Before we get into the final region of the underground world, it is necessary that I provide context; the city was maintained by an automated system of Lost Technology, which kept the place running smoothly for whenever a challenger dropped in from Baroque Prison. It runs without issue to this day.

Would you believe me if I told you it was once hijacked?

After the Hanged Man took power in the west, one of his servants went rogue. This creature began to explore the strange world in which it was trapped, and even found an ally for itself amongst the servants of the Hermit to the east. Together they examined the technology within the crumbling city, and over the course of many years they made it their own. As the secrets of the underground bent to their will, only one desire burned within them.

The desire, of course, for freedom.

According to their meticulous records, they actually succeeded in accessing the massive structure below the crumbling city; they referred to it as the Tower Down, and believed they would find a religious paradise of some kind if they made it to the end. They actually made excellent headway, and even recruited two of the Tower's guardians to their cause. But none of them were prepared for the final obstacle.

There are very scant records as to what this enemy actually was, merely ravings from the group as to its utter invincibility. But in one diatribe, they at least give it a name.

The World.

Although their numbers had expanded to four, they were finally forced to give up. For many years they resided in the empty city, slowly going insane from boredom and solitude. Finally they entered a vegetative state, losing their capacity for thought as a final defense mechanism against the impending forever.

Then one day - seemingly out of nowhere - their leader felt his creator in the west wink out of existence. Leon had arrived, and was carving his own way to freedom. But with all capacity for higher thought long abandoned, the creature gave no thought to a possible alliance.

There was only rage.

Huan Strongarm: A Bartfort Folktale, by Lufas Maphaahl

Leon scratched himself with his hind leg as Itadori finished eating. The wolfdog had caught him some fish, which the boy had cooked over a small fire; Leon made a mental note to bear in mind that some people needed food. It was getting increasingly easy to forget.

"Man, that was good!" Itadori sighed happily. He looked around as he realised that they were missing a member. "Hey, where did…" Leon held up his foreleg, which Moz remained attached to in the form of a bracelet. "Huh. I didn't know you could do that."

"I'm very deep," grunted the Comet General. "Are we about ready to go?"

They could still hear the renegade UFOs attacking the city in the distance. The screams of the terrified holograms had been unsettling at first, but by now they were actually slightly comical. "Almost." Leon rose to his feet and shook himself down. "What do we do about the Pokemon?"

"Who?" Leon nodded at Little Silly, who was happily chasing butterflies through the sunny air. "Oh, him. Can't you carry him on your back?"

"Not without one of you guys holding him steady."

"I don't need to understand you to know what you guys are talking about," snorted Itadori. "I've got this." He summoned the Wheel of Fortune, then herded the infant Elder Dragon into the back seat like a family dog. "Relax pooch: you are no longer our only means of transportation."

"A pleasant change." Leon wagged his tail; he didn't know why, but it made him weirdly uncomfortable when people rode on his back. "Let's go."

There was a screech of tires as the Wheel of Fortune sped away, the huge wolfdog loping at its side. The merry devastation was in full swing as they entered the city, even including a few ground troops: bizarre creatures resembling extraterrestrials were running around on foot, wearing yellow suits over their bulbous purple bodies. In their hands were futuristic plasma rifles, which they fired pointlessly at the terrified holograms.

"Emperor!" Itadori shouted, attempting to shoot the aliens through the car window; for some reason, the Stand didn't appear. "Wait… is it because I used High Priestess to enhance it? Is it gone forever?" His face fell. "Is the Fool gone too?"

"I liked him," said Moz sadly. "He was a good boy."

Without his gun, Itadori turned the front of his car into a whirring maw of threshing blades; the aliens were shredded into purple goo, the Stand speeding by before they could react. Leon tackled a humanoid mech with twin beam cannons, ripping it apart with his teeth. "This is easy. Definitely a welcome change from the last guys."

Several purple hovercars spun around the corner, beginning a high speed chase with the Wheel of Fortune; Itadori created whirring spikes on the tires to hold them at bay, summoning Magician's Red and Hierophant Green to shoot at the driver's seats. Dozens of hovering drones shot at him from the sky, only to be blown away by a sonic bark. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome!" A UFO hovered down to drop a squad of mecha that surrounded the wolfdog from all sides; he tanked their attacks with ease, ripping them limb from limb before jumping into the underside of the ship and destroying it from the inside. The UFO began swerving wildly through the air, crashing into a second ship with a terrific explosion.

"Woah," murmured Itadori. "That is one good boy." He finally succeeded in taking out one of the pilots, sending the hovercar crashing into a wall; he spun his car around the front of the second vehicle and began eviscerating it with the Wheel of Fortune's maw. "Wait, this thing has a radio?" As he pressed the button, the opening bars of Black Betty began playing from the speakers. "Oh, hell yeah."

