Within seconds, the server room had devolved into a chaotic firefight.

With gunfire flying each direction, Lynn tried to keep on top of the situation. In between firing from her cover, she studied the room. Gas was still leaking in from air vents. Green smog like other parts of the Palace. It was getting tough to see and even tougher to properly breathe. Not to mention the sudden brief lapses in mental function.

"Mona, can you do something to clear the air!?" Lynn yelled over the sound of conflict. Morgana jumped from cover to cover, firing heavy pellets from his slingshot. He planted his back against the machine block just next to Lynn and looked up with a frown.

"Zoro!"

[Bwahaha! This is child's play!] The barrel chested Persona bellowed. He slashed the air with his rapier and a warding wind kicked up around the Thieves' side of the battlefield.

The smog might have lifted somewhat, but without outright getting rid of it, the threat still remained. Perhaps if they reversed the ventilation somehow. Something in here had to be able to do that.

At least it wasn't flammable.

In a brief moment of distraction, a bullet ricocheted off the surface of Lynn's cover. Inches from her face. She braced and quickly fished out a grenade from her coat. "Flash out!" She called, tossing the cylinder and sending it skidding across the floor. In response, each of the thieves braced their eyes and let the flashbang detonate. "Fox, Panther, suppressive fire! Rider, Skull, on me! The rest of you, hold the line!" Everyone gave their reply and immediately, the new formation took form. Ann and Yusuke took turns leaning out of their cover to lay down rapid fire. Coupled with the flashbang, the Shadows were forced onto the defensive. Makoto and Ryuji joined Lynn in an advancing force.

Smaller Shadows tried to halt their advance, only to be met with either a shotgun blast or a revolver round. Lynn spinned around and cut through the side of one of the larger Shadows. Eclipse glimmered in the poor lighting. With a flourish, she brought Virtue to bear and opened fire on the other Shadows.

Ryuji and Makoto got to work beating another group to an inky pulp. In the heat of the moment, Lynn couldn't help but compare the sight to Kaneshiro beating his own man to death.

It was a split second thought. Barely worth mentioning.

But for whatever reason, Lynn's brain fixated on it. Her mind clouded over. Were these people really her friends? No. They were enemies. Enemies of Kaneshiro.

A grin crawled across Lynn's jaw. She twirled Eclipse in her fingers and slowly approached Makoto. The girl had no idea, too focused on fighting the Shadows. Lynn raised her curved knife and was about to slash down when there was a sudden voice calling out from the other side of the room. It was another one of Kaneshiro's enemies.

"Joker, stop at once!" Hifumi's eyes pierced into Lynn's soul, but found no purchase. Her grin remained and she ignored the order.

Lynn swiped at Makoto with the intent to kill. Only, the girl had dodged thanks to Hifumi's interference.

Clicking her tongue, Lynn attacked again. Another miss. "Stay still and die." Her voice was cold and completely calm. Makoto's eyes widened as she backed away from Lynn.

"Joker, what's wrong!?" She called.

[Hehehehe! Thought you could get rid of the smog with cheap wind tricks? Our benevolent leader's influence can't be drowned out so easily!] The tiny Shadow cackled from within the glass cylinder. It danced around. [Your little Joker's fallen under the spell! Oh! And it looks like the bear girl has too!]

"W-what? Hunter?" Ann looked toward her friend. She came eye-to-barrel with Shiho's Contender. "Hunter, no!" She cried, diving out of the way just in time to avoid the gunshot. A shot that would have torn through her completely. "Ugh… my head… this damn smog! Queen, can you help?"

"I'm working on it." Hifumi's brow furrowed. "With the source constantly poisoning the air, it'll be difficult to… to…" she stumbled on her feet, watching as Ann and Shiho struggled against each other. The fur clad girl had lost all control over her own actions. Much like Lynn had. On the opposite end of the room, Makoto ducked and parried Lynn's attacks the best she could, but she was running out of room. Ryuji intervened and pushed Lynn back with his cudgel.

"Snap out of it, Joker! I don't wanna hurt you!" He growled, narrowly avoiding Eclipse's edge. Strands of blond hair danced across the black edge of the knife. "Damn it, Joker!"

