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Fandom Persona 5: The Meta War CLOSED

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Swan Maeve Valor Maeve Valor

Morgana immediately sprung into action,seeing his friend trapped. The cat attempted to free Swan by jumping up and grabbing the trident, pulling it back to avoid cutting her neck. He was grateful for the opening Prophet had given him. That cute meta merc was distracted.

Morgana managed to pull the trident out, “Swan, I’m so sorry if I accidentally cut you-“ the cat really hoped he did not cut her at all. Swan was one of the only members that were kind to him, so he couldn’t hurt her.

The cat struggled to position the trident in a throwing pose. He was going to throw it straight at Syren, hopefully this would help Prophet knock her out or something.

With a grunt, the cat threw the trident in Syren’s direction. Hopefully the trident would damage her and wouldn’t bounce off her armor.

But suddenly, the trident was caught by another meta merc who was dressed like a prince. He had a crow mask, covering his face. He didn’t seem to have any armor on like the other mercs did either. The way he caught the trident was elegant by itself.

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“Nice try foul beast,” the merc said as he glanced at Morgana who was speechless. He smirked and threw the trident at Morgana with alarming speed. Morgana could not react in time, before the throngs pinned him to the wall piercing his skin.

“Ow!” The cat yelped and struggled to pull out the trident. Crow watched him struggle for a bit, “Pitiful creature,” Crow commented and turned his attention to Swan.

“I assume that a beautiful girl like you is what I must fight,” Crow said to her. He didn’t hesitant to give her a chance to answer back. He casted Megadon Raid on her, a sudden energy hit her dealing medium physical damage to her.

Then Crow kicked her in the chest, hopefully creating some distance between them. He wasn’t strong like Veno or Slayer but he was fast. Swan could counter him quite effectively though.

……

Tragedy, Heartbreak Anthem Anthem Nellancholy Nellancholy

Ann fell on her ass. The bufu definitely weakened her and she felt a little weak. The lady in red tried to get up but struggled to regain her footing. Damn she hated being a fire user sometimes! Luckily it seemed like her teammates were handling the mercs.

“Got it Oracle,” Ann responded and thought about how to get her friends out of this palace safety. She knew that Abyss would probably smash Imato in pieces but luckily Shiro was taking care of him. Arachnee seemed like more her fight than Abyss.

“Can you dodge bullets?” Ann called out to the spider, she unloaded her sub machine gun at Arachnee. Hopefully the bullets and Nukes would give the spider a hard time.
 
Sougo smiled behind his mask, happy that his old friend somewhat understood the predicament he was in. Hearing him lecture him like this, it reminded him of simpler times in life and the friendship he shared with Ace. But seeing Ace equip his metaverse garb, he couldn't help but feel his heart sink. His hands trembled, anticipating what was to come. He was afraid. He knew he certainly didn't lack the strength nor the skill to win the fight. But would he have the conviction to finish the fight? Would he have the heart to strike his one true friend down?

"Yea...I do too." Baron was never really sure what Ace's circumstances were. He had always assumed that he was banished by some other party, be it the metamers or the freelancers. Heck, he wasn't even sure what he was looking at. He wanted to assume that this was just some mental trick, perhaps an illusion made by the strange abilities of this palace. Nonetheless, on the off chance that it was Ace...he wanted some closure with him. Even so, Baron already had a feeling he wouldn't be able to get that. Not today.

Ace's sentence about his rebirth as "Kaiser" stuck with him. Making the ex-merc feel somewhat guilty about his transformation and questionable choice of career. At the end of the day, all of them had made their choices. "I made my choice....I am ready for what comes next." No, he wasn't. But the young man learned that if he kept telling himself that, he will be. Clenching the hilt of the sword, the masked man would pull his blade out of the ground. Despite holding it tightly with both his hands, his grip still seemed shaky and reluctant.

Taking a good look at the distorted image of their friend, he came to realize that what he was looking at was not Ace, but a fragment of him. An echo of a voice, that has long since passed. "I miss you...Ace.." He smiled solemnly behind his mask before shifting into a more serious expression. Though his words would likely never reach him, he still found some level of comfort and talking to this small fragmented part of his old friend. Baron gave one final sigh before steeling himself for the battle that was to come. In the blink of an eye, both fighters would disappear and reappear in between where they were standing, creating a massive shockwave of power from the clash of their massive blades. Buildings and shadows around them shattered from the reverberation of the strike from their blades. Baron held his ground, not giving Ace an opportunity to push back and yet strangely not pushing back either. "Just like old times..."
 
In the midst of the din of the packed walkway, Swan tried to make her way past all the shadows present as she listened to the song coming from what she assumed was a shadow right up until she witnessed them change their appearance. Wary of the unknown regarding this being along with her mischievous smile she gave Swan and Heartbreak, she decided that it was best to just keep trekking on since this place was already weird as it was. That, and also she didn't want an encounter similar to the one she just had with the Shadow Tanbono; And by the way she charmed the audience with just a look, she seemed like the type who could repeat such a scenario. Though the way this one turned out had become much different resulting in being trapped by a trident. As she was taunted by the merc, Swan struggled to pulled the trident off her and a slight cut was made in the process. Thankfully, Prophet jumped in at the right time to intercept and she heard the notification from Oracle over the comms to try and retreat as Mona followed up by assisting to free her from its confines with a surprisingly concerned tone.

"Don't worry Mona, I got cut a bit but it wasn't your fault," she responded as she brushed a hand over the wound to check how much she was bleeding which wasn't that much. In the meantime, Mona made an attempt to fling her own weapon at the MetaMerc who was now engaging in battle with Prophet only for it to be caught and thrown back at him by another new member of the organization that she had not seen before fashioned in a mask somewhat similar to hers and assessed that he didn't have armor for some reason which led her to quickly deduce that he must have a hidden skill which could have something to with the lack of armor. For now Swan wanted to be wary of this opponent and study his methods a bit more before solidifying a plan of escaping. Swan wanted to help Mona like he had with her, but judging from how fast this person was, he would easily take the chance to attack her if her sight left him for even a moment. Further proving this, Swan was barely able to process his movements as he attacked her with Megaton Raid landing a gash on her shoulder and taking a good chunk of her health. She willed herself to ignore the pain with a grunt as she armed herself with her chakrams just in time to block the oncoming kick from the MetaMerc yet she was still knocked back a bit and slid on her feet along the dirt ground.

"Damn it... Speed may be helpful, but flattery won't get you anywhere in this fight." She summoned Scheherazade and the persona immediately showed up charging at Crow this her Claymore held above her going for a downward swing as Swan threw her chakrams towards either side of him. While she knew that he was possibly too fast for these attacks to land, the idea was to push him to further reveal what his fighting style was like while she gave Mona time to release himself. "Mona, I'll cover for you!"

That Weird girl That Weird girl
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The shoulder attack proved successful as Syren staggered a bit back as she held her arm. Before he could try to attack again though the girl smiled at him as she seemingly disappeared until her voice was heard again. "My, my, I didn't think I'd come in contact with a holy man today. You must be the very troublesome Prophet I've heard so much about," as she spoke the young man in priest's clothing would hear that she was getting closer by the sound of her voice along with every so often parts of her became visible as as if she were a watery reflection. "Mind if I make a confession?"

Having reached him, she showed herself again now leaning right next to his ear. "Forgive me father, for I am about to be a very naughty girl," she said seductively as if she were making a false promise. The trident that was once pinning Mona turned to water and evaporated in the air and then showed up in Syren's hand in its water form again before solidifying. She stabbed her her trident's pointed side into the ground between them and used it as leverage to kick upwards towards his jaw and then wrapped a leg around the pole-arm along with a hand gripping on to whip herself around for a powerful side kick that one would not expect from her dainty frame. "That was for Fixer," the statement made was in such a tone that was in contrast to the playful way she had been speaking to Prophet thus far. Even though she had tried to come off as aggressive, there was a tinge of hurt to her voice at mentioning Fixer. She knew that this was just the way of the business, though she couldn't help but make at least one of her blows a personal attack on the person that had banished a good friend of hers. She liked to think that he would do the same if she had gotten banished.

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
 
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Nellancholy Nellancholy Lady Heartbreak, Anthem Anthem Sir Tragedy, That Weird girl That Weird girl Madame Panther

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT," Abyss laughed in exhilaration at Heartbreaks fever pitched response. Such aggressive passionate nature was always a delight to see in the youths of today. With a wide sidestep, Abyss took the stance of a grappler with hands spread out as if insanely planning to catch the mechanical persona coming at him. Yet at the last most possible second Thrud stylishly flipped midair coming down to destroy the foothold Abyss had. Yet Abyss didn't stumble or fall for that matter instead he was sinking into the very ground right in front of all three of them.

"QUITE INVIGORATING A FIRST DISPLAY LET ME RESPOND IN KIND. MOBY DICK," At first the three probably wouldn't comprehend what had just been said but soon they would see it as no laughing matter as a massive white demonic whale clearly in collusion with the story it came from shot out from the very ground quickly turning fast as Abyss triggered the move Sledgehammer causing the massive whale to hardcore slap Thrud with its tail spinning the femme fatale like a spinning top toy inflicting Dizzy on the persona.

At the same time as Heartbreak in unison, Panther and Tragedy launched their attacks upon Arachnee. The chaotic spider continued her distributing smile as she placed both hands upon her polearm weapons and spun them jumping backward as she deflected a good half of Panther's bullets.

"Looks to me like your still struggling Heartbore," she chastised Heartbreak yet the rest of Panther's shots made their marks nicking and piercing in damage "Keke, alright little kitty I see you," Upon the end of the bullet hell Tragedy's charge finally closed the gap as Arachnee gave him her full attention. Tilting her head noting Tragedy's annoying tease of her laughter she watched his persona infuse the boy's hands with a buff and nuclear power.

Yet while he did have the power Tragedy would quickly discover he did not have the speed as in response to his close proximity his first punch was redirected away by a slap from Arachne's left hand. Surprisingly she had holstered her weapons, and in a split decision took an Aikido stance preceding to redirect, and slap at Tragedy's forearms. Rather disturbingly unlike most enemies who would definitely have gotten the one-two to pummel unable to read the mad dog's movements this girl was doing that and more. Luckily though Tragedy would have a similar perception of pace as he barrel dodged a cartwheel upper kick as Arachnee flipped backward to dodge his final fist breaking the two away from each other. Upon her repositioning though her mask burned blue.

"Jorogumo... Makajamaon," with those words whispering past her white as snow lips a well-sized black and red spider appeared next to her with the upper half of a beautiful woman with long Black hair. Without much time to adapt it launches itself forward in a jump first seeming to be after Tragedy but instead slamming down and restricting Loki in a surprise attack as the Insectile persona barfed a nasty gas all over Loki. Tragedy would instantly feel a server from Loki in his mind unable to trigger any spells or skills. This in itself would be just enough time for Arachnee to close the distance exactly as Tragedy had done before.

"Ke...ke...ke... GARULA," mocking his own mocking of her laugh Arachnee blasted Tragedy with a gut-punching medium-damage wind blast sending him slamming right into Thrud. At first, it seemed Arachnee was about to charge Heartbreak next but the appearance of Abyss swimming out of the ground near the target seemed to signal her to wait as he grasped the trapped girl's chains lifting her up into the air effortlessly he laughed.

