Fandom Persona 5: The Meta War CLOSED

[Nellancholy]

All in all, Agata's attempt to...persuade them into doing something they were already going to do seemed quite toothless, missing the most damning pieces of evidence. Like if they were witnessed entering the Metaverse, or physical evidence tying them to each victim just before they "reformed". But that didn't mean he could be taken lightly. After all, the worst damage in this world was done by people who were cunning and ruthless, whether or not they had some special power to wield...

So, Kamoshida. The kind of person she thought would be beneath her notice. And he was. The law always took joy in treating so-called degenerates and perverts harshly for the sake of "public morals" and "family values". But only if they even bothered to arrest and prosecute them in the first place. A man who had a decent social image, trained professional athletes, and had a reputation as a disciplinarian towards students? No chance.

And he was the kind of person to exploit minors, at that. A few of the girls who had joined up with Shiro in the past had stories like that. And if he really was going to get away.

"...I shall take my leave, Agata-san." Shiro got up. "Perhaps the Phantom Thieves have ears even here." He was insistent on his position, but she wasn't going to concede so easily. "If they see fit, I am sure they will move on this pervert. And since you see them as such an asset...feel free to give them what protection you can. But even so, they will survive with or without your intervention." That was her acceptance of whatever he could conceivably do for them. She didn't like owing much to the Baron either, but at least HE had proven his abilities.

Leaving the room, she joined up with Ann and Morgana shortly, out of Agata's hearing.

"In such a hurry, cat? Perhaps we shall strike at Kamoshida this very day?"

That Weird girl

 

[TreasureSniper]

Hearing Isao concerns about his curiousity towards the modus operandi, Sougo would clarify that he had no such interest. "Not in particular. In fact, the less I know the better." He replied, seemingly disinterested in the topic. He was glad that Isao seemed to agree with him that scum like him need to be removed from society, however, he was caught by surprise at his request for candles. "Hm...very well, if these.."candles" are necessary for your operations, I see no reason to deny them." Tearing a page from his notepad and sliding it to Isao. "Give me your bank details and the amount you want, and I'll have it transferred by the end of the day."

As for Ann, she seemed to flatly agree with his reasoning without much resistance. This could prove troublesome in the future, so hopefully, her spirit of rebellion would grow stronger over time. Masami, being the smarter one, ended her statement with a neutral stance, saying they would continue to target Kamoshida not because he told them to, but because it was their duty. He glad that she took such a stance, it was important the thieves would have autonomy. (or at least some semblance of it). Sougo couldn't help but smile, hearing Shiro continuing to indirectly deny her involvement despite him knowing otherwise. He had to admit, she was pretty convincing at some points. But even so, she eventually implied that the Phantom thieves would carry out their operations. "Oh..and one more thing..this Baron fellow, tell them that I very much would like to meet him. Please, send him my regards." Sougo said the thieves as each of the exited the office.

As the thieves left, the young man couldn't help but slide back on his chair, resting his chin on his hand, and smiled silently to himself.

"I look forward to seeing your growth...my dear tricksters.."

---

As the phantom thieves entered the region of the palace, the place had look drastically different from Baron's initial scans. Instead of looking like a usual medieval castle, it resembled a ruined castle that had been modified into a launch site for a spacecraft. The knights looked like something that came out straight from a sci-fi-movie, marching around the ramparts.

​

Aside from the combatants, there were also metaverse constructs that resembled the students of Shujin. They are being used as slaves of some sort, lifting endless amounts of cargo into the spaceship. There were also speakers throughout the compound, constantly prattling about how the great Lord Kamoshida has elevated the status of the school and will soon transcend into the higher echelons of society.

​

However, despite how different it looked, the overall structure of the palace remained the same. This meant that the overall information provided by Baron, be it floor maps and guard walk routines was still very much usable. So far, no MetaMerc was visible from outside the palace walls, but according to his information, there is a high probability that a group of them would be present.

To scale the walls, Baron had provided each of the Phantom thieves a grappling hook mechanism that can be shot out from their wrists. It was easy enough to use but would likely take more training to fully master. Aside from that, he also provided some assortment of grenade types which included a flash grenade, sleeping gas grenade, and chill grenade. Each Phantom thief would be given one of each type of grenade to aid them with their mission.

As always, Baron remained in the background. Armed with his trusty sniper rifle, he informed them that he would give them covering fire from afar when necessary. While the palace itself had grown stronger overall, the Phantom thieves' threat levels were still slightly higher, with should allow them to easily overpower most of the shadows present.

"Good luck, Tricksters, Mission Start."

Nellancholy Maeve Valor That Weird girl Anthem accursedjobber

 

[Nellancholy]

If she was a little more boorish, Shiro might have mocked the Baron's voice as he spoke. As it were, she held her tongue and proceeded deeper into the fortress. Had the power of Kamoshida's swollen ego really changed his Palace so radically? Well, at least it was something new. A worshipful army of sycophants, and (as had now become familiar) a horde of Shadows, stuffed into human guise to reflect the vanity and power of the palace's master.

Time to get started. Time to throw herself into battle again and leave her worries...her commitments behind.

A pair of Shadows patrolled a corridor within what seemed like a loading bay, where all of Kamoshida's imaginary "wealth" was being hauled in from god knows where and "loaded" into his spaceship.

A slight scraping noise from the ceiling overhead, and-

CRASH.

Shiro's lance fell like lightning as she crashed down with all her weight on one of them, running it through.

"BZZ-BZZ?! INTRUDER ALERT! SOUND THE ALARM-" As the other ran for the alarm panel, Shiro ripped her lance out of the first, hurling it fiercely and pinning the fleeing Shadow to the wall with a CLANG.

As both of them dissipated into dark particles, Shiro nonchalantly walked over to the wall and pulled her weapon out. Her weapons...even her Persona, were loud and unwieldy, like her. If they were drawn into an open fight, it wouldn't be long before the whole fortress was on high alert.

"Swan." She turned to Masami. "Care to lead our steps?"

Maeve Valor

 

[Anthem]

"Mission Start- Ugh." Imato would mock Baron's little line before looking at the palace in front of the thieves, he would size up the palace and shook his head, not believing that a jackass like Kamoshida deserved such a thing even though it was his ego fueling it's existence. Looking at the guards that were stationed on the ramparts above them, the boy would smirk before watching the infiltration team move in, leaving the distraction team to do their job and do it well hopefully.

Once it was time for the distractions to begin, Imato didn't bother to communicate with the others as he grappled up to the ramparts. "That's... THAT'S AN INTRUDER! KILL HIM FOR THE KING!" The shadows would rush towards the boy as he simply smirked, revealing his new melee weapon, the chain cane. The shadows would attack without a worry, thinking that he would be harmless with such a weapon. "Poor fools, time for you to meet a tragic fate." Imato said before a crazed grin was painted on his face as he blocked many of the attacks from the two shadows before impaling one through the chest and shooting the head of it, killing that shadow.

"Y-You! I'll kill you!" The remaining shadow said before being stunned as something wrapped around it's neck. Imato was able to wrap his grappling hook around the shadow's neck before jumping off the side of the ramparts. Smiling wide as the grappling hook returned to his wrist, Imato used his cane to slow down by stabbing it into the wall of the ramparts. Screaming until it splattered on the ground, dead, the shadow didn't survive the fall while Imato gracefully landed.

"And with this, it's showtime." Imato said as he ripped off his mask and Loki revealed themselves, immediately casting a spell that spread along the rampart wall with a sparkling blue light. As Loki finished, they started to laugh as the boy raised his hand in the air and snapped.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

The wall would exploded with the majestic blue color that represented the Nuclear element as Loki eventually faded away and Imato's mask returned to his face. "Jackpot..." Was all Imato said before turning and waiting for what would come next.

 

[accursedjobber]

"Jeez you guys calm down a bit" It seems that the giddiness of another heist seemed to have overtaken the rest of the thieves, sure they were taking down a personal scumbag that needed to be cleansed from their school but still some precaution would be nice, watching Tragedy rush ahead seemingly not taking in how that worked out last time breathing a sigh as he snapped his fingers and pointed his persona to follow that fool up deciding to follow the buddy system "Follow that guy, Count."

Feeling the cold embrace of his persona's hand grasp his own and lift him up the side of the cleared battlement floating upwards recalling that his hunch about Sougo was wrong with the transfer of money into his account deciding to accept the bribe evidence that there was probably nothing else to it, best to focus on storming the castle otherwise and note how the manifestation distorts the world around them already changing from his place of landing-

Tripping under the swing of a shadow from his persona grabbing and pulling his leg in an unprompted dodge, "yes, yes I know stay on track and focus, anyway perish" Isao in mimicry of a finger gun firing, the grasp of the gloved hand rushed to fully encapsulate the head of the late shadow before freezing around it dealing with that issue evidently Baron's warning of the shadows being weaker erring on the side of truth with the added equipment to save for later, as Isao walked on to attempt to catch up with the loose non complier of the buddy system, a sacred practice thrown to the side.