"Enough of this!" Fox barked. He drew his sword and bellowed. "Goemon!" Cold wind swirled in the air, dissolving his kitsune mask into powdered snow. Frost and rime covered the surfaces of the room in mere seconds. Frost quickly ensnared both Shiho and Lynn, slowing them down and forcing them to stop. "Skull, render her unconscious, quickly!"

Ryuji staggered back at the sudden order. He looked toward Yusuke, then toward Lynn. She struggled against her frozen restraints and snarled.

"I can't do that! Are you crazy!?"

However, his protests were interrupted by the sound of a heavy impact, a startled grunt then another heavy impact.

"I'll… apologise to her later, I promise!" Makoto said with a flustered urgency. She shook her hand with a wince. Then a second later, Ryuji realised what had just happened. Makoto had slugged Lynn in the face, knocking the girl out in a single punch. Thankfully, Makoto had removed the fist weapon before doing so. At the same time, Yusuke had slammed the pommel of his katana into the back of Shiho's head, rendering her unconscious. "Skull, short circuit that console! I think it controls the ventilation system. We can trick it into performing a system reboot."

"R-right…"

By now, Lynn would have assumed she'd be used to waking up after being knocked unconscious.

Apparently not.

Her head felt like it was splitting apart and her jaw ached something fierce. The last thing she really remembered was pushing the advance on a group of Shadows. After that, it was mostly a blur. At least this time there wasn't a concussion to worry about. She sat up and shivered when cold water dripped down her spine.

"Why… am I soaking? So… cold…" She muttered.

"Joker!" The sound of Ann's voice forced Lynn's mind to focus. They weren't in that server room anymore. She had been laying on a couch within a Safe Room. "You're ok!" Ann's smile set Lynn at ease.

"I'm so sorry, Joker! It was the only way!" Makoto spoke up next.

"What happened? Weren't we trapped?"

Everyone exchanged looks. A conversation seemingly happening in silence. "So you don't remember? I suppose that makes sense." Morgana hummed and pawed his chin. "Putting it simply, you and Hunter were both brainwashed. Queen tried purging it, but the smog had too much of a grip on you both. So we… had to… uh…" Morgana trailed off, looking quite uncomfortable and very sheepish.

"Rider punched you out cold when Fox froze you." Ryuji's bluntness was a little hard to swallow, but it at least explained the pain in her jaw and the cold dampness of her thief attire. "Fox handled Hunter."

"So that's why the back of my head hurts so much?" As if on cue, Shiho rubbed under her bear pelt hood and winced. "I should be angry, but… I guess this makes us even." The girl actually smirked up at Yusuke. His response was a little more dignified. A simple nod and a subtle smile. Next to him, Hifumi's brow furrowed and she fidgeted with the plates on her gauntlets. "What's wrong, Queen?" Shiho asked.

"I did what I could, but Ninienne and I could only prevent the others from falling victim. Had I known the smog would do this, I'd have taken some more precautions. Placed protections and such."

Lynn stood on unsteady feet for a few moments, collecting herself and shaking off the remaining brain fog. "Hey, if you weren't there, we probably would have all gotten brainwashed. That would have been… well… the less thought about it the better." Lynn's words of encouragement set Hifumi at ease somewhat. "Hunter and I didn't hurt anyone, did we?" For a brief moment, Lynn's heart raced at the very thought of hurting one of her friends. Mercifully, no one looked injured.

"We managed to avoid any injuries. You needn't fret." Yusuke replied.

That was a relief.

"What about the terminal and that Shadow?" Shiho asked, looking a little guilty. Perhaps because she was the one to inadvertently spring the trap.

Morgana was the one to answer. "We finished off the last of the Shadows that attacked, then that tiny one threw a big tantrum." The cat smirked and paid Ryuji a short glance. "Skull managed to scare it into submission. I guess he's not useless after all!" Before Ryuji could retort, Morgana waved his paw dismissively. "I'm kidding, Skull. Anyway, we got another part of the code. The letter C is 6 and H is 5… which… makes R 2."

"Making the code 2965." Lynn nodded. "Was there another memory?"

"Not this time… thankfully." Morgana shivered in response.

