Fandom Persona 5: The Meta War CLOSED

[Maeve Valor]

A smirk formed upon Swan's face as she noticed how the poison had taken to the opponent and this led to Tragedy landing a literal fistful of nuclear energy onto her. Though much like Koga but for a different reason, her face turned to one of great concern when Tragedy averted his attacks to focus on not only the freelancer, but to her protectee as well. They were not a shadow, not a MetaMerc, not a persona. However irregular, she was still a human being, and Tragedy seemed very willing to snuff this life out. Swan had never seen Tragedy as demented even when fighting in the Metaverse. In fact, she always thought it was his ferocity that gave him the advantage in battle. Even in the real world, she just thought of him as misunderstood just like the rest of the thieves. But it was at this moment that for the first time, she was taken aback and perhaps suprisingly a little intimidated by Tragedy.

"Tragedy, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Swan hissed right before hearing a beep from what she assumed was the gun that was now pointed right at her. Reflexively, she summoned a Tetrakarn shield around herself and jolted to the side to duck behind a table, hoping to evade the gunshot until she realized that it was a homing attack, but it was too late. A couple of the shots reflected off the shield, although more came by first blasting the table and knocking her back. The barrage didn't stop there as another shot landed, knocking her away further as she rolled. Now riddled with abrasion as she laid on the floor, Swan still refused to relent as she looked around the room, trying to find a way to disengage from this fight. Suddenly she remembered that on the other side of one wall was the outside of the building, but it was the wall farthest from her and if she just had Scheherazade hack at it, they would know immediately what she was doing. Although, if there were property damages created during the fight... Swan then looked to Anput and decided what to do next as she willed herself to stand up.

"Scheherazade... you know what to do," the queen appeared before Swan and with an agreeable nod and malicious grin she descended to the ground as her usual silhouette ability and suddenly sprung out as if she were pouncing from the depths of oblivion with a horizontal slash, attempting to slam Anput to the wall. In the meantime, Swan would try to enact the other part of her plan. "Hey Tragedy, you just gonna throw those fists while I keep getting shot at or are you actually going to do a decent attack? I've seen Mona throw out more effective smokescreens than the kind of explosions your putting out," Swan purposefully antagonized Tragedy, predicting that he would get angrier and use bigger Frei attacks enough to cause the building to start to collapse.

Anthem Azurian Dream

 

[Nellancholy]

"Whispering at school..."

Shiro tried not to show it, but that did hurt, just a tiny bit. Perhaps not so much the things that were certainly said about her to begin with, but the fact that those people still knew about her, thought the worst about her. She had hoped that by disappearing in the past, she'd have been forgotten, that she could focus on what she believed was her responsibility, the people worth caring about.

But perhaps now things had changed, and she had to change too. New priorities, the work that needed to be done for a new future to look forward to.

"You certainly don't need to 'apply' for my friendship." Shiro remarked dryly. "And if you do happen to find out anything useful, I shall not refuse." She touched Dascal's phone, not noticing anything that might allude to his other identity as she input her own phone number into his, while quite pointedly not saving his own number into hers.

"I've already got a place or two to settle." She considered the shrine, whose head priest she had assisted. "As for the kids...I don't even need them to acknowledge me. I just want to know they're doing alright."

Azurian Dream

 

[Anthem]

As his assault was brought to an end by being flung away by an extreme force, Tragedy would look to the two people had targeted before a few things started to click within in his mind. Koga was indeed not a meta-user by any means or even a shadow that they could beat into submission... just simply a person who he had put the fear of death into. The fool was rather grateful of the bodyguard's summoned persona, as it protected the woman from any fatal blow that could have come to fruition if it hadn't appeared at that moment. But the thankfulness would slip away rather shortly, as the boy's surroundings registered in his mind once again due to Swan showing her disdain for the treachery he had almost committed with what seemed to be little care. A deep breath slipped from the boy's lips, intended to help him reorientate as his companion had to deal with the bodyguard's advanced weaponry.

"Hey Tragedy, you just gonna throw those fists while I keep getting shot at or are you actually going to do a decent attack? I've seen Mona throw out more effective smokescreens than the kind of explosions your putting out,"

Rolling his eyes at Swan's comments, the blaz-blue devil started to crack his knuckles as a wicked grin slowly stretched across his face. "At least my fists can do more than tickle our foes, Swan. But if you want chaos, I'll bring the whole storm..!" Wrapping his hand around one of the horns of his mask, Tragedy let out a quick laugh before tearing the concealing accessory from his face. The mask burned away, but something was wrong as the boy quickly gripped his skull and started to stumble around, his hands trembling as his resolve waivered in front of everyone there. Behind the boy, Loki finally glitched into sight, the thief's hands would lower to his sides as his crazed eyes slowly drifted up to glare at Koga once more. Golden digits that were much different than the crimson dots that burned a hole into ones soul... The fire behind his eyes, the drive, all of it was different from what it was just moments before he had summoned his persona. Dark blood started to drip from the young warrior's eyes as he started to slowly walk forward, stumbling as if he didn't know how to move his own limbs.

Spoiler: Tragedy's Mindscape

Painful grunts sounded in an endless void, as chains rattled, something... someone trying to escape the clutches of their capture. Imato, was pulling on a shackle that was on his neck and keeping him restrained from many forms of movement. "LOKI! What the hell are you doing... We need to defeat Koga's guard, not kill Koga herself! Are you insane?!" The boy cried out as the other figure within the void approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. A doppelganger, a lookalike would give him a sad smile as he shook his head while clicking his tongue a bit. "You heard her, didn't you, my reflection? She knows who we are now, which means she can get us arrested if we don't take care of this... Imagine what would happen if you get captured, Ogawa rots in jail, Ibuki remains in the clutches of your parents and the rest of your friends will most likely meet their ends due to the mercs..." The lookalike, Loki, would blankly stare into Imato's eyes while tilting his head to the side. "Do you want that, Makage? Let me uphold my end of the deal... and save you." The boy grew silent as he quivered a bit due to the thought of everything that could go wrong if Koga was allowed to get away with revealing his and Masami's antics to the authorities. Loki's smile grew unnaturally wide as the Fool would slowly nod.

"Fine... Take care of her, Loki."

"Move." A distorted voice sounded from Tragedy, it sounded similar to his own but as if it were put through a crackling radio. The thief slowly raised his fist to the side before swiftly swinging it into Swan's side, a heavy blow that was more than sure to knock the girl out of his path as his dragged-on walk boosted into a full sprint towards Koga. Loki stayed right behind the boy the whole time, matching his every movement, every twitch, to the point it was unsure to say who was following who. Their left hands rose, blasting out a quick Mafreila to cause destruction the environment before them, making it much more difficult for anyone who dared to stop their assault. Tragedy's right arm would painfully start to overflow with Almighty energy as he closed in on Koga. "You... are weak. You've not earned your right to be present in this realm, let alone in a battle against this one." Was Tragedy speaking of himself in the third person? Well that wasn't what mattered, the Fool stopped dead in his track and raised his overcharged arm towards Koga and allowed the energy to run wild. This sent multiple beams of Megido towards the woman, with the intent of destroying her or whatever dared to stand in its way...

Azurian Dream Maeve Valor

 

[TreasureSniper]

"I find that... highly unlikely." Baron responded to the lady's statement about the financier being on par with himself or even the All-Father. While it is possible that they were stronger than him, to think that there was an individual that surpassed the might and influence of the All-Father was inconceivable. Of course, only time will tell if his statement remains true. As confident as he was, Dragonfly's caution was not without its merits, as her information is not often too far from the mark.

"If the financier is as grandiose as you make them out to be, then he will be a worthy end to my saga." Someday, he will meet his match, an unsurmountable opponent that even he could not hope to surpass. And when that day comes, he will greet his destiny with open arms. At least that's how he always pictured it. His answer acknowledged that there was a possibility that the financier was a credible threat, while also showing he was still not fully convinced. "Well, with any luck, perhaps I'll run into her in the near future," Baron added, in a much more casual tone. Some elites were a lot more pleasant to meet compared to the others, hopefully, Bruja was one of the nicer ones.

Switching gears, Baron was pleased to see that they had a follow-up on one of his older requests. While he didn't know much about this character named "Dredge" he was somewhat familiar with the inner workings of Karma based on the reports he had collected about Freelancer groups. Upon seeing the picture, there was no doubt in his mind that this was what he had been looking for. A weapon he was very familiar with. Studying its current form, he couldn't help but tighten his fist in silent fury. His anger however was shortlived, quickly pocketing the photo into his cloak right before thanking her. "All of you are ever so reliable. Thank you." The was a sense of genuine gratitude in his voice. Despite being furious to see the state of said weapon, he nevertheless takes solace in knowing that it has survived.

From there, Baron continued to listen to the current happenings of the metaverse. He was pleased to hear that the Phantom thieves' notoriety had improved greatly over the last few weeks. That said, hearing news about them investigating Shujin was somewhat worrying. With the way the organization operates, it was not about whether they could find out the thief's identity, but a matter of time. The people there were trained professionals from all walks of life. It wouldn't take too long for them to piece together the true identities of thieves. Thankfully, they are also one of the more honorable ones, never seeking conflict in the world and only fighting within the confines of the metaverse with minimal involvement of civilians.

"They lack judgment and common sense. However....fanaticism can be useful when applied appropriately." Baron acknowledged that there has indeed been an upsurge of freelancers who lack any sense of self-preservation. But for now, most of them were far too weak to oppose the current powers at play. While there are a handful of them that had the potential to do so, such as his dear tricksters, they still needed more time to develop. He was pleased to hear they had a heroic theme that accompanied them. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts sounded cheesy...but appropriate for these would-be heroes.


"My my...it sounds like you're hoping for another meta-war." Baron jested, letting out a small chuckle. Whatever squabbles and skirmishes that were present today paled in comparison to the conflict known as the Meta War. While scholars and scribes of the metaverse had a hard time agreeing with the numbers, it is estimated that the current population of the metaverse is less than half of what it was before the war. Out of all the factions, it is generally agreed unanimously that Meta Mercs was the victor of this conflict, becoming the strongest faction in the metaverse. "We shall see."

While he had a few more things to say, he was interrupted by the buzzing of the helpful henchman, Yellow Jacket. It seems that there were parties present in the marketplace that wanted to enact very violent action toward him. It seems the metaverse definitely did not have any shortage of fearless fanatics. "Hmm I suppose I can use a bit of exercise. I'll deal with them. Consider it my down payment for you continued service." And just like that, without further warning, he disappeared without a trace.

---

(Opening of the Five Knights by Azure Dream in collaboration with Treasure Sniper)
Outside in the open market the scene had very much changed with shadow Hornets now buzzing around The Nest defensively as Yellow Jacket calmly kept an eye out on the approaching eye of the storm. Around the same area that had originally made a single line straight to the Nest upon Baron's approach was now a wide-berthed open circle of empty space. A mixture of numbing confusion, concerned understanding, and wildly chilling breath upon the realization of what was happening had many goers and workers of the MEta market perplexed in one way or another. The dirt road-like area had never been so visible in mass like this before people were congested together unwilling to leave by the pure madness of what was going on... with all attention on five individuals waiting as the on in the middle seemed to shout out again.

"BAAAAARRROOOONNNNN," Steam erupted off the exhaust pipes attached to the meta-user-like knight's armor in response to the call out. A strong rev of steam piped out of the motorized blade in his hands as it seemed to burn bright like a living furnace. The call rattled the audience as a random onlooker formed a cross across his heart in prayer not knowing how this would play out. The audience had scrambled to move all things in the way stands, carts, merchandise, and minor structures the actions of which were done so half hazardly that pieces of numerous objects, gear, and structural bits laid about. As the steam calmed down another meta user spoke behind the man to the right sitting atop a cargo box attempting to quell the anger building in the smoke stack of an ally.

"We should have waited for confirmation before jumping the gun like this Seigeburner there's no telling if he's here for real you know how the market whispers get grandiose from time to time," the garbed-designed shinobi simply shook his head as it was clear just from the minor turn of his allies head that he didn't give a damn to hear about falsehoods before responding.

"No. He's here... I can sense him... I can sense the blood spilled those years ago. The Kaiser of Mementos has returned. WE ARE HERE TO FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED BARRRROOONNN. A HEAD FOR A HEAD," the knight's voice bellowed out again in a toxic rage pushed by some unknown demonic variable. These two weren't the only ones present either as three other powerfully looking entities waited two of which sat waiting on a knocked-over cart, and another a bit further away seeming to wait for an order to be called. A tension of bloodlust,m and determination started to seep into the very ground around all five of them... this was unusual and natural to target someone in the MetaMarket right unheard of in fact.

Though some could tell what this was all about Baron hadn't been spotted in about a few good months in the open world of the Metaverse since his ties were cut during the "Cataclysm" with the Meta-Mercs. Yet that didn't make the beforehand acts wash away now didn't it? The five present SeigeBurner, Divergent, ScrapHook, Imperator, and CopperVolt all heavy hitters, and all that remained from the disbanded... or better yet wiped from existence faction The Emporium one of the few factions that many feared would clash in war with the Meta-Mercs before a single greenhorn was sent in turning them to dust.

At first, there was silence, with most of the denizens hiding out of sight, trying their best to stay out of trouble with these ruffians. The silence was shortly shattered by a strong roar of the thruster wings of a familiar mechanical dragon. The dragon appeared to continue cruising towards the knight's general area with increasing speeds, stirring the winds of the streets, and blowing away any loose debris that was present. As he got closer to the knights, the dragon would rotate its wings, releasing a burst of thrust to cancel out his forward momentum and halting himself right in front of him. The shockwave of the whiplash sent ripples through the air, pushing back the knights ever so slightly.

The chest of the dragon split open, revealing the "pilot" of the mech dragon to be none other than Baron. The masked figure would jump down from the tall mech, shattering the ground beneath him as he landed. Shortly after this, the mech beast appeared to evaporate, with its particles flowing back into its master. "I don't know who you are or what all of you are trying to do here. But I assure you... it's not worth it." Baron didn't really know how they were, but if he had to guess, they were probably so faction in the past that he had crossed paths with. But to think that they would brazenly attempt to provoke him in front of the neutral zone.

 

[Azurian Dream]

~Whispers Forward~

Nellancholy Anthem That Weird girl

Dascal could see it, the ping of hurt coming from where he had gotten his sources of the rumors about her. She had been trying to change her image, but that took time even with the reminder of how long now being something the boy felt bad confirming for her. As such he watched her for a second as she mulled over things in her mind unwilling to interrupt no doubt her progressive path to change. He wondered how she had join the thieves, what the trigger had been to make her so determined now, and could she see or any of the Phantom Thieves what he needed them to...