Following the sounds of abundant laughter and explosions that aren't the usual signs of a well-adjusted persona catching up to Tragedy's rampage through the ramparts "Hey don't go running off like that, it's dangerous and a clear violation of the partner system"

 

[Maeve Valor]

"Right," she said with a nod in affirmation. She first assessed the situation by looking up at her surroundings from the first layer of the fortress where they resided. Shiro operated in a very different way than she would like, so she would need to compromise with how she dealt with things and use her brute force to their advantage even though they were supposed to infiltrate the palace with as little delays as possible. Since it was just going to be the two of the infiltrating this time, it was imperative to put more thought in how they proceed. Protruding out of one portion of the large structure, there was a tower that near the roof of it looked to have large basketball net coming out of each side. Visibly stationed there was a guard with what looked to be a spotlight emitting a red aura if one of the metaverse users were to use their special eyesight ability. Along the same floor layer along the boundary was another watchful guard with a red aura stationed at a turret that looked similar to a baseball pitching machine, ready for any intruders. Since Shiro already made quite a ruckus already, she thought it would be best to lower the security level by taking these two out if they were going to proceed scaling the fortress.

"I have an idea, see that tower over there? You should take out that guard there, they look to be the one in charge of alerting everyone else in the area that there are intruders. While you do that I'll take care of the shadow over there at the turret so he doesn't give you any problems with long range attacks. Good luck." With that, Masami used the new grappling gadget given to each of them and aimed up at the wall in order to second to the second floor. She skyrocketed up to the ledge and continued to do so with a few unnecessary flips as she did so until she reached her destination hoisting herself up but still a ways from the shadow, but made herself known to engage in battle by using the grappling gear another time to swing up to the shadow as an ambush to rip its helmet off as she fell past them revealing the enemy to be a Zouchouten she would be facing. "I suppose you'll have to do for a warm-up before facing the big league," she smiled bit before summoning Scheherazade beside her and the armored Shadow slammed his trident down and got ready to attack.

Nellancholy

 

[That Weird girl]

A volleyball looking mech exited the sci-fi castle entrance and locked targets with Imato and Isao. It’s repulsers shot volleyballs at them, the volleyballs would be explosive so it would cause an explosion when hitting something. Although it was pretty slow to reload and that would give the boys time to react to it. Shadow Mishima was piloting the volleyball mech and was trying to make sure the intruders were killed.

“Die!” Mishima yelled at Imato and Isao with a sick little grin on his face. It was really a distorted view of him since Kamoshida saw him as his servant. Much like Kasumi except that he abused Mishima.

Anthem accursedjobber

“I’m going in, Morgana said after seeing the two girls barge into the palace like that. He didn’t approve but he trusted that Shiro knew was she was doing and Swan wasn’t your typical phantom thief. But like before they needed to get the will seeds to weaken Kamoshida although it might not be by much. “Make sure tragedy doesn’t get himself killed,” Mona said to Ann already having distain for the masked man.

Mona then used his grappling hook to reach a window in the palace to get himself in there. Breaking the glass he landed gracefully on his toes. Cats do always land on their feet! The shadows looked at him and raised their laser guns at him, “who are you?” Morgana chuckled and casted Garu on them sending them out into the hall, “I’m the phantom thieves cat.” Morgana had learned his lesson though and didn’t engage with the shadows this time. He was going to meet up with Shiro and Masami.

“Swan? Heartbreak?” Morgana spoke into comms, “I’m coming to help you girls out since the teams were very uneven.” Morgana made his way slipping past cameras and shadows down the halls getting confused on where to go.

Maeve Valor Nellancholy

“Last time I checked he was a way higher level than you,” Ann said as the cat left. She used the grappling hook to get over the wall to Imato and Isao. Ann landed on a shadow killing it with her whip and pulled out her submachine gun to start gunning down the other shadows. Before nothing the volleyball mech and sending an agi towards it.

The volleyball mech turned to Ann and fired volleyballs at her which were explosive. “Shit!” Ann yelped while running to dodge the volleyballs. Who the hell created this thing? Anywho she managed to avoid getting hit enough so the mech had to reload.

“Tragedy, count let’s finish this,” Ann said smirking to the volleyball mech that was reloading.

 

[Nellancholy]

Shiro exhaled, heaving a sigh of relief. Trust Swan to have an eye for opportunity. She wouldn't necessarily have taken the initiative to attack the tower, but it was just as well. She was starting to be more sure of herself, having overcome the regrets she carried in her heart. Shiro didn't have such a luxury yet. All she could do was keep going. Thrud's jets would indeed have been a bit too loud for a covert assault, and it just so happened that Baron had so kindly made grappling hooks available to them. This was meant to be a smash and grab, and even a second longer they could go before raising the alarm would be very useful.

With that, Shiro fired her grappling hook, soaring quietly through the air as Morgana rushed in. She barely had time to acknowledge him as he began causing chaos all his own. Hopefully that animal wouldn't get too far ahead of everyone else...

The momentum of the reeling cable attached to the grappling hook flung Shiro up into the air. If only she was one of those dainty types who'd trained as a gymnast. Alas, she had no such gift, and settled for tucking her knees in as she bowled through the glass of the guard tower, greeting the guard with a fierce flying knee. The guard's helmet splintered satisfyingly, but instead of bowling over under Shiro's weight...it grabbed her like a wrestler, spinning slightly and hurling her into the opposite wall of the cramped room.

"Ergh!" That hit was barely enough to keep Shiro from leaping back to her feet. "Greetings and salutations, peon." She spat. "We are here to subdue your lord and conquer your castle. Surrender at once and we may yet allow you to leave with your life."

"Oh? A bold offer!" The cracked helmet revealed the red, warlike face of the demon known as Bishamonten, bellowing valiantly. "Yet I will not concede and kneel before one who has yet to prove their strength! Strike at me, child of man! Show me!"

"I thought you'd say that." Shiro smiled bitterly under her helmet as she clenched her fist. "Thrud, come forth!" With a shattering of glass and flickering blue fire, the armored figure burst forth once more...flickering with static for a brief moment before throwing a sharp hook with her gauntlet...aiming straight at Bishamonten's jaw.

Thud.

The blow did little more than turn his head a little.

"Is that all?" The demon showed no contempt, only disappointment. "One who as yet lacks strength to move me should not presume to speak to me as a warrior!" Grabbing Thrud's arm, he turned and threw her over his shoulder, about to slam her into the floor-

Clink.

Thrud spread her wings and braced herself, preventing him from completing the throw and supporting herself against the ground. But...she moved no further, holding still like a remote-controlled toy that had moved out of range.

What seemed to be a foolish move on Bishamonten's part, putting himself between two enemies, seemed to have turned in his favor.

"It seems your power falters even at this, the fight of your life!" Bishamonten frowned. "Let me show you the cost of challenging a true warrior!" As he spun, his spear materialised in his hand. With a great sweep of the polearm, a wave of ice blew along the floor, alongside several razor-sharp shards.

"N-no..." Shiro barely had time to gasp before needing to fling herself sideways, falling prone to the floor as her boots slipped on the ice.

"Unfortunate..." Bishamonten shook his head, hefting his spear once more. "I almost feel ashamed to strike down one so burdened. But to challenge our master is to court death!" The sharp, gleaming shaft raised...

Thunk.

...and buried itself in the floor where Shiro was half a second ago. A furious scream rose from Shiro's throat as she rose to her knees, grabbing one of the chairs in the guard post. There was her own strength, always. If she couldn't rely on anything else but that...

In the next second, the chair splintered against Bishamonten's face, sending him spinning. With another swing of her arm, Shiro flung the back of the chair at him and set her lance.

"Good, good!" The demon laughed. "That's more like it! Now try this!" With an approving grin on his face, Bishamonten gripped his spear, lunging at his target.

And Shiro spun, allowing herself to step on the frozen patch on the floor again. Bending her knees, the motion of her first step carried her sideways, out of Bishamonten's line of sight.

Wham.

And she ran him through.

"Agh...?!" The demon's eyes widened. "Not...bad..." Those were his last words before dissipating.

"..."

Shiro remained still for a moment, before the immobile Thrud vanished again.

Her Persona...borne from her own mind, powered by the courage in her heart.

And when her heart was weak, was filled with doubt...then what?

Just for good measure, she raised her lance again, smashing it into the alarm panel before turning and launching the grappling hook through the opening Morgana made. Hopefully, the others wouldn't notice how tired she already was, and how her powers were failing...

Maeve Valor That Weird girl

 

[Azurian Dream]

.................................................Collab With That Weird girl ..........................................

