4/17 Sunday

The sound of 'Clink-Clank-Clink!' echoed through the sea food restaurant, plates and drinks being served by the young waitresses. The busy atmosphere and glistening glow of the food enticing the people on the streets to enter into the small establishment.

"Aah~! That taste so good~!" Ann moaned as she munched the fish from her plate, both hands caressing her reddened cheeks. Shiho chuckled low at her reaction as she took to eating her own food with slow and steady mouthfuls.

"Hmm, you should clean up that drool off your chin Ann."

"Huh!?" The blonde flinched and swiped her chin roughly with her forearm. She stopped, frowned and looked at the chuckling Shiho. "Ha, ha, very funny."

"Hehehe…" The dark hair girl smiled shakily, her head resting on her opened right palm as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. Ann raised an eyebrow and reached forward, grabbing her friend's hand and squeezing it.

"Seriously, Shiho…what have you been doing that got you so tired?"

Shiho smiled at the words as she looked to the side.

…Clank-Clank-Clank! heavy armor footsteps filled the halls as dozens of knights moved quickly.

"They are around here!"

"Catch the thieves!"

They ran towards a door, slammed it opened and continue with the pursuit of their enemy. Clank-Clank-Clank-clank…clank…the noise faded as the last knight passed the door and disappeared through it.

A minute passed, then slow and soft rustling of clothing filled the hall.

"Are they gone?" A nervous female voice asked.

"I think so…" A boyish voice murmured. Dark shadows darted down to the floor from the chandelier dangling up in the ceiling.

Ren sighed with his hands inside his coat pockets, he looked at the blushing Shiho with haggard eyes. "This is seriously becoming a problem."

"No kidding…" Ryuji groaned as he stretched his legs. "I haven't run so much and so many times in a long ass time…"

"I don't think I can breathe…" Morgana panted in exhaustion as he laid on the floor.

"Shiho-san…" Shirou started, the cat snapped his head towards him and hissed.

"Codenames, Archer…!"

"Mafiosa…" Archer amended, his cheeks coloring the same color as his mask. He looked at the bowing girl. "That outfit of yours is seriously clashing too much with the environment…"

"It's not my fault!"

"Hey what was that noise!?" The distant shout of a knight made the intruders jumped in alert, all of them looking at Mafiosa with incredulous eyes. The girl just bowed her head.

"I…really need more practice with my sneaking around…don't I…"

"Let's get out for now." Ren called out as he offered the girl a crooked smile that suited his codename, Joker. "We made enough progress with all our running."

"There they are!" Two knights cried out as they caught the teens and cat off guard.

The thieves all turned tail and ran—again.

"No reason…"

Ann squinted her eyes. "Uhuh, as long as it isn't anything bad."

"Trust me, it really isn't!"

"Hmhmm…is that why you were in that sketchy toy gun shop behind the arcade?"

…gunfire filled the halls of the castle, along with loud gurgling cries bouncing off the halls wall.

"Ugh! Unfair!" A pixie Shadow bellow out as she dissolved into black particles, bullets quickening the process.

"You infantile brats—!" A flying woman in a silky red dress recoiled back, then was blasted apart by a shotgun blast.

The approaching Shadows which had managed to ambushed the thieves found themselves with the tables turned. The Shadows were either gunned down or forced to retreat behind cover as the thieves took shots at the enemy.

"This is so awesome!" Skull, cried out with a grin as he hid behind cover and sneaked views at the battle. His hands trembled with excitement as he readied his shotgun to take another shot.

"Skull!" Archer scolded in his perched up placed on the chandelier, sniping any Shadow that poked their head out of their cover with his bow and arrows.

A Shadow, a green horse floating about, came out of a corner and charged forward with a roar—it was quickly shot down by the merciless firepower of Mafiosa's sniper. The girl pulled her weapon back, leaning against the sofa she was using for cover and smiled proudly at her handywork.

"This was a great idea Skull-kun! Getting guns makes things so much easier!"

"I know!"

"Enough!" Joker snapped his finger, as he grabbed everyone's attention. "We need to go, we already made enough of a racket here. Mona, where to?"

"Hrm…" The cat grumbled from his hiding spot before he perked up and looked at the slightly opened window. "We can climb through there…if we use that we can avoid the enemies here!"

"Then let's go, more Shadows are coming this way." Archer said as he dropped from the chandelier, keeping a watchful eye for any more enemies as he walked backwards to regroup.

Mafiosa moved towards the window, letting her eyes wandered for Archer's strong and reliable back—she stopped when she noted a pixie sneaking towards Archer blindside—her eyes wide behind her bird mask, she pulled her weapon into position and fired a powerful and critical shot towards the offending enemy.

"Graaaaaaah!" Archer jumped slightly at the cry and looked at the dying enemy, he turned to look at Mafiosa who smiled at him as she holstered her weapon.

"I said I was going watched your back, didn't I?"

Archer just snorted at that and nodded, moving with them to proceed with their plan…

"So what? You know I always liked all those gangster films you showed me." Shiho defended herself as she looked away from Ann. The blonde smiled at the blushing girl.

"Well I had to somehow help give you your dose of edginess, right?"

"Don't call it that, Miss Villlain…" Shiho giggled at that as the blonde laughed alongside her. Ann looked at her plate took another spoonful of food and ate it, she moaned once more.

"It's so good~!" Ann grabbed some of the food from her plate and shoved it into her friends direction with a smile. "Seriously Shiho! You need to taste this octopus and—!"

"Urgh! No! No thanks!" Shiho gagged at the sight of the cooked octopus. Her throat tasted like acid as a vile rose up at the dark color sauce saturating the food.

"Seriously…since when did you hate this stuff Shiho?"

…the scream that pierced the air was bloodcurdlingly loud and long.

"Skull calm down!" Mona shouted as he swiped his blade towards the tentacles wrapping around the blonde's body.

"How I'm supposed to calm down whe—oh god! It's getting to my face!"

"Archer! Mafiosa! Hurry up!" Mona shouted as he turned around, his furred bristling at the nightmarish sight.

Tentacles writhed and twitched erratically all around the hall. Spawning from the outside windows, floor, doors, vases and even from the cut and torn chunks of the defeated aquatic creatures thanks to Archer and Mafiosa's effort. They spammed in movement trying to wrapped around anything and anyone they could get their grasp on.

The only two who could definitely injured critically and defeat the foes were too busy saving a captured Joker—who was virtually useless when facing against these enemies as Arsene's dark powers did absolutely nothing to the monsters.