He was quickly pulled back to the conversation at hand as he felt his phones interaction inert some force in his hands as she brought her found to his transferring her information as she dryly remarked how he didn't have to go that far offering his friendship to her like that, and though she seemed a bit defiant verbally something in her eyes told him she wasn't against it either...

…………………………………………………………….

I am thou, thou art I

Thy wills resilient in the formation in partaking known truths,

In shattering the chains of doubt,

A unconventional yet determined bond has been formed,

Between Strength & The Hierophant

Thy paths have given new strength in meeting
………………………………………………………………
​

"It'll probably take me a little bit, but when I do find something I'll make sure you immediately know," Dascal promised as with a few buttons he saved her information yet noting how quick Shiro wasn't to save his... it would be a work in progress so for now he wouldn't mind it. Besides he did just pop into her life today out of left field, so her reservations were very understandable. Atop of that what he was promising was probably something she didn't see him truly having the spirit to accomplish, he would have to prove himself to her to break past that defense. Settling her own living needs he nodded in understanding understanding her character even more so now.

"Well than we got a lot of work to do don't we," Dascal smiled as they finished there meals. After some small talk he would give a polite leave before allowing Shiro some time to mull as her phone would softly beep a message from the metaverse app that quickly painted a picture of how the survey team was doing.

........................
Mona: Hey where are you guys?

Panther: We think we got something if your up for it?

Cryptic: Why are you including the people already here in this I am standing right next to you?

Mona: Its called proper chain of command I am giving my orders to the fleet.

Panther: But your not in charge?

Cryptic: In fact no one is.

Mona: You dare challenge my authority cabin boy.

Cryptic: I think the cat needs a tuning... they are definitely on the fritz...

Mona: I AM NOT A CAT OR A CAR.

Panther: But you purr like a engine.

Mona: Lady Panther you to?

Cryptic: Your years built up as a cat must have changed you into a Bakeneko giving you access to the Monamobile form, and your higher level of meaning. The metaverse must have been slowly embedding you with knowledge before giving you a level of understanding to us human. Might even be why you turn into a car as you may have had your last originally life taken by a vehicle that's form now haunts you.

Mona: GUH... why... does that sound plausible...

Oracle: Please come as soon as possible before they start driving this chat off a cliff, and give the cat an existential crisis.

Mona: I AM NOT A CAAAATTTTTT FOR A SURE.
NOR A CRYPTID....
I THINK...
.........................................​

...............................................................................................

~HR Nightmare For Two~

Anthem Maeve Valor

The bodyguard even amongst the minor hindering annoyances of the poison still kept her pose at the ready. At first she didn't recognize the two combatants, but as they started to throw down with their unusual style's she started to remember a rumor as of late taking off wildly in the metaverse of late. A recklessly abandonment like wild child dressed up like a sentai, and a reserved yet daunting female frilled with crow feathers. These two matched descriptions of that newer group.

"So you are the Phantom Thieves I take it. Well this is surprising I never heard you guys taking outside of Mementos or palaces. Seems I must give you a lesson on how the outside works between us freelancers, and you faction devotees," that daunting voice sprung on the them as she watched for what they would do next. It seemed their levels didn't match their hype yet surprisingly given the gap they were still performing at peak condition a irregular speck given the norm. Her gun was near full charge again as as Koga processed her guards words... she to had heard of them it had been a rumor "he" had been curious about as of late, and it seemed like many others "he" found them to add in their strength keeping his hands clean.

So far the body guard had roughed them both up proving the unlikeliness of what they though they could do at this point. Yet their tenacity unlike any she had seen before seemed to be poisoning the field of expectation. After taking quite the pummeling from her laser shots the Swan came back in riddled with abrasions seeming to direct her attention to Anput before the bodyguard could realize what was going through her mind the fabled storyteller Scheherazade Queen of Persian lore came into existence cleaving right at her own persona destroying the ceiling as she gave Anput mental command to act as the feline entity sprung up on its feet lunging at the other queenly entity. The two female persona's collided with weapons of legends as great-sword and halfmoon polearm clashed in a myriad of feverous display. Yet even with their level difference Scheherazade's footing won the advantage as another wave of poison distracted the mental connection between the bodyguard and Anput causing a delay in reaction to the feline in the room as the two became unable to swing further quickly destroying the side walls, and ceiling of the room in their bout. A final push between the femme fatales cost Anput its footing during mid disconnect forcing it backwards as Scheherazade rush forward causing the feline persona to ram backside into the wall.

"JUVINEL UPSTARTS," the Bodyguard reacted rather pissed at the sudden derailment a notable Chinese accent seeping out as Tragedy came back into the picture at first the boy had seemed worse for wear after throwing himself around, and being thrown around yet something now seemed off as he reproached as his persona seemed to be glitching in place as the boy seemed ready to join in the fray again yet there was a halt in movement for all to see for a second as than, and rather hauntingly both Tragedy, and Loki moved in perfect sync as he than unexpectantly swatted his ally away like a fly. In quick session to the opening the bodyguard took out a Hiranya smashing it against her side finally disposing of that annoying toxin as she redirected Anput currently dented into the wall.

"CORNERED FANG," Anput eyes lit up as Loki charged in now at a full assault run as the attacks unique signature of ambushing triggered a unique level of stacked strength allowing the queen of the underworld to finally bash Scheherazade away just like Swan as the feline woman broke off the wall revealing a sizeable hole as it lunged barring down its fangs unto Loki's neck right as the trickster god unleashed a wave of mafreila all around them forcing the body guard back from the overwhelming light of the blast threatened to blind them all.

Koga watched in disbelief as her eyes wouldn't leave Tragedy upon his charge she had heard of this... no she had seen this before personification withdrawal. The boy was collapsing to his persona's will she couldn't move as the waves of altering madness gripped her causing her to fall back in her seat no longer giving snarky, deathly stares, or remarks. This boy was a suicidal bomb sent after her... how would anyone be able to handle the gravidity of this much effort to take their life... for someone else's pleasures. Much was clearly weighing down on the woman as it seemed for a moment she couldn't even register here own demise coming before Riot in the midst of blinding light rammed into the boys spine from behind disjointing his concentration sending the Megido beams to blast around Koga ripping the hole in the wall even wider as the bodyguard charged him right through it causing both of them to fall out of the building.

"RIOT GUN," as the feeling of footing was lost to gravity the body guard dive kicked into Tragedy's back hard as that ominous beep of her guns full on charge erupted into a point black scatter laser blast juiced up by a tar like substance upgrade from Anput's added spellcast work to the shot belting him downward with the bodyguard earning more airtime being funneled upward via the concentrated firepower blitzing the boy into a deafening grinding ground cratering halt as the whole charge up chamber was unloaded into him as he started a personal relationship with the ground.

A extreme lioness like roar followed as Anput clawing, biting, and slashing with her halfmoon polearm upon Loki came following latching on ferociously with Loki as the two Persona's crashed off in the distance fighting like primordial beasts definitely a sight to witness no doubt to Swan who was still in the building with Koga.

"You may want to get involved with that... your boy is on the cusp of a psychotic break," Kogi rather disconnectingly mumbled still sitting in her chair twiddling the pen in her hands bandaged fingers unsure what to make of all this as her mind at the moment seemed checked out to say the least. She did however rather doll like turned to Swan creepingly, and disjointingly slow as she pulled out a cigarette. Her face, and eyes blank of any emotional response at this point.

"I set up a digital message. If I don't check in every few hours it will send out all your lots criminal activity here with enough clayed molded evidence to suggest you were involved with my disappearance. If you do anything to hinder this project I'll send it, if you do anything to me past this I'll send it, if you try to fuck with me in any way... I'll send it," Koga spoke not threateningly, not defiantly, not controlling, and not even monstrously just factually. Even at the grip of deaths doors momentarily seemed to not break her desire to break free from whatever this movie would unchain her from no doubt disturbingly speaking to the volumes of her prior work with this "he" individual. The insinuations of it all created a warped chill amongst the red, and black swirled world as Koga brought out a lighter in a attempt to lite the trembling cigarette between her lips as the false truth created here had done more damage than the duo of Phantom Thieves could ever hope to understand. After a few failed attempts the cigarette was lit, but Koga had no more drive to give Swan's existence anymore mind as her own went over everything now settling in.

...............................................................................................................

~Karma Comes Back For All~

TreasureSniper

Dragonfly listened to Barons own thoughts per the expected he felt no fear it was no shock given his handlings of the metaverse. Though it seemed rather not usual he seemed genuine in taking her warnings to mind for once something that caused her to raise a eyebrow behind her mask. Seemed their was a grandeur of expectation to how he would go out, and maybe to hopeful a meeting with Bruju... Dragonfly had heard of the company that woman kept, and it was unlikely she would do as asked or questioned.

His appeasement on the weapon follow up gave her time to consider what had made these odd changes to his quirks he was less ominous, and more open rather agreeable to a legitimist conversation. Perhaps he was finally socializing a bit out their in the world hell that would be quite a sight. The silent hostile fist followed by the genuine thank you again were a unexpected match up. Something indeed was different about him she just couldn't put her fingers on why. Yet a answer gave itself as Baron of Mementos gave weight of positive opinion onto unusual company... he knew the Phantom Thieves... he was colluding with them at the end though she chuckled.

"A meta-war could send things in the right direction if the right reason was pushed forward," was all she said as she nodded in understanding as in a blink of a eye he disappeared as she simply leaned back rubbing her temple.

"I need a real drink."

...................

The five pleasantly wouldn't have to wait long as the sounds oh so familiar to them took to the sky's. The mechanical thrusters that were synonymous with empyreal might the dragon all knew belong to Kaiser of Mementos came down "gracing" the masses with its might. The upheaving winds sending cyclones of sand in all directions SiegeBurner kept his eyes latched to the beast remembering those fading on the scene explaining to him what happened as they disappeared from his arms. The final thruster adjustment halted the winds all together creating a sort of canceling effect as it touched ground with so much force everyone around moved ever so slightly out of pace.

"I assure you its very worth it genocider," SeigeBurner proclaimed getting right up into Baron's face revealing a massive height gap between the two with Baron 2 full feet shorter than the furnace knight. It quickly became apparent that Barons starting word instantly hit a cord upon impact as Divergent slammed his sheathed sword against the ground dropping down to instantly catch it on its bounce back. ScrapHook as well immediately stood up though intriguingly Imperator, and Coppervolt remained the calmest not moving from their spots with a different air to their stances. Almost as if there reasoning for being their... had different merit.

"Besides none of planned to leave this spot alive if that's what it takes KONGS CHILL," Divergent called out as the persona Yeti of the deep snow came into existence as in a extreme precision of speed saw to the freelancer appearing on Barons left with a path of solid ice instantaneously forming a wide berthed path to Baron with a intense ice age chilled blade ready to cleave Barons arm clean off formed a funnel of chill.

"Megaton RAID," Scraphook himself jumped high into the air throwing a devastatingly heavy hook chained weapon from above aiming for wherever Baron would attempt to move as the Persona "The Tulpa of Tibet" a entity created out of a myriad of rustic misaligned junk was converged in a almost haunting skeletal human image duplicating the attack into a severe damage barrage of said attacks hailing down multiple rustic hooks threatening to impale the Baron in their swing. As this all happened the furnace lights all around the knights armor steamed alive as flames emitted from his blade.

"IMBUE ME SALAMANDER WITH YOUR FLAMES... AGIDYNE," unlike the others who used their attacks in union, or full throttle with their persona's SeigeBurner instead granted dragon fire to the scaly monstrosity that appear ahead of Baron equal the size of his own Aeon. The flames that erupted from the almighty fire spirit were consumed by the sockets of SeigeBurner's blade as the came down unleashing lava bursting path way of hellish flame slashes siring to asunder the Baron. The three attacks overwhelmed the battlefield as the intensity of the elements created a eruption of heated steam all while Imperator, Coppervolt, and the audience watched on.

....................................................

~Where To Now~

Anthem Nellancholy That Weird girl

"Alright message sent hopefully its not to confusing," Panther posed with a pursed lip at Mona, and Cryptic who avoided her gaze quickly understanding their take over of her messaging had earned... some ire even if she had partaken a bit of it. Panther sighed with a hip flaunt to the right as she turned to the Necronomicon wondering how Oracles research was going on while they awaited everyones chime in. as if on que rather surprisingly before Panther could impose Prophet came into the safe space nodding to them all as he gave Panther in particular a look.

"So what's changed. I assume something new came up," he asked knowing Heartbreak would be quick on his heel on arrival. Cryptic simply shrugged seemingly drawing something in his notebook again about Bakenekos as he eyed Mona with much fervor like a experiment to study. ........................................

 

[Anthem]

“So she is a freelancer like Dozer was… Though I doubt they have any correlation, even if they did this is a hell of a lot more difficult…” From within his mindscape, Imato gritted his teeth as he watched Loki use his body to relentlessly brawl against the threat before them. As much as he disagreed with the trickster’s terms of swatting his ally away like a gnat, that was less of a problem when compared to the bodyguard. Though a grin came to the boy both in his cognition and in physicality when the well-timed Mafreila raid blasted back the bodyguard and blinded the opposition in doing so. Though of course that confidence was quickly replaced by a pained look when the Fool took a kick directly to the back.

Loki’s influence started to fail as the bodyguard struck Tragedy out of the building, sending the boy into a doomed fall towards the ground but of course more had to be stacked upon the descent. Being riddled with gunshots, empowered by the damned feline of the bodyguard caused such a severe pain that Tragedy couldn’t even yell out in pain, as it would have just been a silenced scream. Crashing into the ground with such force was becoming too common of a feeling at this point, but Tragedy wasn’t left unconscious… Endure was coming in clutch once again, keeping him from falling in these vital moments.

The trickster god had been dragged off an even further distance by Anput, for the two godly beings to clash in a fight for survival. The feline used cat-like strategies along with her polearm, while the god split his own polearm into two swords to fend off the rabid beast. But with the persona being this far off, this left Tragedy on death’s gate with no spells at his disposal and a body that was bound to break with one wrong move. But he wasn’t out of options, nowhere close to it in fact. A good phantom always has a trick up his sleeve when shit hits the fan, an ace in the hole when the outlook is grim.

“Garu…!” An item slipped out of his side satchel, an air cannon. While it was merely a weak wind item, it held much more usage than just dealing a bit of damage. Tragedy slammed the item into the ground which caused dust to kick up and whip around the area, effectively blinding those in the area. With that short time, that short opening, Tragedy disappeared from the crater as the dust storm settled. The bodyguard was left alone on the ground, until a chain and wire suddenly wrapped around her dominant hand and neck. From the Fool’s threaded cane and grappling hook, he looked worse than death but he still stood defiant as he had the bodyguard in his clutches now.

