Disclaimer: Rights to the persona series lay with ATLUS, not me!

Notes:

Descriptive Writing.

Slow-Burn.

Graphic Gore, but not the worst I have written.

Graphic Sexual Content.

Game-Like Elements.

STATS

Ren Amamiya

Level 4

HP:316/316

SP:179/179

Knowledge—Genius 8/250 — Rank 5

Guts—Valiant 17/50 — Rank 4

Proficiency—Skilled 20/50 — Rank 4

Kindness—Empathetic 7/50 — Rank 4

Charm—Allure 40/250—Rank 5

31005 ¥

Ren clicked on the icon, opening the navigator, he went to the sidebar there was a history menu, there only one thing was displayed: [Kamoshida, Shuujin Academy, Castle]

Ryuji: "Seriously? Ren, it's right there in the history."

Ren: "Yeah, it seems very convenient. I'm going... Ready?"

Ryuji:" Heh, wouldn't miss it for the world!"

He clicked the display, making the world distort itself.

Both still didn't know, that the things they would be forced to see, the things they would be forced to do, the things that would be felt, would change everything, after this there was no way they would be able to return to being normal again, this was the first step in their descent into madness, cruelty, and evil.

Take your Time

The world transformed, the previous modern school transformed into a castle of some RPG game, the ambiance was definitely dark, Ren wasn't happy, he was a bit furious to look at the macabre setting, because his genius intellect already made assumptions and hypothesis of why this place exists for Kamoshida, and why he was the King, it was unforgivable, to have such a creepy man have so much arrogance.

Ryuji: "Look! It's the castle from the other day" Ryuji said, surprised to be here again, he looked around and ran forward, Ren without difficulty followed him, in fact, it would be easy to outrun Ryuji, after all his Persona gave him a superhuman body.

Ryuji's eyes settled on Ren again.

Ryuji:" We made it back Ren… That means what happened yesterday was for real, I can't believe it!" Ryuji spoke, a bit despondent.

Ren:" Hrm, you are right, there was no way something that elaborate could be considered a dream Sakamoto-san" Ren responded, the charisma showing through, he smirked at Ryuji as the boy noticed his clothes.

Ryuji:"... Yeargh! Those clothes…! what happened?... Wait! That happened last time too, huh?! When you were fighting those things..." The boy looked at Ren's coat and formal clothes that were probably used by last century magicians or other rich people, Ryuji thought they fit Ren rather well… Everything seemed to fit the pretty boy well as Ryuji realized, his new friend was a textbook bishounen, yet not as girly as them though.

Ryuji:" Ren, what's with that outfit?!" the blonde boy asked sincerely, the outfit was so strange.

Ren:" Not bad huh?" Ren responded with his most charming bad boy pose he could find. Of course, it was for flair only, these days he felt more and more comfortable in his own skin and started shedding that anxiety that followed around him ever since he saved that woman from being raped.

Ryuji:" You LIKE the clothes Ren?! Well, it fits you well, just don't go wearing that in public, you will look like a clown..."

Ryuji continued to look around for an entrance to the eerie castle, mumbling his confusion for Ren to hear, Ren looked to the side and stared at the side of the castle, there was the little cat creature again, spying on them.

Ren:" Morgana?" The little cat approached them, at Ren's behest.

Morgana:" Keep it down both of you, you want to alert the guards?!"

Ryuji:" Ah… You!?"

Morgana:" The shadows started acting up, so I came here to check… To think you guys would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape."

Ryuji:" What is this place?... Is It the school?"

Morgana & Ren:" That's right."

Ren:" More precisely this is what Kamoshida-sensei perceives the school as. Am I wrong?" Ren asked the little cat, the genius side leaking out a bit, the cat nodded.

+2 Knowledge

Genius 11/250

Ryuji:" But, it is a castle, not a school… Am I seeing shit wrong?"

Morgana:" This castle IS the school, but as Ren-dono said, the school is only a castle to its ruler."

Ren:" And the ruler to this castle is Kamoshida-sensei, that's how his distorted views see the school, Ryuji."

Ryuji:" Ruler, Distorted, Kamoshida…? Explain it in a way it makes sense!" Ryuji yelled at both.

Morgana:" I shouldn't have expected a moron to get it..."

Ryuji:" Haaahn?!" Ryuji grumbled in an aggressive manner, however, a piercing scream, permeating the walls, reached their ears, stopping all of them.

Ryuji:" What was that?!"

Morgana:" It must be those captured slaves." Morgana said in a deadly serious tone.

Ren:" They must have been… those dolls." Ren murmured the last part, only Morgana heard him and nodded.

Ryuji:" For real?!" Ryuji said in a surprised yet scared tone, the screams echoed again, Ren dropped to the ground in a swift motion and put his ears on the floor, continuing to talk with Morgana, surprised by the whole thing.

Ren had a very bad feeling about the screams piercing their ears.

He felt where the vibrations came from, his superhuman body felt it, they were coming from the dungeon, the underground prison that he and Ryuji were before, the underground prison that the King Kamoshida controlled, Ren remembered how Ryuji was almost killed, he recalled how badly cut and beaten Ryuji's face was from the beating he took, it filled Ren with anxiety and a bit of anger.

+4 Proficiency

Skilled 24/50

Ryuji:" We saw other guys held captive yesterday, some were even dead… I'm pretty sure they're from our school… but." Ryuji remembered when Ren got one out, one of the students, the boy was faceless, it was like a white mannequin had worn their uniform, yet their body was still so unbelievably human it was very macabre.

Morgana:" They are probably tortured and executed on Kamoshida's orders, It's nothing out of the ordinary here in this place — It is like this every day here in fact."

Ren:" If that's true then that teacher has a lot to answer for..." Ren looked to the side, feeling a lot of pity for the imagined dolls suffering this much. If they were suffering this much, it would mean that Kamoshida-sensei wanted to do the same in the real world.

+3 Kindness

Empathetic 10/50

Morgana:" What's more, with your escape yesterday, his mood worsened quite a lot, his temper is a lot to deal with right now." Morgana followed with the worst, so the torture intensified because he was unhappy that they ran away, their dislike for Kamoshida reached a new level.

Ryuji:" That son of a bitch…!"

Morgana:" Ryuji…?"

Ryuji:"... This is fucking bullshit!" Ryuji, in his rage, sprinted to the door and used his arm to bash the wood, making a loud sound, Ren prepared himself, a blue flame appeared in his palm as he twisted his wrist, then a dagger came out of the flames, he turned his wrist, rotating the blade in a theatrical manner, the transparent ghost of Arsene, lazily appeared on his back, ready for any type of combat, Ren was still anxious, he was a teenager with a lot of insecurities even if he seemed like a superhuman.

Ryuji:" You hear me, Kamoshida?! Come out here you fucker!" Ryuji screamed at the gate, yet the door didn't open, and no response was made inside, it was as if this was a safe area, which Ren noted for future reference, in a blue fire the dagger disappeared from his hand and Arsene's transparent body merged with his.

He breathed a sigh of relief, he had the courage to face people to the death, but he did not have the confidence to protect someone like Ryuji who didn't have any power and was a normal human, that uneasiness remained, and it was a product of inexperience.

It was interesting that he could pull this dagger from basically nothing at all, it was like he had an RPG item box he could use to store things; this was good for future adventures.

+4 Knowledge

+4 Proficiency

Genius 14/250

Skilled 28/50

Morgana:" Doing that isn't going to open that massive door you know, you don't have the strength necessary to break this thing… Well, it would be easy for me and your friend, Ren here… " Morgana said, a bit sarcastic.

Morgana:" Still, it seems you have your reasons, Ryuji."

Ren:" We must do something, the King here does things that we do not agree with, torturing students and pushing ideas like slavery, and tyranny forward without regarding the weak and the innocent, there is no way I can ever allow that!" Ren said with a speech so inspiring it instantly charmed both Morgana and Ryuji.

+5 Charm

+5 Kindness

+3 Guts

Allure 45/250

Empathetic 15/50

Valiant 20/50

Ryuji:" Ren's right, Oi, Monamona."

Morgana:" It's Morgana" the cat said with a very crossed look, Ren sweatdropped and feared for Sakamoto's life.

Ryuji:" Do you know where these screams are comin' from…?"

Ren:" Well, they are probably coming from the underground dungeon, the one we've been before Sakamoto." Ren told Ryuji of his findings earlier.

Morgana:" Just like Ren-dono said. You want me to take you to them?... Well, I guess I could guide you down there Ryuji, But only if Ren-dono comes with us, he's a real powerhouse, and there is safety in numbers."

Ren:" Why me?" Ren said as he crouched down, and started petting the cat, He had already a clue of why Morgana wanted him to tag along.

Morgana:" Nya~ I want to get a better look at your powers, and even if you don't agree to go with us, Ryuji will still go alone, Are you going to leave him?"

Ren stood up and gave both a confident look.

Ren:" I never said that I wasn't going to go, I just wanted to hear more of your reasoning."

Morgana:" It's decided!" Morgana jumped in excitement.

Ryuji:" Truly? Thanks, Ren." The gratitude coming from the bleached-haired boy was heartfelt, Ren smiled to Ryuji, it seemed like they were becoming fast friends.

+1 Charm

Allure 46/250

And so, unconsciously, Ren had been put as the leader, even if they did not know it yet, both were now a tiny bit dependent on Ren's orders, mannerisms, and mood. It was just the side-effect of his charm at play.

Morgana:" All right, let's do this, Follow me!" Morgana, still excited, spoke to them.

Take your Time

20XX/04/12~3:04 PM

MLIT, Tokyo.

Newscaster: "In other news, there is a decent probability that Fujii Ikki, the minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, is involved in the accident on Sunday that killed more than 70 people, investigations are ramping up and it is possible that he will be facing charges, very soon…

An old man was in an office, looked at some papers, as well as some envelopes sent to him, from the window sounds of the transit was heard as people went on their way, he was looking at the news with a grim, indignant, and angry face.

Female Newscaster:" We've seen reports that his family is receiving death threats, is this true, Imoshima-san?"

Newscaster:" Yes, but is it really that bad? The families affected suffered so much Takashira-san, And the minister is still sitting on his job, receiving just how much corrupt money? Of course, the Railway Bureau seems to be just as responsible for the accident..."

The old man bashed the off power on the newscast, his rage was such that he was about to pop a vein.

When the accident happened, he thought it was a hoax at first, that it didn't happen, yet footage was plenty on the internet, he couldn't deny, at second he thought it wasn't a big deal, yet people actually thought that 80 deaths were a big deal, pff... they were wrong, how many people die worldwide, how many people die of wars and sickness, it was just a little accident…

And, it wasn't his fault, it was the engineers fault that didn't relate the problem well enough, what if there was just a little point of failure in the tracks, it's not that they needed to put precious resources fixing every damn scratch on the train tracks, it wasn't his fault, not one bit.

