Infiltration complete.

Ren, myself and Ryuji arrive inside the castle along with Morgana. Slipping through the window to the side of the entrance, we make our way towards one of the doors that led to the main lobby.

Kamoshida’s busy telling his men to keep an eye out for us, saying stuff like putting a bounty on us or granting wishes. I can’t bring myself to care.

This place is going to come crashing down after were through, so these knights aren’t getting squat.

Morgana is explaining things to the gang, but I got a good handle on most of the stuff we have to focus on.

Kamoshida’s Cognition is like a security level to this place, the more we’re on his mind, the higher the security to the whole castle will be. Basically, we got to slip in undetected, and if we are detected, we got to take out the shadow that spotted us quick to lower our presence. It’s all about sneaking in, and assassinating the shadows that spot us.

Weakening our opponents allows us to interrogate them for info, straight up steal their shit, or finish them with an All-Out Attack, basically wailing on them until they are gone for good.

I personally like the last option, as I feel pretty damn powerful with the gang helping us finish a shadow in style.

Ren, or Joker as he’s going by, since we got to make sure our real names don’t cause a shift in Kamoshida’s congition and cause the castel walls to fall on us or something. Joker’s listening to Morgana about the options for a stand off when suddenly the pixie shadow starts begging for her life.

“Please don’t kill me!”

Joker, in a pretty suave move, gives her mercy, which causes her to remember she’s part of the sea of souls. She glows and turns into a straight up copy of Joker’s mask, slamming onto him with a shadowy blue fire.

“What was that just now, what happened?”

Morgana clearly is distraught by what Joker just did, but I’m not.

It’s why Joker’s so powerful, he’s not beholden to just one Persona like the rest of us. He can switch his Personas at will, allowing him to become even more powerful by combining and quirking their skills.

I recalled my own time with it, spending hours to min-max my way to an absolute victory.

“Holy… does that mean you can wield multiple Personas?”

Morgana’s catching up to Joker’s gifts, and I can’t help but laugh at this.

“Seems Joker’s got a brand-new power, that’ll make this place a lot easier to scope out.”

“You’re not kidding Wolf; this will be a huge advantage in battle. We should hold up as many as we can. You better pull your weight too Skull.”

Ryuji or Skull as his code name, agrees enthusiastically, promising to hold them all up to help our Joker.

I chose the moniker Wolf for pretty obvious reasons. I mean, my freaking mask is basically that, along with fangs at the end of it. Ryuji thought Inu made a pretty good code name, but I wasn’t going to call myself a freaking dog. Wolf was much more dignified, Fenrir even said so.

Shaking my head from my thoughts, I bring myself back to focus as we push around in the rooms ahead, checking for treasure chests and avoiding/’dealing’ with the guards.

We run across a group of jack-o-lantern looking witch things, floating around with ominous lanterns and scary faces.

I take a look at Mona, (Morgana didn’t really get a choice on his code name) and make some wind moves with my hands. As expected from our team planner/navigator, he gets my meaning right away as he uses Zorro to unleash a few wind blasts at our assailants.

They all go down with out a hitch, and Joker adds another Persona to his repertoire.

After Joker makes a grab for some treasure, we rush into the next room, which happens to be a hallway that veers off to the right. Ahead of us is a door that starts to wobble a bit, indicating a ‘Safe Room’.

In the game these were basically places you could save your progress and use items to heal your party up. In the Metaverse, they’re explained as places where cognition is lessened as a result of the Palace’s view on the space, basically making it a ‘safe place’ from shadows as they can’t materialize there.

We go inside the Safe room, and I lean against the wall as I know what’s coming next.

This is the most pivotal part of the canon for the game, the part I was most worried about as without this next segment, we could lose a potential member.

Ann’s Awakening.

Ann Takamaki, after being traumatized by Suzui Shiho’s fall, was supposed to summon her rebellious spirit against Kamoshida as a result of her friendship. Being careless, as we came into the Palace this time around, Ann happened to be nearby, which pulled her along with us. The other two got her out of the place, claiming she wasn’t safe with the shadows around.

I knew however, and confirmed, that she was listening to us as Ryuji used his Metaverse Nav to get us inside.

Now comes the part I dread.

I changed Suzui’s fate from falling down the school roof, to falling down the stairs. While it’s pretty awful she still had to go to the hospital, it wasn’t nearly as serious as it was before.

Will that be enough for Ann to awaken?