“... Get over here.” Despite his injuries, despite the writhing pain that echoed through his body, Tragedy planted his legs and tensed all his muscles and started to pull on the constraints. Using every ounce of strength he had left in his body, he started to spin the woman around gaining a constant amount of momentum to provide her a whirlpool of nausea. With one mighty pull he sent her high into the air, before slamming her down heavily into the ground. “Thanks for the idea, Frostbite.” The fool mumbled to himself before jumping up to reenter the building while the bodyguard was imprinted into the ground.

Tragedy landed back on the edge of destruction, standing in front of the large hole created in the wall thanks to Loki’s previous assault. He certainly looked worse for wear… Hell, he could’ve been classified as undead with how he looked in this moment. Riddled in bullet holes, his clothing burnt and frayed by multiple sources, dark blood dripping from his mouth, and the arm he charged with Megido was charred and nearly incapable of use. But yet he stood before them, defiant as ever. “Is that all the back-up you have… Koga?” Piercing red eyes stared through the woman’s body, as if trying to strike the soul, despite how damaged he was he still egged on the opposition.

 

[TreasureSniper]

Despite the intimidating size of the steaming knight, Baron stood his ground, meeting the gaze of his opponent with neither fear or hesitation. This one was strong, he's fought stronger...and yet strangely he did not find himself fully committed to fighting them. Instead, he stood there a good amount of time in silence, carefully contemplating on his next move.

Just as the beast of the snow launched its icy assault onto Baron, the warrior vanishes from sight, something he frequently did to flummox his opponent. It didnt matter how fast the icy freelancer thought they were, as by time she swung her blade, her target was already somewhere else.

While he did not recognize this individuals here, Baron would remember that he had a run in with a very similar group in his past dealings. From the way he remembered it, he actually attempted to settle things peacefully only to have his warning and pleas to fall on deaf ears. He was only carrying out his duties, having no animosity or a personal stake towards the knights and their compatriots. "You would call me a genocider, and yet I am not the one fighting in area full of civilians." Baron spoke, moving mostly on the defensive, buying some time for the non-combatants to exit the area.

Seeing the myriad of hooks falling towards him, the masked man remained calm and instead unsheated his old companions storm blade, unleashing a power slash of almighty power, immediately neutralizing projectiles that were headed towards him but leaving the attacker himself unharmed. Sheathing his blade, he stood there silently waiting for most devastating attack.

Knowing that this move requires his full attention, Baron manifested his persona to his side, preparing himself for what was to come. From there pieces of Aion's wings would detach from the main body, flying across the battlefield, positioning themselves around all fighters, creating a perimeter. Seconds late, once the civilians were clear of the area, a force field would be generated locking in the knights with Baron. Finally, Aion would shield Baron from the devastating attack with its wings, causing the violent magma to be deflected away from him. The perimeter itself would prevent the devastation from spreading into other sections of the market.

"Listen to me. Nothing will change from this act of violence. I may have been once your enemy but thats all in the past. I seek no quarrel with you, and neither do the people here." Diplomacy was never his strong suit, but he would at least give an honest attempt. That past encounter that the knights spoke of had a very similar circumstances to what was currently happening. During that time, he too gave the garrison freelancers a warning and a chance to lay down their arms in a peaceful manner.

"Like your comrades before you, I shall extend to you the same offer I have given them. Leave this place, whatever it is you seek from me, you shall not have it." Not matter how smart they played their moves, or stack the odds, Baron was not convinced that these were the people to beat him. "Make your choice." With unwavering spirit, Baron stood atop of his persona with his arms crossed. Baron rarely concerns himself with parties that have no business with him, even if he was approached with hostilities. That said, if he were to fight, he wouldn't lose to these would-be brigands.

 

[Nellancholy]

Having some properly warm attire that wasn't dotted with patches and holes was a considerable boon, though having material possessions of even such simplicity wasn't terribly helpful without a place to put them. The head priest wasn't quite ready for her to move in yet...

Shiro rolled her eyes impatiently as she slid a coin into one of the banks of coin lockers that sat along the street, the kind often used by tourists and other travelers to temporarily keep their non-essential possessions safe.

With a clunk, the lock released and she turned the key, allowing her to open the door and position her duffle bag inside the locker.

She leaned in, grunting slightly as she shoved with both hands. The packed bag yielded slightly, barely squeezing into the locker and allowing Shiro to clap the door shut and retrieve the plastic key, keeping it safe for the time being.

---

It didn't take long for Heartbreak to show up at the meeting place as well, her new lance and her loaded gun already on her back. With a swish of her hand past her skirt, she fell into a chair, the tilt of her head giving away her inquisitive stare at Panther even through the helmet.

"Panther, graceful as always. What has your wit yielded us?"

Azurian Dream That Weird girl

 

[Maeve Valor]

Different sides of Tragedy seemed to fade in and out of Swan's familiarity with him. At first, as predicted, Tragedy gave a combative remark, but then upon summoning his persona something seemed out of the ordinary. Unlike how normal summons go, Tragedy seemed to revert to the searing pain that all the Metaverse users felt the very first time they summoned their persona. While Tragedy spoke to his persona in his mind, to Swan it was only a couple of seconds that he was unresponsive. The girl was about to reach out to her teammate until she felt it. The unmistakable shift in his aura. Confused with what could possibly be the cause of it, she wasn't sure whether to be wary of him or support him in some way. Although once he started to move, Swan waited to see what he would do next before deciding how to deal with this unforeseen circumstance as she faced Riot to make sure she didn't try to get a cheap shot in. Which was a mistake on her part since in the very next moment it wasn't Riot who got a shot in, but her own comrade who gave an unexpected powerful blow to her side enough to knock her away a few feet and almost made her lose her balance.

"What the fuck?..." Swan cursed as she held her side and watched as Tragedy continued his attempt to dispose of Koga. Already battered pretty badly, Swan knew wasn't able to do much and once again needed to rely on Scheherazade. Aside from moral reasons, there was other severe consequences if Koga were to be killed then and there. Masami had been given many labels in her lifetime, but an accomplice for murder was one she refused to be given if she could help it. "Scheherazade, stop him!" Swan yelled as her persona was already in motion, wanting to negate the attack before Riot and her persona had already charged at Tragedy, launching them out of the building.

Swan had thought about following them out until she hear Koga's eerie warning regarding Tragedy. "A psychotic break?...." Swan didn't think Imato was ever that screwy. Sure he had aggressive tendencies, but she didn't think his mental state was that fractured. On the other hand, it was evident that his state of mind needed to be taken into question. With the metaverse being based around people's consciousness, she wasn't able to fathom how something like a borderline psychotic break could affect someone there. But if she had to guess, the results would not be good.

As Swan felt some rubble lightly topple over her head from the structural damage Tragedy had caused thus far, Koga's next words directed her concerns to the situation at hand. A threat. A simple threat and done in such a way that she herself would have used and has in the past not that long ago. The difference though is that her threat is effective in that Swan was greatly concerned. Now she knew there was absolutely nothing they could do to fix the problem there and then no matter how much they fought, no matter if them or Riot were defeated, the result would still be the same. Including Tragedy's erratic personality shift, there was too much going wrong to consider how to deal with them for the time being. She had to force a retreat somehow, and she knew just how to do it. Swan had already laid the groundwork beforehand, she just needed to wait for the opportune moment as she looked out to watch the fight between Riot and Tragedy.

"Tch, you could have led with that and saved us all some time. But know this..." Swan looked to her persona, inwardly commanding her as she lifted her claymore as high as the ceiling would let her while it was being imbued with cursed energy. She then looked back down to see Tragedy about to jump back into the building. "... this isn't over."

After Tragedy had made his way back into the building and further taunted Koga, Scheherazade stabbed her massive weapon into the ceiling in a place where it was already crumbling and dragged it further across the room as she charged right at Tragedy, clothes-lining him with an arm and an audible grunt from Tragedy in the process, then hooking him around an arm as he gave a few choice words and she made her way to the hole in the wall that was previously made. All the while, Swan ran right behind her. Still with the heavy push right as Swan would near the exit Riot came busting in furiously tainted with that trick the punk Tragedy had pulled on her. Her gun was still charging after that last blast, but that didn't stop her from wanting to crack a skull open. Yet in line to receive that embarrassment or rage was the other bird to which would work just as well as Riot came back into the room bursting into a slid underneath Scheherazade before spinning into a upper kick that brutally tore past the material of Swan's mask ejecting some black blood from the girls face tearing at the girls flesh as Riot jumped into a roundhouse kick aiming to neutralize one of them. To behold a deadly finisher Swan was saved by a landing piece of debris forcing Riot back as she came to realize the girl was using her persona to literally collapse the building at the seem.

As Riot was able to stop her momentum to spin back the whole room was starting to cave with the contract holder Koga looking to be in some form of shock. Unable to finish pursuit of the savagely wounded bird Riot instead with a few choice words ran to her buyer quickly making to an escape as the metaverse version of the studio started to collapse on itself. With quick reflex's, and Anput summoning the duo would dig the other way from the Phantom Thieves avoiding further chance for conflict or attack on the contract holder... both sides understood this was no longer a valid ground for combat as such there was no reason to pretend or force it to continue. Though Swan was bleeding quite a bit from her new wound, she too had decided to ignore Riot and continue on with her plan as she quickly took out her phone. Right when Scheherazade looked like she was about jump out of the building, Swan pressed the app icon on her phone, shifting everything to suddenly return back to the real world. Just as debris came tumbling down, it would greatly obscure the view Riot would have of the fleeing enemies making it seem like they had only escaped through the hole.

Now back in Koga's office, Masami came to an abrupt halt as she scanned the room to look for something that she can temporarily put over her wound as Imato was launched into the wall that no longer had a hole in it. "Ow, fucking hell." Imato cussed as he rubbed his face in dismay.

"Serves you right though, what in the world was going on with you back there?" Masami scolded as she found a towel in the office that she was able to press against her face to hopefully stop the bleeding. As she was doing this she felt her phone notify her of a message which was from Ann and a few of the others. "Great timing, it's the others. Ann says they have more information. We should get there as soon as possible to let them know what just happened... But don't you think for a second that I won't revisit talking about how you almost murdered someone back there. We'll talk about that at a later time when we don't have more pressing issues like possibly being turned into the authorities. Now let's hurry before Koga comes back." Masami tucked the towel into her jacket before pulling a hood over her head to cover up how beat up she was.

A few hours later, Swan and Tragedy walked into the Metaverse Le Blanc looking as though they had certainly seen better days. "Guys... we got an issue..." Swan winced a bit after speaking and lightly touched the deep gash that was up the right side of her jaw. She then sat down with the others and relayed everything that had transpired between them and Koga.

 

[Azurian Dream]

~On Deaf Ears~
TreasureSniper

"...," the blade's icy hiss created a massive ice block exactly where Baron shattered by the persona's ape's follow-up smashing of it cratering the ground on impact. It was supposed to have been Divergent first hit, but now in the concept of missing, the swordswoman simply spun their blade in hand as another wave of frost took over the blade. There was depth of understanding this would be no easy defeat thus the loss of first blood was not a bother.

"What can we say you've inspired us that, and we don't care what it costs to bury you in the weight of your actions. Suffocate in the weight of your sins GRAVE OF EMPIRES," ScrapHook spoke with a gruff rustic tone like someone who had worked a coal mine or smoked quite a lot in life. Watching as his attacks were cindering his hooks to ash with an almighty slash yet leaving him unarmed as he touched the ground he summoned his persona again except this time it came back bigger. From there it was up to Seigeburner's intense attack to make the Baron finally react creating a dome as the intense steam, and flames threatened to liquefy Baron if it had not been for his persona's massness. When nothing resulted from it though only more hatred was generated by the three attackers. Yet as Baron's defensive measures kept Aeon distracted The Tulpa of Tibet sprung like weeds from the ground latching, and snatching its diseased riddled hooks all around Aeon starting to pull it into the very ground as it stabbed in on numerous locations delivering waves upon waves of mental connection damage right back to Baron's psyche.

"YOUR OFFER??? YOUR OFFER IS JUST OF THAT OF YOUR LIAR OF A KING. THAT YOU BETRAYED IN ANOTHER OF YOUR GENOCIDES," Divergent screamed in rage at Baron's words as if his offer to their gone comrade was even his giving it was just a pretense the All-Father knew they would never have accepted as they wanted to expand, and the Meta-Mercs didn't want heavy competition... it was simply a culling of a saturated dominated market. No matter how he tried to reach them the designation of what he did to them, or how they viewed the words of a betrayer knight to their faction. Even if harmed by the very faction they hated Baron's part in their faction's demise would trap him in a loop of blame that was impossible to escape in their minds to project onto him. A mental trap of grief with no form of release until someone dies, or was banished in the process of its endless cycle. At the very moment of her words as Aeon was drastically restricted in the struggle with the Tulpa of Tibet she had appeared upon its shoulder slashing an extremely long line of ice across Aeon's left side as she came in swinging her blade so fast in Bufudyne fused Myriad Slash's sending out countless waves of ice block injecting shards threatening to overwhelm Baron just as they were overwhelmed of any sense by their grief.

"You want this to end? Then banish yourself, or take to what you do best. SEARING REPENTANCE," with a massive air jump Siegeburner closed the gap between himself and Baron jutting his blade forward in a lunging strike as the roar of Salamander signaled another oncoming power attack as a laser-precise blast of steam erupted from his armor, and his blade converging all around the tip to unleash a scalding blast of high power force appearing to take the form of a dragon lance aiming to impale either Baron or Aeon. They didn't care about the damage or danger placed onto others... that's just how bad their grief wanted him dead.

.....................................................................................

~Closing Statements~
Anthem Maeve Valor

As the chaos dwindled, and the dust settled Riot returned to the room where the fight with the Phantom Thieves had taken place with Koga behind her watching as the metaverse structure of the studio started to repair itself. In particular, Koga was looking at the hole in the wall looking out into the distance with no movement to be spoken of Koga pulled out her nearly finished cigarette folding her arms with disdain as she mumbled.

"Little runt used it all as a diversion to avoid the fight, and further questioning just to lock us up her temporarily. Smart little bitch," Koga flicked the cigarette to the floor if they reappeared in the real world now chaos would ensue with their wounds being directed at her... it was a stalemate where that girl Masami knew if Koga followed she could bring a different type of crumbling problems that could halt the project then, and there. They were forced to do nothing by a nothing... irritation started to be the first emotional response to return to the woman as she stamped out the bud. Seemed Koga had extremely underestimated Swan... at first she had made it seem like they had retreated, but in truth, they had just made the distance needed to make the smokescreen tactic work. Atop of that, she had crumbled the building knowing Riot would have to protect and clear her from the danger creating the illusion of running out into the open. It didn't matter though her point had been made, and from her further interaction was useless she had gotten what she wanted, and as rattled as an impact as it had made... she was now ready to see it through.