Now he faced death threats, and incrimination from the law and enforcement, his life would be ruined in a couple of months, he had to pay for the best lawyers to get out of this, perhaps with the money he laundered, it might be possible to avoid the charges.

He scratched his head, his white hair, he looked at the window... this man was the minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Fujii Ikki, he was the one responsible for the deaths of more than 80 people in the accident, because site inspectors reported the problem with the tracks and the ATC six months earlier, and he did nothing, it was his fault not spending a little money fixing the problem, instead, just putting public money on his pockets, now he was public enemy number 1.

Ikki:" Damn it all to fucking hell." He said in silent rage, even if it was his fault, the people dead probably deserved it, to be frank, they just spent public money for Transport, why didn't they save money to buy a car instead, if they had, they wouldn't be in this accident and no one would have died, it was their fault, not his, and they deserved what was coming to them. It was not his fault!

—Fujii Ikki, minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, corrupt politician, and a textbook narcissist.

Take your Time

20XX/04/12~3:00 PM

Kamoshida's Castle.

To the side of the doors, there was a graded entrance, without the metal door, it was the same way they escaped yesterday.

Ren thought the entrance was a bit high up for someone like Ryuji to jump to.

Morgana:" This is our infiltration point, Ren."

Ryuji:" Ain't that the way we escaped last time Morgana?"

Morgana:" That's right. Not barging through the main entrance is one of the basics of phantom thievery."

There was the buzzword again, thief, was he supposed to become what his Persona represented, a gentleman thief? What was he stealing then? It made Ren almost chuckle, but he conceded that stealth was an absolute must.

Ryuji:" How are we supposed to know about this stuff…?"

Ren:" Yeah, we don't want to run into more enemies than we can handle Ryuji, stealth will be necessary here."

Morgana, like a shadow, jumped to the barrel on the side and almost instantly jumped to the entrance and faced them on the vantage point, Ren had to almost applaud the speed and dexterity that the cat had, a normal human wouldn't even be able to react, that's how fast Morgana's jumps were, yet Ren didn't stand there in awe because he knew he could perform the same feat, or even better than Morgana.

Morgana:" I'll make sure to teach you guys as we go. Come on, Follow me!" Morgana jumped inside, as Ren with even greater speed reached the vantage point, with grace and precision he got on the ledge, he held a hand to Ryuji as he doubted Ryuji could make it up there with a normal human's strength, Ryuji smiled at Ren's consideration and jumped to reach the red-gloved hand, Ren grasped and pulled the 60 kg boy up without any effort. This was superhuman strength…

When he was pulling Ryuji smiled.

Ryuji:" Sorry for dragging you into this… Ren. But I just cannot forgive that bastard Kamoshida doin' whatever the hell he wants! Really though, thanks for coming along, I owe you big time Ren!"

Ren smiled.

Ren:" I remember me dragging you here, don't worry, I'm deadly curious about this too… " Ren and Ryuji jumped inside of the castle, reaching the room they escaped from.

Take your Time

Old Castle, Central Hall.

Ryuji looked around the old room and sighed.

Ryuji:" Man, this place is creepy as always"

Morgana:" Mm-hm, Now, make sure you do exactly as I say, all right?... Follow me!"

They went through a corridor and some double doors and arrived at the main entrance hall.

Ren:" That art is seriously in bad taste..." Ren said under his breath as he looked at the different nude paintings of the 'glorious Kamoshida' going to battle, at least the ones with the armor he didn't have to look at his disgusting penis and pubic hair. This was seriously gross, both Morgana and Ryuji were of the same mind with Ren.

Ryuji:" Hey… We went by here when we came in the front, yesterday..." the scenery shifted to an image of the school front hall, giving them another reason to believe that this was the school.

Ryuji:" What the…?! I was seein' double or something just now…! Was that Shujin?!" he was apprehensive about the whole illusion thing.

Ren:" You aren't seeing things Ryuji; I saw the school too."

Morgana:" I've told you before. This place is your school. Regardless, we just do not want to stick around in such an open area. Who knows when a Shadow might pop up."

Morgana faced the corridor to the dungeons on the other side of the entrance hall.

Morgana:" Come on, this way!"

Fast and silent they ran towards the dungeons of the extremely creepy castle.

Take your Time

Finally they arrived on the stone spiral staircase, they went down, and arrived on a solid dirt path, with an underground river passing through, the lighting came from metal bowls suspended by chains, and on top there were these metal candles, it was something not seen in the real world, and the lightning provided by that was shoddy at best, it was very dark, but now Ren could see that the whole dungeon was supported by wooden pillars and beams and that the walls were pure brick stones.

The dirt was wet from the humidity as they traveled the path, there was a solid metal grade blocking the entire room, like a wall, it even extended to the river, thankfully the path had a door-sized opening for them, after all it would be best not to make a noise, yet after that door opening, on the dirt path there was a patrolling guard.

Ren and the two others hid behind a crate, with Ryuji behind, grasping Ren's shoulders in a bit of fear.

Morgana:" Darn… I had a feeling there would be guards here… "

Ren:" There will be no way to avoid conflict moving forward..."

Ryuji:" Are you serious Ren?" Ryuji asked and Ren nodded grimly, he still remembered the fights the day before, it was so jarring, and it took a toll on his mind as he remembered the slickness of blood in his blade and arm.

Morgana:" Yeah, Ren-dono is right… Oh well, I'll be just teaching you the basics of battling Shadows, you better remember all of this Ren-dono. As a rule of thumb, ambushing them from behind is the surefire way to deal with them quickly and silently."

Stealth was the way to go, Ren also thought this was the best alternative, he was strangely excited, the aura of his persona, Arsene, was rumbling in anticipation.

Morgana:" See those masks that they use? You need to rip those so as to momentarily break the control and monitoring that the palace ruler has over the Shadow... if that succeeds, then the palace won't be alerted and I can jump in for another strike, and you follow it up"

Ryuji:" Ren, you are really doing this?" Ryuji pressed his hands firmly on Ren's shoulder as he asked.

Ren:" Yeah… it is what needs to be done" Ryuji released the hold on the shoulder as the boy calmed his nerves, Ren had the courage to move forward, and he stepped up when the patrol turned around.

+3 Guts

Valiant 23/50

Ryuji:" Ren… ambush 'em and go for the first strike to win, you got this! I don't have that Persona thing, so I'll leave the fighting to you!"

Morgana:" Yeah, let's do this Ren-dono!" Ren nodded, closed his eyes and breathed, from this point on, his life and the life of others would be in his hands, this was the responsibility of being a leader, he curbed his anxiety for now, but it would surely return later on.

Ren saw the guard with his back on them, and closed the distance in an instant, jumping on the guards shoulder and ripping off the mask off, it was the same sensation of peeling the hardest band aid off the stickiest gum, it was like he was ripping the face of a person, as blood pooled on the ground, the guard turned into the Jack O' Lantern that he fought before.

ENEMIES

1x Jack O' Lantern — weakness — ? strengths — ?

Morgana:" Now it's our chance to strike! Go!" The cat rushed forward, his Persona emerged from behind, ready to pierce the little pumpkin, but before Morgana could hit, Ren opened his palm as a blue flame expanded, revealing his dagger went rushing from the creature's side with a slash that ripped off half the pumpkin's skull, spraying blood all around.

To finish off Zorro infused wind on his blade and slashed the pumpkin in a wind tornado that shredded the enemy's body, Morgana getting the finisher off.

It was a fast battle, with no injuries, and Ren did not even need to summon Arsene to do battle.

Morgana

-3 SP

SP:139/142

Morgana:" Mhm, that was great teamwork!"

Ren:" Yeah." Ren's mind replayed that jarring feeling when he slashed the enemy as blood poured out, and he found that he was starting to feel a bit numb to all the gore. This just was not good for his mental health or his developing moral code.

He felt strange happiness that he did not trip or stumble when the combat started, what luck, he had it when it counted, when it was most needed he could step up to the challenge, it eased his fears and lowered his combat inexperience, next time he would be more confident in his abilities.

Reward

+596 ¥

+16 Exp

Ren — Level 4 — Total Exp — 142 — Next level — 86 xp

Arsene — Fool — Level 2 — Next Level — 4 xp

Ren:" Well, that was that, now..."

They talked a bit while investigating the cells on the side, they were near the second bridge they passed yesterday, so Ren felt a bit suspicious, there was one cell that nogged his mind, and his genius mind instantly figured what was out of place.

Ren:" Hey, Ryuji, wasn't there a person wearing a volleyball outfit in this cell yesterday?"

Ryuji:" Now that you mention it, the kid's not there anymore, was it possible they moved him?"

Ren:" Morgana, did they..."

Morgana:" Moved him to torture him, it is very likely."

Ren looked a bit irritated and Ryuji looked pale, the differences in reactions was because Ren was in the initial stages of becoming numb to the cruelty that was happening in this place, mostly because the fights were so dark and bloody, they were fucking with his head.

Passing the bridge, Ryuji also became a bit nervous, there was nobody there, he even voiced this.

Ryuji:" Why ain't anyone here…? That cell Ren pointed out, and now these other cells… Where is everyone?" Ryuji investigated the cells after the bridge, and all of them were also empty.

Ryuji:" Damn, did they take everyone to torture them?!"

Morgana:" Quiet down!" Ryuji's voice was a bit loud so Morgana had to quickly silence him with a harsh whisper.

Ryuji:" But...Oh yeah, there were more of them further down too!" Ryuji went in forward without them, rushing downstairs, Morgana turned to Ren.

Morgana:" They definitely look like they've been transferred, Ren-dono."

Ren nodded, he put a hand on his face as he thought for a bit, then Ryuji came rushing back while huffing.

Ryuji:" Crap, I can hear footsteps comin'! Lots of 'em" he reported that there were a ton of soldiers coming to patrol this area, both Morgana and Ren heard the footsteps of metal on the floor, from the armor they used.

Morgana:" There's going to be a problem if they discovered us now… Being overwhelmed is bad, really bad!"

Morgana walked towards a door to the side and Ren followed, Ryuji caught up to them.

Morgana:" Hey, let's head into this room, we should be able to hide in there until they leave."

Take your Time

It was a medium sized room with a cabinet, wooden chairs without back support, a wooden bed and a table with some assortments, the place still had that medieval dark look, the place was also illuminated by a fire suspended by a metal bowl with chains hanging from the ceiling, so it gave them a somewhat decent, but still dark lighting.