The Wheel of Fortune spun across the road until it once more faced ahead, ripping off the front of the hovercar and leaving it to explode in ruins. He could hear Leon rampaging elsewhere, the carnage occasionally crossing as their paths through the city intersected.

"I love this song!" Leon shouted, leaping through the air and biting one of the smaller ships out of the sky. He began barking rapidly, blasting the ships out of the sky like a sonic turret. "Turn that shit up!"

The wolfdog and the car sped side by side, leaping over a raised bridge and tearing into the amassed forces on the other side. A huge tank burst from the side of a building and opened fire; as well as its main cannon it had a mounted minigun, while its sides opened up to reveal countless rocket launchers.

All of this meant nothing when Leon grew to his maximum size, scooping it up in his jaws and mauling it like a chew toy; to everyone's surprise, a very familiar kind of Meta-Beings resembling small tanks spilled from its ruined hull. "Now where have I seen them before?"

"The Chariots!" Moz blurted. "Those came from Nimrod and those other two! This must be where all the missing Arcana went!"

Itadori had already dispelled the Wheel of Fortune, holding the Type: Null in front of him like a quadrupedal vacuum. "Yes! Finally!"

Leon was kicked away before he could finish: a huge mech resembling a tank on two legs had joined the fray, unloading its many guns in the wolfdog's direction. "Moz?" Leon asked, rushing directly into the hail of gunfire. "Which other Stands is he missing?"

"Just Lovers and Hanged Man. I think."

"Cool." The biped ran like a bitch as Leon gave chase; countless mechs, hovercars and UFOs joined in as they tore down a long highway, battling back and forth. The biped maintained a constant rate of fire with the twin vulcans on its underbelly, occasionally ducking away and barraging him with homing missiles while using the architecture as cover. "Slippery little fucker, aren't you?"

He eventually caught it as it leapt through the air, grabbing its leg between his teeth and slamming it into the ground. As the biped struggled to escape he ripped the fuselage from its underbelly, causing it to flash red before exploding. Leon's wagging tail slowed to a stop as he saw the Meta-Beings that spilled. "What… the…"

They resembled huge window or door frames, within which were horrific, stretched out faces resembling grey alien babies. "Before you ask," said Moz quietly. "No, we have not seen these before. This must be an Arcana we haven't seen yet."

"Hey guys!" The Wheel of Fortune screeched to a halt as Itadori leapt out, proudly summoning a Stand resembling a medieval knight wielding a rapier. "I call him: Silver Chariot!" His smile faded as he noticed the hideous new Meta-Beings. "Those… Those aren't…"

"We know."

Undaunted, Little Silly happily devoured them; they had come to a stop near a large lake at the eastern edge of the city, and a large metal tentacle was extending from beneath the water. At the end was a large grappling hook that it kept using to attack random structures on the shore. "Just in case that's another Arcana, do you mind if I get this one? I don't think I'll get many other chances to use Strength in its natural environment, so…"

"Go for it," grunted Leon. "I won't babysit you: you've already proven yourself to me." He ran off to the city, unleashing untold carnage upon the invaders.

"Thanks!" Itadori called after him, getting a distant woof in response. He summoned the enormous steel battleship into the lake, advancing on the underwater enemy. "Strength! Open fire!"

The huge guns on the front of the ship blasted the lake's surface; when it emerged again it jumped out of the water, tackling the Stand and almost tipping it over. It resembled a massive mechanical newt, and was even equipped with a set of steel jaws at its head. Its blue tail thrashed, kicking up ugly waves as it disappeared beneath the water.

Itadori manned the helm, glaring out at the choppy waters. "Where are you…"

As soon as robonewt emerged he chased after it, firing wildly with his cannons as countless bombs, mines and missiles were launched from its back. They exploded against the ship's side, but Strength lived up to its name and weathered the assault with ease. Suddenly the sea mecha dove, reappearing beneath him and leaping onto the ship's deck. The same grappling hook from earlier erupted from its face, crashing into the captain's cabin and showering him with broken glass.

"Gah!" Itadori screamed; he had reflexively tried to create a barrier of sand, only to realise too late that he no longer had access to the Fool. He gritted his teeth, using the Empress to heal himself and push the broken glass out of his arms. "Strength!"

The walls of the ship came alive, tearing into the sea mecha's tendrils and chewing through the cables. The mechanical mouth screamed furiously as it reared back over the deck of the ship, baring its fangs like an angry snake.