"Riot I am probably going to lose your services soon to a bigger contract so do me one last favor their names... forget them. I doubt they'll go back to him anytime soon with their tails between their legs," Koga requested earning a confused bodily expression from Riot.

"Ma'am you know you could just run right? Or better yet put bounties on them and let the greed of the hunters take them," Riot suggested to both scenarios at hand going through the businesswoman's mind.

"No, I can't. If I am to escape I have to distract him with something big first like the precious loss of his cinema ticket, and in honesty, those brats will suffer more just being near him so letting them live under that shadow... will be satisfying a cruelty itself. In the end, thank you for taking this last job request of mind, and if I am lucky... I'll never see you again," Koga sneered turning away as Riot in her professionalism nodded in acknowledgment to the command, and the finale trek with her contract as Riot followed her deep into the reconstructing studio. Though atop the roof scratching their head with an unusual gun with some thinking cap body language strewn out was another metaverse user just lazily watching out in the distance where a good show of a fight had taken place against his protege. Of course, the palace was just fine as any warps around its cube trap would disallow any ability to even see the palace that was supposed to be here. Yet oddly enough why were people especially Koga having his company fight some random squirts?

"Should I mention this to the boss man," was all he asked himself with some curious amusement at the strange sight that had taken place, and as he started to stand up a massive shadow loomed over the whole studio. The ominous silhouette was quite massive for the area yet hidden amongst the illusion of the palace's placement.



"Eh, might be some fun hunting to be had from this mystery," he chuckled before disappearing into the shadows loom.

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................

~Extra Chaos In Step~
Anthem That Weird girl Nellancholy Maeve Valor

Silence, upon Tragedy, and Swans return to the group some heavy revelations had been dropped creating an unusual hushed effect on the group. Not only did Koga have access to the Metaverse separate from the palace she also had access to some sort of freelancer entourage at her call, and from the wounds Panthers was helping patch up on Swan's face along with Tragedy's fatigue it was clear that one operative had hit way harder than they were ready for. Panther was unnerved by her, Tragedy, and Swan now openly out on the chopping block for criminal charges. Things had extremely escalated in a way no one could have predicted much less even imagined. Nevertheless, even amongst all the chaos, there was a gem of a result that had come from it all.

"Asahi belonged to a group called Time Current... which there are prior members in Sakura's crew and must be why they have prominent shadow doppelgangers in the palace. They hold a bit more weight in mind to what they lost to her gain. Sounds somewhat like guilt," Prophet mulled, but if Koga was the palace ruler that raised some red flags. To what extreme was her mental state to hold such a force upfront while being broken in pieces in her palace? Seemed that everything they had experienced so far was just the surface level of it all with something waiting in the deep. Though overall they now knew the key phrase, the new problem was. Yet it was still there that sinking feeling of something not clicking right yet no matter how Prophet glossed over it all he couldn't see anything wrong with the prognosis given.

"That means we barely have two weeks to get this situated. Atop of that now we need to find a way to catch and break Koga's threat mail to avoid uncompromising legal results. I doubt the law will take "were just kids" well an answer to counterclaim against a corrupt massive corporation. Not to mention we got to intertwist a way to enter in said password without getting knotted on all sides by the meta-mercs present like the mothman," Cryptid nodded in his dwelling on the situation.

"Mothman?"

"He means Phoenix."

"Ah."

"Oh wait that reminds me," after her explanation to Prophet on what Cryptid was about she turned to Heartbreak remembering her question before Swan, and Tragedy had popped up. As she finished patching up Swan's gash wound with the needle she had used to sew her up Oracle thankfully had well kept in a medical aid kit. Dusting herself off she knocked on the counter as Oracle popped up with a pop-tart in her mouth famished from all the research she had been up to. "Mind telling them what you found?"

"Ahem. At the behest of Panther I did a second background check on Koga, and well... digging deeper I discovered priory her work before her current job didn't exist," that raised even more red flags as things were now settling into place... a woman whose claim Tragedy, and Swan's fake identities was now also revealed to be a fake identity... now that was a hell of a turn around. "And don't get it twisted her documents and fake life are high caliber stuff I barely caught it myself that her credentials were fake because she did have a job before running Kongo Burst," Oracle explained having not planned to delve into that deep originally until Panther's concerns had made her take a second deeper look catching the forged life past it.

"A false corporate giant? Maybe she's a residual ghost cursed from Nichitsu to haunt the land of the matter, and mind," Cryptid nodded writing notes down at his theory connection to the Japanese ghost town. Oracles tilted her head in confusion as Prophet also looked at the boy's strange antics of connecting odd dotes. Shaking his head though Prophet turned his attention to Tragedy.

"Though that brings up a curiosity of my own from what I saw from Kamoshido's palace you two work well off each other. Yet you both seem to have different stretches on the bar of wounding," Prophet inquired noticing where both took a form of beating Tragedy appeared mentally depleted while Swan herself seemed to have taken a more physical beating. It was a bit strange given they fought the same foe to have unfamiliar thrashings, and while Prophet wasn't prying it was clear he was concerned as to what Riot potentially could do combatively if they were to run into her again the knowledge would be needed.

This question caused Cryptid to pause and look to Swan noticing a very familiar irritation of avoidance of Tragedy that he had once received when they had first met, while she wasn't outright avoiding him neither had she chastised him now that all was said, and done she wasn't doing much else her usual back, and forth with him when things went wrong. The two were well known for being at each other's throats, and now it seemed like they had no desire to interact.

"Did something happen Tragedy," Panther asked concerned for them as she had noticed their lack of open hostilities as well.

 

[Anthem]

‘Oh shit… she’s a lot bigger than I thought she was!’ To see the mighty Persian Queen bolting towards him was more than terrifying, especially since the young thief never realized the size of Scheherazade. Gritting his teeth and putting up his one viable arm to defend himself, Tragedy took the clothesline head-on before realizing that it wasn’t necessarily some sort of payback from Swan but instead the Persian Queen grabbing him from his position. “HEY! LET ME THE FUCK DOWN, I’M NOT FINISHED WITH THAT BITCH YET!” The Fool lashed out as he struggled whilst within the persona’s grasp, though to no apparent avail as his physical stamina was nearly drained to nothing. His eyes were still dead-set on Koga for a few moments, until his attention was diverted to Riot reentering the scene… nothing the two thieves could do could keep her down it seemed. He attempted raising his already exerted arm, trying to muster up any remaining power left within it to blast the bodyguard back, only to receive a violent searing pain from the arm and his mind. He was out of spells, out of stamina, which allowed the violent woman to strike Swan dead-on.

The Fool’s vision betrayed him in those final moments, and before he knew it the duo was back in reality as he received a face full of wall. Another few choice words spilled out from him until Masami finally lashed at him, understandably so, but it wasn’t the girl’s words that caused Imato to finally calm and back down… It was the injury she had received. Guilt struck like a speeding bullet, if he hadn’t attacked the bodyguard there would have been no need for them to enter the Metaverse, and his friend wouldn’t be highly injured. His pride was swallowed by this guilt, so when she confirmed that they would be speaking of this in the future, Imato only nodded before following behind her.

When the Eiha and Frei users arrived within the confines of the safe / meeting room, Tragedy took no time to dredge his way past the majority of their fellow allies to a seat away from them all. Panther, being the group’s medic, would start to tend to the injured thieves though the boy would reject the help so that Swan would receive the best of the vixen’s attention. As Prophet, Oracle and Cryptic alike discuss the info they’ve gathered and attempt to connect the dots, Tragedy was left not paying full attention to them as his mind was otherwise occupied. ‘What if the guard tries to hunt us, she knows our identities. That wound will scar, what if it allows Swan to be recognized by threats? She could be hunted down now, and that’s a major visual feature. What if, What if… What if.’ Doubts and Fears were causing the bruiser to spiral, his good hand gripping his phone tightly as his mouth remained zipped shut until Panther voiced her concern. Tragedy quickly smacked away Panther’s approaching hand, grunting as he held his pained arm as his sleeve moved up enough to reveal the arm’s injuries and burns.

Mona was quick to stand as he saw his lovely Panther get attacked by the brutish Tragedy, but the cat would hold his tongue as he viewed the injuries revealed by the boy’s movements. Swan hadn’t mentioned one of the foes they encountered to be capable of using Agi, so how did such wounds arise? Not to mention the severity of it as it became clear why the boy had been using his non-dominant for the few things he did since walking into the safe room. “Tragedy-” Before Mona could continue, the Fool rose from his seat which interrupted the cat.

“I’m fine.” Pressing a few buttons on his phone, a buzz from the group chat would go off on everyone’s devices. “There’s my analysis of the freelancer, at least a gathering of all the info I could grasp. If anything of importance comes from this meeting… You all know how to contact me.” Rolling down his sleeve so his arm was covered once again, Tragedy wouldn’t wait for another word from the group as he exited the safe room. Mona would try to run along the table to stop the horned thief before he could leave, but his efforts proved fruitless as the Frei user disappeared from sight.

“Something isn’t right… That idiot is usually upset when one of us gets hurt, but never that disgruntled. And he hid an injury from Lady Panther.” The cat would say, showing a rare occurrence of care for Tragedy, his head swiveled to Swan. “You didn’t tell us everything, did you? What happened out there?”

 

[Maeve Valor]

While explaining what previously happened Swan let Panther tend to her wounds while pausing what she was saying each time Panther had to puncture her skin with the sewing needle; cuts this bad was not something she was used to. As she spoke the feathered thief had decided to omit the parts that involved Tragedy going out of control. So much was unknown regarding the topic and if he really was on the verge of a psychotic break bringing up the mere possibility in front of the others might trigger him. Until she got more information, she felt the best course of action was to not bring it up... at least this is what she thought until Prophet and Panther began asking questions, prompting Tragedy to pull away from their inquiries and exited the meeting. Swan's eyes averted from Tragedy's direction as he left. After what had just happened, she wasn't exactly sure how to act around her friend for the time being.

Mona's confrontation on the matter then caused Swan to jolt her head in his direction, surprised that he had picked up on how she was holding back on the details. Her expression turned to perturbed in thought, as she was weighing on if telling them would be more beneficial than not. She then sighed in frustration and folded her arms. "Fine, you're right.... I didn't tell you guys everything... Right after I pulled everyone into the Metaverse, Tragedy immediately went on the offensive. Which is normally fine, especially under the context of the situation we were in but... his sights weren't just locked onto Riot... He began trying to attack Koga as well without restraint," Swan assumed that they could put together what she meant by leaving the sentence at that.

As the words left Swan's mouth, she still could hardly believe he had attempted to do so. "... Thankfully her bodyguard was a professional and blocked every attempt Tragedy made to end her. I practically had to bring him back to the real world by force to get him to prevent him from doing so. And in the process... it lead to me receiving this wound from Riot," she gestured to said area.

"I suggest we just keep an eye on him and don't confront him about it just yet. Not until more is revealed as to what's potentially going on with him. Though at one point during a lull in the fight, Koga had mentioned to me that he was on the verge of a psychotic break... What's more worrying is that she seemed very confident in that statement as if it were a matter of fact," Swan explained as the wheels in her mind began to turn, wondering if her knowledge on the matter could be linked to her past before becoming an influential figure working with Kongo Burst like Oracle had mentioned. "On that note, I'm sure the details you all found out about Koga will be useful in the future. At this point, the more we know about Koga means the better equipped we'll be. Continue to let us know what more you find out as you continue your research Oracle."

 

[TreasureSniper]

Baron sighed upon hearing yet another foolishly rebellious group of freelancers, thinking they were the ones to take him down. With each and every encounter with fanatics and vengeance seekers, his capacity for mercy diminished as did his tolerance for hubris. No matter how much he thought about it, there was just no way for him to understand what drives these fools. "Whatever. Suit yourself then." Baron spoke, sounding completely fed up with their nonsense.

Despite the multiple hooks sinking into the dragonic mecha, it did not budge, instead remaining stationary while static disturbances began to "bleed" from the impact points. And yet despite all this, Baron seemed heavily unconvinced, Aeon even webt as far as to give them a mocking laughter. "Oh dear..." The masked fighter muttered to himself, hearing the freelancers screaming at him was giving him a migraine, which arguably had been the most damage any of them had done to him collectively. Seeing no other option and understanding that they do have the means of damaging him, Baron finally decided to cast one spell. "Primordial presence."

With this, Baron has instantly showered all the colors of the corresponding buffs for attack, defense, and speed. At the same, time, all his enemies were debilitated, lowering of the stats that Baron had just buffed, therefore increasing that stat disparity between the two parties even more. Unholstering his pistol, the masked fighter finally returned fire, giving it a stylistic twirl before unleashing a concentrated blast of pure Almighty energy. The projectile, overwhelmed the frost-infused slashes, consuming them with its sheer intensity. The power that struck her was potent, shaking her body to its core, violently tearing her armor apart while almost immediately knocking her out.

Next was the one known as SiegeBurner who came charging in with weapons enchanted with all sorts of power. "I really don't have time for this..." Baron muttered to himself, leaping off Aeon's shoulder to face the warrior head-on. Feeling some level of sympathy and respect, Baron equipped his best friend's sword, mirroring the slashing motion of his opponent. The thunder sword would cut through his opponent's like a hot knife through butter before reaching the actual wielder prompting him to shift the sword to avoid cutting him down completely, giving the knight a deep but fairly survivable wound. Without missing a beat, Baron disappeared from vision and reappeared right in front of Scraphook, giving him a much-deserved gut bunch, shattering his armor with and single blow, and knocking him onto the ground. Turning to his blade, he couldn't help but smile internally, knowing that his old friend would have approve of his mercy, no matter how brutal he was. "And that...is that." Brandishing his blade and striking a short victory pose, Baron returned his attention to the surviving members of the knights. "You two seem like reasonable people...so...your move." Miraculously, and against his better nature, Baron had chosen to spare these knights, if only just barely. And now, he gave the remaining two a chance to prove that they are indeed smarter and more logical in their ways of handling overwhelming odds.

 

[Nellancholy]

If Heartbreak was a less confident person, she might feel very small right now. They'd gotten into a prolonged confrontation with a foe who didn't look it, but was far more dangerous than several of the ones they'd faced before. Someone who was adept at manipulation in both the real world and the Metaverse, backed by people who only cared for power and the heedless exercise of it however they pleased.

She wished, for a moment, that Thrud would have the power to soothe the wounds of her allies, but the nature of her protection was that which laid their own bodies on the line when they were in the heat of battle. Which means that when she wasn't around to protect them...

She swayed her head gently, her helmet barely moving to register her motion.

Tragedy would have to help himself, for the moment.

She eased herself over to Swan instead, lifting her hand and resting it heavily on her shoulder as a gesture of reassurance. That said what needed to be said, for the moment.