After School before the Kamoshido Palace Assault

The first day hadn't been to bad surprisingly. The foreign sway of his entry had been hilarious teased at by his homestay mother as many people rushed him during the day asking what America was like, and some rather sillier stereotypes. Like did everyone own a gun, was everyone drop dead gorgeous, did Americans have bottomless pits for stomach, and so forth. It was pretty intriguing a reaction, but he had really aimed to ask them about their culture through their eyes, yet it was easily flooded by their own questions. Well minus he did have plans with one girl at a later time to see what fun most people his age had in Japan. At least the scenery was rather enjoyable on his walk to home allowing him much value to the local lives around the trek, and he would have many days to build upon his repertoire of knowledge of Japan later.

So at least he would get his fill of some legit experiences soon enough through his own peers eyes, and he had made two meaningful interactions at the end of the day. Though quite oddly both were rather... unusual in nature as he doubted even in Japan a girl working on a encryption key, and another girl hesitant/squeamish to talk on duality of the mind was normal. Yet everyone had there own battle to face, and it wasn't his business as of yet. However his thoughts were halted as alarming scream jolted him to life as his next door neighbors voices could be heard.

"NO SON," Mr. Beppu's voice shouted out followed by a rather intense crashing sound of broken broken glass causing Dascal to immediately run for their gate door intrusively scaling the locked gate as he jumped over to the other side running straight for their back yard quickly coming to the sight of a elderly man atop a side fallen wheelchair fighting the younger adult wheelchair bound occupant who in the hand the old man was holding onto dear life for had a butter knife. The bigger problem was the younger mans free hand in all the resistance was now darting for the broken glass which the teen rushed toward leaping to slap the glass away cutting his hand a bit as he tumbled a bit away from the other two before barreling back over on all fours to help Mr. Beppu get the knife out of his sons hand. During all the commotion Mrs. Beppu came rushing out grabbing the IV wire connected to the wheel chair, and injecting it with a strong sedative.

"NO!!! NO!!! I HAD THE PROOF... I SWEAR... I HAD THE... PROOF... DAMN... YOU... ISHI..biki...," the younger adult crashed as the elder couple took time to recover from the tense moment. As the dust settled though Dascal helped Mr. Beppu get his son back up with his wheelchair. After a few minutes of cleaning everything up Mr. Beppu final broke the long silence.

"You shouldn't be breaking into other peoples business boy. What would your parents say if they knew you were jumping into peoples homes HMMM? But bless your damn heart for doing so," the old man sighed scolding the youth, but thanking him in earnest as he knew he wouldn't have been able to stop his sons second attempt to self harming himself. As his wife brought out some drinks, and bandages for Dascal's minor scratches it seemed the conversation would swap up.

"Asahi was such a bright boy. I always yelled at him for wanting to be a writer over something more secure like a doctor... but I knew he was talented at it," the elderly man around his 60's confessed both stern in his worry, and prideful in his sons talent. His son was quite frankly a younger spiting image of the old man yet was drained of emotion, and seemed rather deaf to everything going around. Apparently this had been the case for about 10 years now.

"I just didn't want that world to destroy him with how hard it is to make it, and I was right. He, and his friends crashed hard. The therapists still don't know if he will ever mentally recover from... ahhhh," the old man cut himself shaking his head not wanting to finish what had happen. The teen's curiosity however had been piqued. He was, however, not going to pry into heartbroken parents taking care of their mentally damaged adult son. Though clearly there was a bigger picture. After disinfecting, and bandaging up his hand he talked about a few other things with them before heading home.

"Futaba, Ms. Isshiki I am home," he called out walking in as he took off his shoes.

Wakaba was In the kitchen making Scallop potatoes with cheese and ham top for dinner tonight. The woman had a long day of work but she wanted to make sure her adoptive son had a good dinner since she wanted him to have a good experience in Japan and figured he needed comfort food. “Hey Dascal,” She smiled at him, “how was school today? I hope everything went well…dinner will be ready soon.” Wakaba glanced at her phone to check the recipe to make sure she was following it right since she was not all too familiar with it. Dascal was such a nice boy and very charming too, Wakaba wondered why he accepted to stay with them because her and Futuba were both introverts. Wakaba was trying to prove her Metaverse theory and had a feeling that the incident of Kajiki and that cult leader who recently disappeared had something to do with her theory and the Phantom Thieves seemed to access it.

“Hey Dascal,” Futuba came out her room excited to see her brother, “so how was it?” She was also curious about if he came across the Phantom Thieves in the Metaverse since she knew that he traveled there. But her mom did not need to know about this whole deal;…at least yet. Futaba also wanted to marry him but she could not legally do it. But that was another story for another time…this time her and Dascal had to make sure the Thieves aligned with their interests.

Futuba was a hacker who guided Dascal in the metaverse and gave him information from her moms notes and research. So he knew a lot about the metaverse or as much as Futaba could let him know. Maybe they could talk about it after dinner and what Dascal has discovered…since Futaba knew that he was on the verge of knowing more about these phantom thieves.

“Futaba, Dascal dinner is ready!” Wakaba said as she put the big helping of scallop potatoes with cheese and ham top on the table. She waited for them to sit down as she got the table set with chopsticks and forks for Dascal.

Futaba was the first to go to the dining table and sit down to go eat. She waited for Dascal to come sit by her and talk about his day. She was interested in what he had done at school and if the people there liked him. She was not that familiar with Shunjin but she heard of it.

“Dascal, did you help mr. Beppu with his son?” Wakaba asked him having just received a phone call from the neighbors, “thank you for doing so.”

"It was as you predicted I was overly popular for a day, and than it died down near the end," he chuckled giving a soft smile to Futaba, and Wakaba remembering when he had looked at the foreign exchange homestead options showed the moment he had seen her area of expertise it had been a immediate win as Dascal was already extremely aware of the meta-verse after a rather unexpected acid like dream back home.

What he had not been ready for upon arrival was the introverted orange haired girl who for the first week had avoided him only watching him from a distance to actually be the master of Medjed, and a fellow persona user at that. It also didn't help that he was questioning Wakaba about her research in a way a meta-verse user would catch onto quick. Little to say he was definitely given a good surprise when she tested her theory one night by point blank latching onto his leg in the middle of a bathroom run while using her mouth to trigger her metaverse app... a few intense moments of fighting shadows later, and thankfully the air had been cleared.

Since than whatever Wakaba wouldn't directly talk about our mentioned he learned directly from her. Its why he had such a understanding, and was barely able to survive his run in with Slayer a few days ago. He was one who liked to absorb knowledge, and was in truth just like Futaba a neutral party. Thanks to that run in he had a ire to return to the meta-mercs which he would see paid in full soon enough.

From what they had collectively gather there were legit factions of the Metaverse fighting over Japans conscious Mementos. The Meta-Mercs in particular had the biggest claim especially after the down fall of the Tulpa/Metatron faction. Further interrogation of shadows, and the rumors afloat clearly helped point straight to the people who kissed the horses mouth for the credit... The Phantom Thieves.

"Ms. Isshiki I told you I do enjoy you making dishes from my homeland, but I would rather keep eating what you guys are use to. I am after the full course of how you guys function. Ya apparently he had a sudden violent episode," he sighed thankfully she had made his favorite dish, yet wish she wouldn't try so hard work alone clearly brought her near exhaustion. Sitting down next to Futaba he rufled her hair like a older brother to a younger sister as they ate. For awhile he told them of his first day, and of his thoughts on Japanese schooling habits. Around there they played some board games in the living room until finally Wakaba crashed on the couch.

"...The Phantom Thieves go after rotted desires... The Meta-Mercs try to stop them. The Meta-Mercs have never had a faction go directly after their Clients before. Which leads me to believe the Phantom Thieves are not a faction but are what they say... a band of merry tricksters," Dascal prompted playing chess with Futaba as he funneled out a theory.

"As of current the two targets they have hit only have one major similarity. The negative effects they had on students at Shujin academy. If that were to be the trend, and they are not on a war path with the Meta-Mercs I believe at this time they to are students at Shujin, and might be about to target its gym teacher Kamoshido," he hypothesized looking at Futaba for her thoughts.

Futuba looked at Dascal and she thought his theory was correct about the thieves being students at Shunjin. Perhaps in Dascal’s class even too? Futaba was interested now and shifted her body weight to get into a better sitting position. “I believe that you probably saw them,” Futuba said, “who is their leader? I haven’t got any leads on who could be it…Although I do know Sougo Agata and he seems to be acting suspicious lately.” Sougo was literally a ghost…he was on the school’s website but other then that he had nothing about him online. That made Futaba a little worried because she was not sure if he was one of those Meta Mercs or if he just did not like social media. Baron was another mysterious person that popped up in her search and she had no idea who that was.

If they were going to strike Kamoshido then it would be a great theory to say that they are Shunjin students. Kajiki was trying to ruin the school’s reputation while the Matriarch was trying to recruit some Shunjin students to her cause. They both ended up without a heart…interesting. “So are you going to try and meet them at his palace?” Futaba asked.

