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 and the original Personas that will be showing up on occasion.

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

Chapter 5: - The Maestro's Cavern

It was two days later that I'd returned to the Opera House, I'd taken a day to ensure I'd properly recovered after draining myself so badly the first time, especially against that Principality. Fortunately, that day of rest had allowed me to check in with Igor and Lavenza and I learned that the room with chairs and a table with its' air of safety was called a Safe Room, the Will Seed was apparently a congealed form of the distortion, they kind of acted like a camera's tripod with the Treasure being the camera, apparently there were two more. Also, the little bead I'd picked up was a Soul Drop and could restore my Soul Power.

Heaving up the trap door, I looked down into the darkness before quickly glancing around. Seeing no Shadows or Cognitions, I gripped the ring that lay on the underneath of the hatch and slipped into the opening pulling the opening close behind me and I let go, dropping into the darkness. Thankfully the lack of physics and my thoughts, allowed me to land securely on my feet without making a sound but I ensured that I stayed still for a few moments in order to check for any approaching enemies.

A few breaths later, a soft glow began to rise up, it was gentle and easy on the eyes with a soft blue-green colour but luminous and frequent enough for it to give me a clear view of the surroundings to not leave me unaware. Stalactites hung from the cavern ceiling as humps and ridges occasionally broke up the rocky ground, from these seems to be the glow and when I touched it, I felt a grassy like substance, perhaps moss then.

The cavern was huge, stretching out all around me and even with the luminous moss, I couldn't see to the far edges. A quick sketch of this place was made in my map before I started moving about the cavern, I would need to be careful down here as any Shadows could be behind the raised ground and some of the ridges were so large that it'd be too late by the time I eventually saw the Shadows; for that very reason, I kept my naginata clasped tightly in my right hand.

I ducked low beside a rock and carefully peaked around the edge, finding a Shadow walking towards me with quick steps, almost as if it was running away from something that I couldn't see. Keeping myself low I waited for Shadow to get passed me before lunging forward and tearing its' mask off as per usual and then waiting for it to reform, out popped a creature shaped like Saki Mitama but turned one hundred and eighty degrees, grey in colour with a kind of squished winking face; it was Kushi Mitama of the same origin as Saki Mitama with a strength against Wind and weakness to Fire.

The other Shadow that had popped out turned out to be a young man clad within a toga, but it was streaked with what looked to be dried clay. His skin was tanned from a long life being near the sea and its' sunlight, wild black hair that gave of a kind of crazed air hung around his face which held a distressed expression, harried green-brown eyes darted about as if in search of something. In one hand was a chisel and the other clasped a hammer, both looked to have seen some usage; the information flowed into me and I learned this man was called Pygmalion from Greek Mythology, being strong against Wind and weak towards Electricity and Ranged Kinetic Energy.

But as I gazed at Pygmalion, I felt something strange which I hadn't felt before, I felt a strange sort of connection that seemed to pulse between me and this Shadow. It was nothing like what bound me to Phantom, but something lighter, like a sensation of familiarity and similarity. Unfortunately, my interest about the Grecian-born Shadow resulted in me being blasted by wind which had flown from its' hammer.

I was sent flying backwards through the air. All the training with Lavenza came in handy as I quickly righted myself in mid-air and easily landed on my feet. Calling upon Phantom, the entity manifest and sent a Tera Spell flying at the teardrop shaped spirit because I felt an unsettling aura coming from it, but not something I could understand at the moment, nor did I want to understand it since it seemed rather dangerous.

But it was as if Kushi Mitama could sense my lack of desire to know what it could do. It managed to bob and weave around the attack before focusing back on me. A dangerous shroud of energy started to form around me. Not sticking around, I jumped into the air to dodge and dismissed my naginata before prepping my bow. Landing back down I swiftly released my left hand gripping the string.