"And you, two, Prophet, Oracle." She sighed. "With Koga more on guard than ever, what could conceivably be our next plan of action?" She recalled the way nosy, self-righteous police officers would question her at the slightest suspicion, trying to dig out her motives and activities, whether she was working for someone else as a criminal. "If I were some manner of lawman, I would seek out whoever it is that helped create the facade of her current identity. Extract the truth of her past by any means. But truth be told, I don't care to solve this as if it were some police case. I don't wish to take a life, but if only there was a real way to strike directly at her..." Tragedy had tried, but little had come of it.

Maeve Valor Azurian Dream

 

[Azurian Dream]

~Infiltration & Dramatic Distraction~
Maeve Valor Anthem That Weird girl Nellancholy

Panthers' eyes showed legit concern as Tragedy waved off the question, and more pertinently rejected medical attention. Half of her wanted to summon Carmin and ignore him using mental spellcraft to care for him at the very least alas her respect as a fellow Phantom Thief held off on it. She held the smacked hand close to her chest not sure how it all had played out yet as one of his friends she could tell it had hit hard. The collective ringing of their phones pulled up a quick breakdown of what the duo had run into with this Riot. From the sounds of it, unparalleled skilled in a real-life profession made this bodyguard way more dangerous than the norm of what they had run into with the metaverse she wondered how many others were set to doing their job in both the real world and meta world but none came to mind personality wise. Minus albeit Slayer came to mind of course probably as an on-par entity or probable serial killer in real life.

"Give him adequate spatial diameters... he wants to assess himself first, and it's prudent we let him," Cryptic spoke watching Tragedy's departure slowly comparing it to some form of possession of guilt almost like something was haunting Imato beyond his Tragedy guise. He had read many mind-consuming cryptids in his research and had even noticed the cryptids number 1-12 of the Meta Mercs had a few with brainwashing potential creatures of their own. A particular case came from another of Tragedy's fight with Aureus Rex remembering his mention of the Meta-Merc having some shadows act like foot soldiers before being Midus touched. Though try as he might to distract himself in his research Isao still found his thoughts floating back to Imato... in hopes he would be okay.

"I agree with the cat that bro is not the type to limp off not like that," Oracle spoke surprisingly positively showing notable defense for someone she had extremely butted heads with not that long ago. Prophet himself simply watched the Phantom Thieve bruiser leave knowing there was no form of ability to stop him. Tragedy was heated, and just needed to cool off or so Prophet thought as Mona's probing revealed a different result as a weight appeared on Swan's shoulders. What came from it was an alarming concept as it was evident he was trying to kill Koga within the realm of all that was going on. More than that it sounded worse for wear to say he might have not even been in control during it.

As best as it would be to tackle this problem Swan had a valid point between the ominous certainty Koga spoke of. Prodding the teen could simply trigger the situation worse, and backfire on them to an alarming mission-stopping halt. From their Swan made it clear a deep dive into Koga was a solid requirement which even earned a confident smile on Panther who had got the ball rolling earlier. Oracle herself gave a nod of understanding yet she didn't return to Necronomicon immediately strangely enough. Prophet turned his attention to Heartbreak noticing her silence no doubt gauging the situation like he was, and she placed her hand on Swan's shoulder he could feel her regret not being there to play her role. This movement was short-lived though as she turned to Prophet, and Oracle asking for their suggested plan of action.

"Remember how I had an odd feeling about Baron's estimation of this palace as a sort of retreat. Originally it had just been a thought as what he said did make sense, but as we learned there was more to it proving it was not the case, and this was some dealing situation. Now with what you just told me there is a gap of communication as well on both sides. If Koga was in league directly with the meta-merc's she, and this Riot wouldn't have been so surprised by your appearances in the metaverse. Hell, the Meta-Mercs are a streamlined operation the moment that we were found it would have made sense to warn the "buyer" of this palace," Prophet expressed to Heartbreak's suggestion on how to handle Koga leading to a bigger string of thinking.

"But Riot and Koga knew nothing about Swan, or Tragedy they even expressed hearing rumors about them," Panther spoke noticing the oddity of the situation.

"Collectively she thought they worked for this "HIM" entity the unknown in the dark," Cryptic also addressed using his notebook of cryptids to wager what this Powerpuff-sounding villain could be labeled as.

"Indubitably, there is a disconnect of information. For whatever reason these two sides aren't talking to each other yet. Atop that Koga is going rogue most likely over that blur that made the deal in Asahi's memories. Meaning we also have a window of an internal conflict about to pop above or below us," Prophet surmised.

"if we were to act on what we already got we need to do it now before things get potentially out of control," Oracle finished Prophet's thought process to which he nodded in confirmation though now oddly she was holding a rather unusual gun holstering it behind her back. it appeared to be some sort of grenade launcher but from the side, there was a notable gooey canister connected to it.

"I am not a fan of an assault rush as if we do that we will have the palace shadows as well as the Meta Mercs on our coat tails making things near impossible to move forward. Even if we could manage one side the other could sneak up on us. Either way, you look at it we are outnumbered, and stealth while a solid option could lead to worse-for-worse results if we can't properly project what is on the other side of that gate potentially leading a small team getting overwhelmed," Prophet analyzed. It was a building problem, and Heartbreak had a point striking Koga made sense or better yet the person above them to wring out information. The problem was minus the moniker of HIM there was no detail at all about the one above Koga.

"Can't strike a mystery of a mystery, unfortunately. I have nothing chaining anyone else's involvement. Be like trying to turn Koga against herself I imagine," Oracle sighed attaching a fully decked-out grenade belt onto her person.

"Wait that's it. We turn the palace on the Meta-Mercs," Panther shot up raising her hand in excitement as she seemed to have a brain blast of an idea formulated.

"How so," Prophet asked very curious to the chain that brought the thought possible.

"Think about it this palace is all about the climax or the rising action right? That Pirate Queen is obsessed with over-the-top unexpected turns or plot twists. Cryptic was even able to get information out of her and get her to pause the fight she wanted to start with us at the theater via dramatic effect. That means as long as we play it up big like something in the works of an unexpected twist to which the shadows would get on by than sneaking, and performing on the act alongside them we can rally them to attack the Meta-Mercs present, and allow a team to get to the gate," Panther excitedly explained making quite of a lot of sense. From what they had all seen thus far the palace ruler was obsessed with films so much so life was constantly one scene to the next. Thus to create an effect big enough that swayed in the way of the palace they could potentially in turn sway the shadows to act how they wanted.

"A lightning bolt in a jar of an idea. Yet I doubt anyone could come up with a better theorem to initiate a workaround in this time-sensitive matter," Cryptic complimented Panther while also pointing out in truth it was probably their best bet.

"Well sounds like we have some formulating to do," Prophet after about a ten-minute talk the battle plan would be fully fleshed out. Given the informational exchange between Swan, and Oracle about positioning placement the rest minus Tragedy laid out the best small-man team to head for the Gate. After Swan's additional suggestions along with word of thought from the team, it was designated Prophet, Tragedy, Cryptic, and Oracle to Prophet unease but eventual surrender due to the misplacement of Baron, and Tragedy's unmentioned situation that all hands were needed on deck would be the Gate team.

Mona's maneuverability would be responsible for handling the inevitable aerial escape of Phoenix who would no doubt be called into the palace after their first attempt as Swan, and Heartbreak would take the center plaza area cutting off any immediate Meta-Mercs who would give chase to the Gate Team. The biggest role of the distraction and sway of the mission would be Panthers atop the highest building with spotlights all on her handled by Mona before his duck hunt would announce the event of a lifetime, and be an attention grabber to the Meta-Mercs who would no doubt be in her view to point out once the chaos starts given her evasive nature be able to hit the ground fast before they could climb to her allowing her to get the drop on one.

After a small text was sent to Tragedy about the plan the Phantom Thieves found themselves back in the Palace of Envy using their shadow stepping to move silently into their positions. Things were as per the norm in the palace festivities aplenty, music, dancing, fighting, and much more yet all that came to an unnatural halt as off in the distance four powerful lights lit up coming together atop one particular building were a high-spirited Panther took to a pose bending forward with a microphone in hand.

"Listen up you scallywags, swashbucklers, and miscreants alike. The powers that be offer you a bountiful boon of an event a fierce call to arms to show your worth," Panther called out loud, proud garnering shadow's attention throughout all venues from the vagabonds to the masquerades and most notably to the pirates of the land. Most importantly though all the Meta-Mercs present were now without a doubt had their eyes glued to her, and probably perplexed by what madness had struck her.

"Whose boon? Your boon?" One shadow asked

"Utterly deceptive twaddlespeak, says I. What you have to offer." Another shadow demanded to know denying the words yet... intrigued by what was being put on the table so to speak.

"A golden ticket to the Queen's next secret show. You are left with but one option if you desire a chance to be granted her finale vision you must fight for it. All around you, I am sure you have noticed menacing armored individuals or those in unusual clothes. Rummaging around of unknown origin. Defeat one of them in combat in a group or solo," Panther chimed holding up a golden ticket that she had bought from a thrift shop, but at this height, none of them would be the wiser to its fake design. At first, the shadows were silent unsure how to feel about this, but one such individual did.

"Phoenix do not attempt a direct assault your shared typing will just give her an opening of escape. Distract her instead. Syren, take her out and force her to fall. The height should flatten the air out of her noisiness into a major concussion. I don't know what stupidity has infected them, but they slipped through our fingers once let's not take the shame of that a second time. Maestro demands at least one of them be captured alive for interrogation you have permission to bloody them up if that's what it takes," Crow communicated real fast taking the restriction of safety off them all. He was nearing the center plaza the widest gap of the area where there were no hidden spots of darkness to use for shadow stepping. Crow watched from his position devilishly smiling at the easy win. These second-rate toys had finally lost it, and now upon their destruction, they would be finally able to reclaim that which they so desperately needed back. The perfect sword to which all judgment is perfectly balanced that was currently muddied by the vile disease that was these thieves. The very notion excited Crow as this cascade of broken crowns would finally be healed. Heartbreak, Swan, Prophet, Tragedy, Cryptic, and Oracle could see him clear as day from their hiding spots spread out amongst the town's center plaza. At first, there were no signs of the plan sticking the Shadows weren't moving at all they just watched their eyes on Panther who smiled wide knowing what was needed to trigger them over the edge.

"And mind you these tickets aren't just for the show. They are passes onto the Queen's final voyage only the best may sail with her at world's end. NOW FIGHT," Panther exclaimed spinning around atop the top of the building as the alluring Carmin burned into existence matching Panther's energy dancing in a spinning display before both halted in pose unleashing a mass Maragion into the air and exploding in an impressive display of fireworks. Everything went silent for a moment as Crow shook his head at this futility what mountain of impossible were they... Crow's thoughts were immediately cut off as three shadows came screaming in rushing him from all sides. Without a second thought Crow's smile turned to annoyance as he pulled out a gold Mauser M712 Schnellfeuer immediately taking a... laser shot that piercingly burned through the frontal charging shadow as it popped like a black spore bubble the other two took demonic form into Ameno-no-Uzume's.

​

"Filthy, downtrodden, TRASH. You waste my time challenging that which you had no chance again," Crow pulled out a bizarre bladeless handle as the two shadows closed in on him. With a simple drop to the ground Crow smacked the handle against the concrete as the shadows strangely passed him. The next second the handle produced a laser beam forming into a blade as the two shadows screamed black blood spewing from dozens of cuts appearing all over their bodies before bursting out of existence. Crow stood back up his face now blank calculating as he went back on his comm. The immediate sounds of chaos erupted in the earpiece as the shadows had taken to finding the other Meta-Mercs almost in a religious purge they were all under attack.

"Everyone to immediate arms they have done something to the Palace. The shadows have turned hostile GET THAT PHANTOM THIEF NOW," he yelled pissed at this turn of events unknowingly passing the thieves in the shadows as he waited to see how Phoenix and Syren would snatch Panther. The opening was now made as Prophet gave the forward signal he, Cryptic, Tragedy, and Oracle jumped out of the shadows rushing forward behind the fountain in the center. Crow immediately hearing their steps turned around moving his gun into firing position unknowing of the trap he was now pincered between.

"Agilao," was the only warning verbally Crow would get as at an impressive distance Panther casted the spell in front of the white and red-clothed meta-merc blocking his ability to take the shot and forcing him backward into a defensive step for Heartbreak, and Swan to strike.

"Oracle will handle the gate upon arrival. Our only job is defense against whatever may slip past the distraction team," Prophet reminded the quintet looking to each of them for confirmation. Cryptic, and Oracle nodded thus the green preacher's eyes turned to Tragedy for his confirmation. As this madness kickstarted Panther started to spin around atop her building's roof quickly locating the fights taking off having a concept of the location of all Meta-Mercs, but two... the spider, and the whale.
...............................................................................................

~At What Cost~
TreasureSniper

The bright shower of powerful auras of different essences of boosting, and debuffing skills flooded the sight of all around. Followed the Dragon Aeon laugh Divergent would be the first to regain full sight before her slashes were overwhelmed, and melted by a massive almighty energy shot. The speed at which it traveled, the debuff's, and her recovery time made evasion impossible. The Blue ninja samurai hybrid was impacted with searing force ripping her whole being of armor apart it sent her into a grueling koed process as she was sent flying away impacting somewhere off in the distance not able to even give any form of verbal or physical altercation before her demise.

Siegeburner roared as Baron met him head-on. Their blades met even with the debuffs the physical force behind his furnace blade attack was unbridled in its impact with Baron's storm blade. Yet the sword of the storm's mythical properties gave it the edge over the intricate man-mad blade slicing through it with severe heating electrical force before slicing into the furnace night producing a wave of black blood as he was sent rocketing back down from whence he came.

Baron then pulled one over the top seeming to warp again from reality before gut-punching Scraphook mid-air with the force of a meteor pressuring the very will out of the man in an inaudible scream as his armor fell apart like crumbs via the kinetic force of shock from the fist. The bulky freelancer's body caved in lurching into a limp state equally smashing into the ground like his allies before he entered an unconscious as well.

As the dust of things settled Baron turned his sights to Coppervolt, and Imperator yet before they could speak the intense flare of colors of the higher tier buff spell Heat Riser ignted behind the "Kaiser of Mementos" as SiegeBurner lunged above him jutting his blade into a downward grip the broken blade burned bright as hot as a true furnace at full force.

"DRACONIC AFTERBURNER," Baron was consumed by blue ignition flame with so much energy that the very ground that held his feet was split, and melted apart burrowing the two deeper, and deeper into the earth that made the middle section of the Black- Meta-Market. Before anything could be registered at the speed of their descent suddenly... the ground was gone... as they free fell into the skys of the bottom section of the whole market... the Colosseum. The way down was a massive gap of open space even with the impact force it would no doubt take minutes before they would hit the bottom. In the madness of it all SeigeBurner Aerial slammed into Baron grabbing onto him with one hand as the other proceeded to wail into him at his full true force.