Archer moved swiftly, his red open skirt flowing through the air as he intercepted the tentacles attempting to pull Joker apart. The redhead twirled, his blades sang and the dark thief was freed from his bonds.

"Thanks…" Joker glared at the tentacles, scratching his hair furiously and shaking his head.

"Just stay behind me, Jo—!" Archer's words were cut short when he heard a surprised feminine shout reached his ears. The redhead whirled around just in time to see Mafiosa be captured by one of the aquatic creatures—

Mafiosa struggled against her bonds, fighting fruitlessly as she was dragged forwards and—"Ah!"

She froze as she stared at the round mouth and endless rows and rows of sharp teeth. The aquatic creature that had her captured opened its gaping mouth wide to eat her. At the simple fact she struggled adamantly to escape. She ground her teeth as she leaned back, the fish-like, foul and bloodstained stench made her want to hurled in disgust—

Fortunately, she didn't need to suffer any longer as she was free from her capture by the timely intervention of Archer. Dozens of neat and savaged slashes where performed and the monster was rendered into pieces.

Mafiosa breathed harshly as she looked at the redhead. He turned towards the still capture Skull, but— "Be careful, don't get sloppy just because I'm watching your back."

"You're right Archer…" She smiled at the words, and nodded. Renew fury and determination spurned inside her as she ripped her mask away. "Then let me show you, that you don't need to keep worrying about me! Irene!"

As her Persona appeared behind her, glaring at the disgusting sight before her—everything turned white as blessed light consumed the hallway…

"I just…" Shiho shuddered in disgust as Ann pulled the tentacle food away from her. "Don't have an appetite for it…sorry…"

"Don't worry about it, it isn't like I was forcing you to eat it." The blonde smiled brightly at her friend. She blinked, looking down and a little startled as she pulled her phone up.

"Everything okay Ann?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, it's just a text from the modeling agency…they want me to do a gig right about now…" Ann sighed at this, looking at Shiho with a slight crease. The dark hair girl chuckled at that.

"You don't want to go, right?"

"No, I really want to spend more time with you…but…"

"Don't worry so much!" Shiho scolded as she waved her friend off. "You have to go and do your stuff! I'm really looking forward for the next magazine you appear in!"

"Heh! I'll do my best then!" Ann pumped her fist with a smiled as Shiho giggled at the action. The blonder curiously looked at her friend and tilted her head in wonder. "But you'll be by yourself today…are you sure that's okay? What are you going to do for today?"

Shiho looked down at her lap, seeing the text message she had received.

Skull: We're going to the Palace?

Joker: Yeah, let's try and finish the infiltration today.

Archer: Understood.

"Don't worry…I'll be busy with some school work."

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4/17 Sunday ?

"How far are we in the castle Mona?" Joker looked at the cat as the team sat around the dining table in the safe room. The cat gleamed over the map with squinting eyes.

"We're about the halfway point now, there seems to be a large hall if we continue from here…so it'll be difficult to sneak by if there's no cover around."

Mafiosa sighed at that, shuddering slightly. "As long as we don't cross path with those disgusting tentacles…"

"Man, how can you be so creeped out with those thing when you can one-shot them…?" Skull gritted his teeth as he swung crowbar harshly in mid-air. The girl looked at him, lips pursed.

"Because their disgusting that's why!"

"Just be on guard…" Archer murmured as he clenched his left hand, causing green energy to spark out and for two lines of circuits to appear on the left side of his exposed face. He nodded and looked at the team. "We've been facing many of those monster since yesterday…so be careful if the Servant shows up…"

"Yeah, if we see him we pull back, and find another way." Joker nodded in the redhead's direction, Archer responded in kind.

"But we're so close!" Mona groaned, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Archer shook his head and glared down at the cat.

"We talked about this—!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" The cat sighed and looked at them. "So, we ready to continue?"

"Yeah!"

"Let's do this!"

"Let's go!"

The door of the safe room was opened slowly and slightly, five shadows darting from the opened space. The shadows moved down the hall, corner to corner, furniture along the way breaking as a red gloved snatched hidden treasures. Joker darted behind Mona, who looked around for any enemy and moved forward. The dark thief saw a barrel and it caught his attention, he moved towards with a flourished rolled and broke it with his gloved hands.

He pocketed the treasure, then frowned when he saw the black substances in his hands. "Black powder?"

"Hey, hurry up!" From around a corner Mona hissed at him. The dark thief shook his head, giving the black powder another and moving with the group.

They stopped as Ryuji slammed into a locked door and stumbled back. Mona looked at him with narrowed eyes while Joker moved towards the door, pulling out a lockpick. He looked at Archer, Mafiosa and Skull and nodded towards his back, the redhead quickly caught on onto his silent orders and moved to cover the dark thief, the others following suit. Joker started to fiddle with the lock as Mona stood beside him offering hushed advice on how to open the door.

The sound of a click made the lookout turned back to see Joker holding the door open and gesturing for them to follow. They move silently as they went through the doors and—

"Shit…!" Skull cursed as the rest of the thieves clicked their tongue or bit the inside of their cheeks as they saw a large chapel, with a statue glorifying Kamoshida—and way too much open space.

Joker moved forward slightly, pressing his back against the cover for his team and looked around at the desolate chapel. His eyes narrowed and shook his head, turning towards the thieves.

"I don't like this…"

"Joker…" Archer called out as he walked forward with his right arm covered in circuits marking and glowing green. "Let me check for traps."

"Yeah." Joker moved out of the way as the redhead took his spot. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and—

"Trace—!" Prana extended from right hand, into the floor and moved through it as it began to cover the chapel ground. "On!"

'Structural Analysis, design specifications for the entire chapel downloaded. Deeper analysis loading.' Archer nodded at this and tensed. 'If I had been using Structural Analysis like this in the real world, I would've burn myself out. All my abilities are enhanced inside the Palaces by a wide margin…if I had this much power on the real world, I would be more than glad to drown the Association with their own medicin—Composition material unknown. External prana mov—mo—m—!

His eyes snapped opened, as he felt something foul and writhing move through the ground. He recoiled back, mouth opened as he turned to the others—

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

—from behind the group a multitude of tentacles sprouted out from the ground. The thieves flinched as the large, dark and slimy limbs wailed violently—hitting all the thieves with the force of a battering ram, sending them flying out of their cover.