The arrow sliced through the air and pierced into Pygmalion. Dropping to his knees, I followed up on the stunned Shadows with a Gravity Spell that rattled Kushi Mitama quite thoroughly. Enough to drop the entity to the floor alongside Pygmalion, I was more than a little surprised by the potent effectiveness of the Spell despite there being no weakness to Gravity present. Deciding to capitalise on the current state of the Shadows, I unleashed another arrow into Pygmalion before following up with a strike from my naginata. Both Shadows dissolved into nothingness, so I quickly scooped up what they had left behind.

'I need to be more cautious about my infiltration this time. I've got to find that Treasure before I run out of Soul Power.' I thought. Focusing myself with a deep breath, I started to move forward deeper into the cavernous surroundings. Why on earth did Ouvrard conceive of an Opera House with a massive subterranean other side? Was this meant to represent something about Ouvrard's mental state? Or was it something else that created this spacious underground?

Through my mental musings, I elected to instead slip between each darkened patch that I came across, envisioning myself capable of moving between those patches without being spotted. This allowed me to avoid the Shadows, especially the ones who I realised were glowing with an ominous red aura that I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up straight as it moved passed me. Swiftly filing that type of Shadow under a 'do not attack unless prepared' label, I proceeded to continue slinking along.

A series of whispers began to assault my ears and I froze in my motions, thankfully crouched behind a rock. I looked around for the source of those whispers as I focused my ears on what the words were saying since they sounded rather familiar. In the inky darkness, I managed to make out a kind of depression that was slightly blurry; standing up straighter, I quickly looked around for danger before making my way forward.

The depression turned out to a door which was identical to the other that had contained the first Will Seed, quickly slashing through the red ropes that bounds the door I pushed them open. A second Will Seed stood nestled in creepy vines within the middle but this one glowed with a green light instead of the red light that had coloured the first one, quickly picking it up I tucked it into my pocket as the replenishing energy flowed through my body.

'Two down, one to go. I wonder what will happen when I get all of them.' I thought. Stepping back out into the darkness, I blinked slightly to adjust to the sudden darkness compared to the slight light that had been within the Will Seed's Chamber. Once clear, I proceeded to slink back into the shadows in order to continue my exploration of this place, hopefully I'd find the Treasure's location soon.

More slinking passed in the darkness combined with the occasional fights against the Shadows I had already fought in the Palace. I also managed to locate a couple more Safe Rooms which allowed for a few moments of relaxation in between each stint of battle so that was a least a plus but still no sign of the Treasure and I was running out of places to investigate if the map I'd been drawing was any indication to go by.

Tapping the pencil against the growing map, I orientated myself in the direction of the area I hadn't explored yet and proceeded to make my way over there. I could only hope that I found this location soon otherwise I might have to fall back for today in order to rest up, exploring the Metaverse had a draining consequence attached to it. As I moved towards the unexplored area, the whispers started to echo once more implying the final Will Seed was nearby. Easily spotting the door this time, I moved over to it and lifted up my naginata.

"Halt outsider!" A voice bellowed. Throwing myself backwards, I landed on my hands and sprung back onto my feet, a large Shadow had appeared between me and the door; even worse was that the aura it was giving off was much stronger than anything I had run across including the Principality that I fought at the entrance to this place. "You will not take another of the Maestro's Treasure!" The Shadow declared. It then proceeded to turn into goop.

What emerged was a humanoid male with long flowing white hair clad within an elaborate teal-blue armour with a diadem like object curled around his head, black boots and gloves matched the black underlayer that he wore with embellishments on the former two that matched the rest of his armour, a silver spear with matching embellishments and a white cape completed the look. Thanks to my eyes, I learned this creature was called Tam Lin, from English folklore and meant to be a human kidnapped by fairies, although…

'Are you kidding!? It resists Bless, Fire, Earth, Physical and Wind. I'll just count my blessings that it's weak to Gravity along with Curse.' I realised. The Shadow didn't let me have more than a few seconds to process this information as he lashed out with his spear towards me, I dodged out of the way and quickly whipped my mask off to slam Tam Lin with a Gry spell; it dropped to the ground, so I sent out an echo of that spell. 'I'm going to need to be on my toes for this fight.' I decided.