"YOUNG LADY SUCH CLEVER BATTLE TACT TESTING YOUR ENEMY TO SEE WHAT THERE MADE OF I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO QUICKLY FORCED TO USE MY ABILITIES SO FAST... However, you clearly lack in the marks of teamwork or have you been ignoring your allies which in turn pay you this way," Abyss's hearty nature turned into scolding not very impressed by Heartbreak's lack of use of allies in turn them as well as non of them even attempted to help her break the chains his ice was now making stronger before his clutch. With much gusto and baseball pitcher stance, he flung Heartbreak right at Tragedy before continuing

"And you young man what good does charging an enemy with force if you know nothing about them? You should learn from your ally's tactics rather than be a wild animal clawing to get hits in while the enemy potentially bleeds you out," Abyss spoke scolding Tragedy's actions as well as he turned to Panther sizing her up before suddenly breathing in a fit of laughter taking another flexing stance.

"YOU THOUGH MISS PANTHER SUCH A GRAND FIRST DISPLAY THROUGH AND THROUGH. YOU JUDGED BETWEEN YOUR ALLIES ACTIONS PICKING THE BEST OPTION OF HOW AND WHO TO SUPPORT. GIVING YOUR ALLY THE TIME NEEDED TO MAKE THERE MARK I AM HONORED TO MEET YOU ON THIS DAY OF BATTLE," Abyss praised Panther adding to the oddness of this behemoth of a flexing man personality we this a fight or a training session was getting a bit hard to tell anymore. Expedition with all his infectious laughter, pride, and joy he clearly put into his work so much so that he clearly saw reason to make his enemies better than they were...

"ARACHNEE PLEASE KEEP THE GOLD STAR WINNER ENTERTAINED WHILE I GIVE THESE TWO A CHANCE FOR EXTRA CREDIT," the man sang slamming his wrist together in an intimidating pose spending his armor having a hard time containing his muscles. Arachne herself was having a bit of a laughing fit in response to all this, but upon command pulled out her duo six shooter pistols pointing them at Panther.

"I can feel your pretty good with guns so how about a little shoot out hmmm," Arachnee hummed before immediately charging and firing upon the Feline Phantom Thieve.
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Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Miss Swan, That Weird girl That Weird girl Noble Mona, and Azurian Dream Azurian Dream Prophet

"That's one hell of a trick," Prophet hissed under his breath keeping out for anything sights, sounds, or environmental changes that could signal his opponent's whereabouts as he kept turning in new directs having no desire to let this Syren so easily sneak up on him. Unfortunately, a silent assassin she clearly was as she closed the distance with concerning precision as she was on him. Her prior signs of placement had just been distractions as she whispered her request into his ears.

"Guh," Prophet tried to block with his arms locked into a cross hold, but the women's kick broke it allowing her foot to collide with his face still thankfully with less force, but a solid hit non the less. The green-garbed teen, however, grabbed her secondary attack snatching her leg from the back thigh in a bit of an awkward hold with both his hand and her leg fully extended. Though this was in the heat of battle the actions strangely did not speak louder than the words as Syren mentioned Fixer... she was hurt about that. Prophet wasn't shying away from noticing the tone of pain in his attacker's verse... how was one to respond to that.

"You need naught request forgiveness for I am the one who should be asking for yours. I ask you simply understand I had no choice, but to protect them," Prophet solemnly answered in turn to his given position letting go of Syren's leg rather than taking advantage as he turned to Swan, and Mona's situation taking a step back from Syren. While Prophet did still disagree with Baron on a majority of the opinion of Fixer, Prophet well understood that Fixer clearly had been an important person not as a forefront, but as a historical piece to the Meta-Mercs... which mean it made sense that there were people who were trained/raised by the man in their newer gen... he just didn't expect to run into one so soon. Yet, the awkwardness wouldn't last.

"Triple Down," he called upon Rasputin reigniting the flames of combat as three gun blasts erupted from the mad monks for both Syren, and Crow giving Swan, and Mona covering fire to counter while distracting their opponent as Prophet threw his baton at Syren before sliding down to kick at the bottom part of her polearm to disrupt her pole grip as he pulled out his tri-barrel shotgun using it to hook onto Syren polearm swinging off it toward's Swan.

"We can't stay here... we need to head for wherever this show is, but first we must lose these two," Prophet muttered to Mona and Swan looking into the back allies of the main road the holy man noticed a rather higher collective of masquerade shadows.

"Have any skills that can cut open a wide distraction," Prophet asked the Phantom Thieves.

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TreasureSniper TreasureSniper Investor Baron

Upon the seismic wave, the storms above came to life booming, and crackling in response to the madness of force erupting in vibrations off the locking blades. A thunderous roar came crashing down with a unique Zio blast being summoned from the very skies came crashing down upon Baron. Breaking the stalemate and the very ground beneath them Izanagi-Ace jumped up coming down with Myriad Slash series aiming to pummel Baron's side as if attempting to cave in his torso. A weird silent moment would give Baron a peak of a notable smile on Ace's face like how he us to have when he knew he stole the opening act of the fight from Baron.

Not even stopping there Izanagi-Ace then proceeded to charge his blade with Zio energy erupting off it almost creating a lightsaber-like storm effect as he swung it forward creating a tornado of electricity threatening to suck Baron in and no doubt electrocute him to the very core if he didn't act properly.
 
Such power. Such strength. It was almost as if his friend was still there, but he knew there couldn't be further from the truth. Baron would summon his persona above the two humanoids, blocking the lightning strikes from hitting him with his wings. While still functional, his wings began to burn and glow red hot as they were struck by the lightning signifying just how powerful it was. Once more, Baron was distracted, his mind was scattered and unfocused, still very emotionally vulnerable due to this unusual form of reunion. Leaving himself wide open, Ace was able to catch the young man by surprise with the myriad slashes, causing deep gashes onto his armor and cloak. Baron desperately gasped for air as he used his buster sword to prop himself off the ground. It's been a while since he got his this bad, but such is the price of being careless.

"I know....you probably can't hear me anymore...but..I really am sorry it had to be this way, Ace." The great and prideful Baron had finally let his facade down and apologized to the echo of his friend. There was a certain brokenness in his voice, sounding like it was coming from someone who was on the verge of tears. While he tries his best to convince himself that these were the words he wanted to say to Ace, deep down he knew he was just trying to comfort himself. More self-justification and excuses to feel slightly better for himself and his deeds. Losing the will to fight, Baron dropped his sword and closed his eyes, and waited for the furious maelstrom to strike him, sending him on his way to oblivion.

He waited and waited, but the moment never came. He opened his eyes, only to find that everything had stopped moving. How can this be? He did not choose to activate this power? Unless. "What do you think you're doing, Sougo Agata? You wish to end your circle here?!" The voice of his persona bellowed onto him with great anger. "...And what if I do.. ?..I just want to forget all this.....all of it! Just...let me go back to being a simple delinquent..." Sougo remained silent for a bit, looking down at the ground, not knowing what else to say. "And yet, here we are, continuing this conversation. Which means-" Sougo didn't miss a beat, continuing the sentence of his persona. "Part of me wants to continue this journey as well..." It was a strange experience, to have a conversation with your persona. He briefly wondered if the other thieves had ever had such an experience. But such thoughts were for a later time. "But you already knew that. After all, I am thou-" Once more Sougo completed the sentence of his persona, gradually finding the resolve to press forward. "and thou art I.." after all that has happened, he owed it to himself and to the people who weren't here anymore to finish the journey.

With renewed resolved, Aion's manifested in front of Baron, protecting him from the electrified tornado, shielding him from the elements until it found the strength to disperse the deadly cyclone with a mighty punch of its own. "You were the better fighter back then Ace. But that...was a long time ago." The giant mech dragon positioned himself behind Baron as the young man performed a back flip into the cavity of its chest. With its thruster fully revealed, Aion charged forward, tackling the white trench-coated persona onto the ground, dragging it across the surface as it continues to propel itself forward. If this was the memory of Ace then he most it fully by giving it his all. Using its size advantage, The dragon pinned it onto the floor and repeatedly struck it on its face with its mighty fist. With each strike, he would pummel him deeper and deeper into the ground. Eventually, the dragon would finish off this attack with it's tail tightly wrapping around the body of the persona, ensuring that it had nowhere to run. Its lower jaw would split open as its power began to pulsate within the neon accents throughout its body. Energy began to converge within the dragon's mouth preparing him to unleash an attack that hasn't been used in a very long time. The environment around the two would violently destabilize with each passing second. "Omni Terminus" And with that Baron's strongest attack was revealed. An almighty attack that commends it's target to the eternal void of non-existence.
 
Upon feeling that Prophet managed to catch her follow-up attack, Syren initially nudged her leg as she tried to get it out of his grasp. Normally she would crack a joke about how high his touch was on her leg, but her anger regarding Fixer had overridden any common interaction that would have otherwise come from her, though her anger subsided when she heard his strange apology. She looked to his face in confusion wondering just how earnest he was, but unfortunately she was unable to read his expression to discern so because of his mask covering his whole visage. She softened for a moment and felt a mutual understanding with the enemy knowing that she would have and has done the same for her friends on the battlefield. Furthermore, he even calmly let go of his grasp on her leg and stepped away when he clearly had the advantage to counterattack if he so chose to, yet he didn't.

As quick as the moment had come, it left just as quickly as she steeled her emotions to not be gullible. Banishment among Metaverse Users was normally treated coldly as just a way of natural selection and those who remain are to be respected by others. Unlike most of her peers whose perception has hardened for the most part over exposure to many banishments, Syren was different though and she did her best to not show it around her fellow MetaMercs. "Nice try sweetheart. Just how stupid do you think I am to believe that you actually care in the slightest? I admit, your hands felt nice but it's gonna take a bit more than copping a feel and kind words to-" It was then that Prophet used his Triple Down ability cutting her off from her statement that was about to be a bit too honest. This attack accompanied with Prophet's kick to her weapon that was still embedded in the ground had thrown her off-balance as Prophet took this chance to try to escape into the crowd. "Crow, how about you take that direction, I'll go this way," Syren suggested to her ally in a hurry.

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream That Weird girl That Weird girl
 
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To see the use of Aikido, certainly shook Tragedy up a little bit as the thief tried to make a little bit of distance afterwards to prevent Arachnee from taking advantage of her superior martial arts style. Though of course this movement proved to be fruitless as the spider-like merc summoned Jorogumo, which pinned Loki instead of directly going for the persona user which confused the boy until the odd gas started to take effect. Tragedy held his head in pain as he felt himself become temporarily displaced from Loki, and he had immediately taken note of how his communication to the persona was nulled. It was almost... calming not having that roaring voice constantly berating him in the back of his mind, though this enjoyment was cut short by a sudden impact to the chest.