While this was going on back atop where Coppervolt and Imperator sat the tesla-designed freelancer sighed standing up as he got both suitcases looking to his ally before with an unamused voice said. "Collect those two. I'll handle damage control," thus giving the two splits as Coppervolt headed to the massive elevator.
....................................................................................................................................

 

[Anthem]

Tragedy held no resentment for his fellow thieves, he never had or ever would, his anger in that moment was directed towards another canvas. The canvas that was supposed to be painted in with his soul in mind, his Persona, Loki. Gritted teeth grinded against each other as the Fool’s heavy steps echoed in the expansive space of the Metaverse. Thoughts and emotions clashed, logic and emotion fell into war within his heart and mind, until his heavy hands went to his mask and ripped it off to summon the God of Tricksters. “What the hell were you thinking?! Hitting Swan, being so reckless and-”

Laughter echoed from the god as his permanent grin seemed to glint just a tad more… devilishly within that moment. “Boy, was it not you who told me to… ‘Take care of Koga’?” Tragedy choked on his words, his anger swelled with no true way to be rid of it as any injury onto Loki would just cause a further mental strain onto himself. “That’s not what I wa-”

“Oh but that IS what you wanted, boy. Remember the key phrase now, I am thou and thou art I. You are quite the violent soul, you wanted to see Koga suffer… You wanted to see her bleed. Murder is quite the thrill, isn’t it?” Silence rang within Tragedy’s ears as the words of Loki echoed in his mind, his fists slowly clenched until out of unadulterated rage the boy swung against his own Persona. Except… the hit never landed, the fool stood there struggling to complete the movement as if he was shackled by the air itself. Low chuckles evolved into shrill cackling as Loki lunged forward, grabbing the teen by his neck with a tightened grip. “You signed my contract, and you’ll pay your dues in time Makage. That’s one of the few promises I will keep, that so-called rebellion of yours… Will be the end of all you hold dear.”

With that, Loki disappeared in a veil of blue flame leaving only Tragedy’s mask on the ground as the boy had fallen to his knees gasping for breath. Fear and anger overwhelmed him, as tears slowly dripped from his face to the ground. “Damn it… Damn it all!” Grabbing the mask off the ground, the Fool stared at it for a few moments before finally retreating fully from the Metaverse for now. He took the time to wrap his wound in bandages, though the rest wasn’t plentiful as his phone buzzed with a plan to storm the Castle of Envy.

---

As he read and viewed the plan in action, it was brilliant. To turn the once calm miscreants of the envious region into a cluster of foes for the more dangerous threat that was the Meta-Mercs. Squinted eyes observed Crow as he took witness to Panther’s perfect display to sway the shadows against the likes of the mercs. The Fool already had his opinion set on the bird-masked freak, he had an annoyingly high ego accompanied by a complex to feel in charge of plans, plus a bratty voice to put the cherry on top. Sadly, it would be Heartbreak and Swan to deal with that avian nuisance. For now the brute was on a different task, the gate.

As the mad preacher’s eyes drifted to the Frei user, Tragedy immediately rushed off towards the gate with a silent determination. Before the gate could be reached, a trio of shadows who still took on their pirating appearances stood before it and spotted the approaching thief. Taking Panther’s call to fight against those in ‘unusual clothing’ to heart, two raised their flintlocks as the other took two sabers into arms. “TO THE FINAL VOYAGE BOYS!” The one with the sabers cried as his mates screamed to the skies, pointing their pistols right towards the approaching Fool.

“Prideful scum.” Muttering under his breath, Tragedy grabbed at his bandaged arm to tear off the covering… the sleeve accidentally going with it. Thanks to the healing items of the Metaverse, the burns had already started to scar over but it wasn’t that pretty nonetheless. But that wasn’t what mattered in that moment, as both the ranged fighters were taken out by a bullet piercing between their eyes. The Frei user was to blame for the sudden shots, he spun two new guns in his hands, dual revolvers that seemed to work like a charm. They resembled Colt Thunderers, a big difference when compared to his old Deagle but they packed more power behind them from what it seemed.

The swordsman of the shadows quivered as he saw his comrades felled by this singular psycho, to the point all valor had been lost as the shadowed pirate began his retreat. A failed one at that, Tragedy’s threaded cane wrapped around the shadow’s neck to brutally decapitate it, leaving only a coat as the body melted away like the other two shadows. With no need for consideration he discarded his ripped leather, taking the better-conditioned coat of the pirate in its place. The black highwayman coat suited his dark attire, so it was an easy add to his appearance. “Now that the rabble has been dealt with, hurry along with the gate, Gremlin. We’ll deal with whatever dares to approach next.” The first words the fool spoke, were accompanied by him taking on a stance that a sentry guarding a valued asset would. He was serious, an odd contrast to his usually boastful self, but he remained hardened in the fact that he wouldn’t let anyone or anything interfere.

 

[TreasureSniper]

Seeing no reason to resist, Baron allowed himself to freefall away from the upper floors, hopefully leading the attention away from the street and into a more secluded area. The fact that there was a coliseum below was rather convenient for him. Despite being consumed by the blue fire, Baron simply shrugged it off by throwing away his cloak, which had taken the brunt of the damage up until this point. "Hmm I actually felt that one!" He couldn't help but be amused by this fighter's determination, continuing to relentlessly assault him despite having no chance whatsoever. Grabbing hold of his opponent was his single biggest mistake as Baron did not take kindly to being touched by a lesser metaverse user, immediately earning the brigand a backhand of disgust, shattering his fingers in retaliation. "Freelancer filth." At first, he found it amusing but now he just found all of this to be a source of great annoyance. The "full force" barrage was also just as effective, though there would be at least one small minuscule crack on his mask, which would anger the masked fighter greatly.

Reorienting himself to be one above, Baron positioned himself on top of his opponent, slamming him onto the ground just as he landed on the battlegrounds of the coliseum. As the cloud of dust settles, Baron could be seen walking away from his opponent, who by this point was just a body embedded into a large crater. He always wanted to visit this place, but he'd prefer to do so as a member of the crowd as opposed to the main attraction. He watched as the original fighters of the arena would scatter and part way, making way for him to have a peaceful exit. He was happy to see that at least most people can still be considered reasonable and rational. However, just before he left, he could see someone descending from the large elevator. When the door opened, he recognized the individual as one of the knights who stood back and simply allowed his friends to fight for them. An interesting move to say the least. "Your friend is alive, just a little bit on the flatter side." In the old days, he would have wiped them off the face of the metaverse for even daring such a foolish assault. But these, Baron is starting to see the effectiveness of leaving some alive to spread his warnings.

---

Complications. What was supposed to be a rather simple operation was immediately turned on its head with the Phantom Thieves' "creative" manipulation of the palace denizens. While the palace itself was an enjoyable enough resort for many mercs and freelancers alike, Phoenix had always found that the type of individuals attracted to this place was rather distasteful. Not to mention, the shadow denizens that resided in the palace can be the unsavory sort. "Pirates...I hate pirates." Phoenix muttered to himself from a high vantage point. He always did like perching himself in high places, positioning himself in a place where he could watch everything from a safe distance.

Hearing the panic in Crow's voice was disappointing, as he had always thought that someone of his status would handle pressure a lot better than this. "About time." at last he was given the order to attack, and seeing as the denizens were already openly hostile to them, he took this opportunity to let off some steam. "Suzaku...its time." leaping off his perch, the avian merc shoot himself skywards at exceptional speeds, resembling a freshly launched crimson rocket. From this altitude, he could see everything, the movement of the troublesome shadows, his teammates who were present, and more importantly, a few members of the Phantom Thieves. "Targets sighted. Commencing hostilities." Phoenix reported in, diving down and gaining speed, making a beeline toward his assigned target.

Spreading his wings of fire, his afterburners roared to life, allowing him to zip through the air at breakneck speeds, making loops and turns around whatever highrise structures were present. Back in the subway, there were too many restrictions present, much too small, and claustrophobic for a merc like him. Out here, he can spread his wings as wide as he wants to. In short, the skies belong to him. "Maragion!" multiple fireballs were released from the airborne merc, targetting specifically the groups of shadows that were closing in on Crow, engulfing them all in a powerful blaze. His movement became faster and faster until eventually, his aura of heat became hot enough to burn structures near him. Having accumulated enough momentum, Phoenix charged toward his target, and delivered a powerful punch to Panther's face, sending her flying violently across the air into a nearby straw hut. Not missing a beat, he circled Crow dropping fire bombs around him, creating a wall of fire to protect his team leader. By now, the fire had spread across the environment, with many of the buildings around them beginning to destabilize and threaten to collapse at any moment. Phoenix landed right next to Crow, healing him a bit in case he was damaged from the short scuffle.

"We only need one of them. The rest are as good as ash." He proudly proclaimed as he reabsorbed the firewall into his body, revealing himself to the thieve and shadow alike. "Now then, which one of you will fly too close to the sun?" The taste of defeat from the subway encounter was still very much fresh in his mind. But now that he was in a more favourable enivronment, it was time for him to return the favor.

 

[Nellancholy]

After quite some time, a prolonged interminable period in both the real world and the Metaverse, here was a call to action again. Shiro would like to believe that she was beginning to move past her nature as a thug, willingly risking any number of blows on body and mind and using the pall of fear to defend those she put behind herself from the vicious world that relentlessly battered them. But Heartbreak's strength was still needed, even as she and Thrud seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough. So be it. The warlord would continue to project her might, as much as deemed necessary.

Their plan, for once, called not only for their own strength, and for once it didn't rely on much subtlety. Only a little push from the more articulate of their group, and then sufficient valor to head off all comers while Oracle hopefully did her work in a competent manner.

How did Panther get people to listen so readily? Some people were blessed in that way, perhaps.

The Shadows, goaded on by their devotion to the Palace's master, rose as a swarm, some shoving and stepping over each other, but all the same unified in their intent of destroying any Thief or Merc they laid eyes upon for the sake of their prize.

Heartbreak drew her lance from her back, the attached shield sliding into position. From here, none could hurt her from whichever direction she aimed her weapon at.

Several Shadows tried anyway, brandishing cutlasses and daggers as they leapt at her.

"You would dare presume to take my head? Perish the thought! Grasp only your regrets as you sink into your watery graves." A wide swing of the lance struck with the force of a cannonball, crumpling their monstrous forms like paper and flinging them aside.

"Marauder! Rapscallion! We'll tear ye apart like rotten sails!" So came the cry from another line of Shadows, having already taken advantage of her exertion to form a firing line, blunderbusses and pistols already leveled at her. She would not be able to bring her lance around in time, but-

-Thrud crashed down amidst them, her jets firing in a fearsome, roaring display as the crude weapons fired, each shot glancing off her armor. Before they could reload, she spun, wings and outstretched arm clotheslining them and sending them sprawling.

It was then that Phoenix burned across the sky, using aerial bombardment to thin out the horde attacking his apparent ally, rescuing them and presenting himself for battle.

"I am here, Phoenix." Heartbreak glared at him. Even with the obscuring of her helmet, her determination was clear. Unlike the subway, the open air of the port town meant that her speed might actually afford Thrud equal ground against his maneuverability. "Flee across the sky all you want. I'll bring you down again." So she said, keeping the protective plate of her weapon firmly aimed at him and his partner. Thrud on the other hand, had to stay light on her feet and ready to move: for all her ability to wound Phoenix and Suzaku, a few of their attacks with searing flame landing on her would utterly disable her. The two could only rely on Swan and Scheherazade to support them and put a decisive end to the ensuing fight.

TreasureSniper Maeve Valor

 

[Maeve Valor]

Seeing her chance to strike, Swan leaped from her position. Since Heartbreak's fighting style was heavily in close combat, this benefited Swan since her energy was still for the most part depleted from the earlier fight. Playing it safe, she had her customized hand gun at the ready as her and Heartbreak charged in towards Crow only to be cut off by an obtrusive Phoenix. The mercenary had landed a harsh attack on Panther before causing flames to erupt from the ground. While this did halt Swan's assault as well as made her concerned for Panther, she was still able to blindly shoot a grenade past the fire. The grenade emitted Bufu type energy upon impact, but whether it did any damage at all behind the partition of heat was unknown to her.

When Phoenix dispersed the flames, Heartbreak taunted him and her stance showed readiness for whatever may follow. "Matarukaja," Swan commanded, causing her and allies nearby to feel a sense of power from within. She then considered her options: if she were to use Scheherazade, she would really need to make it count for something since she wouldn't be able to use her for very long. She knew she couldn't take Crow on one on one, especially in this state. So the best she could do was to stay close to her fellow thieves and do generalized attacks alongside them so that she doesn't become a liability rather than help.

"Alright... let's try this! Maeigon!" Swan slapped her hand to the ground as she too used her element to rise from below the surface looking as if wispy spirits were reaching up to claim their prey all around Crow and Phoenix. She had hoped to land an attack on both of them, anticipating that Phoenix would probably take flight. But again, her main goal was only to add pressure with Crow as her main focus. She quickly looked to Mona as she then shot a few regular bullets at Crow and yelled, "Mona, bus!"

Nellancholy Anthem Azurian Dream
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From down below hidden behind an invisible visage Syren had to admit, upon looking up to witness the performance of the Phantom Thief dressed in red leather and contrasting pigtails, the girl had style. She swayed the shadows into doing her bidding with such innocent charm like that of a pop idol that would be on television acting all cutesy. It wouldn't have been Syren's approach, but it got the job done and it grabbed their attention.

Hearing Crow through her visor, she tried to make her way to the top of the nearest building to get to Panther. She jumped using window sills, balconies, and even signs all to reach the top. Though as soon as she had done so, she saw Phoenix had already tried to take care of the issue by launching her away into a building that was farther away from Syren. In dismay, the girl frowned as she stomped a metallic boot. "Phoenix, don't ruin the hot commodities okay? Preferably, I'd like whoever our future captive is to be in one piece and have their goods in tact," she scolded into the device with a shake of her head as she was frustrated that he went for a different angle than was initially intended for him without communication. If anyone were to overhear them over the comms, it'd make them look like shameless rookies for goodness sake.

She then jumped swiftly from building to building until soon she came to the location the Panther would find herself in. Although before approaching, around a corner Syren decided to disguise herself and take the form one of her allies she had seen in the past. A person with attire reminiscent to that of a knight. "Let me help you up, we can't waste any time," they said reaching a hand out to the Phantom Thief. Historically, Syren knew that she wasn't good at acting so she usually tried to use the least amount of words as possible in these type of situations. To Panther, she would recognize them as taking the form of Heartbreak. Whether she believed them hung in the balance as the imposter offered false assistance.