Luckily Wakaba was on the couch knocked out so she could not hear them. Too bad her mother worked herself to death a lot of the time trying to prove her theory to the world. Writing a book about it was hard and especially because she had Futuba and Dascal to take care of, but Dascal was not hard to take care of since he was very well put together. Futuba was very much like her and exhibited the same behavior of being an extreme introvert with zero social skills. Hopefully Dascal wouldn’t get himself killed like his encounter with slayer.

“You know that I will have your back big brother,” Futaba said to him, “whatever you chose to do I will try to help as much as I can.” Futuba wouldn’t mind helping the thieves on their mission since MedJed was about the same thing but a little different than the thieves were.

"Sougo Agata? I think I know that name? Hm...ah yes he's the vice president of the student council," Dascal was perplexed by the sudden name that Futaba flung out of nowhere, but low and behold it was in his Shujin School orientation booklet. He looked at the picture of the identified male. Apparently they were very well respected, had high grades, and all around clean cut student the booklet praised the boy very highly nothing to even suggest a inkling that this boy was dirtied in any way, shape, or form. However given the two prior targets of the Phantom Thieves would match up to being problems for such a individual it didn't exactly paint a picture, but it could warrant a future look if something matched up further in the future..

"Can't just jump to a random person cause they like having a private life Futaba," the boy sighed placing the orientation pamphlet on the coffee table. The hacker genius than asked him what his plans were at this time. If Kamoshida did have a palace it would indeed be Shujin Academy given what Masami had hinted at as well as the clear distress of the sports teams members. Yet what was the distortional view of the school a kings castle... no from what the school site had told him the man was about to leave right back into the big leagues returning to being a influencer. Taking off right back...

"Suguru Kamoshida, Shujin Academy, Launch site," Dascal took out his phone reading the words out quietly. For a moment their was nothing, and than a silent ring of confirmation pings giving the app its first ever Palace location choice... so the phone app really did work just like that. For the longest time Dascal only ever had Mementos, and the regular Metaverse as options, but know he confirmed that it could indeed lock onto palaces.

"Things keep getting stranger, and stranger. While I just keep digging down, and down into the abyss," he smiled at the discovery a bit excited by the fact he now had confirmation on Wakaba's research holding even more merit atop Futaba own research. The depths of what could be experienced, and learned by hitting that button. Yet Dascals priorities held to what need done first.

"I am going to go solo this time. I need you here encase she wakes up," without giving her a chance to argue, or answer her original question he got up, and rush for the door grabbing his coat as he ran out into the night.

 

[TreasureSniper]

As Chaos ensues within the walls of the palace, a merc clad in red armor couldn't help but enjoy the view from the centre tower. His legs hanged freely with him sitting over the edge of the structure while merily humming a tune to himself. The explosions and destruction in the distance were fairly entertaining for him to watch, but he knew had a job to do. "Alright...let's see what these greenhorns are all about.." he yawned before pushing himself off the edge. After building enough momentum, he would shoot out grappling line, allowing him to swing around the lower structures, resembling a certain insect-themed superhero. The red merc cut through the air with ease, eventually landing right in front of the outside group with a slight skid, scrapping a good chunk of the ground on the impact zone. The shadows seemed confused at first, but eventually, a few squads of black troopers would stand behind him, aiming their guns at him. "~Yo." He gave them a playful little wave. "Time for a level check.." the red figure spoke, taking out a gun-like device, from his belt before waving with across the area of the thieves within the area.

"Oh..not bad..Horny!" He pointed at Imato before announcing his threat level. "You're 37! Catgirl over there is 34, Police boy is 36-...." before he could continue his sentence, one the shadows got tired of being treated as a non-threat and began charging him with an electric baton only to be swiftly killed by non-challant backhand of annoyance. The figure sighed before speaking again. "Gimme a moment..." Turning around to face the now hostile squad, he flicked a switch on his pistol and shot out a purple cloud of miasma towards them, causing the shadows briefly scream in agony before evaporating into nothingness.

Baron had been watching everything that was happening through his scope to assess the situation. This was bad. Not once had he foreseen someone like him coming to a small-time player like Kamoshida. Had he really become so powerful that he could hire someone like him? "Do not engage that merc! Hold tight, I'll be with you all shortly.." For the first time ever, there was a bit of fear in Baron's voice, indicating how serious this threat was to not just the operation but as well as the thieves in general. Baron scrambled towards the battlefront, trying to cover as much ground as possible to intervene in this fight before its too late.

"Now where was I?" He returned his attention to the thieves and continued the level summary. "Bravo! Haven't seen any greenhorns grow that fast!" He congratulated the group while giving them a condescending clap. "So that's why Baron has taken an interest in all of you....but since there are six of you...." Whatever farce of friendliness he had quickly disappeared, as his battle aura covered his body revealing his own threat level. The scanners on the thieves would beep furiously upon detecting the threat in front of them, despite this his threat level would only come up as ?? with a big skull symbol next to it. "I am sure...he wouldn't mind if I took out a few of you..." He slowly walked towards the trio, confidently allowing them to make the first move.

Anthem That Weird girl accursedjobber

---

As for the infiltration group. Everything would be smooth sailing at first, but before they could proceed further, another set of black troopers drop in from above, taking advantage of the fact that one of them was drastically weakened They looked different from the others, they had colored bands on the side of the arm, with the words "student council" written on them, signaling them as the student council members. While the student council has looked into Kamoshida's cases, at the end of the day, they are loyal to the school and right now the school is protecting him, or at least that's what he thinks. "You guys...you're the phantom thieves aren't you?" spoke a female voice from among the troops. For the more attentive ones, they would recognize her as Makato. Despite pointing her gun at them, she seemed reluctant to pull the trigger, showing that even Kamoshida was aware that her loyalties were questionable at best.

"We must protect him..that is the duty of the student council.." She steeled her resolve as she reluctantly took Kamoshida's, earning the nods of agreement from the other members, all except for one. As the student council members raised their rifles, a few shots could be heard, coming from behind. It was a lone member of the squad, shooting at their own teammates from behind, killing most of them almost instantly. Shadow Makoto, miraculously survived the ordeal, and turned to face the traitor, muttering his name in anger and confusion. "Sougo!?...why?!" But she was swiftly silenced by another shot to the chest. The lone remaining trooper merely stood there for a moment before he spoke with an all too familiar voice. "You're here for the bastard's heart right? Good. I don't care what happens to me or this damned school, as long as he goes down too, I'll do whatever it takes." The shadow spoke with noticeable conviction. This was how Kamoshida viewed Sougo, a man consumed by vengeance, one who is willing to do anything and everything to bring him down. "Come on...let's go..I know a shortcut..there's been some new unsavory characters as well, so it's best we avoid them..." Unbeknownst to him, the thieves already knew the layout of the castle, however, the only thing they lacked was where the mercs were stationed. "I have an inside man....she's as trustworthy as they come!" he said, with a noticeably happier tone. A few people at this point could easily guess who it was.

Maeve Valor Nellancholy

 

[Anthem]

Not expecting a Meta Merc so soon, Imato did feel a bit shaken by the sudden appearance and it didn't help that this Merc seemed to be one of a high status considering that Baron didn't want them to engage. Not to mention there was Shadow Mishima, ready to eliminate the group as well with the sci-fi mech he had been using to fire slow attacks upon the thieves. 'There isn't enough time to just wait for Baron's arrival, especially with that Merc approaching.' Imato doubted Baron's ability to arrive in time so he would look over to Panther and Cryptic with a sigh. "We may still have to fight, so don't back down yet you two." The boy said more as a request than an order, since he understood why they would maybe want to flee from the situation they found themselves within at them moment.

Looking back at the Meta Merc with a piercing glare, Imato threw away all regard he had for his own safety since if no one was going to attack the merc he surely would grow annoyed and finish them all off either way, at least that's what Imato thought. "We aren't finished quite yet, Loki!" Pulling off his mask once more, the thief had both of his weapons at the ready before dashing towards the Meta Merc alongside his Persona. Loki laughed as the two started the assault, ready to take down another foe or die trying.

Having noticed the gun-like item that the Merc was using, Imato decided that geting up close and personal would be the best strategy of attack since the Merc seemed proficient with range. Though the boy would use a similar tactic he had used in the past, where he went up close in personal while his persona would stay back and use spells to blast away the foe. With that, Loki would stay back and started casting Nuclear spells such as 'Freila' at the Merc's feet and chest to hopefully slow them down while Imato, shot at the foe with his pistol before getting close and starting to use his chain cane for some stronger blunt attacks for the moment.

"You damned fools just don't know when to leave us the hell alone huh? Luckily some of us like a good battle!" Imato said somewhat as a taunt as he primarily aimed for the Merc's neck as he attacked with the cane. Even if this was an impossible fight to win, the stubborn thief refused to let a single Merc potentially beat most of the tricksters.