Morgana:" The Shadows probably won't come in here." the little cat creature jumped on top of the table.

Ryuji:" *gasp* *pant* How can you tell Morgana?"

Morgana smiled.

Morgana:" There's a lack of distortion here, meaning Kamoshida's control over this area is weak."

Ren now felt what Morgana was talking about.

The room shifted, the floor became modern wood grain, the wall had a nice window, the wall had a chalkboard, the teacher's table was there, there were posters and announcements for the school, yet the fire chandelier and the medieval table and furniture was still there.

Ryuji:" Is this room a classroom in real life?"

Morgana:" Now you understand? This place is a reality put on top of the real thing, it is a reality that the ruler of this place, Kamoshida, projects."

Ren:" However, that shift, it still wasn't the real world, now that I think about it"

Morgana:" Huh?"

Ren noticed something that even Morgana had not, it was the perception of a genius mind.

Ren:" The walls had posters and calendars that were pretty dated, and the calendars showed to be from two years ago, it's either an abandoned classroom or this is still Kamoshida's imagination, his imagination is a bit faulty so he relies on memory to create this place..."

Morgana:" Y—Yeah, you are right." Morgana hadn't thought too much on how imagination and memory affect the palaces so having someone so competent like Ren pointing that out as new and a bit pleasant for the little cat, it meant that he wasn't stupid like Ryuji and could follow up with his instructions, Ren was truly something else.

Ren:" ...Furthermore, using imagination as a tool I can see why he chooses the school; it is a place that he is completely familiar with to build something like this." Ren pointed to the castle walls as the room returned to the medieval setting.

+10 Knowledge

Genius 24/250

Ryuji:" W—Whoa… well with you explaining Ren, I guess I can kind of follow up"

Morgana:" R—Ren-dono, you are really smart, it's kind of scary that you can follow cues and make your own assumptions that fast." Morgana praised him, and he could only offer a smile and a bit of blush for being put to such a high standard, of course, he now knew that his intelligence had been artificially raised, just like a game for performing and saying the right things. The blame fell on the power of the wild card thingy that Igor and the twins kept talking about.

Ryuji:" Kamoshida's reality huh?" The bleached-haired boy looked around, he narrowed his eyes and faced both the cat and his new tentative friend Ren.

Ryuji:" The reasoning behind it is sound but this still doesn't make sense..."

Morgana:" One could say it's a world in which one's evil desires have materialized. I call such a place a 'Palace'"

Ryuji:" A palace...?" Ryuji faced the cat.

Morgana:" This is happening because he thinks the school is his own castle."

Ryuji:" So this just happened because he thought of it that way, Hahaha… This is a load of bullshit!"

Ryuji: "Hey cat I got that from Ren's explanations, he's a better teacher than you by the way... what I don't get is why this shit's happening? how the fuck does this fantasy shit happen in our world, what is the scientific explanation for this crap? Making worlds of evil desires, and we, with the ability to enter them, how does that happen?"

Ren looked to the side, deep in thought, Morgana offered no explanation.

Ren:" Sakamoto-san are you an atheist?" Ren turned to Ryuji and smiled.

Ryuji:" H—Huh? Y-yeah?"

Ren:" What a coincidence, I am too… when humanity can't explain something scientifically, then our only choice is to believe that God is the reason for all of this, it's just basic history on faith." Ren pointed out with a big mocking smirk.

Morgana and Ryuji stared dumbfounded at Ren's answer, to trust that a benevolent God birthed these evil palaces?

Ren:" We will... 'believe' that God did this, until we have more information and evidence about these places, this 'metaverse', only then we can try to explain it with science… That's how it's been done for ages after all."

Ryuji and Morgana nodded, it seems like a good plan to follow, Ren looked up, of course, nobody here believed in God, but it would be easier for them to have one thing to default to, than go blind, confused and stressed out, it was the smartest move in his opinion, and he wasn't sorry in the slightest to all believers in the real world for insulting them.

+4 Charm

+4 Guts

+3 Knowledge

Allure 50/250

Valiant 27/50

Genius 27/250

Morgana:" Anyway, Ryuji, the way that you've been speaking, you must really hate this Kamoshida guy, well I hate him too, he tortured me for weeks" Morgana looked down, his eyes filled with rage for the pompous king.

Ryuji:" Heh, hate doesn't even cover half of it, everything is that son of a bitch's fault!"

Morgana turned around and had a more serious and solemn look.

Morgana:" I don't know what's happened between you both... but don't let your emotions get the better of you this castle is full of his lackeys, and that guy is definitely going to use every emotional thing against you... listen, a calm and cool mind will win us most battles."

Ryuji:' Calm and Cool mind? That's gonna be hard as fuck in the face of that asshole'

Morgana:" Hey, Ren are you curious about your outfit?"

Ryuji:" Yeah, that's right, I'm curious as hell about it too."

Morgana:" That's also because of this world."

Ryuji:" More stuff that doesn't make sense, huh...?"

Morgana:" Anything will distort according to the ruler's will inside of his palace, in order to prevent being distorted, one must have a strong will rebellion, of wanting change, your current appearance is a manifestation of that will, it's how you see a rebel in your mind."

Ren:" So I became a 20th-century gentleman thief? I look like Arsene Lupin or a dark version of Kaitou Kid."

Ryuji:" Wait, is that a reference to something?"

Ren:" Nothing, just an anime I saw when I was a kid, it had this exact type of look. Well, I also read Arsene's book recently."

Ryuji:" Uuuugh! This is a pain in the ass! In fact, forget his outfit, I'm more curious about you! what the hell are you anyway?!"

Morgana:" I'm a human — an honest-to-god human!"

Both stared in wonder at the monster cat.

Ryuji:" No you're obviously more like a cat! No matter where you look at it."

Ren just looked at the discussion, not daring to say that Morgana was probably a cat, that he agreed with Ryuji on this.

Morgana:" This is, well… it's because I lost my true form… Probably."

Ryuji:" Probably?!" the blonde was in disbelief.

Morgana:" But, but, but! I DO know how to regain my true form! Really, the reason I snuck into this palace was for an initial investigation of those means to return my body, trust me on this, I'm human!"

Morgana:" In regard to the infiltration to find clues for my body, well I ended up getting caught..." He looked a bit sad saying that, Ren comforted the cat a little, the little thing was tortured by the castle's Ruler... Kamoshida Suguru.

+5 Kindness

Empathetic 20/50

Nobody liked being in the receiving end of torture, though some people still deserved it, it was the opinion of Ren's slowly crumbling mental health, unfortunately by staying long in this grim place, the stress and indignation was starting to affect Ryuji as well, noted by Ryuji glaring at the ground in anger at the supposed P.E Teacher, this was perhaps the start of their descent.

Morgana nodded Ren, as for Morgana, the monster cat had no real human values or morals learned in society already, it lived by its own rule.

Morgana:" ...I've been tortured by Kamoshida as well, I'll definitely make the bastard pay!"

Ryuji:" What is this? This all seems like a crazy manga plotline to me… Damn..."

Ryuji turned to Ren and they started discussing some things, Morgana went to check the door to see if the guards were still swarming the place.

Morgana walked back with an easy smirk.

Morgana:" If we're going down further we should hurry, things have calmed down outside. Hey Ren, I'll be counting on your skills to back me up on future fights, is that okay?"

Ren responded with a nod, his eyes already were numb from the gore, he could hold on further. He still worried that he was going to find easy sticking a knife in someone's throat even if they were shadows, they bled copious amounts of blood, it was jarring and bad that he was participating in something like this, he was still 16, yet he had to shoulder on all of this, what he was doing felt mighty important, he didn't know why that was… Just his gut instinct, and abandoning Morgana and letting Ryuji down was in bad form.

Ryuji: "Hey, Ren, I didn't want to force al the fighting to you, and Morgana helping you is very appreciated, but as I thought, I don't like feeling useless, yesterday I agonized all over, and I brought you here somethings to help." he said with a cheery smirking tone.

Ryuji fished something out of his pocket, it was a piece of metal, shaped like a gun, it had the look of a gun, it had the feel of a gun, and it was an honest-to-god pistol.

Ren:' Wha...'

Ren rebooted his mind, Ryuji couldn't possibly know dealers that sold guns, Japan prohibited gun trade, it was simply not allowed to possess any type of gun, you could only see them in the hidden drawers of some yakuza members or in the hidden closets of some foreign crime syndicate, Ren doubted most policemen carried a piece with them these days, it was all baton, and pepper sprays.

The Japanese police were truly fodders in Ren's mind.

—This was all being processed in Ren's mind in a decimal of a second, observing the gun one more time Ren saw that it was fake, all of it was processed in the time it took to blink, Ren relaxed as Ryuji wasn't involved in some more obscure dredges of society… Nobody deserved to deal with those people.

+2 Knowledge

Genius 29/250

Ryuji: "I brought this just in case! It's a model gun though so it only makes this really loud sound."

Morgana: "It's a TOY!" the cat said surprised and a bit annoyed.

Ren: 'So Morgana doesn't know Japanese laws, this cat's mystery's getting more exciting by the minute'

Ren with little information predicted that the cat had no experience in the outside world, and perhaps even had some form of amnesia, the mystery continued to escalate

Ryuji: "But it looks totally real. So, it'll at least fake 'em out." he said, staring Morgana down with a playful smirk.

Ryuji: "I brought some medicine too, for infections, swelling, bleeding… You know what they say:' providing is pre… something' What do you think?'" Ryuji said with a seller's look.

Ren: 'Medicine in fights, how does that work? It's not some healing potion from a video game.'

Ren: "Ryuji, as expected you are a good guy..."

Ryuji got into an emotional 'moe look', he grasped Ren's hands and a few tears came out as Ryuji talked about how understanding Ren was. Ren only smiled wryly.

Morgana: "So you were planning this from the start… You wanted to come back here, that's why you prepared beforehand, gotta hand it to you Ryuji..."

Ryuji put his hand on the back of his neck with a smile and a bit of a flustered face as he received the compliment.

Ren: 'Honestly...'

Morgana: "Well, fine. If you are ready to go, we'll resume our little infiltration."

Ren walked towards Ryuji and picked up the plastic model gun, a few blue flames enveloped it, and it disappeared, it felt like he stored it somewhere, just like his knife, and Morgana too, the cat stored the cutlass in someplace that was not seen.

GOT

1xHandgun

1xMedicine

As always Ren did not hear the announcement, this was only recorded and seen in the compendium of the wild card, it was not like he had a game interface, and thus he couldn't see his real-time growth and other information, that was a bummer, but he lived his life normally, he did not need a game interface dictating every time he made some sort of progress.