TreasureSniper That Weird girl

 

[That Weird girl]

"Ow that hurt...." Panther complained and groaned a little. Being launched into a straw hut at fast speeds did indeed hurt as she came to find out, not that she wanted to find out. Phoenix did not like her performance and made it known publicly by punching her and launching her into a hut. She brushed the straw off her outfit and frowned as it meant that she had little bits of straw in her hair which took a long time to get out! She sighed before seeing "Heartbreak" lend her a hand.

Now, Panther was a little confused because Heartbreak was supposed to be in a different area and she was doubtful that Heartbreak would abandon the other thieves. She was loyal and knew that Panther could handle her own skin in a situation. But, a part of her wanted to believe that Heartbreak was her knight in shinning armor in this moment because that would be nice. Panther was battered from the attack from Phoenix and she wasn't really thinking rationally but then again did she ever?

"Are the others ok Heartbreak?" Panther asked and rubbed the side of her face with a her leather glove and was about to take her hand to get up. But something seemed more off about "Heartbreak" because she would never say just that. Panther believed that Heartbreak has never offered to help her up like that. It kind of reminded her when Sadako tried to act and trick her, that made Panther giggle a little bit because Sadako was a really bad actor. But she suspected that Heartbreak was a shadow trying to trick her, not a merc who was trying to capture her.

The blond was frankly tired of being pursued by Meta Mercs and always having to fight her way out of certain death, only difference now was she had no one with her. She had no idea how far the others were away from her and if they would know if she was kidnapped. No, she couldn't abandon her team like that and needed to get back to them. Panther was the pop icon of the team she couldn't leave them without her signature ditsy attitude.

Panther decided to play along and took "Heartbreak's" hand to pull herself up to her feet. She smiled at the knight and placed her fingers on her whip in case the shadow tried to attack her. "I know you're not Heartbreak...she is in a different area," Panther said and looked at the shapeshifter and crossed her arms, "Also, she would never help me up like you just did." Panther's smile didn't falter as she thought that Syren was a weak shadow trying to trick her and bring her to Koga or something.

Maeve Valor

 

[Anthem]

Lady Panther's performance was simply a delight to see, how she was turning the inhabitants of the palace hostile to cause a ruckus and throw their foes off of their rockers with ease, Mona had to smack his own face a bit as he felt himself drooling a bit at the sight. Now wasn't the time to be falling in love all over again for his ally! A plan was formulated to grasp at success with the tightest grasp the rag-tag team could manage to scrounge together despite Swan and Tragedy's injured states. Seeing the laser weapons of Crow did make the feline jump back a bit with shock, how could a no body like him such an arsenal when a master thief like him only had his scimitar and a gosh dang slingshot?! Though the gold firearm changed the anger into greed, as the Garu-user fantasized how much tuna that much gold could buy him.

"Wuh- PANTHER!" Mona's voice quickly called out as his trance was once again shattered by the uncivilized violence that the merc's were oh so capable of committing. Seeing the other avian, Phoenix, brutally strike his fellow Agi-user off of her stage pissed off the thief as his eyes trained on the Merc duo as the airborne one landed. Zorro was summoned to Mona's side as his glare deepened. When Swan called out for his vehicular form, the feline shook his head as he sent forth his Persona first to build off of the opening Swan had given him via Maeigon. "Come forth Zorro! Magarula!" Spinning his rapier, Zorro engulfed both Phoenix and Crow in a spiral of slicing winds. The persona in a black mask continued his assault as he discarded his signature weapon, rearing his fist back for a physical attack. The feline's eyes sparked as a critical cast was performed as he yelled out the next spell. "Miracle... PUNCH!"

Zorro slammed his mighty fist into Crow's face as Phoenix had done to Panther, launching Crow back a distance. But the combo wasn't finished quite yet as Mona grabbed onto Swan before transforming into his bus form. The Eiha-user would be behind the wheel as the Mona-Mobile revved it's engine loud before speeding right towards Crow. "Unlucky for you, I've been craving some Chicken Pate!" Yelling out as he struck Crow directly, despite being in his vehicle form the smirk could be heard in his voice as the distraction team's plan was swinging into fruition.

 

[Azurian Dream]

~Boons & Banes~

TreasureSniper

"Indeed so. I am just here to pay for the disturbance, and collect the pieces of broken dreams," Coppervolt spoke before tossing Baron a boon of payment for the hindrance to the man's time. A golden pickaxe with black sandalwood-like handling interlaced with two golden snakes with white gold finishing, and a very notable diamond between the blades. At first, the weapon in question seemed more ornate than combative, but upon further inspection of the diamond, it was revealed to be nearly flawlessly similar to a treasure demon. "The Kaiser of Mementos" would no doubt realize this was a transmuted weapon of a Treasure Demon an Orichalcum one at that. Such an item was indeed a treasure well sniped from the regal dredges of the metaverse users. This Coppervolt came to do as he spoke: paying the debt owed by others for the uncivilized welcome received.

​

"And consider this a forward payment for being unable to prevent such actions from happening," Coppervolt spoke laying down a rather long gun case with Astral projective-like chains. A surprise box or in this case a surprise gun box they were just as significantly rare a treasure chest that upon opening would scale a few levels above the one to open it. Unfortunately as rare as they were their value of worth to combatants was cut off at level 70 as such anyone above said level would find items no longer of worth to their needs. To a certain LMG girl user though this would no doubt be a boon to raise usefulness. Resting the case at Baron's feet Coppervolt would give a soft bow to the legend before walking past him to collect SeigeBurner. As such upon the finish line of the situation, a soft rumble signaled the debris of the Meta Market starting to collect itself as the Metaverse started to repair the damage done.

​

As the wide-birthed elevator doors re-opened a singular old-school ringing of a landline phone could be heard echoing from inside the square setting of the mechanism. It just kept ringing no one nearby nor around to answer its perplexing oddity of call.
.........................................................................................................................

~The Beginning of Threads~

Anthem

As the Gate group made its move Oracle caught a glimpse of Tragedy's lock-on to Crow a very notable dislike hoping that wouldn't trigger the boy from the mention near the break of psyche. Thankfully a non-spoken expectation was shown to Tragedy's character turning away showing he trusted his comrade's ability to assess and handle the situation. Prophet's gaze would take over as the brutish boy sped up in determination heading to the front of the group.

What followed was an impressive display that thankfully gave the small group some ease as Tragedy marksmanly perfected a duo of shots taking out two of the shadows instantly. Though Cryptic, and Prophet noted some concern as the fleeing shadow to the display was met with a bit more aggression than needed as he lunged at it like a hyena. The death-by-choking method immediately raised the bar of concern right back up. Oddly enough, however, the display won some violent points with Oracle.

"Not bad what do you know his bite may be worse than his bark. Get em Tragedy," Oracle hollered in approval of the violence. As such upon Tragedy stealing some new digs in the form of a highwayman jacket as the group caught back up Oracle gave him a big thumbs up of approval before adding. "Fits you nicely brusier though next time you should choke slam and then rip their head off you know stun them to avoid the annoyances of frail struggles," Oracle spoke with probably the most equally disturbing smile of awe to violence one could share having seen themselves in the passions of youth.

"...," Cryptic turned to Prophet with a look of baffled concern questioning without words if having these two together was not the equivalent of a match next to a stick of dynamite.

"Let's be honest our generation is just... really desensitized to violence. Her generation just happens to be more infatuated by it... honestly best to not question it," Prophet whispered now starting to question his sanity putting these two together in the same group especially the more he realized just how unhinged battle strat Tragedy was.

"Bizarre... I feel we're nearing an abnormality of spanning birth," Cryptic spoke a bit confused as Tragedy neared the gate.

"What do you mean," Prophet quizzically asked.

"Wasn't the gate near the theater which in turn near the end of downhill to which was near the curve end of the road perpetuating an actual you know curve to flat land though I guess what I am trying to say is haven't we arrived alarmingly fast," Cryptic spoke.

"You put much love into your run-on sentences... ORACLE SCAN," The Prophet had to take a double take on all the vocabulary being thrown out before the concept of the question meant to be asked clicked. Upon hearing her brother's words Oracle jumped her mask burning as the Necronomicon appeared high up in the sky, and her visor lit up scanning the area ahead.

"Oh? OH WOW, THAT'S A LOT OF FAKE," Oracle pulled out her sticky grenade launcher and immediately launched four blotches landing perfectly in all corners of the gate. With the pull of the second trigger of her gun the four blotches detonated shattering the visage of the gate into a flurry of startled spook, and in the case of four particular unlucky souls a flock of Mothman scattering revealing the gate to be a collected trick of them coming together with wing patterns creating a perfect optical illusion as they frantically fled in fear Tragedy who was the most up close would notice strange webbing stuck to certain members, and the walling they had been trapped to... perfectly white... hair like silk... webbing. The four unfortunate Mothmans who had been blasted attempted to take off but rather impressively dropped back down dispersing into the mist.

The trap was quite the illusionary practical effect of a trick and a heavy reminder of the potency of trickery the Palace was capable of revealing that the gate was still rather far away from their grip the journey at best only a fourth finished. Yet from the Prophet's understanding the Pirate Queen wanted them to find the answer so why then... set up a blockade? It just didn't make sense?!!

"SUKUKAJA."

"RASPUTIN."

"Woooooo how is that for firePOWER," Oracle screamed in victory looking to Tragedy for equal recognition until a single gunshot could be heard going straight for Oracle's head. With burning blue embers across his face Cryptic burst forward catching right up to Oracle as he pulled out his prism-colored ninja blade Tanto he had picked up from Iwai's shop. With a propellant spin of the blade, Cryptic spun to the right, and with resounding precision caught the 9mm bullet with his blade. Sparks firecrackers off the multi-colored blade as the oddity of the Phantom Thieves deflected the shot.

"^&%^$%*," Oracle screamed out profanities at the unexpected display of aggression as the force caused Cryptic back slamming him into the gremlin girl sending both of them spiraling down the hillside past Tragedy who would be witness to the source of the attack.

With a hostile leap, Rasputin jumped onto the roofs of the wooden buildings on the party's right side saber fast approaching and blocked by Jorogumo, Archanee's persona. The two large entities jumped off the roof with Rasputin chasing after Jorogumo. Prophet himself had taken to the roofing behind the building where the two entities clashed quickly coming into contact as the red/white meta Merc leaped from the spacing between two of the buildings to greet him.

"Well hello their boys awfully strange place for a midnight stroll don't you think," Arachnee laughed with a creepy smile before jumping away as Prophet made a straight aggressive beeline for her his hand outstretched trying to catch her as her numerous mechanical legs breaking off reforming her scythe midair.

"You're rather protective of that particular runt ain'tcha," Arachnee gleefully taunted as she swung her Scythe in aerial combat as metal met metal with Prophet pulling out his firearm and blocking the scythe's blade with the tri-barrel gold shotgun. The two started to fall onto the next roof mimicking their persona's as Prophet gave chase to Arachnee.

"Stay on them Tragedy. I am putting my trust in you both," Prophet called out placing what he didn't have choice to his sister in Tragedy's unstable hands, and Cryptic's ability to hopefully keep them from breaking. As such, Tragedy would see Jorogomu jumping off into the street now giving chase to the spiraling out-of-control duo that was Oracle, and Cryptic.

At first, it would seem like Jorogumo would snatch them right off the street before Rasputin came jumping after landing onto the massive female spider causing it to spiral uncontrollably to the left ramming through, and destroying numerous buildings on the sides of the road as the mad monk persona fought to keep the Spider demon away from Tragedy's allies.
.........................................................................................................................

~Birds of Prey~

Nellancholy Maeve Valor TreasureSniper

A firestorm of aerial bombardment twisted and burned the center square of the town. Flames consumed shadows, and buildings alike in an intense attack comparable to a napalm strike. Crow watched as the flames from Panther extinguished as Phoenix went against a perfect sequence of orders laid to claim the first strike hitting the Phantom Thief off the building. So far off in the distance making Syren's job much harder than simply catching, and reeling ploy that had been perfectly laid out for them.

It seemed to lay out strong precision orders had confused Phoenix to think the task of dealing with that red-leathered cat announced annoyance a threat. Lesser beings like these Phantom Thieves were at best a trifle to Crow near elite rank. Yet some would chomp at the bit to claim others' prominent promotions if Phoenix was aiming to impress he had chosen the wrong to be Elite to latch onto.

What followed was an equal mental twitch as Syren made it abundantly clear how bad the gap made into the simple solution had stretched, and was now into her plowed field vision of libidinous altering the likelihood of her efficiency of the matter draining. Her lecherous nature would cause her to go into a playful bout to which had it not been for her success rate and capability Crow might have just throttled the bird now perching in front of him.

"I see. I should have heeded Abyss's warning more than give you credit to follow commands," Crow venomously hissed in annoyance as even with the surprise attack from Panther that would have originally given Swan, and Heartbreak the opening first strike laid more than naught ashed. Abyss had warned Crow when placing him in charge about the firecracker that the firebird tendencies had been known for. It was lauded as a high high-powered spirit, but Abyss had warned Crow to keep Phoenix on a tight command or else the potential for intense damage of the palace was highly likely. With a very dark stare at his ally, the noble-garbed man turned away from his fellow avian as shadows were sent spiraling about in a hailstorm of attacks set off by Heartbreak. Well seemed this was in turn a saving grace. All had heard about the Frostbite scenario in the tunnels of Mementos, and none were stung more than Phoenix during such to which the main contributor laid before them.

"Well, it looks like you'll have a chance to redeem your fiery drive in more ways than one," this was a good turnaround. A target of malice Phoenix would be easier to work with if he had something to concentrate on. The overwhelming damage to a chunk of a palace would be passible if they could snatch, or bury more than one of these fools. Phoenix was after all a high-damage output chess piece like a knight as such Crow would overlook foolish opinions of choice for slaughtering results. The world had no use for the filth that desecrated higher-born men like these thieves.

"That you are," Crow wickedly called out to the scrap knight he didn't stay on her long surely no fool would step to two of them like this so openly. These Phantom Thieves were ants scurrying about taking whatever they could a mockery of the caste system in place. As such the very putrid sight of Heartbreak alone boiled his hatred of them. They were a disease tainting an idol of perfection before the Elite stature lost currently. A god that all wanted to return to bathe them in justice's light.

Before much else could be considered a flawlessly easy win one such other bug popped in par the course boosting herself, and her ally with power. It was the one that showed herself the last time Swan made Crow's grip on his gun so tight Phoenix only could hear the tension of metal cracking. This was the one he had fixated on his studies when being revealed the Phantom Thieves were a product of the holy omnipotent Baron... a disgusted after product shamefully flawing Baron's perfect accord of standard. The standard all were to hold themselves to. Crow's eyes fluctuated as his rage almost brimmed until he chuckled with malice as Swan launched her maligned attack.