The ground burst open as one tentacled creature flew after the airborne thieves. It moved towards Mona, mouth wide opened and salivating as it reached out with its tentacles—

"Mona! Irene light it up!" Mafiosa hurriedly removed her mask and let her Persona burst into action. The smug woman grinned, swiftly folded her umbrella with an audible 'ktic' and threw it at the creature all in one movement. The umbrella blurred through the air and hit the monsters right through its opened mouth, letting the creature to make a gurgling choking noise as it recoiled back. The umbrella then began to brightened up and exploded into a sparkling ball of light. The monster screeched as it was burned away.

The thieves flipped through the air as Irene disappear. Most of them landed with on their feet or knees, except for Skull who stumbled back and fell on his backside. The blonde groaned and shook his head, then looked to the spot where they had been moments ago, seeing it completely covered in a wall of writhing tentacles and creatures standing guard.

"Crap…we can't get out!"

"OOOOOoooOAAAAA…yes…yes! You will NOT! ESCAPE ME! Never again!"

Archer eyes went wide at the voice, then he hissed. "Damn! The Servant!"

They looked as in the center of the chapel, a dark mass of liquid started to pooled up—bubbling upwards until a shape formed. The dark silhouette bobbed from left to right, until the dark shade gave away to reveal the bulging eyes, stoned faced and sanguine robes of the Caster.

"You…" Caster droned out, his crazed eyes focused on the thieves. "I'll have the rejections of God violate your bodies!"

Joker glared at the bug eye Servant, his eyes flickered to the right of the enemy shoulder and saw passed it. He tensed and looked at the light color girl. "Mafiosa! Shoot the creep!"

Fingers move towards her mask even as she took a trembling step back. "Irene!" The Persona appeared in a burst of fire, twirling her umbrella as the air lightened up. She unleased a volley of pure white light. Soaring towards the dark Servant who looked stonily at the incoming attack—

CRACK!

The floor underneath burst, debris flew as six of the aquatic creatures jumped up, spreading their limbs wide right into the incoming light. The light met the impure flesh—

BOOM!

Loud screeches filled the air. The blessed attack pushed forward, but as the seconds ticked by it fizzled out. The chapel darkening once more revealed that four of the six monsters were left writhing, screeching and flinching as their flesh was scarred. Caster looked at monster squirm for an instant, eyes rolling towards where the thieves stood as he glided forward slowly.

"OoooOOOAAaaaa—! Indeed, indeed! Struggle for as long as—!?" Caster stopped, blinking as he the thieves weren't where they had been seconds ago. 'Krunch!' He perked up at the noise and whirled around just in time to see the young group jumping into the second floor behind him and slamming into the door, escaping the chapel. "You…!"

In the halls, the pack of thieves ran. Sweat rolled down their foreheads as they made a left—

"Crap!" Skull gasped as dozens of tentacles whipped towards his head. Archer hands blurred and the tentacles all fell uselessly down on the floor. The redhead looked upfront and saw the hall darkening, the wet noises and screeching echoing into their ears.

"We need to get out of here now!" Mona crouched as the darkness in front of them grew closer. Mafiosa stepped in front of the group, walking forward as her mask burned away.

"I'll create a path! Let's go!" Irene smiled smugly, placing her umbrella as makeshift shield. She began to twirled it as it light up with pure white light. Mafiosa charged, followed by the thieves—

KRSH! KRANCHK!

Obscene and wet noises filled the halls as the phantom thieves lunged into the swelling damp darkness and writhing tentacles. Tentacles tried to maneuver around the smug Persona, but all of the appendages were cut swiftly by the blades of Archer. They movement was precise and successful. They moved forward with no sign of stop—

CRASH!

The debris made the thieves flinched, jumping to their right as the wall towards their left exploded. The wall had entire collapsed as a mass of tentacle destroyed the structure, revealing the cool winds from the outside castle. Joker recoiled when a loud and grating screech blew into his ears and saw multiple teeth inches away from his face. The dark thief could only gasp, eyes wide as the stench of rotting flesh, blood and filth assaulted his nose. He tried to step back, but the monster already was closing its mouth around his face.

SLASH!

The creature's mouth successfully closed, but passed by Joker as it was split in half from a downward cut. Archer landed in front of the still thief, and looked at him. "Joker, are you alright?"

"…" The dark thief looked at him, shook his head and gave him a shaky grin. "Yeah, just caught off guard…"

"No time for talking!" Skull roar as he pulled out his shotgun, the Persona of Mafiosa disappearing as the female thief took a step back. The girl was heaving as she regrouped with the others and away from the encroaching mass of tentacles. Mona clicked his tongue, then his fur stood on end and he whirled around and saw a mass of tentacles approaching them from behind.

"Damn it! We're being corner!" The thieves all hurdle together, back to back as Mona began to hissed. Archer's blade disappeared as a bow and arrow appeared.

"We have to keep the horde from reaching us…"

"For real! Dude what the hell is up with freaky bug eye freak!?"

"We need to find a way to beat him…" Mafiosa licked her lips as her spine shiver uncomfortably.

Archer turned his head towards her and glared. "Didn't I already say we can't fight a Servant? We need to find a way out."

"When you have come up with something, be sure to tell us!" Mona growled as he ready his blade. Archer opened his mouth to responded, but stop when he felt a gloved hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Joker grinning smugly.

"I found us an exit."

The thieves all turned towards him. Skull grinned sharply. "Ah! I knew we could count on you bud! What's—!"

"Arsene!"

A blue pillar of fire erupted from behind them as Joker removed his mask. The thieves barely had time to react when they felt being blasted off their feet and through the hole that had been made by the creature that had ambush them thanks to the casual flip of the gentleman thief's wings. The thieves flew into the open airs of the castle, their gaze focus on the red sky and fake hanging moon illuminating the world.

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

Skull's roar moved the thieves into action, all of them turning and glaring at Joker.

"What's wrong with you!?"

"Are you crazy!?"

"Joker!"

The dark thief grinned further, twirling in midair and pointing up. "Mona! Give us wind!"

Mona's round head snapped up, following the direction of the red gloved finger. He noticed the edge of the castle rooftop above them. The cat became still for a second, shot Joker a narrow glared and smirked.

"To think you would already be getting a flare for the dramatics already!" Mona crossed his arms, gravity taking a hold of him and the thieves as they began to fall. "Zorro!"