Morgana: "Hm, it's possible there are still soldiers wandering around and doing their patrols outside, perhaps we should use this time to sort through our current situation" Both Ren and Ryuji sat on the wooden chairs, Ren took out a tiny black notebook, crossing his legs, he filled the notes with convenient lies that would never get exposed, this was the monthly thing Sojiro-san, his handler wanted Ren to fill with his daily activities.

Morgana looked at both while they waited to sort things out.

Morgana:" Things will probably get more complicated…" the cat said with a not happy look at their situation, both nodded at its words.

Ryuji:" ...Damn, where'd those guys that were locked up disappear" the boy muttered to himself, however, Morgana heard him.

Morgana:" They must be deeper in the dungeon; this place is absolutely massive in scale"

Ryuji:" But why do that? Why transport regular students? To torture them. For what?" he continued to mutter.

Morgana:" Hrm, I don't know…"

Ren was also paying attention and did not know the need to torture them, but he could guess a valid and creepy reason why, and his hatred toward the king increased a bit further.

Morgana:" But those shadows sometimes mutter information, some of it might be useful, though we won't know the reason until we find those who were locked up..."

Ryuji:" Dammit… I have a feeling I won't like the answer, and that bothers me to no end."

The trio discussed some more things and sorted things out, Ren finally closed the black notebook and stood up, and at attention both followed him to the exit of the safe room.

Morgana:" There should still be some guards outside, Let's take note of that and make our move."

It would be great if they found more of these places, they could rest and not have so much tension on their shoulders as they crawled through this underground dungeon.

Take your Time

Soldier #1:" ...though, heard… something… enemy...moving...thought wrong?!"

Ren could not hear all the things the soldier was murmuring so far away to the group of knights.

Soldier #2:" ...Slaves...?"

Soldier #3:" Training Hall… screaming… pain… haha…"

Soldier #1:" ...Very Well… Intruders… careful… stay on your guard..."

Ren took his ear off the door, as the footsteps dispersed, the soldiers were gone.

He couldn't hear most of what they were speaking, but the important part was the training hall, it was where the prisoners were presumably taken, he had a mounting hypothesis that he wholeheartedly didn't like about the situation, but he needed to reserve himself.

The fact remains, the soldiers already knew of an intruder, they had to be cautious from now on.

Morgana:" Did you hear that?"

The door opened and the trio walked out of the safe room, to the cobblestone dungeon with a high ceiling, wooden beams for support and plenty of barrels and boxes.

Ryuji:" The door was thick, I couldn't hear them very well, damn"

Ren:" Don't worry, they said something about a training hall, further down."

Morgana:" Yeah, it's just a little further ahead I think, Let's go!"

Ren looked towards the bridge from where they came from, before descending, his eyes were calculative as he spotted a glint of metal walking there.

Ren:" Wait, there's an enemy behind us."

Morgana who failed to notice turned around and saw an enemy patrolling on the other side of the bridge they came from, it was a mistake, Ren had one-upped him even though he was new, he had to congratulate him, his raw talent for this was unreal.

Ren:" It's best if we dispose of him now, as he is blocking our exit to the castle's floor, we don't know if there's an exit on the training hall, better be safe than sorry."

Both Ryuji and Morgana nodded to that logic.

Ren:" Ryuji hide on those boxes before the bridge, Morgana and I will sneak and deal with him on the other side, stay vigilant."

Take your Time

Ryuji was safely watching both of them as Morgana climbed the support beams and was anchored on the metal chandelier bowl, Ren took a different approach, he jumped off the bridge, and with Arsene's phantom claw-like fingers, he dug on the underside of the bridge, he quickly climbed to the other side, and was staying low, as the violent river below coursed.

When the shadow turned its back, Ren climbed up the stone wall on the side of the river and from below vaulted over the shadow, ripping off its mask. They had successfully ambushed the shadow.

From its bloody remains, two weird plant-like creatures spawned, they had a flower over their heads, it was strange.

ENEMIES

2x Mandragora — weakness — ? strengths — ?

This time Ren summoned its persona and blasted off the first Mandragora with an Eiha, Morgana followed with a Garu, but it was not enough to kill the first one, even after both spells hit it full force.

Ren

SP:172/176

Morgana

SP:136/142

While the first was recovering, the second went to attack, it lunged full force with both its legs at Ren, He raised his arms to block it, but the attack left a bad bruise on his left arm, the bone was sprained.

-40 HP

Ren

HP:271/311

However, what the second Mandragora forgot was someone called Arsene, it was a ghost-like marionette moved by Ren's will, it grabbed the Mandragora's head with its talon-like hands and cursed it with Eiha like its friend, and for good measure, Ren stabbed the thing on the neck, the knife appearing on his hand from a blue flame, Ren twisted the knife as it fell on the ground.

Ren: 'The consistency, it felt like I was stabbing at tree bark, this thing is a plant, but the blood, why there is so much blood pooling on the floor… leaking out of these things…'

The first Mandragora recovered from the wind, and being cursed, it was in its last legs, the second was already dead, it lunged to attack Ren, the boy in question, gave the thing a hard, disgusted look, as he massaged the wound on his arm.

But this time Zorro, Morgana's persona, came into play, his massive rapier stabbed the thing in the head, one, two, three times, in fast succession as blood spurted from its back, the plant-like monster finally died as the body convulsed from its neck and was hurt by the curse and the wind wounds.

Reward

+7596 ¥

+56 Exp

Ren — Level 4 — Total Exp — 198 — Next level — 36 xp

Morgana — Level 3

REN's PERSONAS

Arsene — Fool — Level 3 — Next Level — 90 xp

STATS

Strength — 17

Magic —22

Endurance —16

Agility — 21

Luck— 14

After finishing the battle, Ren crouched down as he handled the wound in his arm.

Ren:" Damn, this hurts like hell"

Morgana:" If it hurts it isn't showing on your face, Ren-dono, but well, if we are to continue then getting hurt like this will be common occurrence"

Ren:" Yeah, these shadows are dangerous, no two ways about it, these ones had a lunge attack with their legs that looked like spikes, and their body was hard as a tree, the fact they didn't blow my arm off, that I got out of it with a sprained arm, is lucky"

Morgana:" Yeah… Those things can easily destroy concrete with their attacks, I cannot commend your endurance enough Ren-dono, but I can't leave you hurt like this, you should thank this magnanimous being for helping you..." Morgana approached him and used Dia, it was a healing skill.

Ren

HP:311/316

Morgana

SP:133/150

He was instantly healed and felt fine, he moved his arm up and down, and smiled at Morgana, the cat grinned.

Ren:" Thanks, Morgana." Ren put a hand over Morgana's head and caressed it ignoring the cat's protests.

Take Your Time

They passed the bridge again to go further in deep and met with Ryuji again, Ren told what happened in the fight, in charismatic and graphic detail, it settled in their minds an anxiety of what they were doing as a whole, yet their duty pressed both boys on, they had to see what was happening in this weird place, morals be damned, if these shadows crossed their way… Killing them was the only option.

Ryuji:" Down there, there is another guard, knight, thingy" He pointed downstairs, there was no choice.

Ren: "To get to the training hall we must go in deeper in this dungeon, there is no other way."

Morgana:" Yeah, Ren-dono, try not to get hurt on the next fight, its a challenge." the cat grinned.

Ren:" Alright, alright, I accept your challenge."

Ren:' Blocking them right now is a no-go, maybe I should try to dodge.'

When the guard turned their back, Ren rushed downstairs faster than a car, yet silent as a cat, and vaulted over, ripped the mask and before he could land pierced its face before it could transform.

ENEMIES

2x Jack'O Lantern — weakness — Wind, ? strengths — ?

Ren grabbed one with his Persona and burned its life away with his curse, this time Ren didn't let go and cleaved his opponent, the cleave used a bit of health, but he felt it recovering naturally, as for his enemy it was a bloody corpse, bisected down the middle, Ren took a deep breath, he was just a sixteen year old.

Morgana followed up with a wind attack and it completely obliterated the other Pumpkin monster as it was weak to wind attacks, this time the blood sprayed near Ren, yet the bodies disappeared like always.

Reward

+3600 ¥

+20 Exp

Ren grouped with the others as they discussed the palace, and its security system, it was best to remain unseen and attack by surprise, Ren also discussed with them about how much money he had been receiving with these fights, both Morgana and Ryuji were pretty happy about the rewards from the fight, Ren was also content, but it was still a lot of money for every fight and it was a bit strange, even after the twins had explained it to him.

They had explored a bit and found a metal gate, going down even further, Ren pulled down the lever and the gate opened, leading to a more obscure dungeon, with dark purple torches, barely illuminating the way.

Ryuji:" The trainin' hall is just up ahead, right?"

Morgana:" Yeah, it's a little further ahead, I think, you watch out for any guards along the way, understand?"

Rushing ahead, Ren went down a set of stairs, just as he was about to turn on the corner, he crouched behind boxes, Morgana seeing this climbed up his shoulder to see there were two guards on the hallway where Ren was about to turn.

Again, Morgana was impressed by Ren's talent for sneaking around and detecting enemies.

Morgana:" Mhmm, I had a feeling there would be a lot of enemies. It'd be impossible to dodge all of them…"

Ryuji:" Then, what do we do? Should we try and take 'em out like before?"

Morgana:" It's not that easy to kill shadows, we still have a long way down, so we should be looking at options to conserve our energy."

Ryuji:" I—I see… Sorry… "

Ren: "There is nothing to apologize for Sakamoto-san, you are just bringing options to the table."

Ryuji:" Yeah, I know Ren, but damn, I wish I could fight like you guys, at least I'd able to help out a little bit… But all I've got was that toy earlier, I'm such a loser." Ren comforted the boy a little, Ryuji was not useless like he was saying, Ren knew that.

Morgana:" That model gun, huh?"

Ryuji:" Yeah… it looks real and all, but it doesn't shoot anything, and if you look closely its made out of plastic..."

Morgana's eyes lit up like two twinkling stars, and Ren saw the smuggest face ever.

Morgana:" I see… Well, there is a way… "

Morgana:" Okay, we'll use that to kill them"

Ryuji: "Weren't you listening to me? It doesn't shoot bullets..."

Morgana: "Don't worry, I'm sure this will work, Attack them away Ren-dono"

Ren was staring at them both as if trying to reach a conclusion.

Ren: "...I see We'll be using Kamoshida's distortion against him"

Morgana: "W-woah, you are scary smart Ren-dono"

Ren: "Well, leave it to me!" Ren summoned the handgun on his hand with blue fire, however instead of the plastic feel was a metal feeling in his hand, Ren took a good look at the gun and sweat rolled down his cheek, he was a bit anxious, the gun felt real this time.