I don’t know, and it makes me fearful.

That’s when I hear it.

A scream.

A very familiar scream.

“Do you guys hear that?”

I turn to them as they take note of what’s going on.

One of the Shadows talks about the ‘princess’ being in a strange place, and I point it out to the gang, giving Mona a chance to check it out. He comes back confirming what I was hoping.

That Ann was captured by the Shadows.

I open the door.

“Come on, if Mona’s right then she doesn’t have long before something bad happens to her.”

“Jeez, we go through all the trouble to keep her out, and she just waltzes back in.” Ryuji shakes his head at the situation.

I nod back, “Still, it’s her friend that got hurt by Kamoshida. I can see why she wants payback.”

“What about you, you seemed to know Shiho too right?”

Ryuji, sometimes you are strangely observant about the shit I don’t want known.

“I knew of her, and I just happen to see her walking up the stairs.”

Joker looks at me, and its pretty clear he doesn’t buy my explanation.

“Look I’ll explain it better later. For now, we should check on Takamaki-san.”

I used distraction attack, and it seemed pretty effective as Mona gets the rest of the group on Ann’s case.

We make our way back to where we came in, taking a right to the dining hall, which before was blocked by iron spikes.

In the distance I can hear someone talking.

“Is this some kind of filling? Who’s in charge here?!”

I hear her gasp.

“Come on, she’s in trouble!”

“This way!”

Mona and I race down the hallway towards Ann’s voice, Joker and Skull not too far behind us.

We get to the door as I make out Ann’s voice once more.

“Look I’ll apologize for touching the armor, okay?”

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Skull shakes his head, “she has no idea whats going on here.”

Mona’s panicking though, “come on, we have to save her!”

We all check that we’re ready to go in, before Joker pulls the door open and we walk inside.

Knowing what I know, it still seems perverted as I gaze upon Ann Takamaki as she is tied up to a board. Her arms and legs are spread out on the slight ‘X’ shape of the design, and I see her struggling as she glares at the knights surrounding her.

“What’s this all about?! Seriously I’m gonna call the cops!”

In the back of the room, I can make out Kamoshida’s Shadow, along with another shadow at his side. It’s the Ann from our last visit, all tressed up in nothing but a bikini.

He’s gloating at Ann, and from what I can tell, she’s more surprised than scared of Kamoshida.

“What is this place?! Why is the school turned into something like this?!”

Shadow Kamoshida grins slyly at her, commenting about how his guards mistook Ann for ‘his Ann’.”

He leans a bit in her direction.

“Are you afraid?”

Ann can’t seem to understand Kamoshida’s choice of clothing, to which he explains about the world of his desires, this castle.

“What the?! Is… is this place some kind of red-light district?”

Ann is clearly not getting her situation.

“What a lively slave.”

I growl at that, moving closer until Mona puts a hand in front of me.

“Wait a bit.”

Ann’s yelling at Kamoshida now, who doesn’t seem to be impressed at all. He turns to his fake Ann muttering something to her.

The fake Ann, stunning Ryuji as she speaks, ‘perks’ up as she answers Kamoshida.

“Talking back is like… totally unforgivable.” The sultry voice is actually rather infuriating considering that she sounds like a complete tool.

“In that case… she should be executed.”

Kamoshida drops that bomb like he’s talking about the weather, and I feel my claws inch out as I growl.

“Now, how should I play with you? Shall I tear you into little pieces?”

Ann’s starting to freak out, and I don’t blame her as a giant golden knight starts to inch closer to her.

I notice Ryuji talking about the shadow clones of the volleyball team. Around us are a bunch of teen girls, with only their shorts on as they make moaning gestures.

Got to say, this basterd is a straight up pedophile.

Mona finally pushes us forward as Ryuji calls out to Ann.

“Takamaki!”

Kamoshida scoffs at us, not amused with our entrance to his… ‘fun and games’.

“Just when I was starting to enjoy myself…”

“You little…”

Ryuji’s anger flares up.

“Whats with this guy?”

Ann tries to move, but her thrashing isn’t doing much, and the movement gets Kamoshida’s attention as he looks back between us and her.

“How many times are you gonna come back?”

He turns to his ‘prize’, “I bet you’re just like those thieves, you came because your pissed at me, huh?”

He grins, “But, ah… I forgot her name, but it’s your fault she had her accident you know?”

Ann’s lost for a bit as she answers with a huh.