The bulky Persona burst into existence, grinning boyishly as with one hand on his hip he slashed the air. Powerful current of winds roar from underneath the group, blowing them up towards the castle rooftop. They passed the edge of the rooftop and looked down. Mona's large eyes looked around, noticing the crates and barrels by the side—guard rails and cannons, it look like a place to be used to protect the castle from a full on attack. His eyes roamed away from it and saw the large tower covered in thorns. He lightened up immediately in delight at what he was sensing from the tower. "That's the…that's where the treasure is!"

Mafiosa looked at the cat, with wide eyes. "Are you crazy!? We can't keep going with that bug eye creep after us!"

"Crap! Speak of the asshole creep and he comes!" Skull's cry made them freeze as they all turned to the edge of the rooftop just in time to see dozens of the aquatic creatures and tentacles climbing, writhing and launching themselves up towards them—with the Caster leading them towards and looking at them with a mad gaze.

"AAAAAAAAA—!" The screech from the Servant was inhumane and nerve racking as the thieves stared at the Caster be wrapped with tentacles beneath his robe and fly towards them. The creatures followed after their master, spreading their tentacles wide and mouth completely ajar.

Archer reacted, aiming his bow and arrow at the fast approaching Caster, he overflowed the arrow with as much prana as he could—feeling the circuits inside of him burn and crackled at the pressure and speed he had applied to them, he gritted his teeth and glared. His mask burned away, revealing his true face as the arrow glowing red and crackling with excess prana he cocked it back and let his fingers go.

"Back…OFF!" The arrow flew, an explosion of power followed as it sailed towards the mad Caster. The Servant quickly recognized the danger and raised his human-skin book, from the open pages, tentacles sprouted out wrapping around him like cocoon. Beneath the Servant, the tentacle wrapped beneath his robe spawned quickly three of the creatures in a horrifying show—the newly born creatures in a disgusting and nauseating movement, screeched and jumped right in front of the path of the arrow in time—

KABOOM!

The explosion rocketed the entire area, illuminating the rooftop blue from the explosion of the prana charged arrow—the thieves covered their faces as they watched the event still in midair.

"Holy shit man!" Skull looked at Archer with wide eyes. "Since when were you packing exploding freaking arrows!?"

Archer grunted. "Since always…but it drains me a lot to do it…so I keep it as a reserve."

"How many shots do you have!?" Joker demanded as his eyes flickered from the smoking wreckage to the bow with laser-pointed focus.

"I have two more overcharge shots read—!" His answered was interrupted as from the smoked tentacles speared forward, intending to skewered them to pieces. He gritted his teeth and raised his bow—

BLAM! BLAM!

Two shots from Mafiosa's sniper made an incoming a tentacle flinched back. The dark hair girl glared at the disgusting limbs as she aimed at the other tentacles. "Don't you ever give up, you freak!?"

"Raaaaaaagh!" Skull roared as he brought his shotgun forward and started to unload on the tentacles. Joker and Mona followed suit, bringing their weapons out and firing alongside the others. Archer too copied them, projecting normal arrows for now as he started to fire shot after shot.

The onslaught from the hailing bullets and arrows was spectacular, fueled with their determination to live and fight back. Their projectiles were like shooting stars, smashing against the enemies and rendering their flesh to pieces under their combined might. Eight seconds after they started unloading everything they had and the limbs were pushed back—

"Get dunk on asshole!" Skull roared as he continue to shoot his now empty shotgun. "Crap—!"

"I'm out!" Mona grumbled as they continue with their descent for the floor.

"Me too!" Shiho checked her sniper rifle with a grimaced as she threw a look at Archer who grunted in annoyance.

"I've used to much magic to make that many arrows…if I keep going, then I'll tired myself out completely."

"I got one bullet left…" Joker said with supreme focus as he aimed it a the clearing smoke from the past explosion, seeing Caster gazing at them with wide eyes. Aiming his gun straight for the Servants forehead, the thief's lips formed into a crooked grin. "And it's got that freaks name on—!?"

Before he could finish his one-liner—the floor underneath the thieves broke apart, a creature darting up towards them. They flinched as the looming shadows encroached them and caught them completely by surprise. One of the Servant's monsters floated idly beside them—

"—!" The screech that it let out was ear-shattering, making them recoiled and cover their ears—leaving themselves completely opened for the flailing hurricane of attacks as the monster wailed on them with its tentacles. Sledge hammer like strikes hit them all over their bodies, knocking the wind and daylights out of them. The force of the powerful strikes sent them rocketing in random directions on top of the rooftop.

Archer crashed violently, a silent scream tearing out of his throat as he spun on the floor and crashed into a barrel. His entire body was sullied in black, getting into his mouth, nose and right eye. He cough and tried to clean himself, hissing violently as his hand went for his right knee and grip it. He glared down at it with his good eye, and saw it bent awkwardly. Wincing in shuddering pain, he moved to stand with his good knee—he brought his hand forward and saw the black substance, blinking in surprise as he recognize it.

'Black…powder…?'

CRASH!

He flinched, eyes wide as he whirled around to look at the tentacled monster that had landed right beside him. His body moved on its own, he rolled away just in time for the creature to take a riotous bite where he had been. He winced and let out pain filled grunts as his broken knee scraped and skidded through the roof floor—getting on a single knee he pointed his bow at the creature, already projecting an arrow—

CRASH!

Ten loud thuds exploded around him, surrounding him. Archer looked around as the dust and rubble faded to reveal the salivating, twitching creatures. His eyes went wide, flickering towards Caster, who towered above the roof—cooing at the situation the thieves found themselves trap in.

Joker was by himself in a similar situation to Archer, surrounded and waving his gun fruitlessly as he was backed into a corner.

Skull was being pushed to the edge of the rooftop, his lightning barely even fazing the monsters. Now he was using Captain Kidd and the bar in his hand to fend off the monsters with pure physical force. He was failing, and badly.

Mona couldn't be seen, his small stature hiding him as the aquatic creatures attacked a spot in the corner of the barrel-filled rooftop.

Mafiosa was receiving the worse treatment—Caster himself was attending to her. The girl's Persona was shooting her blessed attacks, destroying the creatures with her might. But all her efforts were lost when five more monsters appeared for every creature she destroyed.

Archer bared his teeth, fist clenched tightly.

'…we…we underestimated the Servant…no…I underestimated him, I'm the one who is the most knowledgeable about them…and I couldn't keep them safe…! Damn it!' He frowned, his hold over his bow tightening as he glared at the monster moving towards him slowly. 'I didn't realize that this Caster would corner us like this…it had planned for this back in the chapel, but we blindsided him and managed to escape. He recovered far too quickly…damn it all, how couldn't I see it! I could've warn them! But…it doesn't matter now, we're in check…but it isn't a checkmate yet…

No…I still have that…'

His most destructive weapon.