They needed a plan going forward. The smog was becoming more and more of an issue as they got closer to the centre. This time it was just two of them. The next time, it could be a whole lot worse. Hifumi's power was going to be vital. "Alright, we're getting close, so we should push onward and find the treasure today. I know Kaneshiro gave us a pretty lenient deadline… but this is a Yakuza boss who has already admitted his intentions of selling us off. The sooner we find the treasure, the more time we have to plan our heist."

"Are you sure? I… punched you pretty hard." Makoto looked at her feet and fidgeted like a little girl caught with her hand in a candy jar. "I'm so sorry about that…"

"No need to apologise, you did the right thing."

"Let's get goin' then! I wanna see all that gold again!" At least Ryuji was still in high spirits. His enthusiasm quickly caught on and everyone's mood improved significantly. Adding onto it, Lynn's determined grin also proved contagious. The thought of bringing Kaneshiro to his knees was quite the motivator.

Of course, it wouldn't stop at Kaneshiro himself. They had an entire syndicate to systematically dismantle.

That was where most of their time would be focused going forward. Thanks to all the data they had found within the Palace, they had several huge leads on larger operations. That said, the real world hits would probably be best left to the V Team. As powerful as the thieves were in the Metaverse, in reality they were still just regular teenagers. Frustrating, yes, but Lynn wasn't stupid.

Before long, the thieves had arrived at the keypad barring their way deeper into the lock maze. The code turned out to be correct and with a lot of shifting and grinding of metal, the path forward was opened. From here only one more barricade blocked them from the centre. Only, there was no keypad this time. Just a sheer wall of safe deposit boxes running the whole way around the ring. Had they missed something? Or was there something else to this ring of the lock? Lynn stopped to collect her thoughts.

If this maze really was a giant lock, where was the key? The huge metal rod running under the floor through the opened passages could have been the key, but something told Lynn that wasn't really the case.

"Wait…" She muttered. "If the Treasure is down here… why was the Bank so tall? It was a whole lot of office space with not a whole lot of substance. It… seems kind of weird, don't you think?"

"I guess so…" Morgana pawed his chin. "Hey, let me check the map for a second…" pulling out the collected map from his knapsack, Morgana studied the layout. His eyes circled the paper, narrowing as he did so. "Hmmm… we've explored all these floors, disarmed the systems… oh? Wait a second… each floor has a central space we just couldn't get into. What are you thinking, Joker?"

"I'm thinking we need a key."

Slowly, Lynn looked up. The lock was inside a giant domed room. Directly in the centre of the ceiling was a huge circular panel. At first, the thieves thought it was some kind of decoration or support structure.

Now, however?

"That looks an awful lot like a keyhole, huh." Lynn grinned.

"That's effin' huge! I didn't see anythin' like a key upstairs…"

"Joker, look! We haven't explored this room yet!" Morgana patted an area on the map that had yet to be marked by anything. It was on the ground floor near the lobby. More specifically, it was just past the yellow maze Makoto, Lynn and Ryuji got trapped in. Lynn's grin slowly faded. Of course there was something more to that weird place. If Lynn had to guess, it was a security measure to keep people away from what had to be the key to the vault.

"That area's dangerous. We got cut off from you guys when we got trapped there last time…" Lynn spoke, idly patting Makoto on the shoulder. The poor girl was shaking like a leaf.

"We blasted the big Shadow, though. So… it should be safer, right?" Ryuji suggested.

It wasn't a stretch to assume that. Hopefully it was the case, but wishful thinking only led to bad situations. "Maybe, but if we have to go back through it, I think it'd be safer if we were all together. Or… perhaps only a couple of us should go… hmm. Queen, you're the tactician. What do you think?"

"M-me?" Hifumi gasped, not expecting to be called on. Still, she quickly gathered herself and thought about it. "Well, there's merit to strength in numbers, but from what you described, it's a maze of impossible twists and turns. Meaning its a tight space interspersed with small open areas, like a forest. Easy to get lost in and even easier to lose others in. So sending us all in at once wouldn't be a good idea. Perhaps a small team of four. The rest of us should remain on standby."

"Any volunteers?"