I wasn't the sort of person to recklessly use attacks on enemies when I knew they wouldn't work, so I was pretty much stuck with Gry and the two Support Spells I knew. Currently Tam Lin was in a dizzied stated, swaying from side to side as if unable to properly recover from the state. Frowning slightly at the oddity of the event, I instead chose to cast Makakaja on myself to increase the damage I would be able to deal via my spells.

That little break however gave Tam Lin enough time to recover fully from my attack and he climbed to his feet. He charged forward and began to swing his spear in wide arcs that were fast and dangerous. I ducked, twisted and blocked as best I could but I still felt the tiny tell tale sting of something slicing across my skin. Eventually, I ducked low beneath a high spear swing and I tore the mask off.

"GRY!" I commanded. The point-blank attack of a type of magic it was weak to caused Tam Lin to be sent flying backwards. The Shadow crashed heavily into the stone wall and dropped to the ground; my breath was heavy as I desperately sucked in air to refill my lungs. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out some medicine and quickly tended to my wounds, feeling my skin slowly knitting itself back together.

Tam Lin scrambled up onto his feet and held his spear out horizontally before him as a wave of energy surrounded him. Sensing that whatever it was had caused something to change about him, I dismissed my naginata I pulled my nisun-nobi free and dropped myself into a fighting stance. I fired off an arrow which managed to catch Tam Lin in the shoulder, but he quickly charged at me and thrust his weapon out towards me.

I blocked the attack with my bow and quickly brought Phantom out once more to deliver another Gravity spell into the Shadow. Tam Lin was flung away from me and into the nearby wall which allowed me to send out another spell into the Shadow's body which caused it to fall into that dizzy state again. Deciding not to question the weirdness, I focused on a more immediate problem.

The continued usage of magic had drained my Soul Power quite considerably, lucky for me I had that Soul Drop. Quickly downing it, I felt my Soul Power be restored to my body, but Tam Lin climbed to his feet and rushed at me. He swung his weapon out in that wide arc of attacks once again, tossing my nisun-nobi to my left hand, I summoned back my naginata. I brought my weapon up to block the attack and this caused us to start pushing against each other.

"You are seriously starting to irritate me," I hissed. Tam Lin said nothing as his face remained rather passive, but then Shadows didn't display many emotions to begin with. I pushed him away and promptly jumped backwards. Dismissing my naginata, I prepared my bow and loosed another arrow at it which caught Tam Lin in the knee. It was best to target the exposed joint areas in order to weaken the Shadow.

Tam Lin charged at me with a single thrust which stabbed me hard in the shoulder. But I seized the shaft of his weapon to prevent him escaping. The Shadow froze up and that allowed me to slam it with my Gravity Spell once more. Tam Lin was forced back by the attack but his spear behind pierced into me.

'It doesn't hurt! It doesn't hurt!' I chanted. I reached up with my right hand and pulled the weapon out while maintaining the mental chant in order to curtail the pain that would be pulsing through me otherwise from removing the weapon. I steadied my breathing and focused on bringing out Phantom once more.

"Let the darkness consume you! Gry!" I declared. Phantom summoned out the attack but this time it seemed even stronger than normal. The pulsing energy surrounded Tam Lin and pulled in on itself in such a violent move that the energy seemed to tear apart Tam Lin. Breathing heavily, my eyelids fluttered rapidly, not really seeing the left behind objects that cluttered the floor, likely in shock from what had happened as I felt my knees give out.

They thumped hard against the cold floor beneath me and my breathing started to tremble heavily as the events sunk in. That had been difficult, both my Life Energy and Soul Power had taken a heavy hit from the changing of blows, I'd depleted my arrows – although at least I could recover some – and the wound in my shoulder wasn't helping matters either. I reached my right hand up to grip my shoulder as I rooted around for some more medicine.

"That Will Seed had better be worth it," I grumbled. Pulling out the medicine, I quickly tended to my wound and set about gathering everything up, dropping my arrows away – thank goodness their heads would be repaired by the Metaverse's laws – I quickly gathered up the money when my hand ran across something underneath. Clearing the money away from the object I saw what seemed to be an underlayer of black armour, it felt rather strong and firm yet flexible as well.