"Damn-" Was all Tragedy could say as he was propelled by the Garula. His feet planted into the ground as an attempt to slow down before crashing into a wall or worse, an ally. Though these efforts would only be partially successful as he reduced the impact both him and Thrud received upon the impact, but of course it couldn't just end there. That would be too simple! Red eyes turned a brightened yellow as the fool tried to scope out any potential tactics that could be taken considering their location, though the thing taking up his vision was not a potential escape route but instead another thief approaching at an accelerated rate due to Abyss' pitch.

Tragedy put his arms out and braced his legs before Heartbreak impacted with him, taking the chance to catch her despite it causing a bit more damage to him to do so. "Tch, we can't let this guy get in our heads..." Not wanting to really listen to the advice given by Abyss, the fool would roll his shoulders and crack his knuckles as it seemed the two mercs were preparing for another round. Looking at Heartbreak, the boy would finally fully take notice of the chains and would use the remaining amount of power from his buffs to shatter the chains so both her and him could preform at their best. At least whatever their best would be without the usage of their persona.

'We need to heed to Oracle's words and make our escape soon or we'll be squashed like bugs here, if we can just push by these two we can make a break for the roads where we'll have the advantage of sneaking out thanks to the crowds...' Thinking of a plan felt a hundred times easier without Loki's non-stop opinion on every little thing that could be done at literally almost any moment. Tragedy looked over to Heartbreak with a determined glint in his eyes. "Panther can handle the arachnid, after all we have a bigger fish to fry." Looking once more at the whale-merc in front of them, it was clear that skill alongside a lil' bit of wit was the only way to succeed in earning this 'extra credit'.

"When it comes to the two of us, I'm faster but you hit harder. So the only way I can see us getting out of this is if I can derive his attention for long enough for you to disable him somehow. Maybe we can take out one of his legs for a moment... No, we'll have to at this point. It's do or die..." Putting up his hood as that confident grin of his slowly made a return to his visage, Tragedy was putting all his trust into Heartbreak in this moment. With a simple nod of his head to his ally, the fool suddenly shot forward with a great burst of movement. At this point, Tragedy's started to once again show his ability to keep his momentum despite there not being much environment to assist with the task.

Similar to how the thieves blended into the shadows as they snuck around, the boy gained an appearance similar to one of said speeding shadows as he continued to build speed and momentum while jumping and weaving around Abyss. It had gotten to the point where Tragedy look was simply a dark figure with distinct red eyes as he started his assault upon the whale merc. Hit-and-Run was the primary tactic as he swung upon the merc's upper torso while continuing to stay on the move, trying to stay out of the way of a killer grasp. The only downside was that one wrong move or mis-jump could send this tactic to the lowest depths of hell, so Tragedy silently prayed that Heartbreak would be able to get a good hit to the legs or something before his body eventually gave up on him.

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream Nellancholy Nellancholy That Weird girl That Weird girl
 
Crow
Interaction- Team Swan Azurian Dream Azurian Dream Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Me

Crow didn't respond to Swan's comment, because he got hit by her chrakams. He did manage to dodge the slash of her claymore though. Crow grunted in pain as the Chrakams hit with sides of him, piercing his costume. He could respect Swan's attach though, it was kind of a good move to overwhelm his speed and see what his fighting style was. To be honest, Crow was enjoying this opponent. Not many people could give him a challenge intellectually, unless they were Sougo Agata of Shunjin academy. Of course his counterpart Baron would easily kill Crow, but that is why Crow never went after him. He is not an idiot.

Swan seemed like she knew more than she'd let on, similar to Agata. Crow would suspect she is the leader of these vermin since she seems so well organized. Leaders tend to always have a base plan, even if will delay the enemy. Nevertheless, he would be wise to take her out of the picture first, then he could avenge Fixer. Crow infused his sword with physical damage, with the help of Robin Hood. He was going to slash at Swan again when that damn hoiyman casted Triple Down, distracting him and Syren.

"Gah!" Crow yelled in anger, as they managed to escape into the crowd. He was furious that they had a chance of escaping now. He looked at his ally and nodded. "Make sure that bastard pays for banishing Fixer Syen." Crow said as he acted off in the direction, opposite of Syren. He wasn't there for Fixers funeral but he heard about the banishment from one of the mercs. Crow didn't chat with Fixer all that much but he knew that Fixer was a good part of the team.

Morgana
Interaction- Team Swan again!

The cat didn't appreciate being trapped by Syren's trident, he was going to get revenge somehow. But before he could release himself with Zorro's help, the trident evaporated into water. Mona was glad to be freed from that humiliation and he was ready to get back into the fight again! Although, Prophet, the persona user who Morgana had previously had threatened to kill had saved them by distracting the two meta jerks.

"Good work Prophet," Mona said, "I got just the thing." Suddenly the Bakeneko transformed into a bus and honked his horn at Swan and Prophet. He could probably mow down these shadows easily, but it would make the palace more hostile to them.

(Feel free to control the Bakeneko Mobile)

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Ann
Interaction- Team Tragedy Nellancholy Nellancholy Anthem Anthem me

Gold star winner? Ann would be super excited about that, IF IT WASN'T A LIFE OR DEATH SCENARIO! She didn't like this show more and more. But, it seemed like they needed to weaken those two to escape. Shiro, god bless her, was taking the heavy damage for them. Ann breathed a sigh of relief when Tragedy came to aid her in her time of need.

"I can feel your pretty good with guns so how about a little shoot out hmmm," Arachnee hummed before immediately charging and firing upon the Feline Phantom Thieve.
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Ann gasped, she was not expecting Arachnee to charge at her and fire bullets. She attempted to dodge her, getting hit with bullets in the process. Ann didn't have time to register the pain, as she had to counter attack now. Ann jumped up and tried to hit Arachnee with her whip as hard as she could, if successful she would strike her several times.

Maybe if she could damage her mechanical legs?

"Yeah, I got it," Ann responded to Tragedy. She fired her submachine gun at Arachnee's mechanical legs in an attempt to disable her for a moment. Ann would then throw a fireball at Arachnee with the help of Carmine. If she could at least weaken the girl then hopefully Tragedy and Heartbreak could get Abyss in a weakened state.
 
"Rrrgh...!" With a deliberately loud growl, Shiro flexed and threw her arms open, shattering the last remains of the chains that bound her. But as she tried to command Thrud, a burst of pain hit her in the head, like static feedback from a television. No, she would not let this get to her. She had grown stronger through her trials so far. They had grown stronger.

Even so, it would take her a few moments to shake off the effects of Moby Dick's attack entirely, seconds they might not have. Time to take her own initiative.

"You'll regret not striking me down when you had your chance. Let it teach you and grant you greater strength, if you survive." Shiro tried to return Abyss' own prideful statements, but who knew how well that would work?

Tragedy's swift blows were more than enough to serve as a distraction, and the opportunity was not one to be missed. Carefully, she pulled out a Cyclone Magatama from her pocket, crushing it in her palm and letting the swirling wings flow around her lance. "If you shall not yield to earth, then let the sky take you!"

The next time Tragedy moved, Shiro stepped forward, her knuckles white as she kept the lance poised and delivered a firm blow to Abyss' legs.

If he were to be launched by the roaring winds, Thrud would be able to follow up, soaring into the air to deliver a fierce haymaker punch to take advantage of Abyss not being grounded to knock him far back.

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream Anthem Anthem
 
Judging by how Crow decided to step back away from the claymore and take the slices on his sides from her chakrams, Swan deduced that while he was quick he prioritized fending off hard attacks over dealing with attacks that fast-paced like he was. This to her revealed that there was no hidden defense tactics he had up his sleeve. The attack he would have taken from Scheherazade would have damaged him greatly which was a bit of useful information that Swan tucked away for later. Although after this, Swan didn't expect that he would respond in turn by charging up his blade to attempt to do a heavy attack of his own. The impression he gave in doing so was that he knew what she was doing in calculating her options and to combat this, he was trying to catch her by surprise by switching tactics and show that he was capable of doing heavy attacks as well.

Swan didn't have time to parry in any way since her chakrams were already thrown out and there was no way she can get Scheherazade to block for her in time, but as luck would have it Prophet was able to stop Crow from executing the slash. With his Triple Down move taking effect, Swan took this opening to flee and had perfectly synergized timing to Prophet and Mona as they all met up at the same time. Quickly thinking on his feet, Mona changed into his bus form and Swan impulsively jumped into the driver's seat to steer Mona. From off in the distance she spotted a large crowd of people with masks similar to that of what the Phantom Thieves would be wearing. "Talk about a skill, nice job Mona. I got an idea, but don't freak out too much with what I'm about to do you guys. When I say 'now', Mona change back."

She then floored the pedal attached to Mona, immediately making them speed off down the alley with velocity making Swan and Prophet jerk back against the seats. As they got closer and closer to the crowd, it seemed like she was getting dangerously close to running over and into the group of shadows until she finally shouted in hopes that they would launch into the crowd, "NOW!"

That Weird girl That Weird girl Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
 
Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Miss Swan, That Weird girl That Weird girl Noble Mona, Azurian Dream Azurian Dream Prophet

"Not at all... I even find myself hesitant," Prophet whispered as Syren was pushed back in the gun attack Rasputin having done his purpose disappeared before he could cause verbal trouble with the enamoring individual. Though Rasputin's thoughts lingered in Prophet's mind over the attire choice of the blue mesmerizing mystery he had rather inappropriate laid hands he was quick to make himself scarce to avoid being left wide open for attack. Thankfully in the small annoyance of mental hindrance to the mad monk's lust his allies made quick strategy as the cat transformed again into a massive automobile... what secrets could be learned. That wonderous thought of a full study of the unique cat shadow helped Prophet get back on track as he followed suit to jump in with Swan who had a crash course plan... wait what? Comically in response to where they were going Prophet slowly clicked in his seatbelt, and said the mad woman was not about to turn this into a Twisted Metal experience. However, once Swan explained her plan Prophet was genuinely impressed with the implication to use the masquerade shadows as cover given their bizarre appearances and their own it would be a cluster fuck for them to find them since they couldn't attack in fear of retaliation.

Yet as they were bellowed forward upon Mona's transformation it wouldn't be enough to just jump into the field chaotic movement would sell them out fast. As the three slid in without much time to explain Prophet snatched Swans's hand spinning her in fluid motion as they barely safely slowed down in momentum he swiped up Mona throwing him to hold on to Prophets shawl around his neck so he could be their eyes from behind. Their footing changed from bricks to fiber as a form of dancing ground was layered down with a melody slowly slithering into all that could hear.

(Here you go XD: )

Upon slower motion, Prophet's hand let go of Swans. Yet, his other would now be felt upon her back with his fingers gently touching and seeping past the feather strewn upon her backside specifically upon the nap of her spine before moving lower, but not too much lower ending up a bit above her waist as he hooked his grip upon her side pulling her towards him in rhythm to the song at hand. Upon his other hand laying lazily at his side at the read was his tri-barrel shotgun ready to pull up, and fire upon potential threats that could catch them in this tense moment. Blending almost perfectly in with the crowd Prophet's feet started to lift up lightly pushing Swans to match step up on the dance using his inner thigh to direct hers in step avoiding coming off too strong in movement nor notable out of tempo with the rest gently pulling her chest to chest he whispered.