Unsurprisingly, no one raised their hands. Grunting, Lynn took a second to think.

"Panther, Queen, Mona and I will go. Everyone else, stay in the Safe Room we just left. We'll regroup once the forward team investigates past the maze. With any luck, there'll be something to help us move forward."

Although the three chosen didn't seem all that enthusiastic, Lynn didn't really want to subject Ryuji and Makoto to that place again. No doubt the former wouldn't mind, but the latter clearly let her relief show.

With that decided, they set off to what was hopefully the last obstacle before the Treasure.

Getting into the yellow labyrinth was easy enough. The metal door they had escaped through the last time proved a reliable entrance. However, getting through the labyrinth was a whole different story. Much like the last time, the passages and openings made no sense at all.

Winding in on each other, passing through impossible space, stopping at random dead ends.

What's more, they had found more scrawlings on several different walls. The most disturbing of which were large masses of scribbles that dribbled thick black ink down the wall like blood. None of this was here last time. Granted, there was no telling if they had actually come this way before. Having Morgana tagging along this time proved to be quite useful. His sixth sense for all things Treasure related gave them a general direction.

According to his boasting, he could smell a strong concentration of distortion which - according to the map - was in the direction of their goal.

So at the very least, they weren't completely lost.

What bugged Lynn, however, was the scrawlings. She thought the large Shadow they defeated before was responsible. Now, however, she wasn't so sure.

As if to further add to the suspicion, they came upon what could only be described as a mural. The ink was still wet and slightly dripping. Scrawled over a large wall was a disturbingly detailed drawing of something. A creature. At least, that's what a rational mind would say. Long, spindly limbs. Gaunt figures. Countless faces. It was a horrible amalgamation of several intersecting monstrosities.

"Hmm…" Morgana took a keen interest in this specific scrawl. He studied it carefully and pawed his chin. "That large Shadow you beat; did… it remind you of anything?"

"Actually… yeah. It was wearing the same suit Kaneshiro wore when we first met him…" Lynn replied. Morgana's question jolted her mind and the image in her head was as clear as day. When they did meet him in reality, he was largely obscured by dim lighting. That said, his outfit was very distinct. As was the suit that the Shadow was wearing. "... Don't tell me…"

"I think what you destroyed was a fragment of Kaneshiro's self image."

"I thought that's what a person's Shadow is." Ann looked confused. Just as confused as Hifumi and Lynn.

"Under normal circumstances, yeah. But the memories we've found down in the vault suggests a deep seeded self hatred. Specifically of his own cowardice. He wants to be in control. To be feared. So… he cuts it all off. At least as much of it as he can. Sheds his cowardice, his morality, his compassion, everything he sees as weak. That said, you can never really destroy those parts of yourself completely." Morgana grunted at his own words. The point didn't need to be said aloud. Panther, Queen and Joker each shared grim glances. The mural was actually a self portrait of Kaneshiro's own insecurities. The insecurities and weaknesses that he had 'contained'.

"So there's probably hundreds of monsters of Kaneshiro's own making lurking around in here?" Queen concluded. Much to everyone's growing unease.

"Maybe… but let's… let's not jump to conclusions. We have to keep moving." Lynn tried to hide the shiver of dread. Unsuccessfully. However, her three companions agreed. There was no point in standing around waiting to be attacked.

So, they set off once more.

Following Morgana's senses, they delved deeper and deeper into the insane cage. The further they went, the dimmer the lights became. Eventually, it cast the whole area into an unsettling limbo. The air even tasted foul.

Every so often, Lynn saw movement in the corner of her eye. No matter how hard she tried to keep focus on corners and distant spaces, she couldn't see anything. The poor lighting was playing tricks on her. That had to be it. The labyrinth was silent like a grave, adding to the tense apprehension. Silence that was only broken by the quiet footfalls of the four thieves. As well as the gentle tap of armoured plates coming from Hifumi's outfit.

After a while, it was obvious they were being stalked. Or at least followed.

For all the thieves knew, their assailant might not even be hostile. Of course, things never went so easily in Palaces. Which was why each of them were holding their weapons, ready for ambush.

An ambush that came quickly.