 

[accursedjobber]

Volleyball truly is a dangerous sport, huddled behind a piece of rapidly disappearing cover thanks to that volleyball pitch machine doing it's one and only job of giving Isao some time to pounce on it reload taking the recognition of Panther's voice and the brief air of silence to stop taking cover for a counterattack with Tra-. "What's that supposed to mean? Hey, where are you going!"

When a dangerous man with skull markers walks towards you with a confident jaunt backed by a warning, in Isao's opinion probably best to ignore him and focus on other matters such as the explosive mech. Casting Bufu as a probing attack not chancing a bloody bounce-back as he ran forward attempting to close the distance with the mech in an attempt to make as much distance as possible before it starts firing again, speaking mostly to Panther as he rushed towards it as Tragedy went off to attempt to test the fragility of humans. "I think I can roundabout it or deal with the driver!"

Betting on whether the mech has sufficient turning capabilities to deal with being circled or at least has a window still if the reactions from the shadows indicated anything the invading merc wasn't exactly on good terms with the palace so that was a small blessing. Either way it was bad to split team attention but better than leaving a threat unattended, the faster the Volumizing machine and the crazed student was dealt with the better.

 

[Maeve Valor]

Masami had never faced against this kind of shadow yet so the watch had no data yet on it regarding how it fought. The only thing that she could gather at the moment was that they seemed to like close combat with the trident it wielded. They didn't seem to have much defense against long range attacks, but looks can be deceiving. With Masami's first attack, she threw out one of chakram and it seemed to only scratch its surface and then bounced back to her hand, indicating that it had a resistance to any physical attacks.

The shadow then charged at her with its weapon making swift attack and jabbing in quick secession a few times, but thankfully even though Masami was not physically strong like most of the phantom thieves were, she was still agile. She dodged a couple of times before with their last attack, she criss-crossed her chakrams to block that attack. Then with a heeled boot she kicked the shadow back away from her and shot a hand in their direction and bright bubbles began to appear around them, making them more drowsy with each bubble that popped. She knew this effect wouldn't last long so she quickly put away her melee weapons to take out her new gun that Baron had so generously given her, the Swansong. It was a pistol that a grenade launcher attached to the underside of it.

Due the fact that regular physical damage wasn't doing much damage to them, she decided to load her grenade launcher with wind-based element ammunition and fired away at the enemy. Upon contact, wind spewed in every direction slashing the shadow as it woke up only to yell in pain by being filleted with wind. This attacked greatly affected them and Masami was sure that all they needed was a final attack so all she did to finish things off was stomp a foot, making a trail of cursed energy from there to Zouchouten, engulfing them until it dispersed.

It was right after this that a few more shadows appeared, but these ones were very familiar. As the scene unfolded, it became apparent that they were Makoto and Sougo. This Sougo seemed to be perceived as someone that was an underling of his, yet still had a hatred of him enough to turn on his own friends if needed evidently. This admittedly took her back a bit since she was familiar with these people in real life. Even though this Shadow Sougo seemed to really want to help them, she could not overlook the fact that he just disposed of someone that was supposed to be his ally in this world. "By all means, lead the way then. It will be much appreciated," she nodded to them as she followed.

She waited a moment for Shiro to catch up, not seeing her little mishap with her persona beforehand. She then in a hushed tone said to her as they followed a ways behind, "Look, I don't trust him either, but I also know that Kamoshida definitely doesn't see him as an ally. I'm willing to bet these new people he speaks of are Metamercs, so if he knows where they are and how we can get around them, I'd say that's worth taking this risk by having him lead the way. What do you think about this?"

Nellancholy TreasureSniper

 

[Nellancholy]

Shiro gasped as the grappling hook flung her forward, allowing her to close the distance between herself and the rest of the team. The distinct kick in her stomach as she took flight felt ever more disorienting when she wasn't flying under her own control. As hard as it might be...she couldn't show weakness now. Not to the enemies before them...and not to those who were counting on her.

This time, she hit the ground running, doing her best to keep pace with Swan who seemed to have had only a slightly easier time in her own fight. Tough foes both, but only a taste of what was to come. And right on cue...a team of soldiers. They weren't quite as threatening as the guard Shadows from earlier, but they had numbers and range on their side. Shiro's eyes narrowed as one of them spoke. Ah yes, Nijima. So dutiful...so serious. So much taking after her sister's example, as loath as she might seem to admit it. In a better lifetime, Shiro might have regarded Nijima's virtues better...with the two almost being different sides of the same coin. But here and now, staring down her Shadow, all Shiro felt was...

"We must protect him...that is the duty of the student council..."

Of course, "duty". Such foolishness to serve one who had not earned that loyalty in any way.

"And is that you, Nijima? How pathetic of you, to use what you count as strength for someone who eats people like you alive..." Shiro frowned.

But before they could come to blows, a shot rang out, and the group of soldiers fell apart.

And the traitor was...none other than Agata's Shadow. A snake outside and inside...how fitting.

Even so, Swan went with him, and so Shiro followed. "W-worry not, Swan." She muttered, to reassure herself as much as Masami. "He is only one, and no trap has come before us here that we have not surmounted." Even so, she kept her big gun gripped firmly in her hand, not (yet) pointed straight at Shadow Sougo, but firmly enough to be a threat in case of betrayal.

Maeve Valor TreasureSniper

 

[That Weird girl]

“Tragedy!” Ann shouted at the top of her lungs in concerned for her friend. Now it was up to her Isao to destroy the mech before it destroyed them. Nodding to Isao’s words Ann ripped her mask off, “Carmen! Let’s get that mech!” Ann rushed towards the mech hoping that Carmen would provide help. She was wondering if this trick would work on Mishima just enough to distract him enough for Isao.

“are you an idiot?” Mishima asked the approaching Panther and smirked, “what are you going to do against a mech?!” He raised the mechs foot to crush Ann to bits and kibble.

Ann quickly threw a flash grenade that Baron gave her hoping to god it hit Mishima. The flash Grenade went off blinding Mishima causing the mech to stumble and Ann dodged the foot trying to crush her. Carmen casted agi at Mishima’s mech causing it to catch fire and Mishima attempted to put it out with cooling guns.

“you damn whore!” Mishima shouted and pulled a lever to make a mech fist to try and punch Ann. He was extremely pissed that his mech was ruined and that both of them were rushing him at the same time.

 

[TreasureSniper]

While it wasn't surprising for opponents to put up a fight despite being hopelessly outmatched, he did find it strange that besides the one with the horns, the other thieves have chosen to ignore him. Loki's projectiles of nuclear energy would hit their mark, only to leave the target completely unscathed. The cobra-like emblem in his chest seemed to have absorbed the nuclear blast. Imato must be the most unlucky person in this world, to face a merc that was not only so much stronger than him but also to be completely immune to his element. "My my....they call you Tragedy? How fitting!" The merc spoke upon hearing Imato's codename. This was truly ironic. But all the same, fittingly tragic.

What was this little boy trying to achieve, with his puny threat level? The bullets from Imato's gun bounced off the merc's armor, showcasing just how weak his firearm was compared to the target. And now for a melee strike. The merc didn't even wish to acknowledge such an attack and continued moving forward. "You're not gonna hurt me with that threat level, kiddo. Not in a milli-" the merc's statement was abruptly interrupted by the strike from the cane. The merc visibly recoiled from the attack, looking briefly surprised as to how a low-threat level opponent could even hurt him in the first place. "Hoho! Know thats a surprise....." The merc touched the chin guard of his helmet for a short moment before immediately striking Imato's sudden punch, sending him flying into a nearby wall. "That actually hurt you little punk! AHAHHAHA!" The merc laughed amazed by this boy's ability to hurt him despite their gap in power. While the damage was by no means severe, the fact that any damage made through his defenses was impressive on its own. "So he has entrusted you with one of his new toys...interesting..." The merc seemed to have taken a more serious interest in the thieves, quickly mounting a few attachments onto his pistol, eventually giving it a similar silhouette as a rifle.

He turned his attention toward the giant sports mech and raised his rifle toward it. The shadow itself wasn't anything remarkable but, even garbage can be made useful with the right tool. Pulling the trigger, the rifle propels forward a purple projectile towards the shadow, penetrating its outer defenses, and injecting its venom into the target. Shadow Mishima and his mech would at first briefly shut down, seemingly becoming devoid of life. A few moments later, the mech and its pilot will violently roar back to life with a noticeable purple aura. In the past, Morgana had warned them about how dangerous these "disaster" shadows were due to their volatile nature. The earlier ice on it from Isao's attack melted away, as he charged toward both Ann and Isao with renewed vigor. His aim trailed the out-of-control shadow, and as soon as the two were finally within range, after pressing a few buttons, he would pull the trigger once more, this time shooting an explosive piercing projectile into the shadow, detonating the creature at point-blank range from the panther and cryptic. The explosion left behind purple flames and debri all over the area. The price for them ignoring such a powerful enemy was simple, a swift strike from an unexpected angle.