"Keep in step, give me a call if you see them, and if you see an opening just take contr... "ouch"," in concern about what may have caused her to suddenly misstep on his foot he turned to her believing the threat to have arisen so soon only to find her strangely... conflicted?

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Anthem Anthem Sir Tragedy, Nellancholy Nellancholy Lady Heartbreak, That Weird girl That Weird girl Madame Panther

Arachnee found her prey quick to fight back in a surprise twist as the girl took to the air using her whip in a fluid motion rather efficiently disarming Arachnee's left hand of her pistol in a quick session as she laughed in the insanity as she took a step back pointing her right arm pistol aiming to lay waste to Panther's poor choice to take attack mid-air yet the girl's aggressive force of the first strike apparently gave her some good mid-air recover gaining the red Phantom Thief a delivery of wailing of a whiplash volley unto the now forced defense stance Arachnee.

Upon Panther touching base down to the ground Arachnee would rush in a mechanical spider charging bashing away the feline thieves gun with her own as her mechanical limbs shifted up ready to wail on the "kitty" yet before the return of beatdown could be initiated the meta merc was met with a point-blank Agilao causing her to immediately hiss in annoyance finally placing a scowl on her smiling face as her limbs were forced into defense as she was pushed back by the blast. Strangely though the clattering of metal could be heard on the ground as the mechanical limbs fell apart into scattered parts. As the flames cleared it was revealed upon the burning fringed hair tips of Arachnee's long hair strands that they were in fact moving as if alive manipulated by the girl like spider silk of the Jorogumo.

"Tsk, how rude kitten," she smiled a bit annoyed at her trick being revealed, but not freaking out about it like most would as she watched the girl gun for it running away as she recovered her hair's reach reconstructing her spider limbs.

At the same juncture, Abyss watched as rather abruptly the boy took the first charge coming in extremely nuclear more so than Abyss had been expecting upon prior reports given on the Phantom Thieves so much so that he crossed his hands together in defense standing his ground in a bulked pose as the boy added in impressive addition of momentum pinging off shadows so well coursed in projector that Abyss found himself in the middle of a barrage of pinball strikes from all directions. The ground around the stage started to scatter small cracks from all of Trgaedy's launching points quickly fueling Abyss to start garnering the boy's projections before finally, he broke his stance turning around and snatching Tragedy from the very air aiming to quickly slam the boy hard into the ground.

Yet before he could introduce Tragedy to the ground he so cracked up that the boy would find himself saved by the Garula wave that would snatch him from Abyss's grip and fling him away from the behemoth and straight into Heartbreak's arms giving the two quiet grace of space to run. Though try as it might Abyss's natural weight seemed unable to lift, however, the vortex kept him in place giving Thrud a grand opening to deliver a well-placed punch into Abyss corresponding him to fly backward slamming, and completely obliterating the house he crashed into. With the opportunity blown wide open, a sudden series of smoke bombs would trigger all around the meta mercs blinding them to the Phantom Thieves' positions as a voice would call out.

"Quick matey your crews a calling the shows are nearly set," the voice of Shadow Tachi the cameraman dressed up clearly as a navigator of the seas called out in the direction to guide them to safety. Beckoning all three to head his way they would find a hidden hatch leading further down the hillside port town where a group of pirates was waiting with a supply cart to hide them in the chaos.

In the wake of their escape, Arachnee would unleash a torrent of magarula's to clear the air of the smokescreen heading straight for where she had seen Abyss thrown upon realizing the sight of the thieves was long gone. Upon her approach, she was met with the strange sight of the wooden house being caved into what appeared to be an abstract wooden beam chair that Abyss was well dug in. Before she could ask if he was okay he stretched his arms up in a stretching motion moving quite a bit of debris as he stood up sounding off a lot of pops and cracks as he continued to stretch moving so much of the broken house Arachnee took a step back not wanting any bit of the house to fall on her as the massive man stood up. With foreboding silence, he walked out of the house with Arachnee walking backward not sure what was going through the big man's mind, and if he was furious about how the exchange had turned out with one load crack as the man rolled his shoulders the meta merc female waited in silence as the man seemed deep in thought.

"Arachnee?"

"Yes sir?"

"Tell me... WASNT THAT EXHILIRATING? GOLD STARS ALL AROUND HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," the whale of a man laughed boldly into the sky happy with the sudden stellar performance they had pulled out of the woodwork with just one turnaround moment. Arachnee rather confused looked to Abyss for anything that cleared up the mystery of this enjoyed assault. Abyss rather quickly picking up on this hummed a chuckle. "They didn't tell you what kind of assignment this was did they, and don't worry we have been given orders to allow the Phantom Thieves to roam free for now."

"What...?" Arachnee with a rather weird expression of confusion on her face seemed to have her mind read by Abyss as to what the point of attacking them was.

"FOR PRACTICE OF COURSE HAHAHAHAHA NO DOUBT SUCH DUBIOUS PASSIONED SOULS WON'T DISCONTINUE TO STIR TROUBLE JUST CAUSE WE TELL THEM TO. NO, WE MUST BE PREPARED IN CASE WE ARE GIVEN A CHANGE OR ORDERS, THUS IT'S BEST TO TEST WHERE THEY ARE NOW... Besides this is still an area of favor we are allowed to scare them away we just can't harm them past that by the will of the All-Father," Abyss answered between flexing stretches as he clearly wasnt bothered by the invasion of the said palace for what seemed to be rather insane. Yet the spider girl mulled for a second as she tilted her head in curiosity until something seemed to click with her.

"Ohhhh this is one of those Palaces. What a nice surprise kekekekekeke," Arachnee smiled wildly upon realizing where she had been stationed... oh quite a bit of fun was true to be had, and how lucky they were that the Phantom Thieves had come waltzing into this beautiful land.
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"Huh. I didn't mean to do that." Amidst the chaos, Shiro turned to absorb the impact of Tragedy flying into her, quickly setting him down on the ground. So that eloquent hulk called Abyss could be moved after all. Something to keep in mind for the future. Shiro was used to fighting, and even more so since this adventure began. But killing was an entirely different proposition. Still, when the time came, she would use this information to the utmost.

Quickly setting Tragedy down, she dispelled Thrud, allowing her form to vanish back into her mind so that they wouldn't present so much of a target.

"Is this what this palace has to offer?" As Shadow Tachi called to her, she shook her head, carefully eying him from behind her visor. The master of this palace was doubtless a cunning one. But even if she didn't take Tachi's hand, it was still very much in their interest to disappear out of view to break the pursuit of the mercs and get their bearings for when they came to confront their real target. "Lead on then, navigator."

Carefully holding her arm out back for Tragedy and Ann to follow, she slipped into the darkened passage, and then the cart.

Anthem Anthem That Weird girl That Weird girl
 
Power always has some sort of price whilst within the Metaverse, whether it be the mental drain of using spells or the physical drain coming from a Persona using a physical attacking skill. This barrage of attacks that Tragedy was using against Abyss was no different, while it had nothing to do with his Persona or magic in anyway, the sheer intensity from his breakneck speeds intertwined with powerful blows drained him with every jump. His legs felt like they were going to fall apart but he kept going as he was trying to ensure his teammates' safety above all else, his own wellbeing could wait until this brawl was over and done with. That was the boy's mindset until the large merc had yoinked him out of the air, his mind then turned into a mixture of prayers and screaming since he expected this upcoming slam to easily break a few bones within his body.

Luckily that wouldn't be the case as his previous hopes of Heartbreak coming in with a clutch attack weren't in vain, as she was able to release her fellow thief from the clutches of their foe before sending said man into an unexpecting building. Though that did leave one thing for the white-haired thief to worry about. How was he going to get to the ground safely..? With his legs as injured as they were, simply landing was no longer an option. But as if Lady Luck herself blessed him in that moment, Heartbreak was perfectly placed to catch him before starting the escape.

'Could have used a bit of help over there, but whatever-' Before bothering to start the mad dash for the exit provided by a... shadow? Tragedy looked back to see how the duel between Panther and Arachnee, and was able to catch how fire affected the spider's usage of the metal ligaments. Taking a mental note of this fact and ensuring that his other ally was indeed safe, that's when the boy finally decided to start escaping to ensure that this combat wouldn't end in the banishment of someone on their side. It would only be until after Tragedy fully escaped before peering back to see what their work had done.

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream That Weird girl That Weird girl Nellancholy Nellancholy
 
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Morgana did trust Swan but sometimes her methods were surprising to say the least. Nonetheless, he transformed back when she told him to and they were launched into the crowd. The cat was flung on Prophet's back, not really a bad thing to be honest because he could spot the mercs the easiest. He held onto to Prophet's shawl, as the two danced together to blend in. How romantic! Mona didn't know that Prophet could dance and that was something he did not even consider before. This palace was really something else huh?

"Why are you both- you know what never mind,:" The Bakeneko said, he supposed that his question was answered already by the melody that was playing. The cat sighed, he was feeling a little like a third wheel now even if the two were faking it. He rolled his eyes at them and continued to look out for Crow or Syren in the dense crowd which was a little tricky even for him. The crowd was filled with young couples dancing their heart away to the music, no wonder why Swan and Prophet were dancing like they were in love. Were they actually though?

Crow was making his way past the lovers, using Robin Hood to find the truth of where they were. He thought that he found them multiple times but it was just shadows that seemed to masquerade them. It was a no brainer that they would try to blend into the crowd to escape the pursuit of Crow and his comrade. He kept mistaking shadows for them, leading him to be frustrated. He needed to find them and capture them. to be brought for the All Father to decide their fate. Crow also wanted to draw out Agata from the shadows, Crow knew that Agata had a thing to do with these persona users. If he couldn't best Baron, then surely Abyss could.

Morgana smirked as he pulled on Prophets shawl to direct the mere somewhere misleading. He could easily spot Crow's signature mask in the crowd since it was really different from any other shadow that was there. He didn't see Syren yet and that worried him a little, she could be anywhere in the crowd right now. Hopefully, Prophet had a plan to get out of here before they were hunted down by the mercs.

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream Maeve Valor Maeve Valor


"Oh my god Tragedy," Ann said in a concerned tone as she watched him about to take a nasty fall. Luckily, Heartbreak had came in clutch and caught him. Ann wasted no time and casted Dia on Tragedy and Shiro, healing them a little bit just in case they took a lot of damage. She was indeed worried about Tragedy, since the thief was pretty much a glass cannon compared to Heartbreak. Why didn't she help him out more? Ann didn't know and was not going to ask her about it right now.

"Good work guys," the feline said to her teammates as they all slipped away to the cart. She was proud of them for being able to hold back the powerhouse known as Abyss. But, Ann had a bad feeling that there would be more mercenaries like Abyss and Arachnee trying to stop the thieves and their assault on this palace. Ann was grateful but confused on why the shadow was helping them, she was not complaining though.

"Thank you," Ann said to shadow Tachi as she was gonna hide in the supply cart, "hopefully the show won't involve crazy mercenaries that are trying to kill us." Ann did hope that they could just scout the treasure and get out of there cleanly. But her hopes would just be wishful thinking to be honest.