A ghastly wail rang through the dark hallways followed by thumping and scraping. It grew louder and louder until a horrible form emerged from the darkness. Many forms to be exact. All stuck together in black tar and ink. Horrific limbs protruded at odd angles. Many legs shuffled and dragged themselves forward. A mass of faces swelled and pulsed, each face adding to the symphony of suffering. It was the same face repeated over and over.

Kaneshiro's face.

Lynn's first instinct was to immediately attack. She levelled Virtue and began to pull the trigger. However, something stilled her hand.

This thing looked terrified.

It barreled closer and closer, earning concerned mutterings from the other thieves.

"Joker… do we attack?" Morgana asked.

Within moments, the mass was on them, screaming and wailing. Again, Lynn very nearly gave the order to attack. Then, something else caught her attention. This amalgamation wasn't readying itself to attack. It was clawing and dragging itself in such a desperate mess, it was almost like a scared animal running from a threat. Before she knew it, the mass was already rushing past them, completely ignoring the thieves. Honestly, a small sense of relief washed over Lynn. If she was wrong, it could have been bad.

However, her relief didn't last.

Another sound soon followed.

Not a wail or moan. A thunderous, bone chilling roar. The amalgam was being chased by another huge Shadow-like monster. Identical to the one Lynn had dispatched before. Unlike the amalgam, this one did have the intent of violence.

"Mona, Panther, turn up the heat!" Joker sprang to action and began to open fire. "Queen, give them a boost!"

Instantly, Morgana and Ann jumped into position, each one calling their Personas.

Zoro kicked up a strong wind that tore through the area in front of them. The chasing monster was briefly halted in its tracks, struggling against the buffeting wind. Then the whole place was set alight. Carmen snapped her fingers and a single spark turned into a whirl of fire. The air heated up and soon, the wind current itself seemed to burst into flame. The result was a tornado of searing flame. Raging through the path, it enveloped the Shadow causing it to roar in pain. Its roar - however - was drowned out by the wind and fire.

To add on to the destructive nature, Ninienne channelled strengthening energy into both Ann and Morgana.

The firenado swelled in power and cast the whole area into an unbearable heat wave. Everyone braced against the force and sweltering heat.

After thirty seconds, the firenado faded and the heat dispersed along with the three summoned Personas. All that remained was the charred figure of the Shadow. Motionless. Finally, Lynn fired the last shot, piercing the hulking Shadow straight through its head. In an almost serene display, its body dissolved into ash carried away by the vestiges of Zorro's wind.

Now that the threat had passed, Lynn looked in the opposite direction.

The amalgam was cowering behind a thin pillar standing in the centre of a more open section of the labyrinth. Its many faces were glaring at the thieves with varying emotions. Some were terrified, others disgusted, a few were awestruck and lastly, some were balling their eyes out.

Seeing such emotions being expressed by Kaneshiro of all people filled Lynn with something she never expected to feel for the man.

Pity.

"So… that's all of Kaneshiro's locked away insecurities?" Ann glared at it with a perked brow and hands firmly on her hips. "What's with all the gunk? It's like some weird cloak." She stepped forward and in immediate response, some of the figures tried running away, halted only by the rest of its mass.

Morgana, however, pawed his chin in thought. "If I were to make a wild guess; Kaneshiro sees these parts of him as a kind of cancer. Maybe. Or it could just be consolidated distortion after years of repressing it all. Either way, it's kind of pathetic." He looked to where the muscular Shadow once stood. The scorch marks along the floor and walls standing as the only evidence something was there at all. "Is Kaneshiro trying to completely destroy parts of himself? Is… that even possible?"

"Either way, what should we do about this?" Hifumi pointed at the amalgam. Sighing, Lynn gave it another look. The pity still gripped her chest.

She would be lying if she said she wasn't tempted to put it out of its misery.

However, that would only cause unnecessary damage to Kaneshiro's psyche. For all she knew, it could cause a mental shutdown which was not the goal here.

"We have to leave it alone." Lynn finally said.