Despite how much magical energy it would cost him, it was the best move in order to defeat the mad Caster. He looked in the direction the Servant and immediately scraped that course of action.

'No…what needs to be done here isn't victory but retreat. I need to use it to give the others a chance to escape and live…but what can I do?' His eyes travelled along the rooftop and saw just how separated the thieves were, analyzing the rooftop quickly just as a monster got in his view and forced him to slid back—minding the monster behind him. 'No! I refuse to believe that there isn't a way to save all of them! This just can't be happening! I need to get them out safely…maybe…maybe if I destroy the rooftop…from my position, Mafiosa, Joker and Skull will fall…but that will leave Mona…but…if I can get into a higher position…I can shoot my final arrow and save him…yes…that will do…

I won't survive…but at the very least…I can save them…it was my fault Mafiosa got involved in this…and because of it, Skull and Joker felt convince that they should go through with Mona's plan. It's my fault…so I should bear the responsibility…it's okay.'

His magic circuits went into overload, prana pumping through his system like a raging fire. His body felt as if it was melting—

He was pushing himself beyond his limit.

'I won't put it pass Forte to know that I died…if she knows, then there's a chance mom and dad will know too…then that's okay…they will find a way to keep themselves safe, and Sella, and Liz…and you too, Illya…without me in the way…you can be safe from the hands of the Mage Association…' He opened his left hand, as a large concentration of prana started to take shape. Electric green magical energy twirled and twirled until the form of a sword started to appear. 'It's okay…just focus…it's okay Shirou…there's no reason to feel regr—!? Wait, why is Joker pointing his gun at me!?'

Joker looked straight at him, eyes wide and focus. The opening the creatures from his side and from the redhead—it gave him a clean shot towards him. For a second, Shirou's heart stop as he noticed the dark thieves eyes—red and vicious eyes stared back at him.

Joker smirked toothily, a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek left cheek.

"It's show time…!"

BANG!

The bullet sailed passed Archer's shock expression, passed the writhing creature—

And towards the barrel with black powder.

KABOOM!

The explosion that went off engulfed the creature completely, tearing limbs and chunks from it as it flailed in surprise at the violence—it's body had absorbed the most potent and deadly wave of the explosion.

Leaving Archer to take the rest of the brunt and sending him flying up into the air.

The shockwave knock the wind out of his lungs, his vision spiraled out of control and his ears rang. He looked down, his body perpendicular to the ground and he saw Joker shouting something at him.

It couldn't have been possible. Despite his ringing ears, despite his disorientation—He heard him clear as day.

"Use the exploding arrows on the barrels near Mafiosa!"

His eyes went wide at Joker's demands, looking at Mafiosa's direction, he saw it.

Barrels, all line up and packed orderly by the dozens. It was true that were those that had been misplaced by the chaos, or had been broken because of it.

'Impossible… How…how could Joker…?' In his shock, his body moved on its own as he projected an arrow and cocked it the direction of the assign target. Magical energy flowed into the projected arrow, fueling it with power. 'Did he…find the solution…the answer to this checkmate?'

He let the arrow fly—the sudden high and hard release of magical energy had the Servant's monsters acting up. Tentacles roused up behind Caster to protect him from the attack. The Servant didn't even look back or paid it any heed.

The arrow whisked past him. Caster blinked looked at the red streak as it sailed through the air. It headed straight for the grouped up barrels—

The arrow hit it's mark.

KABOOM!

There was nothing but fire. It spread through the rooftop where Mafiosa and Skull were, covering the violent monsters in its fiery embraced. The sound of explosion and fire were accompanied by the loud screeches of the creatures as they burnt. The sudden violence caused Caster to recoiled back as a barrel was sent flying his way by the explosions and then following its companions, it exploded right beside him. The shock made him screeched in a inhumane cry, the shockwave nearly made the book be torn from his grasp—this fact caused the creatures to freeze up, their screeching coming to a complete halt and their attempts to put out the flames to stop.

This was something that did not escape Archer's eyes as he looked at the human-skin cover book.

"Mona! Fan the flames! I want a this entire roof lit up!" Joker roar as he used his arms to protect himself from the explosions and flames. Back in the corner were the cat thief was, the sound of struggling and yowling pierced the through the hot wind.

"Get…off…ME!" A pillar of blue fire pushed the creatures back, enough to give Mona room to jump up and revealed his bruised and bloodied form. Hissing with bared sharp teeth, he glared at the recovering Servant and at the fire. "You want me to fan those damn flames!? I'LL GIVE YOU A HURRICANE YOU BUG EYE FREAK!"

Zorro tore through the pillar of the rebellious fire, fueled by the gentlemanly cat's righteous fury—the Persona wasted no times in theatrics nor in spectacle. Zorro pulled its big beefy arm back, holding onto his blade tightly, the usual rogued grin on Zorro's face was replaced by an animalistic snarl. The Persona then swung its blade—

And unleashed a storm.

The ground was scraped clean.

The debris was sent flying.

And the fire grew into a magnificent tornado.

Everything burned, the creatures, Caster and the rooftop. The winds had fanned the fire, then twisted and imprison everyone in a dome of blazing fury. It was a spectacular show of power.

It was also a distraction.

It was the very thing the thieves needed.

"SKULL!" Joker's voice cut through the chaos, reaching the thieves ears—they all listen attentively, adrenaline and the dark thief's confident and desperate orders had them on edge. "RAM THE BUG EYE FREAK!"

Through the fire, Captain Kidd emerge—the blonde riding the ship grinned like a mad man as his Persona rocketed forward like a bullet.

"TAKE THIS! ASSHOLE!" Writhing and burnt tentacles roused up to defend the caught off guard Caster—but they were too slow. The mad Servant was hit straight on by the Persona's ship, knocking the wind and vision out of him as he was sent flying into the fire, disappearing under the blazing storm. Skull grinned viciously at that, but stopped when white blinding light burst behind him. He turned just in time for Mafiosa to board his Persona's ship, bruised and hurt, but smiling at him. He looked past her and saw evaporating creatures, he looked away from the carnage and grinned at her. "Let's get the others!"

"Let's go!"

Joker saw what had happened and smirked as he ripped his mask off, letting Arsene out—the demonic gentleman thief laughed viciously as it roared in pure delight, unleashing a gash of wind with his wings, giving the dark thief room to get out of his corner. He looked up at the falling Archer and panicked.