"The very fact he consorts with such succubis like yourself's sickens me, but no matter poisoned trees can be cleaned of violations once the decay has been trimmed," he spoke insulting the girls as the trashy harlots he saw them as. Putrefying a pure light like moths to the flames blocking it, siphoning off all for themselves. Swan's attacks landed as Crow made no effort to dodge standing in place as his physical being twitched and turned from taking the damage all the same as wispy contorts of shadows tried to devour him. His eyes never faltered their lock on Swan as he was harmed by the attack as it was indeed his weakness, but even amongst the state of a weakening down blow, he stood. It was only when she aimed her magnum that he finally decided to treat her to a true showcase of power as he held up his pistol firing an equal amount of shots each laser devouring her bullets like they were scraps lobed rather than dangerous bullet fire. Yet the words that followed confused him as he was still locked in place by the elemental advantage... what the hell was she spouting about a bus?

Both bird-masked Meta Mers were consumed in a mass vacuum of bladed Garula tornados trying to keep them pinned down to the spot. To follow in pursuit a literal cat-like entity came racing out into the open behind a massive black-suited persona. A massive black gloved fist found its target easily decking into Crow's red mask. Zorro's Miracle Punch had made its mark triggering its critical detonation as Crow was sent skidding back from the place he was temped down by Swan. Blistering sparks and gravel were flung across the path that Crow's feet traveled backward.

As the oddity of it all sunk in Crow started laughing calmly over it all as he swung his beam saber down digging into the ground as an anchor an aura enveloped Crow triggering his Attack Master auto skill into the fight. A heavy boost of strength now emanated from the noble as Mona continued his pursuit leaping into a chasing vehicle with its new driver Swan in tow.

"Such befouling tricks, I am starting to see why Barons put up with you up till now even trash can get results if well equipped. However," as the Monamobile struck Crow, Swans view would be overwhelmed with welding sparks igniting like a damn full frontal assault of fireworks. Crow's blade was now colliding against the front bumper as the meta merc's feet drastically spread out its destructive footing. At the moment that one would expect utter release of the flood gates of rage Crow was now instead seemingly calm, and collected as if his eyes had been open to a thought.

"I think you're going to realize you don't belong in his perfectly envisioned world. Robin Hood unleash MEGIDOLA," an angelic figure in pure white, red, and gold appeared from behind the Meta Merc's flying in speed alongside its master as with a brilliantly beautiful bow show charged up the almighty energy that was then unleashed as a scatter shot underneath the Monamobile up into the amass energy finally exploded sending the cat mobile spiralling into the air with Swan still trapped inside. Robin shot up into the air before with a single fist pummeled into the Phantom Car sending it hurdling back right into Phoenix's range.
...................................................................................................................................................................

 

[Anthem]

The illusion of the gate was clever to say the least, to use the natural camouflaging of the moth wings that the beastly Mothmen inherited from their namesake. Though Tragedy was quick to notice the other insectoid variable in the equation, a spider’s silk that he had grown all too familiar with since one of their last incursions into the Palace of Envy. “Damned Arachnid.” The bruiser mumbled as he tried to use the thieves innate Third Eye ability to spot the merc before her entrance could be made, however he was just a tad late to the punch. Impressed but also grateful were the feelings Tragedy felt as Cryptic saved Oracle from almost literally biting the bullet.

It seemed their plan wasn’t as set as they had hoped to be, as the advantage of surprise was currently in the hands of the Arachnid-Merc. Tragedy stood at attention as his eyes bounced from one scene to another, whether it be the oddity and navigator barreling down the terrain, the mad monk and spider woman clashing, or the Psio and Garu users engaging in aerial combat. His mind spun as he tried to find the best course of action until a voice had called out to him, Prophet’s, entrusting him to protect Oracle and assist Cryptic through and through.

“It’s settled then… Ready…!” A wide grin stretched across the Fool’s face as he lowered into a position, similar to that of a sprinter in a track and field competition. “GO!” The ground around Tragedy cracked and splintered from the sheer force he outputted when launching into action. First, the bruiser would launch out his grapple to catch Oracle but instead of slowing her down he would throw her high into the air. “CATCH HER! NECRONOMICON!” Next he would grab onto Cryptic’s hand, digging his feet into the ground to slow himself and the Bufu-user.

“Freeze the ground on my mark!” His strategic mind in overdrive, Tragedy ensured that Cryptic could at least stand before rushing off once more to assist the mad monk against the mythological woman. Taking a deep breath the reckless thief would take a chance by yelling out to Rasputin, despite the mad monk not being his Persona. “Grant me but one blessing, Rasputin! MAPSIO!” The Fool’s voice echoed for a moment until the monk jumped back and pointed his cane at the ground surrounding Jorogumo.

“I will grant you this once, ruffian.” It took a moment for the monk to connect with his user to envelop the mental energy needed to cast the spell, the ground rumbled around Jorogumo before erupting with psychic energy to launch the spider. This gave Tragedy enough time to infuse one of his revolvers with a Blowtorch. “AGI!” Chanting the basic fire spell, the brute would unload the remaining five bullets in the one revolver into the sky-high Jorogumo before jumping back beside Cryptic. “Let me see a winter wonderland!” Tragedy called out to his partner-in-crime with a wide grin still painted across his face.

To damage Jorogumo would not only protect their precious navigator, but assist Prophet in his brawl against the creepy-crawly merc. But in turn that meant Rasputin couldn’t withstand much damage, as to ensure Prophet didn’t slip up either. Tragedy counted for both happenings within his mind, trying to twist this assault back in their favor.

---

A wicked purr came from the Monamobile’s engine as he struck into Crow dead-on, though that purr full-tilted into the engine revving with all the might the feline could output against Crow’s beam sword. The lazer burned into his front bumper but Mona refused to back down since his metal hide was what was protecting Swan from Crow’s homicidal intent. They were stained upon Baron’s glorious intent for the world? What the hell was this bastard droning on about, and why the hell was he gawking over their investor so much?! These questions floated in the Garu-user’s mind but didn’t distract him to lower his guard.

“Megidola?… Shi-” Not realizing what Crow had summoned Robin Hood for, Mona could be heard grunting in anguish as he was sent into the air, being punted away by the King of Thieves’ mighty fist. His vehicular form waivered temporarily before Zorro’s disembodied hand planted against the bus’ side. “Diarama…” With a pulse of healing energy, the dents in Mona’s armor were reversed slightly before he finally shifted back into his thief form. “I hope you’re uninjured Lady Swan!” Being the “gentleman” he is, Mona checked on his avian ally before refocusing on the bastardly foe that stood before them.

“It sounds like you’re just mad that Baron has recognized our ability while he doesn’t even acknowledge your existence! You overdressed freak!” Pulling out his trusty slingshot, Mona would pull it back and summon Zorro once again. “Zorro! Pulpina!” Summoning a shining light from his saber, the feline and black-masked Persona attempted to confuse Crow while also pelting him with numerous shots from his sling… which may or may not have been aimed at the merc’s head-

 

[TreasureSniper]

The turn of events was quite pleasant for once, as not only had the remaining freelancers decided to vacate the area, but they had also been kind enough to provide compensation for his time. "Consider your debt paid. That said, for the sake of your comrades, I hope we don't cross paths again, or at least do so on friendlier terms." Catching the pickaxe weapon in his hand, he spun the newly acquired tool a few times around his fingers before slamming the weapon into the ground, splitting the ground beneath him, and creating a shallow fissure almost across the arena floor. Pulling the pickaxe off the ground, he was surprised to see that it was still in one piece. While he did recognize the quality of the weapon, it is rare for him to find a weapon that can withstand his level of strength without splitting apart.

"One of them can have this one.." Attaching the pickaxe to his belt, he made his way to the container and opened it to inspect his content revealing a powerful LMG with a micro rocket pod attachment. It even had a proper elemental conductor on the touch points, allowing it's user to efficiently channel their elemental affinity into the weapon."Where was this when I was looking for loot!?" Baron thought to himself as he ran his fingers across the fine weapon. Just like before, he could see that the quality of such a weapon was exceptional, likely a high-level weapon modified by a talented craftsman of Gecko's level. Its on the heavier side, but its intended recipient should be able to get used to the weight of the weapon in no time. Shutting the weapon case with a smile, Baron made calmly walked towards the exit of the arena with loot in hand, seemingly excited to hand them over to their new owners.



All things considered, he was in rather good mood despite what had just transpired, up until he started hearing a familiar voice in his head. "You think it's wise to spare so many of your enemies? What is the guarantee that they won't come for you again? Or even your precious phantom thieves." Aion voice boomed insides Baron's head, as continued walking forward, unshaken by the persona's concern. "There isn't, but with each enemy I spare, more will know about my chronicles. As for the thieves, if they cannot handle threats on their own without my intervention, then perhaps they were not that "precious" to begin with." And that is precisely why he will continue, protecting and nurturing them. They all had their part to play, he is no exception.

Upon approaching the elevator, he could hear the ringing of a phone. Mysterious. Seeing that there was no one else to answer it, he might as well do so. Without hesitation he picked up the phone and silently listened who exactly was on the other end.

---

In truth, aside from the higher ranks of the metamercs, Phoenix only respected Fixer from a personal level, the rest of them, especially Frostbite and Crow, were just elite wannabees in his eyes. Frostbite, despite all his strength and power, was much too headstrong at times. Crow on the other hand, well sometimes he was just rigid with his planning, unable to adapt, always doing things his or the highway. Regardless, for now at least, he will play "nice" but he would like to have a word Maestro later on, ensuring that he won't have to work with the other avian metamerc again. At least not for awhile.

Seeing panther get back up without much difficulty was rather shocking to say the least. Their typing in this situation was irrelevant as his physical damage was nothing to be scoffed at despite being more of a caster. He could see now that he had held back a bit too much, he was afraid of punching her head clean off given the disparity in their stats. But now he had another opponent to worry about, the one that had managed to best him in the subway. "We meet again, valkyrie. " Phoenix spoke as his persona shielded him from the effects of ice grenade with one of it's wings. Under normal circumstances, this would hurt him a lot more, but thanks to Maestro's blessing, he was able to suppress his vulnerability for a limited time. Even so, the wing used to block the strike would immediately freeze solid, indicating that it was amplified by the weapon itself. The frozen wing would break off from Suzaku's body and shatter, only for him to regenerate a new wing with clear discomfort from Phoenix.

"And you as well, dark swan." He was impressed the girl was still here after all this time. He was confident in thinking that one of the mercs would have banished her by now. And yet here she stands against him, with a weapon powerful enough to wound him no less. Upon seeing the wave of dark energy headed for him, he would instinctively fly upwards to dodge the wave of darkness headed towards him. A small part of his leg was caught by the wave of darkness, staining his armor with dark red energy. "It hurt, it actually hurt." Even as he passive ability restored his damaged leg, he was momentarily left speechless. It wasn't so long ago, that this girl was squashed firmly beneath his talons, and yet here she is causing noticeable damage from a stray attack. How could someone like her gain so much power at such a short amount of time?

Seeing that Crow is content with occupying her, he instead turns his attention to Valkyrie, deciding to deal with these enemies one at a time. "Masukukaja." After casting swiftness-enhancing buff on himself and Crow, Phoenix rocketed towards his Heartbreak with a shield on hand, slamming it against hers with great force. The heat emanating from him was intense, the shockwave alone from both of them colliding caused sparks and flames to envelop the surrounding environment. Once close enough he would a blaze of white fire, that did negligible damage but was quite blinding, almost if anyone close to him had just stared into the sun. "Solar Flare!" While blinded, Heartbreak would see from above countless plumes of fire rain down on her from Phoenix, who at this point was so high up in the sky he was a dot. While the fire plumes were not accurate, the sheer amount of them being released was staggering and saturated a good area of their fighting zone. After the release of the smaller plumes, the phoenix would begin his descent, becoming faster and faster until he looked like a veritable red meteor. "Crow, stand clear of the impact zone." If he was caught within the impact zone, it was his damn fault.

As he impacted the ground with great force, a large wave of fire would engulf the entire area comparable to that of a massive artillery strike. The wave of heat was so potent that even metal structures around them would begin to glow red hot and melt. Those who were lucky enough to survive would find phoenix at the epicenter on his knees, clearly recovering from delivering such a potent attack. His ability was a blessing and curse. While he was able to heal himself rapidly, he tended to exert himself to a great extent to deal extra damage, resulting in a lot of self inflicted injuries.

 

[Nellancholy]

It was just as well that the fleabag wasn't caught entirely off balance by the counterattack, being able to resume his usual form and keep up the offense on Crow.

So Heartbreak was free to focus on-

-the streak of red flame striking at her with lightning speed.

Did her provocation work so well on him? Or had he identified Thrud's weakness and intend to strike at it with full force like the underhanded knave he was? Probably both.

Rather than setting her lance, she held it across her body, exposing her to more of the flames but preventing the weight of his blow from hitting dead on. She planted her legs. Another combatant struck by such a move would be dragged flying with him, but she would not permit it from him.

She did not fly as far as he might expect, but his next move ignored that advantage. Again her helmet and Thrud's mitigated the effect of the flash, but they were a split second too slow to prevent him from flying into the air.

As he unleashed a hail of feathers, Heartbreak stepped onto Thrud's back. Thrud's wings snapped, sending her flying into the air. In most cases, a Persona would shield their user, or they would find some way to avoid harm together.

Against this particular foe, the roles reversed, and Shiro risked her mortal body to protect her spirit.

She crushed a Frost Magatama, letting the chilling power flow into her gun. She aimed upwards...and clamped down the trigger. The wide spread of her weapon worked in her favor, each icy bullet likely missing the central target, but instead striking a feather and causing both to vanish in a burst of steam.

As Phoenix dove down to deliver the third blow of his little combo, Thrud ignited her jets, performing a short leap over the impending shockwave.

The burst of flames did not hit Thrud or her user full on thanks to the evasive maneuver, but red-hot patches like burn scars remained on her armor, severe wounds that would not easily heal.

As they fell, Heartbreak realized he was vulnerable. She could run him through with her lance, likely banish him once and for all.

She didn't.

"Uraaaaaaaah!"

With a furious cry, Thrud spun in the air, letting Heartbreak break her own fall with a roll.

Thrud let her momentum follow through, swinging both metal fists to deliver an axe handle blow that could send Phoenix flying straight into the remains of a few roadside stalls.

Thrud and Heartbreak stood up, taking a moment to gather themselves. It would take someone else following up to neutralize Phoenix right this instant.

TreasureSniper Maeve Valor That Weird girl