Ryuji: "Wait, dude! I keep saying it won't fire anything!"

Morgana:" You're holding your gun right?" Ren nodded.

Morgana:" Then after removing the mask, point at the shadows and shoot!"

Ren confirmed removed himself from cover at incredible speeds, ripping one's mask and throwing his knife at the other one, the battle started as they morphed into the shadows.

ENEMIES

1x Mandragora — weakness — ? strengths — ?

1x Pixie — weakness — ? strengths — ?

Ren:'...Just point at them and shoot...'

Ren extended his arm, his hands in a holding position as the gun materialized in blue flames, he shot at the pixie with wings, his hunch told him that flying enemies would be weak against his gun. And that held true, the little flying thing took a bullet to the head and fell down dead, blood spurting from its forehead, this time he felt really sick, the pixie had a human face, and it cried out in pain, this was harsh.

The Mandragora lunged for a kick, however Ren was better prepared this time, he avoided the kick at the last second, as Arsene materialized behind him in the air. Arsene at his behest grabbed the Mandragora by its legs and cleaved it twice, this was no turn based game, who attacked first, who attacked faster, who had the better strategy won.

+5 Proficiency

Skilled 33/50

Morgana:" W—Whoa, I didn't have to do anything, as expected of Ren-dono"

Ryuji:" Whoa, that was cool!"

Morgana came and healed him, the cleave skill took a percentage of his life after all.

Morgana

SP:133/150

Reward

+3450 ¥

+18 Exp

Morgana:" How about that?! Were you surprised? Be mindful of how many bullets you have left though; they are not infinite on the same guy, they will expect you to come guns loaded though, since this is a cognitive world."

Ren:' Cognitive world…?' Ren's genius mind was already deciphering what the cat said, and reached an insightful conclusion, Ren looked at his red glove, he shot a real bullet, he could still feel a little buzz from it, he didn't know how to feel really.

+2 Knowledge

Genius 31/250

Ryuji: "Woah, did that toy really just shoot real bullets?!"

Morgana:" This is a cognitive world, as long as our opponent sees it as real, the handgun will become real, it was a good thing it was realistic-looking"

Ryuji:"...I don't get it."

Morgana:" I wasn't expecting someone with your brains to understand Ryuji" the cat mocked with a big grin, Ren released a silent sigh.

Morgana:" Well, obviously Ren-dono got what I said!"

Ren:" Yeah, but Morgana, there are another half of explanations for the gun turning real, it isn't just because of 'cognition' alone, the enemy's fear isn't just enough..."

Morgana:" W—Well when you say it like that..."

Ryuji:" Ha! Get wrecked cat!" Morgana jumped about and started insulting Ryuji while the blonde did the same.

Ren:" Hey, Morgana, from here on out we need to be better organized, we need to divide our roles in battle from here on out..."

Morgana:" Yeah, as you can see Ren-dono, there are quite a lot of enemies, it'll be important to coordinate our attacks and moves well, there are still some things left to explain, but you should decide on how we'll fight Ren-dono"

What followed was a quick discussion about their tactics, they decided on a snappy, quick to kill strategy that used the momentum of their first strike to not let the enemy even see them coming.

Take Your Time

They continued down the corridors, fighting a lot of enemies.

ENEMIES

3x Mandragora — weakness — ? strengths — ?

2x Pixie — weakness — Gun, Curse, ? strengths — ?

Well, they gained a lot of money from those fights.

Reward

+12780 ¥

+98 Exp

Ren — Level 5 — Total Exp — 240 — Next level — 247 xp

Arsene — Fool — Level 4 — Next Level — 260 xp

Morgana — Level 4

Finally, they rested on the wall to recover their wounds, there were a lot of shallow cuts all over them from the last battle, and before they turned to the corridor leading to the door, there was another enemy waiting.

Morgana:" There is a guard there blocking the door, that's the way towards the training hall, I'm sure of it"

Ryuji:" You guys gonna take it down again?"

Morgana:" I guess we have no other choice… But wait, this might be a good time… OK, I have decided! I'm going to teach you guys a special way to fight the enemies!"

Ren:" Is it a new technique?"

Morgana:" Something like that! Let us go!"

A knife shot through the dark right at the mask of the soldier, the shadow this time was a lone pixie.

ENEMIES

1x Pixie — weakness — Gun, Curse, ? strengths —?

Morgana:" Now this is just fantastic. Listen, there's a distinct flow to battles, let me show you, after all, seeing is… something? First, we need to knock down all enemies using their weakness, everything starts at that crucial step!"

Ren looked at the pixie as it was preparing to attack, and a wave of curse came from above, that's where Arsene was hiding, blending on the walls like a ghost, Ren was a total deviant when it came to combat.

Hit by its weakness, the Pixie fell.

Morgana:" Yes, now time for a rush, an all-out-attack"

Ren:' All-out-attack...'

Morgana crossed its arms with a star for eyes and a malignant grin, Ren adjusted his red gloves, with a smirk on his face.

The lone pixie did not even see it coming, two bodies rushing her at max speeds with blades in hands.

Death in their eyes.

Her body was cut in multiple places as the assault did not relent, Morgana took her arm off with a slash, and finally a shadow went straight for her neck. Her head flew off, she was dead.

Ren landed and adjusted his gloves as the blood spurted from the warm headless body behind him, the head bounced off the walls like a soccer ball without air inside.

Ren:' The show's over.' His eyes briefly turned red, and back to grey, this was bad, he was starting to like fighting these monsters, though he could do without any of this.

Reward

+780 ¥

+6 Exp

Morgana:" Mm, that went really well! You are really cut out for this"

Ryuji:" W—Whoa, that was definitely fast, after she dropped to the ground, the only thing I saw was its head and arm flying off..."

Morgana:" It's called an all-out-attack. If we manage to knock out all enemies while using their weaknesses we can go for the kill, essentially you're beating down on enemies that are too damaged to fight back."

Ryuji:" Yeah, that was over quick."

Morgana:" Now as I've mentioned before, I want Ren-dono to be the head of our command. You can decide when we use this."

Ren:" Alright, leave it to me."

Take your Time

They approached the door and opened it, leading to a room with a table in front, on the back was a double door with a sign above it, written in Japanese letters it spelled 'Training hall of love' something you would see in a sport's competition or event, not on a medieval castle.

Morgana: "Alright, I think this is it!"

"Kamoshida's… training hall… of… love? What kind of bullshit is this!?"

Moaning and screaming came from the other side, it unsettled both Ren and Ryuji, Morgana seemed fine in comparison.

Ren had his heart sunk to the bottom of his body at the thought of what was on the other side, his crumbling mental health was not keeping up with this terrible situation. Right now, all he wanted was to kill Kamoshida. If hat on the other side was true to his hypothesis, then Kamoshida deserved it.

+2 Kindness

+2 Knowledge

Empathetic 22/50

Genius 33/250

Ryuji opened the door cautiously and the three descended into one of the many depths of the dungeon of Kamoshida's palace.

Crossing a bridge, they were in front of various cages, Ren and Ryuji looked down, students shackled to the volleyball nets, being skewered by lances. Ryuji balked at the sight, his fellow peers were being unreasonably tortured, every single thrust of the spears raining down on their classmates made wounds deep within Ren and Ryuji's heart, they were the same age, they were in the same school, yet received such a treatment.

This time they were not faceless dolls like the rest of the students locked in the castle, they had very defined faces and terror-ridden expressions that Ren and Ryuji could not ignore.

Their wounds became Ryuji's and Ren's, deepening the darkness of their hearts.

Ren's eyes turned a deep red for just a moment before turning into their beautiful grey color. Arsene inside was tearing with rage, wanting nothing else but to punish the culprit for this sight.

Ryuji:" Dammit! Don't give me this bullcrap!" His face was physically ill, yet his eyes contained a well of rage.

Ren:" Kh…" Ren could only turn away, lest he give into rage and give away their position. He couldn't believe that fellow students were being tortured and executed in that guy's mind, he never felt that someone could be so twisted, but his past proved him wrong. He would get justice for this, no matter what, he was tired of running away.

+3 Kindness

Empathetic 25/50

Morgana:" How many times I tell you to not raise your voice Ryuji? Keep your voice down!"

Ryuji:" But, Morgana, this is beyond cruel, this is so messed up." He pointed at the guards as they skewered one guy who couldn't even fight back, the lance went through his body, making a squelch and a grinding noise as it broke through bone, blood spurted from the wound, then the guard pulled out the lance and the wound started healing again.

Ren's genius mind surmised some things. Immortal slaves to be tortured, until they served no more purpose and their immortality would be no more due to the King's desires, that's the life these dolls lived, which meant they were going through similar stuff in reality, physical abuse and the like, and Kamoshida called himself a teacher.

Slave without an eye:" Leave us be… It's useless…" a slave approached the cage as he looked to them, with a pitiful and pathetic voice as his bloody wounds stained the bandages around them, in the real would they would already e infected and this guy wouldn't even be able to walk around.

Slave without arm: "… If we stay obedient, we won't be executed like you guys!" another came and argued against them.

Ren:' Executed, like we're done for? For them execution mean exclusion from social life, loss of future due to our past' He remembered how with a record a normal person might find difficult to have a future, no job, no university to willingly take him on, he was an outcast who had no friends back in town, so in a sense they would be right, he was executed by society itself.

However, he had not given up yet, he had the will of rebellion inside of him, wanting to break free and destroy this society, if society considered him an enemy, he would do the same.

Ryuji:" You're telling me that you want to stay in a place like this?" The blond grabbed the prison bars in a desperate attempt to convince his fellow students, his eyes were glaring, however the rage from before was converted into pure sadness and terror that something like this was happening.

Morgana:" I might be wrong on this, but… Ryuji, are you planning on taking these guys out of here?"

Ryuji:" They're members of the volleyball team, we can't just leave 'em here."

Ren turned to face Morgana who was just sitting in one of the boxes near the river.

Morgana: "How stupid can you be…? These guys are only humans in Kamoshida's cognition, they are delusions made by his own mind of what the students should be as, essentially they are different from the ones in reality, they are no different than clay dolls with robotic personalities given to them by the delusional mind of the King."

Ren:" Essentially, even if we save them, we can't bring them to the real world, because they are just illusions in the end, of what the 'model student' should be." Ren put his left hand on his pocket, while the right one pushed his index finger upon his thumb, with enough force to shatter bone with how angry he was about this whole situation.

Ryuji:" *sigh* when Ren explains it like that, damn why this gotta be so complicated!?… I kinda understand, but these guys they are from the volleyball team, the one Kamoshida coaches for… So the school's a castle, and the students are his slaves to be toyed with, tortured and executed on a whim, it's so on point it makes me laugh… This is indeed the inside of that asshole's head…" Ryuji's rage was heartfelt for both Ren and Morgana who up until now had been aloof on the whole affair.