Nellancholy Nellancholy Azurian Dream Azurian Dream Anthem Anthem
 
Swan's plan when the trio melded with the crowd was to wander aimlessly to the edge of the room casually in search of an exit until she felt a slight tug from Prophet which caught her off guard as she was pulled against him. At first, se instinctively was about to push him away until she realized that it would draw attention to them. Regardless of how uncomfortable she felt with his hand around her waist, having a lack of knowledge in dancing, flushed cheeks, and being so close to this person who was basically a stranger, this was the best way to go about the situation at hand seeing as though the other shadows soon went about their business dancing as well soon after the commotion.

As the female thief adorned with black feathers danced with Prophet, she tried to distract herself by looking around the room and kept an eye out for any MetaMercs. Among the crowd, she spotted a couple dancing close to them of which one so foolishly had a golden ticket peaking out of his pocket. Taking this opportunity as the three of them brushed past, Swan gingerly and successfully took the ticket not caring if Prophet saw this or not; it was the Metaverse afterall so displaying such skills didn't matter all that much to her. This concentration was broken though when she felt his leg try to guide her to sync up with him and in turn made Swan lose her footing and stepped directly on his feet. She was sure that he noticed the ambivalent expression on her face so to hide it she moved her head next to his to keep him from seeing her more flustered. "The misstep was my fault, I was paying more attention to the reconnaissance... like we should be," Swan stated the last part with a shooting glare towards Mona to show that she was still staying focused as she caught the tail end of him rolling his eyes at them.

After Mona directed them away from where he believed he saw an enemy searching, Swan couldn't wait another second more to step away from the young man in green. "I will personally make sure that Mona runs over those nimble hands If you ever try that again..." Swan threatened meaning for it to be light-hearted, yet in reality it came out as a bit harsh while they walked down a hallway trying to find another exit out. In a timid fashion she then look away embarrassed as she continued on, "but it was quick-thinking and good that you had us blend in. Else we probably would have been spotted easily just now... Mona, can you be our eyes a bit longer while we leave?" As Swan brought up Mona to change the subject, they finally found the exit which happened to be close to most of the other members to their growing group.

That Weird girl That Weird girl Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
 
Anthem Anthem Sir Tragedy, Nellancholy Nellancholy Lady Heartbreak, That Weird girl That Weird girl Madame Panther

"Right, you are to heal your mates now you never know when some crazy thumper will appear again," strangely unlike how the shadows had reacted to their fellow shadows' misdeeds it seemed the Meta-Mercs were not affected by the no violence nor shameful craft rules that they had seen thus far... no doubt some sort of deal with the Ruler of the palace was in play here. Yet as Pirate Navigator, Shadow Tachi praised Panther for caring for her mates, he laughed a bit at her worry about the show's entertainment.

"No misses no such rowdiness is allowed at the show it is a true testament to equal ground parley no violence in no violence out unless you wish to test the water," he joked to the three as he opened the flap to show them a rowdy shadow being tossed into the water canals all around the town. Much like Mona, and Prophet before the three would get an eldritch horror seen as the healthy shadow upon contact with the water was set upon by ragged clothed tendrils swarming, and pulling the shadow under before returning them to the top looking a like a sickly decrepit elder wretch scared in not but decaying cloth slowly flowing with the waves downstream. Closing the curtain all while laughing as if such a sight was regular, and totally not the thing of nightmares the shadow pulled out three golden tickets handing one to each.

"Huh, coulda swore me fellow Chef said you would be a lot smaller, and more cutesy than rigid," Shadow Tachi blinked in confusion as he handed Heartbreak her ticket clearly confused by Mona's feline adorable description over Heartbreak's badass harsh appearance.
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That Weird girl That Weird girl Noble Mona, Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Miss Swan, & Azurian Dream Azurian Dream Prophet

"That was rather impressive a pull Miss Swan you are quite the diamond in the rough for surprises," though not seeing when she had struck due to the angle of his view, in the midst of it all though he had seen her with the golden ticket long enough to see it switch ownership to herself from the pocket it was unexpectedly apprehended from. With all that grace of a hand snatch here was Prophet who had won his fairly... he had to admit he was outdone by her craft. Where he specialize in a silver tongue, and nimble feet she excelled at quick strategy, and nimble hands quite the dancing partner match they were humorous.

"I shall keep my hands to myself furthermore," he nervously chuckled having seen the tactic as necessary given the situation, but it seemed he had treaded a little too familiar into territories she rather wish he wouldn't be so familiar with. Though there was also a hint of confusion in his voice as her words also sounded rather... playfully light in a weird contrast. Now not sure if she was fully bothered, or taking a swing of a heavy-handed joke at him he quickly found himself more perplexed by the feathered Phantom Thieve as they finally made do with their escape.

"You know I meant to ask why do you call yourselves the Phantom Thieves. As a group, you currently don't execute much stealth tact from what I hear from other sources, and evidently seen from the Kamoshido Palace. Yet you in particular have a natural talent for it I notice," Prophet asked genuinely curious as he slightly, and cautiously opened the exit door phantom stepped behind the grace of shadows before hilariously they came to a stopping cart.

As Prophet peered into the cart he was surprisingly greeted by the sight of Tragedy, Heartbreak, and Panther. With a soft tug, the cart blanket was completely moved out of the way to reveal a rather peaceful, and jarring rather tame-looking theater house not too far off in the distance. Seemed stealth was not a factor needed here ironically having already been performed enough for the night it seemed. Getting a soft laugh out of the thought Prophet offered a hand to help them down as he turned to Swan.

"No doubt the tickets are meant to get us in there... the question is are we all ready to enter. Oracle is there any sign of the Meta-Mercs in this area," Prophet questioned both his support and the thieves as this would probably be something of a long trial ahead so anything they wanted to speak of was better to be placed onto the floor now before they moved forward.
 
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The healing from Ann was a great relief to the trembling within Tragedy's legs, matched with the boy chomping down on a few devil fruits made it where he was basically at his complete physical stamina once again. But of course with the return of good health came Loki rushing back into his mind, that clarity of freedom now veiled once again by a painful static. A light groan came from thief as he held his head, squeezing his eyes closed for a moment before finally opening them in time to see the violent scene of a shadow being... drained? The husk of what used to be a healthy shadow made the fool think back to the older lady that Ann, Morgana and himself had the unpleasant chance of hearing back at the tavern.

And the shadow who seemed to be a temporary ally laughed at this act? Just how fucked up is this palace?

Tragedy quickly unpocketed his phone to type in a few notes before putting the electronic device away, as his mind fell into a cavern of thought one more. Whatever was in that water was certainly dangerous to say the least, and learning about it might prove to be beneficial to their survival. This planning of his though was quickly cut short as the shadow had described a character... completely unlike Heartbreak which made the boy chuckle, and get his mind of the dangers ahead for a few moments. Just enough for the trio of thieves to arrive at their destination, where the others had found themselves by a stroke of luck.

Jumping out of the cart instead of accepting Prophet's help, Tragedy instead took the chance to peer at their next location where the "show" would be preformed. The phone came out once again to add more to the notes he had just viewed a moment ago. His head did perk up as Prophet asked his ally about potential mercs in the area they would be entering. "There should at least be 2, more depending on what you all encountered. We unfortunately encountered two rather formidable ones before our... Graceful escape to here." Allowing a moment for others to get situated, Tragedy would then relay the info what his squad encountered while the team was separated.

"First, the spider-like one. She had mechanical limbs to match an arachnid, and could easily use them during combat but luckily we learned that their easily disabled by fire. No known weakness quite yet, and her threat level was comparable to ours." A few clicks from buttons being pressed could be heard from Tragedy before he resumed his breakdown of just what they had faced. "The whale was the real threat in my opinion. Really strong and can take a beating like it's nothing, but slower than most of us if not all. Uses ice and different constructs of ice to fight alongside his brutally powerful techniques. Not to mention he was certainly a higher level than all of us..." With a sigh, Tragedy would finish his statements on the mercs there as he wished he could have gotten just a bit more info to have given them a better edge overall. But this would have to do for now.

The boy would then take the moment to seperate and have a few moments to himself as his head was still inflicted with a splitting headache, and barking at someone due to pain annoying him was the last thing he wanted. So for now Tragedy would sit himself against the wall as plans were to be made for how they were going to handle this next step of their invasion.
 
"L-looks can be deceiving, sailor." Shiro muttered, brusque but not disdainful towards Shadow Tachi. That statement applied to him and his surroundings, just as much as her. The palaces and shadows they faced before were vivid, but this was rather on a different level. Perhaps this was the result of influence for a mind that was inclined to the stage. The water was deadly, and the Shadows practically had their own society rather than just mindlessly serving the palace's master. Or they were just pretending to.

"Do you worry about facing Abyss, Tragedy?" She glanced at her teammate in turn. "Fear not, as long as you carry sufficient resolve to weather his blows, I'll do the rest." Really, Shiro was hardly the type to fight without thinking and rely on brute force. But it was in her nature to look out for others, and meet force with force when needed...which turned out to be often.

"And as for you, Prophet." She slightly shook her head. "The name was not my idea. Nor do I enjoy proclaiming it in plain view. I have my methods of helping our little army, and our conquests so far speak for themselves. For this...show we are invited to, I am ready." She sat straight up, smoothing out her leather jacket.

Anthem Anthem Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
 
Hubris & Comeuppance (collab with Azurian Dream Azurian Dream )

Baron would only have a moment to register a small twitch in reality as his attack's natural disaster force cleared out the storm leaving the area naught but in destruction… with clear skies. Where Ace-Izanagi stood was a mannequin-like structure burnt to a cinder slowly flaking into ashes as the spirit of Ace now corporal and see-through stood above the metaverse device that had given it solid form one last time. As the essence burned away Ace smiled saying one last thing to his friend.

"No matter our opinions we all have a right to fight for what we believe… remember to live past this veiled fog… Sougo," as the final words escaped the boy's lips he split apart like a fog around his still-standing thunder sword.

"Well that's not how this was supposed to go…rather disappointing Ace."

"Seems plan B will have to be initiated."

The voices would quickly and rather destructively be followed by two green and brown blurs tearing the terrain towards the investor before splitting apart suddenly spinning around the spot and snatching the thunderstorm of blades before seeming to literally cut a hole in the fabric of the reality sending both Baron and Aeon falling as a monstrous roar could be heard from the skies.

"MAGIC MIRROR."

A dual-sounding voiced name was called out as the sky filled with dozens up hundreds of mirrors all falling from the sky forming into a chaotic cluster replica of Aeon. The mirrors Aeon came crashing straight into Aeon lodging it away from Baron's use as one of the blurs came spinning with Thunder sword in hand aimed to electrocute Baron atop slicing him in half. While all were still falling there was the sight of ground coming soon into the chaos as Baron’s left a massive kanabo was formed by another series of mirrors snatched by the second blur compound in the fast swing to attempt to shatter Baron's sword grip.
“Ace..” Baron reaches out toward the memory of his friend, hoping to talk to him one last time. But the only thing he was able to hold onto was the blade of his disappearing friend. Right after gripping his blade, he would quickly find himself falling into a deep sinkhole. And yet, he felt strangely at ease despite this. Being able to hold the weapon of his old friend gave him a sense of comfort and familiarity.