The object began to glow as did my own outfit and suddenly the object disappeared from my hands and slammed into my body, yet no pain came. Instead, my outfit seemed to have changed even though there were no difference in appearance, instead it simply felt stronger… more protective. That was an interesting development, one I might need to inform Igor of, but at least now I knew about it.

Pocketing the money, I sliced open the ropes tying it shut and pushed open the door. Inside was a Will Seed coloured in blue this time, I lifted it up and felt my Soul Power be minutely restored, but then the Will Seed began to glow and that glow emanated from two pockets on my skirt, a quick check proved that it was the other two Will Seeds as I pulled them out. All three floated into the air and then they started to spin around in a circle in front of me, getting faster and faster until they blurred together and suddenly the three faces were slammed together in a blueish-grey three skull shaped objects with darker blue lines showing the edges of the initial skulls.

Crystal of Attachment. That was the object's name and I furrowed my eyebrows as I turned the object over in my hands, despite its' changed appearance I couldn't sense any great deal of power coming from it, in fact the power radiating from it had barely changed. Huffing in irritation, I slipped the object into a pocket and turned to leave the room.

I located the nearest Safe Room and allowed myself the opportunity to rest, I had brought some energy bars, thinking they might be able to restore Soul Power. I consumed them alongside a thermos of tea that I had also brought… my pockets were surprisingly roomy. Even as I rested, I could feel the food and drink restoring my energy alongside the small break that I gave myself; I did feel tired, but I refused to retreat until I was certain of the Treasure's location.

Setting out once more, I continued to explore the underground area's final area and found something that was practically a beacon for the Treasure's location, double doors that were golden in colour with a black flower pattern curling across the surface with black handles extending from the surface. Letting a breath escape from me, I reached my hands out towards the door.

A sensation tickled my mind and I jumped backwards just as a surge of goo shot up from the ground. Sneering at the appearance of another Shadow, one that felt just as strong as Tam Lin was, the Shadow appeared in the appearance of the security that Ouvrard believed would be protecting the Opera Theatre she was corrupted by.

"You apparently have no sense of your station! I shall endeavour to teach you that!" The Shadow declared. It turned to goop and then emerged as another man in armour, this looked to be white with a grey plate on the chest, blue plaid under-armour was exposed on the under legs and lower upper arms, short black hair that only fell to the eyebrows and tops of the ears was matched by black eyes that peered at me. A thick blue scarf with a gold and green cross pattern and golden tassels covered the rest of his face. There seemed to be a brown cape streaming behind him and a spear resting on his shoulder.

"I'm really not in the mood for this, time to put you in the ground," I snarled. The entity was called Setanta, of Celtic Mythology, and with a resistance to Range and Nuke attacks yet a weakness to Spy and Earth. "Well, easier than the other… one," I commented. But as I did, I felt something off, about myself instead of the Shadow… it felt like Makakaja had already been cast. I was rather confused by this until I recalled the Crystal of Attachment, this must be what it can to.

'Okay, that's actually useful.' I decided. To immediately have Makakaja active on me, that would save some Soul Power and allow me to deal more damage from the start; I immediately sent out a Tera Spell which sent Setanta stumbling to the ground thanks to striking its' weakness, I quickly followed it up with another strike which sent it into that a state that seemed similar to the dizzy state that had afflicted Tam Lin but slightly different. 'Whatever that is, it's useful.' I thought.

I darted over and swung my naginata down to slice a wound open. Setanta pulled himself up, so I jumped backwards as Setanta rushed at me. With a powerful thrust of his spear, he lunged at me, but I diverted the blow with my naginata and thrust out leg. My leg cracked into the torso, forcing Setanta away from me. At least I now had some breathing space as I prepared for the next move.

Setanta allowed an energy to surround him, it was different to what Tam Lin had used but seemed just as dangerous. I decided to go with the safe route and simply blasted the Celtic warrior with another Tera Spell. With him knocked down, I darted over and swung my naginata down to deal another blow to the Shadow.