Morgana leaped from the crate and approached the cage and looked below, seeing the students routinely stabbed by spears, or being punched and kicked by men in plate armor, all the while being chained to the net in the center, they blood spurted and mixed with the others who were close by.

Morgana:" Even so, this is… something that must not be forgiven… If this is what is happening in his heart, then he must be treating them as slaves in the real world too…"

Ryuji:" In the real world too…? The volleyball team, all of the students suspended in cages…! This is too much!"

Ren:" Thought so, there is no way he can keep this much insanity just locked away, he is… he is doing the same thing in reality. What do you think Morgana?"

Morgana:"… They must be physically abused every day, there is no way they would be so beat up normally."

Ryuji:" I can't believe things are the same in reality…" He said, however he very much believed it.

Morgana:" Haws to be… I mean this is undeniable proof that he sees his students as slaves and nothing more, Kamoshida is a fiend with warped desires and deserves justice upon him, no matter what."

Ryuji:" Kamoshida, that bastard, there are… rumors that he was using physical punishment, they are just rumors in the end but, if he's been abusing students in the real world… If all of this is true, then wouldn't this be something to report to the police…? I might as well use this as proof, if everything goes well, we can take down that asshole"

Ren:' Is this the best move…?' Ren was deeply distrusting of all authority figures, the only one that had his respect was his grandfather, he had no respect for the police force and the justice system in this country however, his sentencing in the last year was proof of this, the case moved ever slowly, but while he was there in courts and saw how everything worked he became sickened, beneath layers of politeness that made him vomit was an evil intent, the ever-presence of laziness, procrastination, vanity and greed in the eyes of everyone present made him want to die on the spot back then, he never felt more judged, he never felt more terror… that justice can be manipulated by money, that justice is just a fake thing created by society to regulate itself and not be thrown in anarchy.

That fake justice would not help them now or ever.

Ryuji fished his smartphone form his pocket and was about to open the camera app, but it was a no-go.

Ryuji"…Eh? It is not working; the navigation app works but other apps are a no-go? Damn, it's not even letting me go to the home screen…"

Morgana:" A… navigation app…?"

Ren:" That's the method we used to cross the dimension and come here." Ren without anyone noticing was already with his phone in hand, trying his hardest to also access other stuff, but there was nothing, the app was stuck in place with the display saying the same thing, where they were 'Pervert's castle', the inside of Kamoshida's heart.

Morgana:" Whatever you want to do, I suggest we do it quick, the guards down there might not see us, however the students might be snitches as well, they are beings within Kamoshida's delusion, not to mention we carved a path of corpses to get here, eventually they're going to figure out our trail, and getting surrounded by shadows is not how I want to die, understand?"

Ren analyzed everything they had in their hands; things would get worse before they got better.

Ryuji:" please, lend me a minute, let me memorize their faces before going back, I can't let this pass. I can't forgive that asshole."

Ren and Morgana nodded to themselves, it was Ryuji's idea to go here, they were just his protection, just in case something bad happened. However as they saw more cages, the darkness in their hearts grew, one of them had three students racing on a massive treadmill, behind them was a massive spike roller, in front of them was a water reservoir, however no matter how far they ran ,they couldn't get to the pond of water.

One tripped, the treadmill pushed his body back to the spike roller, and his body became a red paste with his guts flying off the track, landing near Ryuji, who jumped and had to take a moment to not vomit from the horrible gore of this place.

Before long, the student who died was replaced by a copy of the same guy, they were truly doll.

Ryuji:"…Not giving water as a training regiment, it's a horrible thing, but it happens in the real world too. Leads to a lot of people going to the hospital… that asshole, what's he doing with teenagers!? Does he want to win the nationals that much that he'd rather sacrifice the health of his whole team? And what are their parents doing, damn!"

They passed on a small cell, the size of a small bathroom, on the wall was a student with two spears, skewered to the wall, the smell this time was absurdly vile.

They turned their heads away and passed through that cell quickly, that student was executed, that was clear.

The last cell, they witnessed the most messed up thing yet. A student held upside down from the ceiling, while a cannon ball, a volleyball launched by a canon hit the slave's face, his whole cranium was blown to bits, relegated to the ground along with copious amounts off viscous moist blood falling to the ground form a headless body, the slimy blood was dripping from the cauterized neck as burn marks appeared on the students whole body, the skin was melting off by the burns as the body started silently burning from the explosion, starting from the volleyball uniform, His chest was also imploded by the impact, he could see the chest moving side to side, lie it was a soft piece of meat without any bones.

It was amazing his whole torso did not fell off like his head, however this was Kamoshida's delusion, his idea of gore.

Ryuji this time balked and vomited on the ground, Ren's arms painfully bent the cage's iron bars in silent rage and empathy towards the poor doll.

Morgana was silently observing, but sadness could be seen within his eyes, this student must have incurred Kamoshida's rage so badly that this form of torture was what was appropriate in his corrupted mind.

Ren's darkness moved both Ryuji's and Morgana's hearts silently, the three of them didn't notice it, but they were caught up in their leader's charisma, that meant his emotions as well.

+3 Kindness

+2 Charisma

Empathetic 28/50

Allure 52/250

Ryuji:"…Yosh, I got them mostly memorized" he said with a somber tone.

Morgana:" Then let us stop wasting time in the depths of the dungeon! We need to scram!"

Take your Time

They ran away from the cells towards the normal dungeons again, escaping the 'training hall of love' Ryuji had to scoff in rage at the name.

When they exited to the normal dungeons where they were most familiar with, Ryuji gave a sigh of relief, but the voices of the soldiers were closing in on them quickly.

Soldier's voice:" The watch post near the training hall ceased reporting, Chances of intruders are extremely high all personnel use maximum caution and increase all security measures!" Ren and Morgana with their super hearing were able to make out the guards' speech trough the dungeon walls, this place was an eternal maze, as expected of a mind of a human.

Morgana:" We stayed too long, the guards are already suspecting invaders, come on, let's get out of here!" He said as a few guards cross the other side of the dungeons on the lookout for intruders.

Ren:" Let us go, I can carve us a path on the dungeons without being noticed." He said with total confidence in himself, it was because of his genius mind and valiant courage.

Evading guards, suspending themselves on the ceiling while Ryuji was in his arms, swimming in the river, laying low, using the safe rooms, all manner of things to avoid detection led them out of the dungeons, problem being that they only found one exit, and with only one exit, well, Ren's mind already predicted the outcome.

The dungeons were long past them, however the main hall was the problem here. And as they approached the main hall with Morgana in front, they got ambushed by the King, yet again.

Shadow Kamoshida:" You bastards came again…? To think you would make the same mistake again, you are without hope, I feel sorry for you." The man wore the same as the day before, a golden crown, a cape full of hearts, a disgusting pink G-string that did not hide his pubic hair, this man was vomit-inducing.

Ryuji:" …You bastard, you think the school is your castle? Those guys down there, I memorized their faces, give up, you're going to sit on a nice dark prison for the rest of your life!"

Shadow Kamoshida:" …'Barking dogs seldom bite' at least you heard of this expression before Sakamoto?... You have been a failure your whole life, who cares what a mangy stray like you say? …Ah, how far the star of the track team has fallen." The man said with a disgusting smirk on his face, his eyes shined bright yellow, not hiding anything.

Ryuji:" Hah? What do you want to say!?"

Shadow Kamoshida:" Don't you remember? I speak of the violence that ended your teammates dreams… your violent and selfish act that crushed your friends hopes and dreams, I hear they cannot even get scholarships anymore, they keep their training on the lot like stray dogs without a place, they are losers… and everyone sees it. And… you are their source of pain; I can only imagine their feelings when they were dragged under by your… irresponsible actions."

Ren glared at the man, so everything he hypothesized about Ryuji's relationship with the man was true in the end. The rumors of Ryuji at the school, how he was out of place, the hidden talks of mocking of the track team and how Ryuji was a member, it all made sense in the end.

Ryuji in the end could not even speak back, Kamoshida's true thoughts manifested into an ugly and menacing thing, Kamoshida's words resonated badly with Ryuji.

Ren:" Violence, was it against you?" Ren asked the king.

Shadow Kamoshida:"…So the dashing brat accompanied the 'track traitor' without even knowin—"

Ren:" Answer me!" Ren raised his voice, it intimidated the king, the guards and even the acquaintances close to him.

Shadow Kamoshida:" …I don't owe give any excuses to a brat like you, who do you think you are ordering me around, the King!?"

Ren had a hateful expression as he heard the King response, from his tone and from his expression, then the violent incident that occurred last year was… Ren's genius mind arrived at the answer, why was the world around him so unfair to those downtrodden, why was society rewarding jackasses like the one in front of him?

Kamoshida was a person better left dead on the side of the road.

Now, how would they get out of this situation?

Shadow Kamoshida:" Hey, Sakamoto, how about you tell them, how you betrayed your teammates and crushed their hopes, yet you remain as carefree as ever."

Ryuji:" …Wrong, that's not true!"

While the King was preoccupied, Ren approached and was silently whispering some things to Morgana, they were in a bad situation, they needed luck on their side to escape, and Ryuji would play a big part in that.

Shadow Kamoshida:" You have come along with this fool and now you will endo up dead, a splatter on the rugs of my castle… how unlucky of you"

The King turned to his soldiers, there were a lot of them, one of them even had golden armor.

Shadow Kamoshida:" I don't care, kill them however you wish and throw their splatters out of the castle, I don't want their intestines staining my beautiful rugs for long."

The king stayed on the back as an immense amount of soldiers transformed into their shadow counterparts, though the golden soldier stayed back.

ENEMIES

16x Pixie — weakness — Gun, Curse, ? strengths — ?

10x Jack-o'-Lantern — weakness — Gun, Wind, ? strengths — ?

6x Bicorn — weakness — ? strengths — ?

Ren:' This is bad…' "Ryuji, keep yourself a further back or we won't be able to protect you."

Ryuji:" Dammit…"

The bicorns rushed to meet them, Morgana and Ren avoided their contact, Ren grabbed onto one of them with the hands from Arsene, Arsene's claws digged into the neck of the horse as Ren jumped towards the chandelier, however the pixies and Jack'O Lanterns converged on his position, He summoned his handgun with a blue flame and shot around, hitting them in the air, knocking them down, however it wasn't before long that his ammo was depleted, as more enemies converged onto his position and surrounded him.