Morgana nodded, though he didn't look too happy about it. "I agree. Let's go. We're close to that concentration I sensed." Even still, before Lynn joined the others, she studied the amalgam again. The pity in her chest remained strong, but the more time she spent thinking about it, the more she felt disgusted. Kaneshiro was a true coward, tricking people into fearing him.

[Come, Trickster. They pose no threat to us. Though I would enjoy devouring them all the same, we should continue on.] Arsene's voice washed over her mind and she felt a clawed hand gently press on her shoulder.

Turning, Lynn put the whole thing out of her mind.

The final stretch of the labyrinth took them into the paths of several of the larger Shadows.

They were dispatched quickly and with each one defeated, their surroundings grew slightly darker. The already dim light was slowly dimming into pitch darkness.

That was until they turned one last corner and saw a single red doorway set into a far wall. The same vein-like tendrils spread out from the frame and crawled across the walls. Morgana assured this was the exit, but Lynn was still on edge. For a while now, the amalgam had been following them at a distance. Her comrades had caught on to it as well. Yet no one could sense any kind of malice.

The amalgam occasionally whispered and groaned to itself. It was all unintelligible gibberish.

When they neared the red door, the amalgam stopped in stone cold silence. Its stillness set everyone on edge, yet Ann still placed a hand on the silver handle. It was unlocked. The door creaked open and a brightly lit control room came into view. As soon as the door was open, in an impossible flash of speed, the amalgam dashed forward and barged its way out into the room. It thrashed around in desperation before slamming against a ventilation shaft. The tar and ink oozed through the opening and with a lot of sickly sounds of crunching and grinding, the whole thing squeezed through.

It disappeared into the vents, leaving only a trail of black slime in its wake.

"... Huh… I really hope that doesn't come back to bite us…" Morgana muttered. Everyone shared the same opinion.

Still, they were out of the labyrinth. Before them was exactly what it looked like. A control room filled with workstations and computers. It reminded Lynn of something straight out of a film set. An approximation of what Ground Control would look like.

Looking further onward, the entire opposite wall was one gigantic window looking into a silo-like area.

Vast was an understatement.

Suspended in the centre of the silo was one monolithic device. Red lights blinked along the silo's walls. Cables dangled to and from the device. Support structures held it firmly in place. As far as metaphorical representations of keys went, this one was pretty on the nose. "Hey, look!" Hifumi lunged over toward a particular computer station. Unlike the others in the area - which were all seemingly offline - the screen was lit up with a symbol of a piggy bank with a cigar hanging from its mouth.

Below the image was a single word.

'REAP'

Directly underneath that was a dotted line consisting of four segments. "Oh great, another code. Ugh… this is so damn annoying!" Ann griped and huffed. It was definitely annoying, but at least they already had two of the letters. The question was, how were they supposed to find the remaining two?

That question was seemingly answered simply by looking into the silo a little more.

Circling the walls were several walkways and catwalks which spanned both up and down. There were a few Shadows on patrol around them too. Mercifully, getting into the silo was a simple case of opening a security door on the far side of the control room.

The silo ran down quite a ways. However, upwards went far longer. Lynn wasn't even sure she could see the ceiling. Even still, the walkways were connected with a series of ladders. Towards the bottom of the silo, there was a monitoring station as noted by several signs lining the walls. It looked like an outcropped building overhanging the keyhole they saw on the vault's ceiling. It was a start at least.

Making their way down wasn't the hard part.

That lied in dispatching the roaming Shadows without alerting the rest. As quietly as they could, they dashed along the catwalks, slid down ladders and cut down the smaller Shadows. The larger ones were dealt with in a more targeted manner. Instead of individually splitting off, the thieves each struck them at the same time, combining their weapon's bite. Eventually, they came to the monitoring station door. A simple room with a plain table, steel chairs and a single screen showing technical schematics and data about the silo itself.

There were also two Shadows in the room, each one sat lazily in their steel chairs. They barely had time to register the door opening before Ann and Morgana lashed out and dispatched them.

Once that was dealt with, it didn't take long to notice a small object standing on the table. It was a piggy bank one could find in a kid's room. Its cartoonish grin - which could rival Morgana's - held a cigar much like all the other piggy bank images they had found.