At the back of its throat, Itadori spotted something glowing and blue. It looked vulnerable. "Emerald Splash!"

The sea mecha howled as the green gemstones ripped into its gullet like buckshot, writhing in a frantic attempt to escape the ship; with a thought, Strength's entire frame became a massive set of jaws; it bit into the sea mecha's body, holding it in place as it began to thrash.

Slowly, Itadori manipulated Strength's main cannons until they were pointing directly into the sea mecha's face. "I hope you're hungry!" The machine's head was obliterated by the blast. Its body sank into the water as Strength released it, disintegrating into Meta-Beings like silver fish that swam through the sky. Little Silly trilled, greedily jumping into the water to pursue them. "I was clearly talking to the robot!"

In the sky above, a final UFO hovered ominously in place. Itadori grinned, summoning the Wheel of Fortune on the ship's deck. The ship morphed beneath him, becoming a massive catapult aiming directly at the UFO's underbelly.

"Fire!" His body surged with adrenaline as he was launched into the sky, allowing Strength to dissipate behind him; he crashed through the walls of the craft and exploded into its spacious inner hallways, scaring the daylights out of it ugly purple occupants. "Guess who?"

He sped through the ship at ridiculous speeds, chewing through anything they threw at him. Ugly purple men, heavily armed mecha and even a few aircraft all tried to stop him, but none of them were equal to the many Arcana he had killed. He drove through neon hallways, across thin bridges over massive rooms lit by red and through a room with mirrored floors filled with bizarre, floating cubes.

Finally, he found the final enemy at the heart of the ship; the floor was a lake of hot liquid metal, and a huge, sticky grey cocoon hung suspended in the centre. Something dug its way through the membrane from the inside, stepping out to face him with a sibilant hiss. The creature resembled a Xenomorph Queen, only with pasty white skin, a smooth head and technological implants on its arms and legs.

The Wheel of Fortune skidded to the side as a beam of light erupted from its jaws, vaporising a wide stretch of the interior. "Woah! Itadori shouted. "This is your ship, remember?" He frantically reversed away, accidentally crashing into an elevator sitting by the exit. "Ah, crap!"

The alien queen lurched towards him as he blasted it with Magician's Red and Hierophant Green, slowing it long enough for the elevator to activate and lift his vehicle out of reach. The hideous creature shrieked, clambering up the transparent walls and clawing at him furiously through the glass.

"Silver Chariot!" His new Stand flashed into existence, jabbing his sword through the glass at dazzling speeds; the monster slowed as it howled in pain, only to fire a barrage of missiles from its back that chased the elevator as it went. "Seriously! This is your ship!"

The Wheel of Fortune dissipated as Silver Chariot cut a hole in the glass; Itadori leapt through as the elevator exploded behind him, extending Hermit Purple from his wrist and grappling upward into the shaft. The alien queen howled, furious at the failed kill.

Itadori ran through the cavernous hallways, his heart pounding in his chest. "Okay, don't panic. Just stay ahead of-" The creature abruptly fell through the ceiling, scaring the life out of him. "Holy shit!" He summoned the Wheel of Fortune and sped through its legs, narrowly avoiding another energy blast from its gaping jaws as he sped up a steep incline. "Gah!"

The creature hunted him relentlessly through the ship, shrugging off the attacks of his Stands; finally he got the idea to use Justice, blinding it with mist and escaping before it could detect him. For a glorious moment he seemed to be safe.

Then it tore down the wall, its arm stretching impossibly long and snatching him up, car and all. Itadori quivered as it held him up to its dripping jaws, a blinding light building at the back of its throat. "Doggie!" His voice cracked a little as he called out. "I don't suppose you can hear me?"

As a matter of fact, Leon did hear him; he was directly below Itadori's position, standing atop a pile of destroyed mecha when his super hearing picked up the cries for help. "Whoops, looks like the kid's in trouble!"

He jumped vertically, crashing through the underbelly of the ship and exploding through the floor beneath the alien queen's feet; his momentum kept going as caught the beast in his jaws, erupting through ceiling after ceiling until they were flying through open air with the UFO far below. There was no sound but the wind in Itadori's ears, the two giants struggling violently in midair.

He fell away from them as he dispelled the Wheel of Fortune, grappling onto a building using Hermit Purple and swinging painfully onto the pavement. Leon and the alien leader crashed elsewhere, and he could hear them fighting and destroying the scenery as he winced and gritted his teeth against the pain.

By the time they crashed through a building, Leon had torn off its lower body to leave only its dangling innards; the creature had responded by growing a second pair of arms, skittering over the streets like a spider. The giant wolfdog snarled as he chased it down, but the alien was leaping back and forth too fast for him to catch.