He backflipped out of the chandelier, his wings were summoned behind him and he landed on the second floor railing, he ran as a Bicorn pursued him, however the bicorn was faster than him and pierced his side with one his horns, Ren glared at the shadow and twisted his neck with Arsene.

His gloved red hands pointed at the pixies flying towards him and unleashed a devastating curse that ended their poor lives, their gore-filled bodies burned by the curse fell to the floor that contained dead Jack'O Lanterns and dead pixies with gunshot wounds, it was a massive pool of blood in the King's prized rug.

Soon however he was surrounded again and jumped back to the first floor.

As for Morgana he was busy evading the more powerful Bicorns and hitting the Jack'O Lanterns in the sky with his wind power, a Bicorn rushed him, however a swift poke from Zorro's rapier to keep it in place, and a rush from Morgana with his scimitar decapitated the horse on two fronts.

As they defeated more and more of the enemies, they were driven back as Ryuji stayed center on the battlefield, the shadows wanting to leave him for last on their King's orders.

ENEMIES

20x Pixie — weakness — Gun, Curse, ? strengths — ?

30x Jack-o'-Lantern — weakness — Gun, Wind, ? strengths — ?

15x Bicorn — weakness — ? strengths — ?

More enemies kept spawning, it was becoming a whole army against two persona users, that's why it was dangerous, and yet both Ren and Morgana kept on fighting, the pixies and Jack'O Lanterns were easy prey to both, however the bicorns were really tough for them, they were getting more and more surrounded as Ryuji walked on to the pool of gore, his heart sinking into the darkness.

The king and his golden knight approached Ryuji once again.

Shadow Kamoshida:" I bet you simply came here on a whim, and now your friends are dying to my guards, no matter how valiantly they may fight, soon enough they will crumble like the rest." He said while he stared at the two persona users who were being overwhelmed by his army.

Ryuji:" …No… that wasn't my intention…" Ryuji said, his legs kneeling to the ground in despair, the blood stained his uniform from shadows dead, he looked towards the cruel face of the King.

Shadow Kamoshida:" What a piece of garbage getting emotional so quickly…Though it was only temporary, did you forget my kindness in supervising track practice?"

Ryuji:" That wasn't no practice— it was training masking as abuse; you didn't like our club!"

Shadow Kamoshida:" It was an eyesore…I didn't need another club achieving results for the school, with the volleyball team however, all prestige goes to me if they win the nationals, as long as I keep achieving results I can do whatever I want… Mangy mutts like you have no choice but to get in line…. You might have been a star, a great athlete but it amounted to nothing in the end… That coach who got fired was hopeless as well. Had he not opposed me; I would have settled with only breaking his star's leg. But he did not, and now that club is over, all because of my authority."

Ryuji:"…What…?" the blond said with tears leaking out of his eyes, tears of rage.

Morgana and Ren who were still fighting with all their power heard all of this and felt for the blond boy. Ryuji had been through a lot.

Shadow Kamoshida:" …Do you need me to break your other leg too? Is that leg feeling all alone by itself, I can help you know, and what's more the school will protect me and call it self-defense anyway, you have no power here…you know? They willingly protect me because they want to bask in my prestige, what leeches… Hahaha!"

The blond boy was running his hands through all of the blood, his face was white, he looked up and only saw the disgusting smirk of victory in the King's face, his friends were back there fighting till their death.

Ryuji:" Nothing's changed… am I gonna lose again. Damn… Damn! I can't run anymore because of the pain in my leg… the track club is gone because of the school protecting this asshole's wishes…nobody gives a shit anymore about me… giving problems to my mom as well… I…"

Shadow Kamoshida:" Once those two are dealt with, you're next."

Morgana:" … Oi Ryuji!"

Ren:" …Ryuji! Are you going to let him win, are you going to let things end like this!?" his charisma moved Ryuji, moved and increased the courage of the lone boy, who was a victim of this unfair society, he gave the courage for the boy to stand up against it and brought fourth his will of rebellion.

Ryuji:" You're right, everything that was important to me was taken away by this asshole, my leg, my club and friends, my mother's smile… Precious things to me that might never come back…"

Shadow Kamoshida:" You can stand there and watch, soon enough these hopeless scum will be overwhelmed by my massive army, they'll die for nothing because they sided with trash like you."

Ryuji:"…No it's you that's trash." He got up from all of the gore, not minding it as it stuck to his body.

Ryuji:" All you care about is using peop0le for your own sickly desires, it's you who is trash! Kamoshida!"

The blond teen approached the king with murder in his eyes.

Kamoshida squinted and turned to the golden soldier, the soldier nodded and went forward to kill Ryuji.

Ryuji:" Stop looking down n me with that stupid smile on your face!" he pointed with such fury in his eyes at the shadow of the man he hated more than anything or anyone in the face of the planet.

You've made me wait quite a while.

His eyes turned yellow from rage, as his head banged with pain, he grasped his temple with both hands and yet was driven to the ground in sheer torturous pain.

You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact.

His mouth was open in extreme pain; his saliva fell on the floor mixing in with all the blood from the shadows defeated by his allies.

Since your name has been dragged through the dirt already, why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc on the world? It deserves it!

Ryuji turned his body and faced the ceiling, nothing he could do could stop the pain.

The 'other you' who exist within desires it thus, your rage cannot be contained, its time the world learned that.

Ryuji closed his eyes in pain as tears fell from his eyes, the right side was all covered in blood and yet he kept rolling around.

I am thou, thou art I…

There is no turning back…

The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth…

He was suddenly up as his episode of pain had been nothing but an illusion to the shadows, the king and his allies around him, only what remained was his yellow eyes with righteous fury, and skull mask donning his face.

The golden knight rushed him; blade ready to skewer him.

Ryuji grit his teeth and pushed the mask off his face with all of his might, all of his frustrations, all of his pain, all of the injustices he experienced in his life came towards his face as he ripped off the mask, there was no more hiding, his was his true self.

His upper face was ripped off, showing a patch of blood around his eyes and forehead, however soon it was consumed by brilliant blue flames, a red eye was shown beneath the flame, a singular eye on his left.

An aura of blue fire knocked the golden knight towards the wall of the hall, in the epicenter of the explosion, a storm of lightning was there, it targeted all of the Bicorns with a strike of electricity enough to fry all of their bodies and kill them, with the bicorns all dead, Ren and Morgana came to his side. Ren's plan of turning Ryuji into a persona user was a gamble, but it was the only choice to get out of this sticky situation, and in the end the gamble paid off.

Shadow Kamoshida:" Ugh… this one as well!?"

Ryuji was now revealed wearing a black jacket and pants with knee pads, a red ascot, combat boots, a pair of yellow gloves, and a skull mask.

Above Ryuji was a persona, wearing a pirate captain's clothes with anchors hanging down from its shoulders, a hand cannon for an arm, a hand full of hooks on the other arm, two scimitars crossing his chest, a pirate hat adorned it's face, but the face itself was a skull, bones without flesh, with red glowing eyes and white irises, an eyepatch on his right eye, to top it all off, the pirate was riding a flying ship like it was a skateboard.

Ryuji's eyes opened, a mocking smirk on his face as he looked at the worried Kamoshida

Ryuji:" So this is… my persona… this one is good~ Now that I have this power, it's time for payback… This had a long time coming didn't it? Let's teach this creep a lesson he won't forget!" he said as he looked to his body, his muscles felt alive, he felt strong, he felt he could take on the world with this power.

Flanked both sides by Morgana and Ren, he could feel like he could take on anything thrown at his way.

The golden knight got off from the ground near the wall.

Golden Knight:" …Ngh, don't underestimate me you brat." it exploded into red and black slimy substance and smoke, revealing a red knight atop an intimidating horse, on his hand was a massive spear. His armor was adorned with fur, and his helmet had horns, a black cape fluttering behind the shadow.

Ryuji:" Blast him away Captain Kidd."

The horsemen raised his spear and summoned more bicorns, pixies and Jack'O Lanterns to his side, Ren felt like he was fighting infinite enemies at this point, Morgana was also tired

ENEMIES

6x Pixie — weakness — Gun, Curse, ? strengths — ?

4x Jack-o'-Lantern — weakness — Gun, Wind, ? strengths — ?

2x Bicorn — weakness — Lightning | strengths — Curse(resistant).

1x Eligor — weakness — ? strengths — ?

Eligor:" What troublemakers that bother King Kamoshida with trifle matters!"

Ryuji:" The world's views on me ain't changing right…? Then I'll deliver on those expectations and raise some hell! Let's go, my Kidd!"

Ryuji started by striking all bicorns with electricity, the mythical horses were all weak to the lightning storms that Captain Kidd, it was like seeing real horses burn and neigh in pain as they fell to the ground dead.

Ren called Arsene and with a concentrated blast, he destroyed all pixies flying in form the sky with his curse, their dying faces were felt by Ryuji and Morgana.

At the same time Zorro, ordered by Morgana blasted the Jack'O Lanters away with his wind attacks.

Eligor, the red knight galloped in close to Ryuji and thrust his lance towards the blond teen, Ryuji summoned a blue brilliant flame on his hands, and with it a pipe made of metal was on his hands, using it he was able to deflect the big guy's spear to the side, Ren who was by him jumped on the horse's back and with Arsene, he held the red knight in place and started burning him with curse, however it wasn't that effective. Then Morgana pierced the knight with Zorro's rapier, holding him in two places.

Ryuji pointed Kidd's hand cannon towards the shadows face and sent a charge of electricity towards its face at point blank.

It blew the knight out of his horse, half its face was cauterized, and yet it swung his massive spear on an arch, hitting not only his horse and killing it, but it also made a deep gash in both Ren and Ryuji's chest.

Both teens reeled back from the pain of being slashed by such a massive spear, Morgana however was quick with the heal, they were not ready for the massive pain dished out by the red knight.

It rushed Ren, however with Ren's genius mind and skilled body, he maneuvered Arsene's wings to block the attack.

Ren, feeling pain was able to return the knight's attack and cleaved off half its torso with Arsene's claws, Ryuji, angry that he was hit, angry that his ally was in pain rushed with his persona to the knight and with Kidd's hooked hand was able to pierce the knight's cranium, Morgana behind him came in and slashed Eligor's legs off, his scimitar cutting the metal of his armor.

Eligor:" Stop… I—"

Ren came again and cleaved off one arm from Eligor, and finally Ryuji killed him off with an even more powerful blast of lightning concentrated on its face.

Beneath the helmet was a human face with half of it burned, half of it cleaved off, the legs were human and spurted blood, now that they saw the shadow with its intimidating armor in shambles, it was like a human, it had human expression even after it died, terror, pure terror after being ganged up by three persona users, even with all its power, it hadn't had the chance against the three of them working together, being attacked by all directions, it made the shadow die without having a say in it.