"Oh. I've kind of always wanted to do this!" Uncharacteristically, Hifumi looked positively giddy at the sight of the thing. "Can I? Smash it open, I mean."

Ann sniggered. So did Lynn.

"By all means, Queen." Lynn gestured to the piggy bank.

Immediately, Hifumi picked it up. Notably, its contents didn't sound much like coinage. Though there was definitely something inside. With an excited smile, Hifumi lifted it into the air then threw it down onto the table. In such a small room, the resulting crash was almost deafening. Like a gunshot. Everyone winced and braced their eyes against any splinters and fragments. They were then overcome with a familiar pressure tickling their brains.

[I stand at the top of the underworld. One of the most powerful men in Tokyo. In the palm of my hand, people dance on my command. I say jump, they jump. I say kill, they kill. This was what I always wanted. Yet, it's not enough. The money isn't enough. I need more. I won't be satisfied with this pittance anymore. Shibuya is running dry. It's pathetic. I do so much for these lowlives, the least they can do is repay me. I refuse to go back to how I once was. More. I need more… more…]

For a few moments, the thieves were silent.

Sucking in air through her teeth, Lynn frowned. "Just how unhinged is this guy…" she muttered to no one in particular. The answer was obvious. Kaneshiro truly was despicable. Overcome by his greed, it sounded like money was an addiction to him. As if possessing enough of it would make him invincible.

It was sad, honestly.

Silently, Morgana sifted through the porcelain fragments and picked up another scrap of paper. "A = E - 3" he read aloud. He grunted and stashed the paper away. "At least these codes aren't all that complicated."

"Don't Jinx it!" Lynn snapped.

Either way, the only letter left was E. Outside the monitoring station, Lynn looked up and around the silo. She ignored the awestruck feeling and focused her Third Eye. Scanning the walls and walkways, she couldn't see anything that stood out. No secret passages, no hidden buttons or switches, nothing. Frustration set in and with a growl, she slumped over the railing of the walkway just outside the monitoring station.

They were so close.

Yet so far.

In her slight slip into sorrow, she almost failed to take notice of one vital feature of the keyhole below. Granted, it was so huge and obvious, it completely failed to register in Lynn's head before. The key hole was split into two sections that would separate to let the key itself descend. That wasn't what she was interested in. She could kick herself with how in her face the answer was. On each section of the key hole, huge lettering was painted into the metal.

'E7'

"I bet a hundred Yen that's our next answer." Although she tried keeping her irritation hidden, her voice betrayed her with a low growl.

"No harm in trying it." Morgana shrugged and without another word, the thieves made their way back up toward the control centre. With the way cleared of Shadows, it was only a matter of minutes before they stood in front of the console once again.

If their maths was correct, the code this time was 2742.

Carefully, Lynn typed the numbers out and hit enter. A few seconds passed before the screen flashed and changed its display. Much like the room with the green smog, it was a blank screen with a single small rectangle blinking in the upper left corner. After another moment, words began to write themselves across the screen. / ACCESS CODE ACCEPTED… Initiate Vault Key Sequence? /

"Finally!" Ann declared with no small amount of relief.

Eagerly, Lynn typed a simple 'Yes'.

/ Vault Key Sequence initiated… please standby… /

In immediate response, the red lights in the silo flashed with increased intensity, amplified by a blaring alarm. Steam hissed from several pneumatic devices as the walkways shifted and slid out of the key's way. "Warning, Vault Key Sequence in process. All personnel please vacate Silo E7 at your earliest convenience. Any injury or accidental death will not be monetarily covered by our esteemed leader."

The thieves watched as the keyhole below opened to reveal the vault below.

Finally, they were about to reach the Treasure. One last push.

The key began to descend into the vault, rumbling the whole Palace down to its foundation. Its tip locked with a large slot in the centre of the vault and began to twist. Clicks and thumps from the mechanisms gave a satisfying feeling. The ring of safe deposit boxes turned along with the key until the path was opened. However, the key descended further, deeper below the vault lock. For several seconds, this continued until the whole thing locked into place. The alarms died down and the steam filling up in the silo dissipated.

"Vault Key Sequence complete. Access Vault via central elevator."

"Time to go raid a vault!" Lynn ordered.