“You were so reluctant to throw yourself onto me, that I had her take your place.”

That gets Ann’s attention, “you basterd!”

The golden knight get’s closer to her, and while I could take it out, I hold myself back.

Come on Ann, don’t forgive him!

Ann gasps as the knight gets within swinging range, and Ryuji tries to intervene.

“Take one more step and I’ll kill her on the spot.”

Kamoshida stops Ryuji on the spot, and I ready my hunting rifle slowly as Kamoshida turns to Ann.

“Damnit…”

“Just sit back and enjoy the dismantlement show.”

Ann’s panicking, and I can see her eyes go wide as the knight moves ever closer.

“No… Don’t!”

Kamoshida’s face contorts into a perverted grin as she contemplates to start cutting off her clothes.

“Hahaha… you’re such a perv!” Fake Ann takes a queue to turn my stomach at the thought of that freaking basterd touching Ann, and nooooope killing that thought with a knife to the brain.

Ryuji’s starts to panic, “Wait, what are we going to do… Takamaki!”

The golden knight is within stabbing range, and the knights around Ann part ways to give him more room.

I can see Ann being distraught, blaming herself for Shiho and almost accepting the humiliation waiting her as a punishment for not helping her friend.

Don’t give in to despair Ann, you can do this! You can make him pay for what he did!

I turn to Joker, praying he can say the words to free her.

“Don’t give in!”

She looks at Joker in confusion, as if the words were a line being tossed to her in a storm. Then I see it.

I see her fear turn to rage.

“You’re right. Letting this piece of shit toy with me…”

She laughs, mirth coating her words as she looks to the ceiling.

“What was I thinking?”

Yes! Do it Ann!

Kamoshida’s not happy with the situation as he tries to belittle her further, “Like I always say, Slaves should just-,”

“Shut up!”

Ann moves more, trying her best to free herself,

“I’ve had enough of this… you pissed me off you son of a bitch!”

Those are the words I was waiting for!

I see Ann’s eyes turn yellow as she starts to scream, thrashing even more violently as the power of her Persona starts to awaken.

Off to the side, I can make out some guards trying to move in, swords raised to strike her.

I put my rifle against my face, lined up around the head of the first knight, and I pull the trigger.

I still get a kick out of the thing, but its powerful and precise. The knight is sent flying into the wall, a rather large hole where its head used to be.

Ann’s screams pick up more as a mask covers her face, a red mask resembling a cat.

“I hear you, Carmen.”

I feel a feral grin pull on my face as Ann breaks out of her restraints and pulls her mask off in a scream of pain. Blood covers her face, but only for a moment as blue flames burn forth from her body.

Behind her is what I can only describe as a femme fatale, a woman who would leave both men hearts and bodies on the street. She wears a sultry mask of red, her eyes glowing yellow, with a cat’s iris staring out of them. Oddly enough she’s lifting a part of her red dress, and oh boy what a dress it is.

Leaving almost nothing to the imagination, her bust is massive and barely covered, while the dresses end has frills in some places. Roses dot the waist like a belt, and her mouth is holding a petite cigar. Her hair is like Ann’s, only dressed in royal drills as opposed to Ann’s style. A couple of men with hearts for heads are strung around her fingers, and she even steps on one of them with that out stretched dress of hers.

I feel a weight lift off my heart as Carmen finally materializes in front of us, grinning with sexy poise as she stares at Ann’s enemies.

Ann sprints towards a knight and grabs his sword, and in a move I believe would fit in a medieval fantasy, she jumps to cut her fake self in twain. The fake dissolves into shadows.

This rightly so scares the pants off of Shadow Kamoshida, causing him to fall back as his gold knight comes forth to protect him.

“You know what? I’m not just some cheap girl you can toy with… you scum bag!”

“Bitch!”

I couldn’t help myself, chuckling at the king trying so desperately to appear like he’s not intimidated by Ann’s rightfully scary look.

“You stole everything from Shiho… you destroyed her… Now it’s your turn.”

Ann points at the sniveling coward.

“I will rob you of everything!”

The gold knights heard enough though, “how dare you, enough of your insolence!”

He morphs into his true form, and another chuckle comes out of me as I stare at a demon on a toilet.

A shit demon, a literal shitting demon is protecting another piece of shit. The irony is not lost on me.

“No, I have had enough of you! No one going to stop me now!”

She makes a fist, and the rest of us move up beside her as she shouts to her Persona.