Ren

SP:65/179

Morgana

SP:34/150

Ryuji

SP:5/75

Reward

+55,596 ¥

+628 Exp

Ren — Level up — Level 7

+47 HP

+24 SP

HP:100/363

SP:65/203

Morgana — Level up — Level 6

Ryuji — Level up — Level 5

+10 Kindness

+10 Guts

+10 Charisma

+10 Proficiency

Valiant 37/50

Empathetic 38/50

Allure 62/250

Skilled 43/50

As the king was preoccupied with his knight failing his duty, he didn't notice Ryuji rushing at him with speeds no normal human could match, then Ryuji swiped the metal bat right at Kamoshida's temple, knocking him out to the ground, the king rolled for a moment, before he raised himself to his knees, he grasped his bleeding head in pain, however he glared with intensity and hatred at Ryuji.

Ryuji:" *gasp**pant*…. How do you like that, you fuck!?" Ryuji spoke in an exhausted manner, but he liked nothing better than to beat Kamoshida down, right here and now

Morgana relaxed with his persona melding back into his body.

Morgana:" This is surprising… so Ryuji had the potential as well…"

Ryuji:" Even if you apologize now… I ain't forgiving you…!"

Shadow Kamoshida:" You… filthy thief… it seems you still… don't understand, this is my castle!" he glared hatefully with those cruel yellow eyes.

Right then a girl approached the kneeling Kamoshida, with worry on her face, as she inspected his wound.

She was wearing nothing more than a string bikini on her bottom, and with her breasts on the open, she wore a cat hairdresser as well. The girl was familiar, she was Ann from his class, however this one seemed more than a doll than anything.

Ryuji:" Wh— Takamaki!? What is she doing with that asshole!?"

Morgana felt mesmerized for a second about the girl who appeared, however she was caring for the King, healing his wound with kisses upon his disgusting face.

Ryuji:" What's going on…?"

Ren:" Calm down Ryuji, it seems that she's the same as those volleyball players, nothing but a doll, this time, it's a sex doll however."

If he was creeped out by Kamoshida's behavior in the palace, this was way more gross than he was expecting, reminded him of that obsessed woman, Kira Azami.

Shadow Kamoshida:" Ahh~ your presence heals me my princess~" he said in a cutesy voice, vomit inducing.

However, Ryuji and Morgana got angry when he started kneading her left breast with his hands, molesting her in front of them. He then started motorboating her breasts and hugging her in front of them, Ren was seriously creeped out, she was underage and she hated him in real life as well, for him to think of her in such a way, if the real Ann was here, she would never consent to such a thing to a creep like him.

Ryuji:" Hey! Let go of her you pedo!"

Shadow Kamoshida" … How many times must I tell you to understand? This is my castle— my territory in which I can do whatever I want. Everyone wishes to be loved by me. Everyone but retarded thieves such as you, Sakamoto."

Kamoshida got up and smirked at them, cleaned his blood off his temple and licked it with his hand.

Shadow Kamoshida:" Hey. Are you perhaps jealous? Well I'm not surprised; women aren't drawn to problematic punks like you."

The doll went and supported his back and moaned as Kamoshida's right hand grabbed her ass.

Enraged by the pedophilic show that was happening, Ryuji went to attack Kamoshida once again, but exhaustion hit him hard.

Ryuji:" Dammit! *pant*"

Shadow Kamoshida:" …Hurry up and kill them"

With his command a wave of soldiers was born from out of nothingness, Even more soldiers than before.

Morgana:" Damn, with these numbers… Let us leave before we're overwhelmed to exhaustion."

Ryuji:" We're not gonna do anything and just run like this!?"

Ren:" Ryuji, trust me, he's not getting away with this, but for now, we just can't die here" his charisma was enough to convince the stubborn blond, he nodded and with a speed surpassing human comprehension they retreated from the castle. Leaving only Ryuji's faint voice of threat in the air.

Ryuji:" We're going to expose what you really are no matter what, You'll live the rest of your life in disgrace, I promise you that."

Kamoshida, with the safety of his guards, pulled the doll Ann into a princess carry.

Kamoshida:" Haha… those punks, I was beginning to tire of torturing the slaves here, they'll come again, and once they are captured I'll torture them until they die a painful death… now my princess~ Let's go to my abode tonight, I was terribly hurt by those thieves~"

Take you Time

While the one inside was fine for a bit, because of the wound the real Kamoshida had a very bad case of headache, it was so bad he was on the floor on his P.E room while he suspected some sort of brain aneurysm, it was the hit from Sakamoto inside of his palace that caused such a situation, however Kamoshida was a prideful man, he wouldn't seek help, after a few minutes the pain subsided.

He called the board of the school.

Kamoshida-sensei:" I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well today… I'll return home earlier today… Yes, I know, the volleyball rally…I'll— I'll be there, don't worry." He said while a cold sweat ran down his neck, his forehead was hot as molten steel and pounding with pain. However, some paltry headache wouldn't take him down, an Olympic athlete such as him.

He was oblivious to the cause of the incident and would not speak with a doctor with this minor incident.

Take you Time

Ren and the others arrived at the entrance of the gate, right here the shadows won't pursue them.

Ryuji:" *pant* Anyways, I don't remember changing into this outfit" he said as he analyzed his new clothes.

Ren:" You look like a thug Sakamoto."

Ryuji:" What? It looks much better than your magician-looking one…So what's going on? I'm completely lost man…!"

Ryuji scratched his head thinking, while Ren was formulating other plans, today he still needed to meet up with his cousin to give testimonies at the police for his father's 'disappearance'

Morgana:" Haven't I told you before? When a persona-user faces his inner self and rips off his mask, he will become a threat to shadows, this is what happens in the end, it's to prevent you from being affected by the shadows, and palace ruler's distortions"

Ryuji:" this mask I'm wearing… is it a skull, feels nice on my face for some reason."

Morgana:" Your outer appearance is decided by your inner self, it's your will to rise against the world, your rebel's soul in simple terms— Persona-users such as you are rare, one in a billion kind of deal, persona users are godlike entities… I have my reservations about why you had the potential in the first place… you can't seem to get such easy explanations."

Ryuji:" No clue" he dropped his shoulders at Morgana's speech.

Ren:" Essentially we have some ultra-rare superpowers that are able to protect us from those shadows. How about this explanation?" he said with a gentle voice towards Ryuji, with a killer smile.

Ryuji:" Oh….! Now I get it! When Ren explain things it's so easy."

Morgana:" Well, you're the dumb translator now Ren-dono. Ryuji, if youe not satisfied with my explanations then accept what you see for what it is… Run straight into things no question asked, isn't that how you live life?" Morgana looed to the side, crossing his arms in a 'what-can-you-do' expression.

Ryuji:" Easy for you to say, don't think you got all my life figured out yet, Morgana….*gasp* Wait, we're in deep shit!"

Ren:" What is it, Ryuji?"

Ryuji:" We might've gotten away here, but we're still screwed with Kamoshida at the real school…"

Morgana:"…That's quite perceptive of you… Relax, the Kamoshida in reality can;'t possibly know what is happening inside of the palace."

Ren:" When we came here the first time, he didn't react when we met him at the gates, Ryuji… what happens in here stays in here huh? However, Ryuji hit the shadow here, does it meant it might affect the real one…?" Ren's genius mind had already figured that part out since the first day, however his mind was preoccupied with other things in the present moment, but he was still compartmentalizing the conversation happening near him.

Morgana:" While I don't know the answer to Ren-dono's question what I do know is that a shadow is the true self dragged from the sea of souls… a true self that has been suppressed— a side of one self they don't want anyone to see… A shadow is their deepest malignant desires realized, to think that persona-users are able to confront that true self and grasp that strength, it's one in a billionth chance indeed."

Ryuji:" …So we're mostly okay? We don't know if that attack I did affected him or not, I hit him real hard, enough to crack concrete with my pipe, yet the shadow barely bled…"

Morgana:" If it did affect him, perhaps he had a mild concussion, or a heavy headache, or nothing at all—it still is the inner him, any changes on him might reflect on the outside, keyword being 'might'…"

Ryuji:" All right… now that's all done with, all we gotta do is—"

Morgana then made a smirk with its cute face, Ren was not liking that face, his genius mind already had surmised about what Morgana was going to ask next.

Morgana:" Wait. I guided you as promised. It's your turn to cooperate with me. For that reason I've been patiently teaching you all everything."

Ryuji:" Huh? Cooperate?"

Morgana:" Don't you remember? I originally came here for an investigation. I need to erase the distortion from my body and regain my true form! That's why we must delve into Mementos and its unreachable depths and—"

Ryuji:" Wait… What are you going on about now? We never promised something or anything like that, and now you want to use us?"

Morgana:" Huh? Do not tell me… Are you not going to repay the hospitality I showed you? Especially you, Ren-dono! You're going to up and leave even though you're already part of my master plan?"

Ren measuredly looked to the sky.

Ren:" What plan?" he asked in his most oblivious possible voice.

Morgana:" Kh, you assholes… you won't help me because I'm not human? Because I'm like a cat…? Is that it? Well then, I got some news for you two, you both aren't human either, when you become a persona-user you can't go back you know!?"

Ryuji:" What are you going on about now? We're busy! Thanks for everything cat, you're strong and gutsy, for being a cat and all… See ya around!" Ryuji said petting Morgana, while the humanoid cat made a terrifying visage, Ren was sure that Ryuji was going to die right there and then.

Ryuji walked back to the real world without a care.

Morgana:" You—" he said while pointing at Ren.

Ren gave him a gentle smile and approached the cat, in three minutes the cat was taken by his immense charisma, almost brainwashed by his charm and speech, while Ren gently pet Morgana's furry head.

Then he left without delay while Morgana was still dazed with sweet promises, he was dazed by more than 30 minutes.

He was so dazed he did not even feel Ren leaving him. Then after a while Morgana returned to his senses and looked around in fright.

Morgana:" Hey do you think you can escape our promise with smooth voice, honeyed words and good looks, if you think so you've got another thing coming Ren-dono this isn't over, screw you and your deep voice, you hear me! NOT LIKE THIS!"

To be continued~

STATS

Ren Amamiya

Level 7

HP:363/363

SP:179/203

Knowledge—Genius 33/250—Rank 5

Guts—Valiant 37/50—Rank 4

Proficiency—Skilled 43/50—Rank 4

Kindness—Empathetic 38/50—Rank 4

Charm—Allure 62/250—Rank 5

115,403 ¥

COMPENDIUM
Wu Zetian

Level 120

Arsene

Level 7

Zorro

Level 5

Captain Kidd

Level 4