"Archer!" He called out as jumped through the small open, space—Arsene kicking the monsters with a disdainful strike, sending the burning monster sprawling into even more fire and catching Archer just before he hit the floor. He looked at the awestruck redhead. "Are you okay?"

Archer just looked at him in surprised. "How did you come up with this counterattack…?"

"Huh?" Joker blinked owlishly at him, before he shook his head and grabbed him. The dark thief pulled right arm over his shoulder and supported the redhead. "I noticed the black powder earlier, then I the barrels here were stuff of interest to me…so I just winged it…"

"Winged…it…?" Archer repeated in disbelief just as Captain Kidd burst into the scene and floated by their side. Skull looked at them and offered his hand.

"Come on!"

Joker looked at the blonde with amazement before he grinned and handed Archer to him. Shiho burst from behind the blonde and helped the injured redhead get on the ship. Joker jumped in and looked around—

"Where's Mona!?"

"Here!" The teenagers all flinched and looked back, seeing the bruised cat looked at them with wide eyes. "We need to move! Bug eyes is coming for round 3!"

"What—!?" Skull started, but stopped when he noticed dark tendrils twitching and waving through the flames. "Crap! This creep just keeps on coming!"

Joker eyes narrowed, his mask still absent from his face as he looked to the side and gave a shaky grin. "Skull…"

"Huh?"

"Charge forward."

Archer's eyes went wide. "Are you crazy!? We need to pull back!"

"No…" Joker focused on the dozens of tentacles appearing within the flames, writhing and looming closer. "We can't retreat unless we want to get burn alive…and I doubt that creepy Servant or whatever didn't put a trap for us if we retreat…but…"

"You think going forward is the only way…?" Mafiosa questioned as the dark thief nodded. He looked at the blonde and pointed towards the large tower.

"Mafiosa, get Irene to the front of Captain Kidd's ship…when I scream 'now' raise the tip of the ship up…Mona, get Zorro ready for another wind spell."

"Got it!" Was the twin cry, as the two prepared to do as told. Archer glared at Joker, shaking his head and trying to get back to his feet in the cramp space.

"Joker…what are you planning exactly…?"

"…" Joker looked back at him, his shaky grin became more stable and widened into a sharp smirk. "Just watch me."

At that very moment, dozens of tentacles darted forward like a snake ready to eat its prey. Faster than bullets, they went for their prey swinging widely from left to right to up and down—it was a certain death.

Yet—

Skull who once given his orders had been silent and attentive for the moment the enemy reacted.

And he did—when he noticed the tentacles stiffened, reeling back and ready to launch themselves forward. As a former track and field sports member in the past, he recognized the intention and movement. He may be dumb when it came to books, but when it came to the physical—he was at his best there.

So, it was because of Skull recognizing this fact, that certain death was avoided, as he mentally commanded for Captain Kidd to shoot off forward a second earlier—just as the tentacles went forward, swinging widely from left to right to up and down.

The thieves held on, Mona opening his mouth to criticizes the blonde for the abrupt movement until he saw the tentacles and immediately went into his position. Irene was called forth and the female Persona held onto the front of the ship, ready to do as order. Captain Kidd's skull-like face grin as the tentacles chased after him, death looming just mere inches away.

But the tentacles were swinging from left to right to up and down, a fact that Joker had noticed earlier and something that he took careful consideration now. So, at the moment some of the tentacles swung left, less than three meters were before them.

They swung right, less than one meter.

They swung up—

"NOW!"

Irene pulled the tip of the ship up, every thief holding tightly onto whatever they could grab just as the tentacles hit the underside of the ship with the overwhelming force of a freight train. Captain Kidd wince at the mistreatment, but kept focus as everything shook and rumble. The Captain grit his teeth, snarling as tried to get the out of control motion back in order.

Skull glared forward and the rumbling stopped, leaving the thieves sailing through the winds and above the storm of fire like a rising rocket.

"RYEEEEEAAH!" Skull roared, pumping one fist into the air. Captain Kidd grin in unison to his master, pointed his cannon arm into the air and fired thunder. Skull's teeth could be seen as he looked down and screamed even louder. "WE FREAKIN DID IT!"

"This is—!" Mafiosa squeaked, her heart hammering against her chest.

"Don't let your guard down!" Mona screamed as he looked down from the edge of Captain Kidd's ship. "That bastard isn't giving up just yet!"

"Doesn't he let up!?" Skull growled as he looked from the same spot as his cat companion. Dozens of tentacles roused after them, reaching after the ship in less than a second. The limbs writhe and twitching violently, blood and burns painting over their body.

"…!" Archer growled, rolling to the other side of the ship—ignoring the excruciating pain in his bad knee, he got to the ship's side and aimed his bow with an arrow. He started to pack it with magic, but—

"Wait, Archer!"

The redhead flinched and glared at Joker. "There's no time to waste!"

The tentacles were a mere five meters away from them—

"Arsene! NOW!"

From the right, a barrel burning in fire was rocketed forward. Faster than a bullet, it intercepted the tentacles just as the horrendous limbs were just three meters away from reaching them—one of the tentacles impacted the barrel, broke it apart and released the black powder within for the awaiting hungry flames.

A moment of abated silenced as the thieves all went wide eyes—

KABOOM!

The explosion shook and burned away the air. The already hurt and burnt tentacles were shredded to chunks, only leaving gory and bleeding stumps recoiling back in pain. The dark and inhumane limbs retreated back and gave the rocketing thieves the freedom they had worked so hard to accomplished.

"Shit!" Skull screamed in pain, his ears ringing loudly and his head throbbing from the explosion—so much so that his concentration on keeping his Persona summoned was broken. Captain Kidd disappeared and left the thieves spiraling out of control in the air, going straight up to the top of the tower thanks to the explosion.

Mona flipped in midair, controlling his body once more as he rocketed for the tower. His big blue eyes went wide as their target near. "We're nearly there!"

"MONA!" The cat flinched at the cry from the mask-less Joker and turned around, he hissed at what he saw coming after them.

"Ah! Come on!" There bursting from the fire and coming after them with fiery and crazed determination was the Servant. Covered in uncountable injuries, ranging from the bubbling burnt flesh and cloth, to the bleeding injury from debris stuck in the right side of his stomach. The tentacles coiled around his legs, elevating him up in his mad dash for them. Caster screeched inhumanly, whether from the pain or in fury, it was still a cry that chilled the thieves to the bone.