Baron made no effort to recall his persona, allowing him to be restrained by these unknown assailants, giving them a false sense of hope and security. But little did they know, everything he needed to beat these people was already within his grasp. “If you think I am weak because he is gone…then you know very little of me.” Baron proclaimed to them, as he landed on the ground, creating a massive crater as a result of the newfound power within the sword.

Despite the impressive speed of the two assailants, Baron's response was swift and efficient. With a single stroke of his new weapon, he was able to immediately slice both of the twin's weapons before they could make any meaningful contact with him. Resting the blade on his shoulder, Baron stood over them, gripping the blade with great intensity. He was absolutely furious at what had just transpired. Making no effort to explain himself, he remained silent, restraining himself from going further, hoping these two scum would at least attempt to defuse the situation.
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“We know a lot about you, the monster you are… or were Kaiser,” One of the blurs spoke as they finally stayed in place long enough to be visible revealing their true colors. It was literally like looking at an angle of a mirror. They both looked the exact same from their Meta Merc outfits down to their physique. They both were young, maybe Baron's age standing against him with some sort of clear hesitation yet fueled with a hatred-driven purpose that did not let them give Baron any quarter to scare them off with his usual tactics. It was clear they had seen Kaiser, but of all the recent metaverse talk were aware of Baron's current damaged goods stature.

"We see what you are now, and we are not impressed anymore. A chance to solve what could allow that harm to return for those we hold the dreams of is not something we are going to allow to breathe life into again GARULA," the other spoke. It was clear what this was now; it was a rebellious act fueled by Baron's past actions; the emotional pain inflicted on them was being returned in kind. They have no doubt been there that day… The monstrosities wrought no doubt caused their awakens to repent against the physical damage done that day so long ago in the memories of those left.

"A moment of time to end you here before whatever those Phantom Thieves take flight for will be your comeuppance AGILAO," the first spoke again as they flickered their wrists causing the destroyed mirror weapons to retake the form of malicious reverse grip katanas. With all these words of emotion burning in them they charged in the blink of an eye, allowing them to dig deep into Baron's sides. As the spells ignited together in a vacuumed hell storm funnel to follow their blades consuming Baron fully in one duo strike.
Baron was mystified by these two merc-wannabes. He had no memory of these people, so his best guess would be they are just some freelancers looking to get lucky like the monkey fella. “Then both of you are fools.” Slamming the sword of his comrade into the ground, he anchored himself onto the ground as the two would-be mercs commenced their combination attack. The fiery cyclone hit its mark, setting Baron ablaze, and scorching the surface he was standing on completely.

Eventually, the inferno would subside, revealing Baron still standing, holding onto the planted blade, his cloak was almost completely burned away with some embers from the previous blaze. Letting go of the ace’s sword, Baron discards his cloak, causing it to completely burn away with his golden flame completely consuming it. Despite their combined efforts, they had barely damaged Baron, merely burning away his cloak and some superficial damage to his armor.

“I would ask you for a name…for neither of you will survive long enough for it to matter.” Cracking his knuckles, Baron disappeared from sight, only to reappear right behind the twins, grabbing him by one of his legs and dragging him across the ground. He began to wield the twin as a makeshift bludgeoning weapon, Baron swung the body wildly at the remaining twin, with each impact, pieces of his metaverse armor would come off and crack, resembling cheap plastic. After a few strong impacts to both twins, Baron would grow tired of his floppy weapon and tightened his grasp around the leg, snapping the bone of his leg before throwing him to the side like a spent torch. Before the bashed-down twin could even respond, the armored fighter reappeared in front of him and delivered a single punch, violently dislocating his arms with minimal effort.

“Tch.” Baron was insulted by the caliber of these so-called “mercs”. They were nothing to him, that wasn’t a good reason to let them off the hook that easily. “Is this it?!” Baron spoke, kicking the leg-crippled twin towards his other counterpart. Slowly walking towards the two, he cruelly stomped on the broken leg as he crouched down and grabbed him one by the neck, lifting him effortlessly off the ground with a single arm. “Kaiser is gone. And for that, you should be thankful.” And yet, his old habits had returned. At this point, he had already won. There was nothing these two could do, they had neither the strength nor the skills to beat him, not even in this lesser form. His victory was assured, but that was never enough. “What was the plan here? Invoke my wrath for a painful demise?” He was genuinely baffled at what possessed these people to think that they could take him on with their current threat level.
“That's not possi …,” Before the second Tanuki could even respond to the fact a duo attack did little more than superficial damage Baron was in their faces within a blink of an eye with no sign of momentum nor wind residual waves to warn them. Within a mere second of being unable to register what happened the first twin was uprooted by his foot, and cruelly dragged like a tied deer across the rocks by a truck. When he was lifted into the air the very presence of the substance had been tugged from his lungs as his sibling barely registered what happen until he was wailed into his brother like a bludgeoning corpse bag giving a concussion to the second from hell as he wasn’t allowed to register what other monstrosities were inflicted upon him. As the brother was cratered into the ground battered, and beaten by an opponent who shouldn't have been able to deliver such an easy beatdown upon the two… conscious mentality was no doubt out the door for the receiving end sibling.

“Ahhhhhhh,” the weaponized twin screamed what little was left in his torso to vocalize as his leg was broken like a twig in Baron's grasp like a rotten child bored of its toy within one day of play. The scream of their brother brought just enough force to bring the cratered twin to realize what was happening… but in his sights was now Baron who brought down a single punch into his torso causing the crater enough restriction to dislocate his arms. Forced into the ground like a mummy laid in its tomb the second twin couldn’t even visibly vocalize his pain so sent over the edge of pain that not even a whimper could escape their lips. As the broken leg twin was kicked to the curb across to his brother he nary had a chance to console him before he was gripped by the neck and pulled away as the one who could not speak couldn’t even reach his arm out to his now dangling twin. He was forced to watch the repeat of what they had barely dodged all so many years ago… it was true this thing they chose to fight was not human, but a living shadow with no conscious.

“...kill…YOUUUUU,” with one last epitaph of life-filled action the katana made of numerous mirrors shrunk into a bludgeon mace that was slammed and shattered upon Baron's face before the meta-merc went completely lifeless in an unconscious state. Limping within the same momentum they swayed in Baron's hands like a corpse on a hanged noose. Barely breathing from what had been wrought with the last look they had given the Investor fear mixed with anguish and unadulterated unintelligible hatred. The still-conscious twin had no ability to show emotion anymore only able to watch eyes fixated on what was happening each second a cruel tragedy replaying over and over again.

The screams of pain and anguish did little to sway Baron’s anger. Who did these people think they were? To not only disrespect the dead but to even dare challenge him with such meager power. Upon impacting Baron’s face, the mace would shatter without leaving any discernable damage, a testament to how weak they really were without their smoke and mirrors.
“HAHAAHA!? Kill me? Really now?” Tossing the limp body to the ground, Baron pulled out a revival bead and crushed it, forcefully resuscitating the unconscious twin, and bringing him back from the brink with just enough energy to get back up. “Oh no. You don’t get off that easy.” No, not yet. Their punishment must be more severe. They will be made an example, a cautionary tale on why certain things were best left untouched. For even in this virtually lawless world of the metaverse, there was still some semblance of rules that needed to be obeyed. Even among enemies.

Walking back to Ace’s sword, he would begin channeling his signature golden energy into the weapon, slowly raising it above his head with righteous indignation. This was the Coup de Grace. No sin against him would go unpunished. Especially this one. “Please, face your death with some semblance of dignity.” Baron spoke, his rage reaching a tipping point that he could no longer contain. The sky itself began to split open as his power formed a massive column of energy that threatened to rend this palace asunder. There was a moment of notable silence in Baron’s mind as he remembered that he was in a similar situation not too long ago.

Not a second later, Baron would swing the blade downwards, releasing all the energy he could muster, splitting not just the terrain but the artificial ocean of the palace in half. A gargantuan ravine was created from the strike, causing the water to part and flow down towards it. And yet despite the strength of his attack, the twins remained unscathed, with the ravine separating them from each other. In the end, he could bring himself to do it. At least not with the weapon he was holding in his hand. No, his memory has already been sullied enough. “...Consider this his mercy…” turning his back on the two whelps. He said nothing else, preparing to walk away from this entire ordeal.
“GRAGGGHHH,” the unnatural sound of air force-feeding its way back into the full life of the unconscious twin was like a vacuum shoving right back in all the pain at once at first it felt like it was a second wave of death before coming back to a semi moment of life. In a panicked stare, he watched in horror as he was resuscitated right in front of an omnipotent attack within a sheer second the twin quite impossible leaped straight for his wrought bludgeon twin covering him like a shield as the Persona Magic Mirror was reformed collectively surrounding the two… yet nothing ever came to pass. The now moving twin paused listening to what Baron had to say…, and it was unfortunately the wrong words to choose. With a minor dia cast to return some facial feeling to his cratered in brothered confusion clearly swept into his face… how was his brother healed enough to move?

“Do…n’t… we…cant…win,” he tried to plead with his brother tears flooding as he knew what was about to happen Baron already walking off only making things worse as the standing Tanaki with the renewed breath given to him screamed with all he could muster.

“KAAAAIIISSSSEERRRR,” the scream would create a strange wave of energy almost deafening as for a moment the sky in the illusion warped to pitch black for a moment as a single mirror can zipping around sniping and forcing Baron with unmet force to be forced around like a sudden tether unmatched to what they had showcased to this moment more. The sudden reign of control was out the door as the same Twin he had so easily shattered before had closed the distance between them in a blink of an eye… the Katana now simply touching his torso armor right at the center. Baron would see the face of not the tanuki he had so easily bent to cower down, but that of madness glee as the blade in question glowed all the colors of the metaverses colors of power.

It was a moment of silence that completely threw the rules out of the book for everything that the metaverse stood for, and in that silence, it wouldn’t take Baron long to realize what had just been done in the name of all that was sinfully beyond the control of this Meta-Merc to handle. Then in a gush of immense tour de force blasts of agi, bufu, zio, garu, Kouha, Eiha, psi, and nuke came blasting off his torso armor from the touch of the blade forcing him back so hardcore his feet dug back against the ground as he was shot like a bullet from where he had been. The color of sparks wildly dug more and more into his armor cracking it like a true fissure of mother nature if he didn't get out of his armor before it gave he would no doubt gain a new hole in his body.

“HELL AWAITS THOSE WHO THINK THEMSELVES GODS ABOVE ME,” the voice was no longer a sane man as nonsensical words escaped the tanuki who appeared from above aiming to impale Baron to the spot to receive the comeuppance he had so evaded for so many moons.

“BIG BRO NOOOOOOOOO,” was all that his brother could scream unable to get up unable to yank control of Magic Mirror… unable to stop that which he now knew would not change this outcome.
Just when Baron thought it was over, one of the twins had one last surprise to spring on him. While he did turn back immediately, he could clearly hear the ravings of a madman. The ex-metamerc sighed, genuinely wondering what could inspire such fanatical ferocity. Finally turning around to face the mindbroken adversary. At this point, whatever mercy Ace’s memory had afforded was exhausted.