However, right as my weapon reached the body, a see through reflective surface bounced by weapon back and it caught on my shoulder. A searing pain burned through my body at the wound that burst across my body. Stumbling back, I reached my left hand up to grab some medicine which I quickly used before clamping the hand over my wound while it healed.

Setanta stumbled to his feet as he looked at me with eerie dark eyes, he darted forward and began to swing out his weapon. Tam Lin had used a similar move but the swings were a different pattern and seemed weaker as well. I was able to dodge them with a greater deal of ease than those from Tam Lin. Getting out of the arc of swings, I pulled my mask off.

"Be buried in darkness!" I declared. The Tera Spell thudded against Setanta's body, thankfully that strange reflective barrier didn't pop up again and the pressure of the attack sent him down again; I wonder if that barrier was one that only repelled physical attacks. Deciding not to risk trying my arrows even if they could hurt him mildly, I decided to unleash another Earth Spell at him which sent him into another dizzied state. Which was a relief as I finally pulled my left hand away from my shoulder with the wound now healed.

For the rest of the battle, I continued with the unleashing of consecutive Earth-based Spells. I also avoided the strikes that Setanta sent out at me as much as possible, but I was still hit by them on occasion, opening wounds more painful than those from Tam Lin. Thankfully, the physical reflecting barrier had faded away which allowed me to return to utilising my naginata on occasion to conserve Soul Power. Soon enough Setanta took one last Earth Spell and turned into smoke.

I took in a steady breath to settle myself, then I reached for the doorway and pushed it open. Inside was a large circular room with a high ceiling, a part of the room was portioned off by a gauzy curtain through which I could only see a shadowy shape. Worried that it was Shadow Ouvrard, I moved forward only on the balls of my feet, taking a careful step forward to continue looking around for the Treasure.

Elegant dresses, that weren't anywhere near as ostentatious as the rest of the stuff, were draped around the room in varying shades of blue, green and purple. As I turned around the corner, my breath caught in my throat when I saw a massive redwood grand piano sat proudly in a small alcove, hovering above that was a shimmering orb that seemed to be rippling across its' surface.

"Now that's the Treasure," I decided. Hidden within the depths of the Palace as it was, guarded by stronger Shadows than anything up above and have no definitive shape; well, it made sense since emotions weren't concrete things even if you could attribute them to places, people or things. Reaching my hands out, I found that they phased right through the object, pulling off my mask, I tried again with Phantom's limbs but the same thing happened, so I called my Persona back. "Snag. Well, I guess I should head back to Igor," I decided. At least I could make my way back here easily.

I turned around, prepared to leave only to jump back when I saw someone was behind me. The face was hidden by the shadows but whoever it was had clearly emerged from behind the curtain, yet the luminous dress meant it couldn't be Shadow Ouvrard… actually, I think it was the mezzo-soprano from two days ago. The person approached me and I saw the face come into the light.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed. My voice piercing through the underground before my hand clamped over my lips as a nauseous feeling churned up my stomach, my heart thundered in my chest and my skin began to go all clammy; the cognition in front of me had long black hair which framed the face thanks to the full fringe and sidelocks allowing wide, rounded, cool coloured green eyes to stare at me with confusion, long fingered and pale hands were crossed in front of the torso. This cognition, the mezzo-soprano who had performed in the star role was ME!

I continued to tremble as I stared at the cognition of myself in a state of horrified shock. The cognition opened her lips which moved but not a single sound came out of them, not the rush of air or even the crack of a dry throat… there was nothing. My shock turned into a blinding rage as my horror built more and more; this was how Ouvrard saw me, someone not even worth being heard except for when she was singing!

Spurred by the rage, I swung out my naginata, cutting through the terrifying cognition like wet paper. It burst into the same dark smoke that other Shadows did, mechanically pulling my hand away from my mouth, I desperately sought to control my breathing and keep the rising bile down until I was safe. Knowing that someone might have heard me scream, I decided to do the one thing that I could.

I bolted out the door and towards the nearest Safe Room, determined to escape this place.