Right after the explosion, the merc slowly walked toward the direction where Imato was sent flying towards. "Hmm...maybe you will entertain me a bit longer than those two..." He taunted the boy while holding his rifle against his shoulder. He beckoned the boy to fight him with a gesture of his free hand, waiting to see if he had any tricks. Among all the phantom thieves, Imato was the one that had the current highest threat level, second only to Baron, but was that enough to secure his survival?

"Tragedy do you read me?! Whats happening over there?" Baron spoke over the comms, seemingly concerned about what just happened.

That Weird girl accursedjobber Anthem

---

Back inside the palace, everything seemed to be going well with Shadow Sougo leading the way through an underground passage that seemed completely devoid of any enemies. There was nothing but a few old flickering lights in the area. The atmosphere looked like it was straight out of a horror movie. But even so, the trooper kept moving forward, looking back every so often making sure the phantom thieves were still following.

Eventually, they were met with another shadow of a student. It was shadow Masami, wearing a tattered cloak that covered most of the clothes underneath with a hood to complete the look. "Agata-san, you're safe!" the shadow girl spoke hugging Sougo, seemingly happy that her comrade had survived everything thus far. The hardened Sougo acknowledged the girl's greeting with a simple nod before turning his attention to the way ahead. "It is the way to the right correct?" He asked her, to confirm the information that was given to him prior. "Oh no, we need to go to the left now! They changed the patrol timings." Shadow Masami clarified, once again earning another nod from Sougo.

Eventually, the party would stumble upon a door, that required two people to open. "Ogawa-san give me a hand with this..." Sougo said, using a strangely casual tone with her. The shadow girl happily obliged pushing the door open with him. Based on these shadows, it seems that Kamoshida viewed the two as somewhat of an item. Or at least that was what it looked like to him. "The path up ahead should lead to the control room, come on, let's go!" Shadow Masami lead the charge with her running ahead, and Sougo running closely behind. The area up ahead looked like some sort of storage area, something that resembled that sport's clubs inventory room with. It was dark and dusty, with exaggerated proportions, having shelves of sports equipment that went all the way up to the ceiling. However, a few more steps forward, the lights would flicker to life, revealing an ambush that had been waiting for them. Sougo was the first one to be struck by a bat to the face from familiar white-suited individual. His body collapsed onto the ground, with his helmet broken, showing an ugly scarred version of Sougo's visage, looking like a digusting leper. Aside from Fixer, there was a new face, one adorned with colorful bird armor. Alongside him was Hardshell, the silent and enigmatic muscle, usually looming in the background with other lower mercs.

Masami's shadow began laughing, as she retreated to the side where the metamercs stood. "Oh Agata...always so desperate to see Lord Kamoshida's downfall.... can't you see how valuable he is to the school? Its pointless to fight him...it's best to just surrender to him and hope for the best. Maybe she'll even give a swindler like me a chance once he sees how useful I am!" The shadow smiled, revealing her true allegiance. It seems that the teacher thinks that she is on her side for one reason or another. Hardshell took a moment took look at the girl, shaking his head in disgust before turning his attention to the phantom thieves. "Alright, enough talk. All of you may have gotten stronger, but all of you are still greenhorns. So I am offering you a choice...surrender yourselves peacefully and I'll kill your personas nice and quick. Otherwise...I can't promise you all a painless demise..." A simple threat, but an effective one. The group was completely surrounded, with Fixer and Hardshell standing in front of them and Phoenix at the back. There still other members of the mercs hiding in the shadows, but only time will tell if they were needed as well.

Spoiler: Metamerc

Nellancholy Maeve Valor

 

[Maeve Valor]

Masami glanced at Shiro, seeing that she was prepared if things went terribly wrong and felt a bit more at ease. As she followed Shadow Sougo through the questionable area of the uninhabited passageway, she hoped that Morgana was handling themselves well on his own. As they rounded a corner among the dimly lit hall, she did expect to see the mirror-image of herself approach them; Let alone with enthusiasm before hugging the one that had been leading them.

She remained silent as she observed their interaction and was slightly confused by how they seemed oddly comfortable with each other while she thought, "Does Kamoshida think that we're... dating?" Masami then looked away from the two shadows feeling awkward at the thought as she scratched the back of her head, determined to stay focused on the mission. The commotion over the comms was a helpful reminder of this. Though she did hope that Shiro didn't read too much into this considering the knowledge that there is always a grain of truth in what's real when it comes to interpreting how palace rulers perceive the world around them.

"Though unlikely, it's still possible that I'll be questioned about what this is about later from Shiro..." she inwardly speculated. Upon entering the large inventory room, she froze in her tracks as the lights switched on, revealing metamercs and an assault on the Shadow Sougo. It wasn't surprising to find out that Kamoshida thought of him in this way, but what did surprise her was the Shadow Masami and how she proudly unveiled her betrayal. "... Or not," she concluded her prior thought as she listened to her shadow self monologue about how she wished to be acknowledged by the coach.

The situation had become grim as she mercs closed in on them and Masami looked around, trying to devise an escape plan. Normally, she would like to fight, but since there were at least three metamercs that they were up against, the odds of her and Shiro did not seem to be in their favor. The only viable option would be to escape from the room and make a full frontal assault to the room holding the treasure, but unfortunately she was unable to find a way out. The door on the other side of the room seemed to be locked in preparation for this ambush. Against all odds, she knew that at this point, they needed to fight their way out of this and wish for the best. Masami placed calmly placed a hand on a chakram and the other on a flash grenade. "I think you'll find that 'peaceful' is not in the Phantom Thieves' vocabulary. We're still wily greenhorns you see."

Suddenly, she threw out her weapon only to have it shot out of the air, making it no longer airborn and dropping with dead weight. Following the gun shot, a loud grating sound of metal against metal was heard as Masami looked to where it was coming from. The probability of surviving this encounter unscathed lowered even more as Masami spotted in that direction was another new metamerc face, but this time it was a female. Large, red appendages like long bloodied knives protruded from her hands as she was the one making the awful noise with them dragging along the floor as she ran at full speed in their direction, "I can't believe you all were about to start the bloodshed without me! I would expect this from Phoenix, but not you Fixer-chan~" She then launched herself into the circle, targeting Shiro with arms extended out to slash at her.



It was then that Masami yelled out at the last second before throwing the flash grenade down, "Heartbreaker, eyes!" She took this opporunity to raise a hand to summon the dark energy of Maeiga to rise and inflict damage on all the surrounding enemies.

Nellancholy TreasureSniper

 

[Nellancholy]

If staring down a single spear or gun barrel wasn't enough to stop Shiro, there's no reason why being faced with three more would.

...So she would think, but she wasn't exactly in top shape right at the moment. The helmet encasing her head betrayed nothing, even as she struggled with the fear and doubt creeping into her. Such thoughts would only weaken her Persona even more, but they certainly couldn't be dispelled just by thought.

Silently, she leveled her gun at the mercs, preparing to let a hail of bullets signal her refusal-

Another presence emerged, one uniquely sharp. Serrated. Tinged with blood. A shadow fell over Shiro, as if she was finally face-to-face with a ghost that had been haunting her the past few days. Her knuckles white, her hands trembling, she withdrew her weapon. She hadn't given up yet, but-

The blood-soaked figure shot towards them like a bullet, blades rending the air and ground before her. Blades sharp enough to run her through, to destroy her on the spot-

"Heartbreaker, eyes!"

Swan barely even needed to warn her, and the visor of her helmet mitigated much of the bomb's effects. Hopefully, the Maeiga would slow them down just enough.

Because once again, she had to "fly" under her own power, and gamble it all on her next move...

With Thrud's strength failing, all she could do was grab onto Swan's waist, firing her grappling hook upwards and ahead. "Swan, hold on to me!" Despite her physique, Masami and Shiro weren't that far apart in height, and handling someone at high speed (without hurting them) was more complicated than it looked.

Once again they launched into the air, flying just above the heads of their adversaries. Trusting Swan to hold on, Shiro hoisted her gun with a single hand and squeezed the trigger with the same fervor as a prayer.

A roar filled the room as a stream of lead hit the electronic lock of the door they were hurtling towards...and it slid open just in the nick of time.

Coming down from their swing, the thieves could only brace themselves as they slid along the floor, escaping with their lives by a hair's breath...

TreasureSniper Maeve Valor

 

[Azurian Dream]

Kamoshio's Palace Raid Current......

The green stranger had infiltrated the palace via the air ducts at the western walls. With little more than a whisper, he had discovered that the Phantoms Thieves were in the middle of raiding the palace as unexpected combat could be heard in the distance via the reverberations of explosions, melting screams, and many other violent tendencies in the air. Yet that wasn't what the stranger was interested in. That more likely than not was the distraction team meaning they were expected to be in the mix of combat thus somewhere deeper in was the recon team making their plans to theft the treasure of the palace. That was the group he needed to catch off guard, and question what this eyebrow-raising insanity was all about.