At first, Baron was mildly surprised by this newfound strength managing to tear through his armor which was a very rare sight, especially coming from a non-elite. As his armor began to fall apart, his body refused to back down, powering through whatever foreign source of strength that he had. “You……BASTARD!” Baron’s rage in his voice was unmistakable. Any semblance or attempt at hiding his ire was now gone. Discarding his armor, he would reveal an undersuit that was already full of holes from the attack, along with some large patches of damaged skin, scarred from the attack. His final attack would hit his mark, impaling the baron's torso but unfortunately, it did not get his intended effect. “All you had to do was stay down!!” grabbing hold of his enemy’s neck, he pulled him in to deliver a well-deserved punch to his face. “You deny my mercy…HIS MERCY!” With each punch delivered, the cracking of bone was certain. His arms, ribs, knees, none of it would survive this onslaught. “What is wrong with you people!?” He was frustrated by all this nonsense. “Is your life worth so little?!”


Baron took one last look at this boy, seeing how fast his eyes which were once filled with rage now turned to anguish gave him some satisfaction. This enemy had finally come to a realization of how hopelessly outmatched he was. Where there was once misplaced rage, now existed a sense of dread and regret. A moment of clarity perhaps? A realization that all the work that they've put into this conquest, the resources, the weeks of planning, and the advanced training. It all amounted to nothing.

“No wait… please we surrender! It was….it was the All Father. He put us up to this!” the psychotic Tanuki was massacred before his brother's eyes with what little sense of reality was left beaten back into him just to make him grovel, and broken by his enemy with each word less a scream, and more a whimper upon one whose only goal was to protect in futile error what was to be born from that which all Meta-Mercs strived for. “I BEG YOU TO STOP!!” The twin struggled to speak as with each punch his vocal cord got weaker and weaker. Yet at this moment, it was like watching a loyal knight stand to a mighty dragon unaware of how all their bolstered, and shiny relics meant nothing to a true force of reality… no matter how much bravado, and commitment he had it was pointless, and now… he knew what it was like to foolishly stand to a god. “ PLEASE! We’ll leave the metaverse….you’ll…never… see… us…again!” Little did he know, those would be the last words he would say in the metaverse.


With one last punch, Baron would plant his hand into the chest of the insane twin, stopping him in his tracks once and for all. There was no chance for a response, no time for a retort. All he could do now was watch, slowly and painfully, his metaversal heart being ripped from his chest.

Baron had no more words for this man. His foolishness could only be excused so many times. Upon fully ripping the “heart” of one of the twins, Baron could now see a possible explanation for his hubris. Within the “heart” of his enemies, there was a shard of a mythical relic, one that he had not seen in a very long time. Without hesitation, Baron crushed the heart that was within his grasp, killing one of the twin’s Persona while reclaiming a small fragment of the Holy Grail.

Like many of the mercs that were banished before him, the twin’s metaverse outfit began to fade away, revealing himself to be nothing but an ordinary boy. The blade planted onto Baron’s chest would also evaporate into nothingness. Soon, the twin's body would also begin to fade, returning itself to the real world, where he would wake up with no memory of these events.

Inspecting the glowing shard, Baron had little reason to stay and simply walked away from the self-inflicted catastrophe. He had nothing to worry about them. Unlike Fixer, the banishment of this hubris-filled individual would mean nothing to the All-Father or anybody else for that matter. Even at his worst and most emotional moments, Baron was still very much capable of realizing what he should and shouldn’t do. “I spared your brother. Stay down, I won’t do the same for you.” The only reason he even considered leaving one of them unbanished was to leave one as a messenger. From that day onward, the mortal had learned his place. Whether he was facing Baron or Kaiser, a man or a God, he will never defeat this entity.


“Mercy…,” Tanuki spat out what blood had been spirited between his teeth as it was hard to wager if it was a statement, request, or question. Almost as if it was a lucid suggestion as two very notable Ravens came down next to him flying down only when Baron was gone.

“Tanuki. The All Father wishes to speak with you. You have.... a lot to answer for." they spoke with Maestro's voice in unison acting like a long-distance telephone before disappearing with him in a warp of light.
 
Swan was willing to let it go after Prophet assured her that he wouldn't try dancing with her again, although the thought lingered even after he changed the subject. The tone in his voice with his question was in a casual manner, but Swan didn't let her guard down. This person has shown already that they were cunning enough to rival even her. So to Swan, it was best to be careful with the information given to Prophet. While it was a harmless question that she didn't think he could exploit in anyway, it still gave her pause to find the right response since he brought attention to her being adept in the ways of surreptitious actions. "I truthfully do not know why we're called the Phantom Thieves, but your source is correct with their intel. If I were the one taking point on managing the operations, I'd strongly suggest a more... covert approach. But since I'm one of the newest people to join, far be it my place to insist too much on how these infiltrations should be run regardless of my talents as you say," she answered Prophet trying to match the natural mood he was seeming to give off as they walked and eventually came across a cart where her fellow thieves were hiding.

After being informed by Heartbreak and impressively Tragedy of the threats present, she too decided to relay information of the MetaMercs they encountered. "Understood, I suppose some credit is in order for that synopsis Tragedy. Nice job, guess you aren't completely barbaric in your mindset," Swan teased.

"As for us, we came across a MetaMerc dressed in a white suit and a red bird-like mask. Because he doesn't have any armor, he lacks in defense: Although, he was tactical and strong but even more so extremely quick whether it be with a gun or on his feet. The other was one with lengthy blue hair who favors her agility to use in her attacks and could change their appearance as well as camouflage with their surroundings. Such an ability can cause confusion so I suggest from this point on we exercise extreme caution with not leaving each other's line of sight to prevent her slipping into our group to deceive us somehow." Swan then clapped her hands together once she was finished.

"Well if that's all then like Heartbreak, I think we're ready. Actually..." Before she got too ahead of herself, she realized that it's been a while since she's heard Baron on the comm system so she decided to check-in and update him on what has happened. "Baron? Reporting in, do you copy?" Swan asked wondering if she sounded too... theatric for using such phrases over the comms.

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream That Weird girl That Weird girl Nellancholy Nellancholy Anthem Anthem

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After splitting up from Crow, Syren was determined to find the thieves and especially Prophet. She went in search at the docks, the bars, hell she even went back to the brothel in search, but they were nowhere to be seen. Just when she was about to search the outskirts of the town and turned onto a street, she noticed some the shadows looked uncomfortable as they scattered, dispersing from only one area in the street. She found this to be highly unusual since the place was always crowded and packed. The only ones she knew who could affect shadows like this was an elite and she didn't recalled an elite being assigned with them that day.

As the epicenter of this disturbance moved, she got a better look of the source to see someone from the past she hadn't spoken to in a long time which made her freeze as she only could muster for saying at the moment in anger, "Kais-.... Baron..." Having never seen a scratch be put on him before, she was surprised to see just how damaged his armor had become with cuts all throughout his black underarmor, yet she certainly did not pity him being in such a state. I'm fact, even as he was currently she still was tense, looking like she was ready to run at any moment if necessary, yet her curiosity got the better of her to stay and speak to him. "I would say It's good to see you again... so damaged like this. But that would be a lie. You deserve to be more in pain for what you've done Baron."

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With all the info gathered, and shared amongst the members Prophet made sure to mentally catalog what was mentioned about the meta-mercs they ran into. When he could get a chance he would structure with them all later for all things seen, and experienced in the palace to build a better rapport with them. For now, they were all raring to go, and it was best to go while they were fueled for it. As such Prophet nodded as they all headed to the theater entrance to which a well-dressed masquerade valet bowed to them. Though they waited a minute for Baron to respond such never came until Oracle popped into the comm. Without even a word the sudden glow of five tickets warp from the five Phantom Thieves straight to Valet's hand who paused, and looked at Mona after accounting for all present their tickets.

"There's something disrupting his channel, but he's currently on the move for now move on while I try to establish comms," she assured them as the valet spoke.

"Ahem, all pets must be kept in the owner's grasp. No loose animals are to be had in the theater," it seemed to demand more than request. Before Mona would be allowed to yowl more than naught at being called a pet Prophet scooped him up onto his shawl once more.

"My apologies I will make sure to keep him well-behaved," the green-garbed persona user promised patting Mona a reminder that acting up here could cost them if they were not careful. Once satisfied with the promise to stay to the rules of the theater the Valet bowed again before moving out of the way with the Theater growing into a full old-school stage with cherry wood spruced out amongst the finest of tapestries coming to life in multiple colors around the projected building. Once finished it had an impressive feudal-era aesthetic like one most of them had no doubt seen once or twice on a school trip. Upon entering the Thieves would find a wide spread of shadows mixed in sitting amongst the seat available from on the ground all the way high up to even a noticeable few hunkering down atop the rafters. It was indeed prompt that everyone who was present was possessed to see this show regardless of where they were placed.

Without much warning, Swan would feel her left hand caught as she was pulled down to sit next to a much more than probably wanted friendly Shadow Tanbono still dressed in her belly dancer act attire. With a soft pout and deadly lock onto the raven-esque girl's arm, the Shadow seemed rather giddy to have the girl once more come near her presence. "It was quite rude how you disappeared so fast after such an enamoring offer. A girl can take that the wrong way you know," she ironically said clearly taking it the wrong way as hard to get.

The rest while humored by Swan's struggles would find their seats around her as the inside's golden, and ashy grey hues glowed many splendors of the elder stages design wood, and metal with old-school ingenuity was laced among what was no doubt about to be a one time experience. Before they could discuss exit strategies, or any other important tacts should things go wrong the ember lite flames died out as a rush of metallic made thunder echoed throughout the stage as it began to rain not just on stage, but all amongst the audience as well showering them all a first-hand experience of history unknown.

"The lowliest of the low... those who dredge upon the murky depths of the sea shuttling, and salvaging anything of worth to amass to them the crowds far and wide," the voice of a shadow echoed rather disturbingly with grace, sorrow, and a hint of animosity all in one sewn together by a feminine ire of weighted woes. A splash of ocean waves escaped the now-formed stage of a pitiful port town rung dry by rotted wood and harbored criminals running around dancing with glee as they took whatever they pleased from those who were barely able to fend for themselves. Pirate shadows looted, and blundered the rigid wretched shadows without care cackling in glee with each fallen victim they struck down. A spotlight though burrowed straight revealing one such wretched little girl hiding in the back holding within her hands a shiny pearl she had snatched from the shores. She snuck and scampered about barely dodging the shadows at play making her way to one that could only be labeled as a captain of this unholy lot.

"Those at the top rarely cared not for the true beauty of worth, but for the chance to trade it off in hopes of a better life those at the bottom would risk it all. So much so that while at first, they may try to offer their genuine talent they are more than not shot down for having nothing to back up the worth of their claim," the voice chilling whispered as the girl came up to the Captain offering up the black pearl before being out shown as the captain produced a bigger one before gruesomely the girl reeled back before getting shot in a flash of magnesium power was dropped onto all the lanterns to create a group shock of reaction from the crowd from the horrid moment as the girl slumped to the ground slowly crawling away.