"He just won't stop!" Mafiosa ground out as she ripped her mask off and Archer ready his final arrow against the incoming Servant. They were stopped when Joker loudly snapped his fingers and shook his head, he turned towards the cat thief.

"Mona! On my signal, use Zorro and blast us to the right!" Joker ordered as he kept his focused on the crazed Servant.

"I can't make another huge blast like earlier!"

"Don't worry—!" The dark thief gained an intense look as he looked at something beyond the incoming Caster. "Just use a wind spell strong enough to blast us to the side…"

"Joker…!" Archer started, his eyes focused on the teenage thief—'What are you planning!?'

Ten meters.

Eight meters.

Six meters.

Four meters.

"NOW!"

Mona's eyes went wide and hissed. "Zorro!"

Two meters—the gentlemanly Persona swiped his sword at the group.

One meter—the mad Servant reached forward, tentacles and creatures sprouting from the very tentacles like the nightmare they were. They reached hungrily towards their target. Caster's bulging eyes widen even further, a dark glint coloring his gaze—

Less than a meter—the wind hit the thieves, all of them grunted in pain at the strong impact—

Zero meters—the mad Servant dashed passed the thieves, their dodge fully successful.

Caster turned his head around, already the tentacles wrapped around his legs turning a mere meter away in a impossible maneuver. "AAAAAAAAA! You're not escap—AARGH!?"

The Servant's word were forced back down his throat, as a clawed hand grabbed a hold of his stony face harshly. Long talon-like nails were purposely stabbing into his skin.

"ARSENE!" Joker roared, a mad and sadistic grin on his lips as the thieves spiraled towards the side of the tower and away from the Servant. "Smash him through!"

"—!" A cruel laughter rang through the air as the demonic thief flew. Wings spread wide and pouring as much power into its hold, Arsene shot off forward. The tentacles attempting to hold onto Caster failed to do so as they nearly ripped his legs off through the sheer violent pulled. The Persona cared not for the state of the enemy, and flew with all it's might towards the castle tower with a badly injured Caster in his grasp.

In an instant—

CRASH!

The loud and violent impact, accompanied by the bloodcurdling and wet cry of the Servant reached the thieves ears. Joker grinned, his face burned blue and his mask was back on. He pointed forward with much enthusiasm.

"Archer! Shiho! Fire everything you have!"

The two thieves didn't need to hear anymore—they understood perfectly well.

"Irene! Put him down for good!" The Persona smiled crookedly, with harsh movements she swiped her umbrella in the direction of the down Caster. Powerful and blinding orbs of light were unleashed from the Persona, rushing forward like the bullets of an uncontrollable submachine gun.

"Checkmate!" Archer ground out as he unleashed the arrow.

Both the projectile and light rushed for the disoriented Caster who was stuck on the wall, bloody and moaning in pain. Both attacked raced, trying to reach their target first—

And then, as if realizing that there was no need to compete—both arrow and light became one.

Spinning like a rising star, they reached their target—Caster only had enough time to look in the direction of the light, with eyes widening in shock.

—!

There was no sound as everything went white.

…

….

…..

Slowly, color started to return back into the world—

"Whoa…!"

Mafiosa's amazed tone made Archer blinked owlishly, his vision still reeling from the backlash of the blast. He shook his head and looked at the arm wrapped around his torso, he looked to the side and saw Joker holding tight and preventing him from falling or injuring himself. He blinked and saw Joker, Mafiosa, Skull and Mona holding onto the side of the castle tower, managing to crash into it when the world went white. He bit the inside of his cheeks when he noticed all of them looking up, he followed their gaze—

"Oh…"

It was the only thing he could've said. On the side of the large tower, a giant hole had been puncture through—wide enough that almost the entire wall facing the rooftop was gone. It was a testament of their struggles. Smoke blew from it, the tentacles and monstrosity belonging to the Servant were frozen in place, those too close to the blast wither away from the blessed explosion—while those below in the burning roof turned to ashes.

It was a complete and well strategized checkmate.

"We…won…" Archer trailed off as he looked at the destroyed tower side. Joker looked at him, then let his eyes wander for the rest of the team and nodded towards the smoking hole.

"Let's go up there…Mona, here." With one hand he reached for a can of energy drink and gave it to the cat. "Drink up, we really need you to heal us up…"

"Got it! Let's go, I can't sense any Shadow nearby…!"

With that they moved, climbing up the tower carefully. Joker held onto Archer tightly, not wanting for him to fall off his grasp. Shiho looked down at the injured redhead and winced, but focused on her task.

Minutes later, they arrived to the smoking destroyed hole and climb through it. They looked around, but only saw a burnt and badly destroyed hall—but…

"Hey guys…where's bug eye creep?" Skull's question made the thieves worry as they found no trace of the Servant.

Joker placed Archer down on the floor and motioned for Mona to come over. "We'll worry about that later…come on Archer, you're gonna be alright."

"Yeah…" The redhead winced as he looked at his leg, the adrenaline of battle wearing off and letting the pain finally filtered in. Fortunately it didn't last, his body was covered in a green glow and he felt himself recovering from his injuries. He looked up to Mona who had a focused expression.

"…Dia. Alright, I think you're good enough to stand on your own two feet." The cat stared at him with an small smile. Archer moved to get to his feet, stumbling slightly and mummering a soft thank you. Once he was finally up, he looked down at his knee and winced when he bent it.

"Hrm…"

"Don't worry about it." Mona dismissed his silent complaints as he went to the others. "Come on, let's get you all patch up! There's a treasure we need to find!"

.

.

.

.

"What the fuck do you mean they are still alive!?"

The enraged and snarled words of Kamoshida's Shadow echoed through the king's throne room. In front of the fuming king was a single golden knight knelt before his lord, to ashamed to look up as he answered.

"The Servant, Caster…he went to attack them…but fail, the thieves managed to defeat him and proceed into the inside of this tower."

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What the fuck!? How could those damn peasant brats get passed Caster!? Not even those two previous intruders managed to do that!" Kamoshida glared at the knight, his face red with indignation. "You! Why didn't you or the others shadows help Caster!"

"My lord…you were the one who ordered us not to interfere when the Servant went into fight…not after the other previous intruders nearly blasted past the lower areas of the castle last month."

"FUCK! How did they do it!? Was it because they were sneaking around like rats!?"