However in an ironic twist of scenario as he exited out of the air ducts into what seemed to be a perfect place to lay in wait amongst an off-arcing wave of equipment shelves he found the very ones he was looking for entering to get immediately ambushed. It wasn't immediately clear who was who as rather shockingly identifiable Shadow Souga, and Shadow Masami was the first to exit with two women, and... was that a cat? That part didn't matter as one of the Meta-Mecs bashed in Shadow Souga's helmet. The way this Kamoshido saw his students who resisted him was disgusting, and with the way, Shadow Masami responded he clearly did believe he had complete control... wait a swindler? That explained quite a bit... so much for getting to know her bit by bit. Things picked up fast as it was laid bare which was which as one Meta-Merc, in particular, called out the other group as greenhorns... just like Slayer called him.

That was followed by the female outright saying it also helped, and in a true showtime session, the Phantom Thieves sprung into action. Yet while the escape was well executed the stage was too well left in one piece with dozens of meta-mercs in the shadows ready to spring as well with the four center stage. Originally the green stranger was going to intercept them, and discuss what they did, but now the stranger had a choice to make. To leave them to their ill-fated escape... or give them a chance to showcase their worth...

"Dammit all," the stranger mumbled as the one called Swan triggered a flash grenade giving him a moment to break his mask silently summoning Rasputin for one attack. Right as the one called Heartbreak Robinhood exited via grapple hook and gun a massive series of Psio spells started to appear all around not only the meta-mercs center stage but as well in key areas of the container shelves unleashing a maelstrom of psycho blasts triggering the shelves to fall over the place cutting off any meta-mercs, not on the front stage. Rushing forward in a swirl of shadow jumps the stranger made it for the air vents still concealed in all the mayhem following the route to see where the Phantom thieves would run to for now he was an unknown element covering their tracks.

TreasureSniper Maeve Valor Nellancholy

 

[Anthem]

Imato smiled a bit when he saw that his melee attack did have just enough 'oomph' behind it to actually damage this Meta Merc, though that joy was quickly shaved away as he recieved a solid blow from the merc. The boy coughed out in pain as he hit the wall, falling to the ground as he held his chest in pain whilst trying to regain the breath that had just been forced out of him with the attack. After a moment of recovery, Imato looked up just in time to see the newly made disaster shadow burst into a large explosion that hit Ann and Isao. Seeing the aftermath of the blast, the purple flames and scattered debris, worried him as he was unable to spot his allies through the smoke and dust kicked up by the attack. This worry soon started to mold into anger towards the situation at hand, Imato's red eyes glaring at the meta merc with a desire to kill.

"Tragedy do you read me?! What's happening over there?"

Hearing Baron's voice cleared his thoughts enough so he could respond. "I hear you loud and clear... I have no read on Panther or Cryptic. They just received a pretty damn strong hit from a exploding Disaster Shadow." Imato said as he dusted himself off and continued to glare at the merc, who was now starting to slowly approach and was looking to make the boy fight. "You better hurry the hell up, you hear me? Now I'm going to settle a few scores... or at least try." The thief finished his response before putting all his focus back on the situation at hand, since depending on how he fights here it seemed like it could be life or death at this moment. Pulling off his mask once again, Loki appeared behind Imato and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, seemingly much more serious than before. Loki casted a singular spell before disappearing once more, and that spell was to raise Imato's strength for the duration of this battle, 'Tarukaja' to be exact.

While the thief was nowhere close to having an aura like Baron or the merc in front of him, anger was almost emitting from his very soul at this moment as he was ready to fight until he was no longer able to. "Hahahaha..." Imato laughed a bit as a crazed grin appeared on his face and his glare was still directed at the merc. "Ok..! Let's Dance." He said before suddenly rushing towards the merc once again, not bothering to even use his firearm this time as it had no effect last time. Though he did instead throw out his flash grenade, covering his own eyes as it went off. Imato hoped it at least stunned the merc as he started his assault with fast and indiscriminate blows from the cane while it was still blunt, before suddenly having the weapon shift to it's chain-like state and attacking the merc with rapid, slicing movements.

TreasureSniper

 

[accursedjobber]

Learning that star's really do appear in the eyes of those sundered was a new experience for Isao. A buzz that he soon recognized as the radio etched itself into his ear being enough as he started to get a recollection of what the hell happened along with nerve control, getting enough to move the darkening slab of debris over himself as he sat himself up, turning in confusion as he got back control over his sense.

Ducking behind cover, evidently a consequence of choosing the wrong, but still with him and panther out of the picture there would only a single target left which quite evidently wouldn't be good. No choice but to commit for Isao as he pulls out Baron's gift and gave it to his persona as a plan formed in his head, Better than gambling on scavenging through debris for Panther handing it off and sending it towards the merc in a hopefully stealthy way.

Crawling forward to keep attention off his back as he sent the grenade forward not trusting his throwing capability's as he sent the lone persona hand forward grasping the grenade before pulling the pin of the grenade and dropping it from above hoping to sneak it behind, sleeping gas emitting itself from the loosening grenade in it's descent.

 

[TreasureSniper]

The cobra-themed merc couldn't help but laugh and give the thief a sarcastic clap, enjoying his display of bravado. "Hahaha...can't say I am good at dancing. But sure, I'll be your partner." And just like that, he started walking towards him once again. The flash-bang from Imato did little to faze him, perhaps his helmet made him resistant to such status-based attacks. Seeing Isao's sleep grenade flying towards him, he would simply flick it away with a backhand of annoyance, showcasing his above-average reflexes. That said, he made no efforts to defend against the mad fighter's onslaught of physical attacks. With each strike, the merc flinched from the attacks, indicating that he is in fact taking some level of damage from them. "Come on! Is that all you got? Hahaha! All bark and no bite!" He let the boy have his fill a bit longer before finally catching the cane in its chained form with his bare hands, wrapping the chain around his forearm.

What Imato lacked in common sense, he made up for with tenacity. There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity. Which side was Tragedy on? "Tell me...why are you so loyal to Baron?" But before the boy could respond, he would receive a solid punch to his gut, way above his weight class. But despite that, he withstood the attack. Though, he is likely on his last legs from the last attack. "Hohoho! You're still standing? You seem like the type of person that's willing to kill for what they believe in. Let's find out if you're willing to die too.." The merc raised his fist once again and extended the spike mounted on his forearm. "Are you Ready?" he asked sarcastically preparing to inject his deadly venom into the boy.

However, before the merc could deal the killing blow, his attack was interrupted by the entrance of a familiar ally. Baron had arrived, with a dynamic entry, striking with a downward strike of his buster sword, forcefully separating the two from contact. Had the merc not released his grip on the boy, his arm would have been cleaved off. "And the Papa wolf arriv-" the merc was immediately interrupted by a flurry of slashes from his buster sword, showing how serious he was taking this fight, forcing the merc to dodge and block his attacks. The merc, not wanting to continue fighting him at close range, jumped a good distance backward. "Haven't seen you this worked up..finally found a new group to do your bidding?" he taunted Baron, noting that he was fighting a lot more seriously than usual.

Baron lowered his blade for a short moment to take out a pouch of beads from his belt and tossed it to Tragedy. "You did well, Tragedy. Heal yourself and the others. Regroup with the other team in the palace. I will take care of things over here." Baron turned his focus back onto the merc and got into a proper battle stance, releasing his signature golden aura and prompting the merc to do the same, with a crimson aura of power. "You've gotten weak Baron. You're not the man you were before." The merc spoke, showing that he knew Baron in the past, and implied that he was stronger before. Baron did not take kindly to this, instantly launching forward towards his foe with powerful trust, propelling both of them over and beyond the castle walls.

Anthem That Weird girl accursedjobber

---

Within the palace, the mercs were caught completely off guard by the sudden storm of Psy attacks from an unidentifiable location. They knew that there would be two teams, and already had somewhat of a profile on each of them, but none of them had the Psy element in their arsenal, which would mean that whoever this was is another party. The unknown party's attacks and conjunction with the sudden flashbang were successful in temporarily downing the entire group due to the technical damage and allowing the two ladies to escape. Heartbreak's stream of bullets had succeeded in securing them a momentary escape path.

Having recovered from the attack, Fixer ordered the two mercs to give the chance to the intruders, immediately barking orders to them. "Phoenix, Countess, pursue those two. I don't care if you bring them in, dead or alive. They must not be allowed to escape!" To think, the veterans of this industry were being bested by a few greenhorns. Phoenix nodded in acknowledgment of his superior's orders, immediately lifting Countess's bridal style before sprouting flaming wings. Phoenix would levitate upwards at first before moving forward at great speeds while being engulfed in a ball of flame, burning away whatever obstacle was blocking his path.