"Hold still asshole!" His jaws snapped shut inches from the creature's face. "I'm here on behalf of Ridley Scott's lawyers! He thinks you're a dick!" Purple blood spurted from the alien's chest as he finally bit into its torso, screaming in pain as he violently shook it from side to side.

Then the monster gripped his jaws with all four of its hands, prising them open as a painfully bright glow built in the back of its mouth; with a final snarl it vomited a blast of white hot plasma down his throat. Leon screamed in pain as his insides were incinerated, his innards boiling the colour of fire and burning a hole through his belly.

Itadori watched in utter horror; for an awful moment, he legitimately thought that this was the end.

But then Leon grew bigger, first to his maximum size and then beyond; the blast began to do less and less damage as his mass increased, the glow of his burning guts fading away to nothing. Inevitably the alien ran out of steam, the breath weapon trickling away until - with a final crunch - the wolfdog's jaws slammed shut.

Leon spat the remains onto the pavement; they disintegrated into Meta-Beings resembling upside down men with blue skin, retroactively identifying the monster as a Hanged Man. "I eat death rays alive," he growled. "You fucking wannabe."

For a moment, Itadori just stared in awe. Leon could be very cute and cuddly, which was why it sometimes surprised people when they remembered what he was really capable of. "Wow," he whispered. "That was… That was… Wow!"

"You are giving me very uncomfortable flashbacks right now." The UFOs had abruptly stopped attacking as the Hanged Man died, returning to their usual task of fixing the city as though nothing had happened. Little Silly skipped onto the scene, gorging himself on the Meta-Beings. Apparently this was the final tipping point to create a new Stand, as his body began to glow ominously.

"Oh yeah! I forgot!" Itadori bobbed up and down on the balls of his feet. "This is going to be the Hanged Man, right?" The Stand took the form of a tiny pinprick of light, floating above his palm before zipping off into the distance. "…What the hell was that?"

Leon barked with amusement, his tail wagging cheerfully. "It's been a while since you've had a bath. Maybe you scared it off!"

"Boss?" Moz spoke up, his voice sounding oddly nervous. "What is that?"

While they were distracted, six stone statues had risen from the ground. Each of them depicted a bearded man wearing a helmet with feathered wings on his back. The moment he saw them, Leon's hackles rose.

He didn't know why, but his every instinct was screaming that he was in danger. He surprised Moz and Itadori as a deep, menacing growl built up within his chest.

Then he remembered: they had just defeated the Hanged Man.

They had cleared Level 12.

In other words, soon the 13th Arcana would be there to face them.

Death.

Boss: Teraburst

Summary: Teraburst is a rail shooter released in 1998, and is notable for its Tarot themed bosses that mimic House of the Dead. The tank is the Chariot, while the Stand Itadori receives is the Silver Chariot; in Stardust Crusaders, it is the Stand of Jean-Pierre Polnareff.

The biped is the Tower, while its Meta-Beings are called Bubugel. The sea mecha is the Moon (its Meta-Beings sharing the same name) while the final alien is the Hanged Man; interestingly, the Hanged Man is the Stand of J. Geil, the sworn enemy of the aforementioned Polnareff. It wasn't intentional that Itadori got both Stands in the same chapter, but it interests me that it turns out this way.

Anyway, I promised an Arcana ranking and here it is:

The Shadows from Persona 3 go from Magician to Death, giving it a respectable Arcana Score of 13.

As mentioned before, a lot of the bosses in Dire Vengeance merely represent the Tarot rather than being named after them, such as Nimrod and the Chitin Wyrm. Despite this, it maintains a respectable Arcana Score of 14.

The House of the Dead series has famously used every single Arcana so far except for Devil, giving it a colossal Arcana Score of 21. The creator of the series insists that it isn't finished yet, but I don't think he's going to have the next game out in time for it to be featured here. Apologies to anyone reading this in the future after the game is out.

Teraburst (as you can see for yourselves in the chapter above) has a pathetic Arcana Score of 4. Oof.

Hyper Light Drifter has Arcana bosses for only three of its four main regions; if we include the final boss as well as the Tower that is the focus of the game, its Arcana Score of 5 narrowly wins second to last place from Teraburst.

Stardust Crusaders of course has Stands for every occasion, beating House of the Dead with a whopping Arcana Score of 22. There's a reason it's considered one of the greatest manga of all time.

Finally we have Baroque, which not only represents the 22 main Arcana but also the lesser known Four Suits, going beyond the impossible and beating Stardust Crusaders with an Arcana Score of 26.

Fun Fact: almost no one gives a shit about the Four Suits. They show up occasionally, but… not really.