“Let’s go Carmen!”

Let’s fucking go Fenrir!

I feel the wolf son of the trickster god come to life behind me, his grin matching mine as we find new prey.

The shit demon taunts Ann about love, but she’s not interested in his little speech.

“That dirtbag only sees women as sexual outlets! Don’t make me laugh with that ‘love’ bullshit!

Let’s give him hell, Carmen!”

Ann calls on Carmen to send a fireball at the shittiest demon ever, causing it to fall to the floor immediately.

I pull out my claws, as we move in for an All-Out Attack.

I zoom around with my claws raking the demon’s arms and legs. Joker slashes at the demon with his knife in the beast’s eyes. Skull is batting at the unmentionable places. Mona’s carving an ‘M’ onto the beast chest, while Ann finally takes a whip to the monster’s backside.

We break off of the demon, who while alive is very injured.

“Shit, he’s still up,” I comment as the demon glares angrily at us.

“No worries, this will clear him up!”

Skull pulls out his shotgun, a manic grin plastered over his face as he unloads into the demon. The bullets sadly seem to bounce off of the demon and his toilet throne.

“He’s immune to physical damage it seems. Ann’s got him with the fire though!”

I turn to give her a thumbs up as I hand my turn over to her.

“Thanks!”

She smiles, which while I know probably doesn’t mean anything in this moment of life and death, still makes my heart stir for a blessed moment.

She hits him with another blaze, causing him to fall to the ground once more.

We all move in to hit him again.

This time I slash my claws at the demon’s face, giving him a bleeding strike over his eyes and mouth. Joker hits the arms, slashing rapidly as she carves flesh from the beast. Skull still takes the private areas, and I see the demon twitch in pain as shock overcomes him from Skull’s strikes. Mona hits the back of the beast, and I see him pull out some markers to draw on the monster’s back. Ann deals the finishing blow, wrapping her whip around the demon’s throat, and pulling taught enough to sever his neck.

The Demon’s voice still comes through despite being separated from the rest of his body.

“To think… there could be a woman… who could stand up to King Kamoshida.”

Ann laughs as she speaks, “outside of school, that guy’s nothing but a pathetic loser.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

The demon finally dies, sinking back into the shadows as I play the fight completion song in him head.

“…you alright Wolf?”

Joker gives me a pat.

I snap out of it as I see Kamoshida run away. With a bit of amusement, I take my hunting rifle and aim at his ass. One click and boom later and I hear Kamoshida yelp as he runs through the door.

“Wait!”

Ann is on the floor, the fatigue of her awakening draining her to the point where she can’t stand.

“Why’d you come here man?! And more importantly, how?!”

After putting my gun away, I join the others as they surround Ann.

“Hey! Is that how you speak to a woman? Are you alright Lady Ann?!”

Ann scrunches her face in confusion, “Lady Ann?”

I take a moment to speak up, “seems Mona’s taking a liking to you. He’s a monster cat by the way.”

He looks at me like I betrayed his family and shot his wife, “what the hell Wolf?”

I shake my head, “just ripping off that Band-Aid for you early mate.”

Ann turns to me for answers, “just what is this place, where in the world are we?”

Mona tries calming her down, and fails miserably as she uses him to prop herself up to her feet.

Which makes her realize her ‘clothing’ situation.

In her awakening, Ann’s rebellious spirit apparently has a thing for red leather, zippers in odd parts, and a window for her boobs, not to mention her thigh-high boots. Her pink gloves are cute though.

Understandably she a bit distraught about this and sinks back to the floor while covering herself.

“Calm down.”

I take a moment to realize that maybe Joker hasn’t spoken to too many women. Ann, again, understandably freaks out at him

“How can you expect me to be calm?!”

Mona takes control of the situation.

“Well, I’m stumped. A search party will be coming for us soon, there’s no time to explain.”

He looks up at us, a determination sparking in his eyes.

“Let’s retreat for now.”

Ryuji complains about Ann getting in the way, and asks Ren to take a side as we make our way out of the Palace and back into the real world.

We pop into the alleyway just in front of the school. I look around and give everyone a thumbs up to tell them the coasts clear.

Ann is clearly out of breath, but she gives an appreciative 'thank you' to Ren and Ryuji. I half hear what they are talking about, as I’m almost sure that it’s just them getting a grasp of their bearings.

“So, we out of here then?”

I get a nod from the group as we make our way out of the alleyway, one new member to the crew, get.