The king and knight, to distracted with their discussion never saw the shadows darting from left to right. The moving shadows approached the door behind the staircase of the throne and entered it silently, leaving the enraged king completely unaware. The door was shut quietly.

"We here…" Mona said quietly, a massive grin on his face as they faced another pair of great doors—behind it, there laid the Treasure.

"What did he mean by other intruders…?" Archer murmured quietly as he looked at the ground with a troubled expression. He turned to look at the door behind him.

"Archer-kun…? Are you okay?" Mafiosa voice made the redhead flinched and looked back at the girl. His eyes drifted to the side and saw the other thieves already inside the treasure room, gawking at the golden artifacts inside. "Archer-kun…?"

"I'm fine…but…" He frowned, shook his head and walked into the golden room. Mafiosa stared at his back, eyes narrowed as she went to follow after him.

"Whoa! What'sa that hazy floating thing?" Skull asked as he looked at the cloudy presence. Mona grinned as he crossed his arms.

"That's the Treasure."

Joker put his right hand on his pockets as he reached out for the hazy Treasure with his free hand. "But we can't grab it…my fingers are just passing through it…"

"That's because there's one more step left to do!" Mona smirked, turning around and crossing his arms as he looked up at the group. "Now that we have secured the route, all that's left to do is go to the real world."

"Oh come on dude…can't you just be straight with us!?" Mona just huffed at Skull's grumbling.

Archer looked at the three, turning his head slightly to see Mafiosa smiling at the groups antics. The redhead took a step back, lips pulled down as he narrow his eyes behind his mask in thought.

'Two intruders…what could it mean…could Black Mask be targeting me? But why go after a teacher…? Could it be him sending a message? No it doesn't make sense…because it was stated that there were two intruders, not one…does that mean the Black Mask isn't a single entity? Of course, the words from Kamoshida's Shadow confirm that there were two intruders that attacked the lower levels of the castle a month ago…but neither Amamiya nor Sakamoto had their powers for more than a week at most. Hrm…this is getting complicated, but this means that I've finally taking a step towards finding out how to stop this mess. Once I'm done…mom, dad, Sella, Liz…Illya, you won't have to worry anymore!'

"Archer-kun?" The redhead looked up and saw the rest of the group looking at him. Mafiosa's lips pursed slightly as she took a step towards him.

"Is everything okay?" Shirou stared at her for a moment, bowed his head and turned away.

"Yeah…just thinking about the Servant and how lucky we were." The redhead let out a breath and shook his head. 'Better keep this to myself…I'll need to make the others hurry up with taking down Kamoshida and make sure they never do something like this again. And—'

"You know we all trust you, right?"

Shirou's stiffened at those words, he turned toward Joker who was looking at him with a flat gaze. The redhead chewed on the insides of his cheeks as he considered how to respond.

"I know…I trust you as well."

A noncommited response, something not lost on the others. Mona opened his mouth to say something—

SNAP!

Everyone looked at Joker with his fingers up in the air, seeing the dark thief for a brief moment looked at Mona and shake his head. The leader of the group looked back at him and gave a slow nod.

"I see. Then let's go, we can discuss our next move tomorrow." Joker said this words, regarding Skull, Mafiosa and Mona. He finally looked at Archer moved towards the exit. The redhead watched the dark thief passed by him and he turned to look at his back.

"Urgh…tension got pretty high, huh…" Archer heard Skull grumble this and the sound of hair being scratched. The snort from Mona was derisive and mocking. The two passed by him, following after Joker.

"Shirou-kun…" He turned towards Mafiosa, towards Shiho and saw her raise her mask up. Her eyebrows crease and she took a step towards him. "I know you heard something that bothered you, but…you don't have to bottle it all up you know? You told me that you're fighting for something you want to protect, your family right? You've told me that getting involve in whatever problem could get me in problems…but now I have power! I can fight! So—!"

"Stop." Shiho's heated words got stuck in her throat, her shoulders sagging as she looked at him with a hurt gaze.

"Shirou-kun…but…"

"Shiho-san, let's end this thing with Kamoshida so that we can save all the abuse students and your friend Ann." He stated firmly, he moved his hand for his mask and raised it up to show his golden eyes. "But…when we're done with this, you nor any others wont be getting involve with this world anymore. After this, it's over. All of this."

"What?" The girls eyes narrowed and she took a step forward. "You can't just make th—hey! Shirou! Don't turn away from me just like that!"

Shirou moved, followed a by a fuming Mafiosa. He stopped when he felt the narrowed gazes of his fellow thieves. Skull was tapping his foot on the floor aggravatedly, teeth bare and looking straight at him. It was Joker's firm grip on his shoulder that kept the blonde from saying anything. The redhead felt the urge to clicked his tongue at the fact that his words had been heard by the others. He simply looked at all of them, lowered his mask and moved forward to exit the treasury room.

'I'm sorry Shiho…but I can't let any feelings of friendship or companionship get in the way of what I really need to do.' He frowned, clenching his fist tightly as he felt a weight pressure in on his shoulders.

'It had been fun doing all of this…but I can't afford having fun when I should be prioritizing my family.

What I did wasn't wrong, and I won't regret it. But I can't afford any more deviations.

I'll burn all these bridges when I'm done…

There's only one thing I should be focusing on right now.

Capturing Black Mask and securing the safety of my family that is all.

I will be returning back to Forte…there's no doubt in my mind what she has planned for me when she finally gets thing moving.

But at least now I have a piece of information that I can leverage just in case, dealing with magus isn't all about brute strength. But about giving up something exchange.

As long as Illya and the others will save…then I don't care.

They are all that matters.

But…

Why do I feel as if that isn't enough…'

AUTHOR' NOTE

Hey there! It's been a while now hasn't it? Yep, well that's what college life and now baring the responsibilities of an adult seems to be doing. I haven't had much time to do anything really! It's been quite exhausting and draining. Fortunately I got this chapter ready just in time for all of you as Christmas present for all of you. I hope you all enjoy it, it was fun writing and fixing this chapter.

It kinds of brings me to my next point, of course that being that this story will now be monthly. I simply can't force myself to try and write this story to be weekly or anything like that. So you'll be seeing this story updating every month, unless something comes up and I'll be running late. But let's cross that bridge when we get there.

As for the story, we're hitting important plot elements that will affect the rest of the story right here. And as you already read, I'm not wasting time. Last story I wasted way to much time with Kamoshida's palace, here I'm focusing more the important aspects and such.

But anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please review and leave your thoughts.

Until next time! Adios!