, a flash of steel sliced through it and it clattered to the floor; useless. Taking no chances, the Principality didn't stop once it dealt with the arrow. It instead chose to release more light towards me. Acting quickly, I fired of an Earth Spell.

The two elements collided and threw up a smokescreen. Acting quickly, I moved as quietly as possible around the outskirts, keeping my ears and eyes open. My naginata returned to my right hand as I lifted my left up to cover my mask ready to strike. A soft fluttering of wings made me pause my movements as I waited for something to happen. A shadow suddenly surged through the smokescreen with wild stabbing movements. I continued my quick circle, until I was behind the Shadow. With a quick pull, Phantom emerged behind me.

"Let the darkness consume you!" I declared. A pulse of Phantom's viciousness roared through me. The Gravity magic flew from Phantom's noose towards the Principality sealed within the smoke and rattling it as bad as before. The attack also cleared the smoke and allowed me to see the angel slumped on the ground once more. Tightening my grip on my weapon, I darted forward.

Plunging my weapon down, the blade sank into the body of the Shadow and a thunk sound reached my ears. I tugged lightly but found the weapon lodged in the wood. It would require more force to free it, but I didn't want to take the risk that would present to me. Instead, I released it and backed off, preparing my bow once more and loosing an arrow at the pinned Shadow.

This time, there was no chance of the Principality blocking or dodging the arrow flying at it. The arrowhead pierced into the angel's chest from the side, but it got off one last shot. A bright flash of light that slammed into my left leg before I could dodge, a hiss of a breath seethed out between my lips as I dropped. My right hand instinctively moved to clutch it, as if that would brush the pain away.

Also, the pain was hot, it wasn't anywhere as bad as Fire or Ice, and infinitely better than Nuke, which mean it would fade soon enough. But the same could not be said for the Principality, my arrow had managed to strike true and clean, turning the Shadow into a bunch of smoke. Its' disappearance caused my naginata to clatter loudly to the floor as I pushed myself firmly up onto my feet, although my left leg still tingled.

I slightly hobbled over to my weapon and scooped it up before looking into the space beneath the trapdoor. Even though it would likely lead me towards the Treasure, I was tired. Several battles with Shadows with that last one especially draining my Soul Power significantly, and that last attack had done some hefty damage to my Life Energy, causing a weight of tiredness to press down on my entire body; but the more concerning part was the loud clamour of footsteps coming towards me.

I didn't want to take my chance, not with that many Shadows charging towards me and with myself in such an unsuitable situation to hold off many more battles. I quickly pushed the trapdoor down, allowing it to slam firmly into the edging cut for it, the loud banging rang out, but I didn't hesitate as I stuffed my hand into a pocket and pulled out a small orb.

Lavenza had called it a Goho-M, I threw it at the ground and felt something flow over and around me until the world seemed to lurch beneath my feet and I stumbled when the strange screen vanished and I found that I was now outside the Opera House. Deciding not to question whatever the heck it was that Lavenza had given me, I proceed to do the only smart thing in my situation.

I ran right for the exit back to the physical world.