Eventually, the duo would eventually catch up with the escaping thieves, looking like the sun itself was chasing them. Phoenix overtook the thieves' position, putting himself in between them and their exit path ahead. The flying merc slowly descended onto the ground while plumes of red hot feathers littered the area, signaling his arrival. "It's a shame. You two possess such beauty, yet squander your talents in being petty thieves." Phoenix spoke while putting Countess down. "No matter. I shall erase you from this world so that the memory of your beauty will not be tarnished by your unsavory actions!" His entire body ignited with orange flames, before sending a wave of heat toward the two ladies. While the effects were not immediately known, they would feel a slow increase in temperature, like someone had just turned on the heater in the room. Seconds, later, it was like they were inside a sauna.

Spoiler: Battle Music

Nellancholy Maeve Valor Azurian Dream

Meanwhile, back at the storage room, Fixer, hardshell, and shadow Masami would instead take their time to slowly walk towards the direction where Phoenix and Countess had blazed a trail through. It was clear that Fixer was confident in the ability of Phoenix and Countess to cut them off. But Fixer's mind was focused on the mystery party. The one that was not accounted for. Who was he working for? What was his agenda in this? Fixer turned to shadow Masami, telling her to inform the ruler that there increase the alert level, as they are still some parties that are not accounted for. Shadow Masami gladly obliged, nodding enthusiastically as she removed the rags that were covering her, revealing a rather..interesting..choice of outift. She then would make their way toward the direction of the throne room. Hardshell turned his head towards the shadow, briefly tracking her movement before Fixer snapped him out of it. "Keep your head in the game." Fixer lightly tapped his bat on the merc, earning him a nod as the two continued to walk forward.

Spoiler: Sus outfit

 

[Anthem]

Knowing that he was fighting an impossible battle, Imato knew in the back of his mind that there was no chance he could win against this merc no matter what trick he played so he had just decided to give it his all nonetheless so it bought time for Baron to arrive. The greenhorn fought rather savagely but it seemed to be effective at first, having been able to land hits that made the distraction team's foe flinch from every hit until they caught the chain of Imato's weapon. Paying for his actions to keep the others safe, the first attack from the merc almost completely knocked him out but he stayed standing, using all he could to prevent his own fall.

"Let's find out if you're willing to die too.." . . . "Are you Ready?"

Hearing the merc speak out, Imato couldn't make out most of it and had accepted his fate at that point since there was nothing at that point for him to do. Luckily, this wasn't where Imato was going to fall in battle, as Baron came in with a powerful sword attack that forced the merc to unhand Imato, the boy scrambled back to gain some distance and avoid any fate he thought he was going to be forced to accept. So instead of death, Imato received the bag of beads from Baron who went on to fight the merc on his own. 'They know each other and Baron seems to be taking this much more seriously... Whatever, that's not important.' The boy thought to himself as he stood and dusted himself off before taking one of the beads and crushing it, the energy from the item restoring his physical stamina.

After healing, Imato would take a few of the beads from the bag in case the infiltration team needed any before making his way over to Cryptic. "Hey, Cryptic. Take these and find Panther. Heal up and then rendezvous with the rest of the group on the inside. Make sure you and Panther are ready though, that explosion was a nasty one. Contact me if something happens while you two rest and I'll come back ASAP." The boy said to his teammate, trusting the remaining beads with him before running off to enter the place without allowing Cryptic to even say what he thought of the plan. Imato would find an entrance and would start his decent into the palace to meet up with Heartbreak, Swan and Mona if he hadn't run off on his own yet.

"Heartbreak, Swan, what's the current status of you two? I'm headed towards you lot right now, and soon Cryptic and Panther will be joining us as well." Speaking through the communicator, Imato wanted to know what the incoming party could expect since he had that gut feeling that the infiltration crew didn't have as smooth as an entry as they wanted. Though the boy would start to get impatient and started to break his way through the walls to make a path directly to his allies. "I'll be there in roughly a minute or a bit more, hold on until then." Imato said before focusing on the task at hand, trying to break through the ship as fast as he could to make his way to the two. He did keep his communicator close to listen in for any potential info either of them could give about what laid ahead.

 

[Azurian Dream]

Swan and Heartbreak had made decent progress in their escape, and as the green stranger followed their route from the above pipes, he was confident in their escape. Until the very sun, itself seemed to escape its mortal bonds chasing after the two. The display had definitely not been expected yet soon revealed itself as the special trick of the red meta-merc flying in carrying the blood-stained female meta-merc in like a bride of death. They had cut off the Phantom Thieves' exit, and now the slow practical steps of the other two could be heard off in the distance closing in the pincer's grasp. The shadow Masami could still be seen running... was that a bunny suit... the green stranger just like Hardshell had a moment of broken concentration until hilariously his own left hand smacked some sense back into him. Well, Masami was going to be hard to talk to next time... ahem he broke his concentration back to the scenario at hand.

The one with the bat was called Fixer from the nature of the situation from the one called Countess, and Phoenix this bat wielder was more than likely the boss with the rhino appearing armored one his second in command for this operation. The rhino had been the one to make the more significant threat, but Fixer was clearly giving the orders. Thus in this scenario where the female Phantom Thieves were now cornered, and trapped with no sight of backup any time soon... it seemed the stranger was going to have to break his promise to Futaba to play it safe. Standing upright on the pipe he had been cat walking on amongst the shadows he took a deep sigh before yelling out to create some confusion besides it seemed the whole point of these Phantom thieves was to be theatrical correct?

"Beauty in itself is a theft of all attention. If one is to claim it one must divulge all knowledge, and consume power in their way. A thief is no different they take what they desire, and those that give ire are just jealous of their inability to take," a synthesized metallic voice rung out clearly meant to catch Phoenix, and Countess's unexpected attention just as much to catch the Rhino, and Fixers full attention as they were indeed trying to find the unexpected element while cracking down on the Phantom Thieves. A counter tactic of a pincer was to dissemble it from the outside, but given the odds, the more unorthodox method to snap in wide open from the inside would do best. From the sky came the green stranger falling gracefully to the floor in a somewhat Samba-like form cutting off Fixer, and Hardshell from being able to further near their original targets. With a small sway of movement in a single step towards them, he pulled out his gun aiming straight for Fixer.

"These Femme Fatales have earned their weight in blood and sweat to take as they desire to help others. Unlike you lousy lot who take out a personal gain, they take out of passion. Turn back for if you continue this downward spiraled dance I prophesy you will drown in your own pride," he clearly without hesitation threatened Fixer directly. It was clear he allied himself to the Phantom's a man dressed in holy cloth chastising Phoenix for his obsession with how beauty was supposed to be chained down, noting Countess's obsession to spill blood, Hardshell's oppression with force, and of course Fixers pride to squash the opposition. the pieces of the enemy were laid out on the board to him each with their own fixations on how to handle the Phantom Thieves.

"But of course by all means, if you so desire... Let's get dangerous," he offered Hardshell, and Fixer the sensation of the unknown variable of combat with a darker tone to his voice. If Slayer was anything to go off of he was sure to gain their full attention allowing Heartbreak, and Swan to concentrate on Phoenix, and Countess without interruption he mused extending out both his hands in full holy extension as if inviting them with open arms into the light of madness... honestly he wasn't sure if this was too theatrical, but he had to admit... it was fun.

TreasureSniper Nellancholy Maeve Valor

 

[That Weird girl]

While everyone was being loud and creating a lot of chaos Morgana was silently making his way through the castle taking note of the design. The cat knew that he should have given the thieves a lesson on lockpicking beforehand…oh well maybe next time? There was a lot of good gear in these chests and Morgana found some good loot that could be scrubbed clean for usage. But before he could celebrate his spoils of war, several shadows surrounded him and of course since he was an intruder he was probably sentenced to death. “King Kamoshida has given the order to kill any intruders on sight,” A shadow spoke and raised his laser gun at Morgana ready to shoot, “wait a minute are you a shadow?” The soldier was confused on why a shadow was stealing from Kamoshida. Morgana guessed that he was a shadow but he knew that he was different from a regular shadow. “Zorro, use Garu!” Morgana shouted and the persona appeared using a gust of wind to blow back the shadows. “Oh right I should help Heartbreak and Masami,” Morgana muttered to himself, getting distracted with the loot.

The cat made his way out of the room,”I’ll be back for you beautiful,” He spoke to the loot and hurried to where Masami, Shiro, and Dascal were. They were facing off against multiple mercs this time it looked like. Morgana was not very offensive but he could turn into a bus. He noticed a new guy who looked like they were on the Thieves side because he was facing off against a merc. Morgana quickly began to shapeshift into a bus and drove straight into Hardshell and Countess trying to knock them over and reversed back and drove circles around them both as many times as he could get away with it. “You meta mercs are starting to get on my nerves,” the cat said and stopped a few feet from them, “Lady Shiro, tell thrud to throw me at these losers.” Morgana knew that a bus being chucked at them would hurt and perhaps crush them for a bit so they could not move.

Morgana was going to crush these meta mercs because they really were annoying like a bug.

Maeve Valor Nellancholy @Treasure sniper Azurian Dream