"Thus is life cruel and unpredictable to those young to its tales... but some do not just whimper, and die off. So if one could not make it with the glistening talents of their own they would seek talent from a reputable source," the voice growled in pride, and anger as the girl dragged herself through the crashing waves and flashing blights of thunder before making it home and sitting up taking a knife before stabbing it into a mirror. Shadow Tabono would latch onto Swan with now her whole body in a flash of surprise. The girl would take her rages and dye them with numerous molds creating beautiful hues of effects wrapping them around herself until even her face was transformed into that of a masquerade shadow. The girl now a beautiful woman would walk towards a new port town one newly being constructed. Though most notable to Swan, and Tragedy was the obvious markings of the Kongo Burst company logo except it looked a bit older with an added picture of a banana in the gorilla's grip instead of a camera device.

"No... she was poisoned by those.... with no given chance," Tragedy would notice a familiar chill down his spine as his part of the chairs started to get more notably cold than the rest. Slowly the slight sign of rags of tentacles started to sweep all around the boy's seat slithering all around him in a very unsightly view as the wretched woman from before slowly snatching into the dark in muffled screams the shadow next to Tragedy before sitting next to him creaking its head like a rusted bolt looking at him with dead yellow eyes.

"It wasn't meant to be real... it was to be an act... selfish... but with no crime in mind...," its drenched lips hissed to the persona user before creaking its head slowly back to the play.

"So the dregs raised to masquerade as that of pure worth, but even then there was still a shinier opposition to be had from those that struggled together," the shadowed voice hissed this time with irritations, and yet something of an odd amusement. The Masquerade shadow molded into its pretty laced attraction showed its pearl again, but this time a boy shadow appeared, and this time it was the Prophet's time to pause as it was a clear representation of Asahi his reaction to it probably noticeable by the Phantom Thieves. The show however moved on as the masquerade girl showed her black pearl to someone of authority another captain yet this time of potentially worthy sails rather than darkened ones. Yet as she did a few unidentifiable ones popped up around the boy's shadow fusing their pearls with his into a blinding brilliant necklace that caught the authority captain's attention away from the shiny black lonely pearl. Once again the female shadow had been spurned... and this time as the stage changed once again.

Returning to the room with the stabbed mirror filled with intriguing, and mystifying items almost representative of genres of fiction the beautiful shadow stared at its broken reflection turning to a pirate pistol laid bare for her eyes alone. Only staring at it for a moment the shadow lashed out at everything in the room including itself in rage destroying all the beautiful works of art made by its very hands before it was all left in tatters... there was a loud knock on the door followed by the drop of the pistol to the floor. Mesmerized by it the female shadow picked it up before once again changing their aesthetic to a now bold pirate-like garb.

"So she finally learned the only way to move up further was to be as unforgiving as the rest stealing from those who deserved a chance... that she never was given," the shadow's voice spoke again as the scene changed to a midnight fishing port where the Asahi shadow rested-holding onto a container holding the brilliant shining pearl necklace before turning around taken off guard by the female pirate shadow pointing the pistol at him yet at this point there was a strange very awkward pause... almost too much of a pause as if the play was frozen in place forever trapped in one suspenseful moment.

"...And thus the claws of Envy were striped free to strike one who never deserved it just like the little girl I once was," the shadowed voice was now not echoing in the Theatre, but now coming directly from the shadowed girl that morphed into a pirate Captain with a glowing black pearl hook left hand, and an ominous buccaneer themed gunblade that was now flipped into the air as the lanterns became inferno's lighting up the whole theater revealing all the shadows now gone. Even Shadow Tanbono had disappeared in the hues of flames as the gunblade was caught now pointed directly at Heartbreak as numerous spotlights were now shined upon all the Phantom Thieves. With a strange aquamarine orb floating around her hat, the transformation seemed complete. Unfortunately the woman now clearly the palace ruler would ring no bells to those Swan or Tragedy had seen of the real-world crew.


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"Now tell me those who steal the hearts of others for their own desires, and banish others' dreams away for their own plight... how are we different when all of us come from the bottom dregs of society," the palace ruler brutally questioned them as she eyed the only one shadow not wisped away by the lanterns the tendril rags covered wretch next to Tragedy. Yet the look was more of annoyance as she returned to the Thieves in the full stern.
 
Greed. Or Envy, as the tale so eloquently put it. If it were a tale told for its own sake, it would be a tragedy at first, and perhaps then a story of justified struggle and victory. But this was no mere performance. They were was in a Palace, and a theater in a Palace, at that.

Which meant that what was shown here was nothing more than self-aggrandizement, justification of the master's own actions before a captive audience who could do nothing but agree. Now, that was truly loathsome.

In response to the threat of the weapon pointed at her, Shiro stood to her feet, opening her arms slightly. Her hands hovered near her weapons, not yet drawing them. As the theater cleared, Thrud materialized in a flash of blue flame behind Shiro, ready to fly to her defense.

"Envy. So this whole pantomime is the confession of an envious cur." Shiro muttered. "Talents or gifts, I have none. But I was rejected and discarded by people I put my trust in as well. I had every reason to claw and bite and walk a path that served only mine own self. But I...I chose to protect those who were cast into the same pit I was hurled into, and I sought to give them peace, not hatred. We could have taken more than what we needed, but we did not do so. It is the same here."

She lowered her posture, eyeing the pirate queen and her gem closely. If she wasted her first shot on Shiro, the others might have an opening. "I seek not to rob you, like the brigand you are. But as you have torn others down to satisfy your own boundless envy, we will pilfer that and that alone. Do you expect sophistry or rhetoric, comparing you to those who we have conquered? You'll not get it from me. If you dare, take your shot and find out for yourself."

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
 
The injured Baron limped through the docks of the palace, watching the shadows either cowering in fear and simply run from his mere presence alone. Despite his obvious damage he sustained, the aura of bloodlust he carried was still very fresh on his body, an aura that was more than sufficient to scare off any would be challengers from the area.

Crushing a bead to heal himself, he would find his superficial injuries healed, but fatigue and scars still remained. Not wasting anymore time, he made his through the docks without further issues, up until he meets a familiar face.

"Syren.." He muttered in surprise, genuinely bewildered to see a familiar face like her. Considering her personality he was surprised she still stuck around with the mercs. To hear her speak with such disdain towards him was not surprising but a tad bit disappointing. "...well well, I didn't think you'd still be with them after all this time." Despite their history together, Baron's tone did not seem to imply any hostility towards her.

"Tell me, did you finally found the guts to do your own dirty work? Or are you still relying on others for that part?" Once again, his tone seemed like his neutral self. Without a hint of his usual condescending energy. "Why are you here Syren? I don't suppose you want to fight me as well?" He was genuinely curious what this merc was doing here. Even if she was supposed to defend this palace, she wouldn't have the strength to stop him from whatever he wanted to do.
 
Upon hearing Oracle mention that the connection was down on the comms, Swan became mildly concerned for a brief moment before she reassured herself that he could handle himself. Now was the time to focus on what the team has found thus far and to watch this exclusive show. As they all walked in, Swan searched around the room for anything suspicious in the crowd while also going over a potential escape route if the situation became unfavorable to them; Though her assessment was put on hold when she was pulled into a seat as she immediately realized who grabbed her much to her discomfort. With the Shadow Tanbono jumping back into her flirtatious manner Swan tried to keep it together by still acting as a talent scout. "My apologies Madam, I didn't mean to come off as rude by any means. Hopefully accompanying you during the show will make up for my actions," she kindly responded with a warm face.

As the show began, Swan carefully unpacked the implications of what the story was displaying. The longer it went on, she found her more and more sympathizing with the girl that she assumed was the palace ruler. Aside from that, her thoughts went to how the acting and effects were done exceptionally well as the girl stabbed into the mirror. She herself was not phased, but evidently the Shadow Tanbono was as she felt the woman embracing her out of fear. Swan went still utterly befuddled on how she should respond. She Instantly went back to looking for an escape route until she mentally calmed herself, resulting in her just patting the shadow's shoulder to console them.

As the story went on to show the girl turning into a young woman, Swan immediately noticed the slightly different Kongo Burst logo. The green-haired thief wondered if by researching in the real world she could match it to events that happened around the time that the company used this version of the logo.

When all but two shadows in the room disappeared as the captain addressed the intruders, Swan quickly stood up preparing for a fight, making the chair she sat in squeak against the floor while Heartbreak distracted her. Even though the shadow before them was unfamiliar, she still felt a tinge of sympathy for her. She knew all too well the extremities of the dog-eat-dog world that they lived in as well as the feeling that in order to progress in life, it must be at the expense of others. On the other hand, it is for this exact reason that Swan felt disdain for her simultaneously to commiseration. So she stayed silent and not bring attention to herself to let Heartbreak tank this hit so that she could follow up with own attack on the palace ruler.

Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
_____________________________________________________________________

Though his tone did not sound malicious, Syren was still offended by his words mostly because it was true. She let him continue talking as she dared not to answer him if others were still doing work for her that required a more steady hand. It stung that he brought up her biggest weakness that she has had ever since she joined as a MetaMerc. Then when he asked if she was looking for a fight, Syren took a step back. Not even she caused the shadows in this palace to cower in this palace and the fact that it did for Baron was a clear indication that he still was at a higher threat level than she was. “You’d get some sick enjoyment from that wouldn’t you? Tying up another loose end from your past. But who am I kidding? I’m giving myself too much credit. My companionship meant nothing to you just like it didn’t for everyone else in the organization.” Between earlier encountering the one who banished Fixer and now coming across Baron, Syren’s frustration had now become hard to hide in her voice, making her uncharacteristically spiteful compared to her usual carefree self. It was beginning to surprise herself that she can become this hateful, but in her mind it was well-warranted.

“Now that I've said that, I’ll tell you why I’m still here. I need to know if I was there on… the day of the incident…” her aura grew to emanate an aquamarine color as it brushed through her hair in waves. Though she refused to fight him, it was still hard to contain her true anger she felt. “Would you have banished me as well?”

TreasureSniper TreasureSniper
 
In truth, much of Baron's memory of that day remains unclear to him. While he knows approximately what happened in broad strokes, he's had a hard time recalling more precise actions and dialogue. Even so, deep down he felt that Syren would at least deserve answers. "Companionship...do you even know the meaning of the word?" Then again, who is he to judge. His distant and cold persona in the didnt exactly do him any favors.

Baron stared at the angry metamerc for a good awhile, trying his best to make sense of the current situation. He had a lot of mixed feelings about this merc given their history but nonetheless respected her enough to provide her an honest answer. "No, I wouldn't have. You are....of no threat to me." While it was true she was no where near strong enough to pose threat to him back then, he of course had other reasons. Most of which he will never share with her. "And that still remains true." Baron look at the Syren briefly as he calmly walked past her as a gesture of non-hostility from him.

A lot has changed since that day, and he's had more time to think about what he had done. More time to reflect on consequences of his actions. Yet he did not feel guilty about the deed and he's not quite sure why. "This line of work...doesn't suit you, Syren. Leave it behind, while you still can." His tone was largely stoic as per usual, but there was a slight hint of concern hidden beneath the coldness of this ex-metamerc.
 
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