Everyone sat in the Safe Room, discussing various ideas.
"Shouldn't we split up?"
"Well, there's only one path."
"There might be more later."
Suga looked over at Beauty.
"Fwoosh'll scan, and then we'll go that path."
"What if the road is like an illusory path, and we need to find a correct entrance to proceed?"
"Is the gimmick of this palace to make us uncomfortable?"
Everyone thought for a few moments at Madran's words.
"Maybe."
Chicory looked around at everyone, and Yorick sighed.
"I bet that it will be a weird, perverted puzzle about Beauty."
Sheila shrugged.
"Ugh. Yeah. Most of these shadows know me by name."
Everyone nodded.
"Ok! Let's go. Um, Plague, Media, please?"
Madran looked over at Suga, and she nodded. Bubonia appeared, preforming a Media and healing whatever scrape anyone might of had.
"Let's go, then!"
Everyone ran from the Safe Room, embarking down the path. Immediately, there were several turns and twists, and everyone found themselves separated into groups of two, aside from Philemon. Suga and Madran were quick to notice this.
"Uh... where did everyone go?"
Madran scanned the area, seeing that their presences were nowhere nearby. The pair advanced carefully ahead, seeing that a few shadows were conversing ahead of them. They were noticed, and the bouncers ran up to them, changing into three Oni's.
"Hmm. It seems that Shiini's ploy worked."
Suga readied her weapon.
"What ploy?"
The leftmost Oni looked over to her.
"I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill y-"
Madran activated a Rampage, damaging all three of the shadows. Suga summoned Bubonia, and hit the group with a Magaru.
"We'll just figure out what happens later!"
The Onis all activated Eihas, and Madran was hit by two of them. The other one connected with Bubonia, and Suga went to use a Media. Madran then directed a Maragi at the group, knocking two Onis out. The last Oni went to hit Nightingale with its weapon, but was evaded. Madran then hit it a few times with her flail, finishing the attack off with her flamethrower. The Oni was taken out, and the pair advanced.
"Nice one, Fwoosh!"
"Yay! Thanks!"
Madran seemed very happy with herself, and they walked on. They then noticed a key that read "G=R, B=Y, P=B." The letters were color coded, and Madran set to scanning it. The letters flipped around, confusing her.
"Hmm. So, if we come across colored doors, I'll need to scan?"
"Maybe so. Oh, look, a sign."
Suga went up to the sign, reading it.
"If the door is green, blue, or pink, go through it. If it is red, yellow, or black, don't go through if you don't like being sent back to the latest Safe Room."
"Hmm. Some attitude that sign has."
"Yeah. Ok, Nightingale, can you remember this?"
Nightingale shrugged.
"Maybe."
Suga and Madran went through the next door. They were then presented by several doors.
"Ooh! The green one's there."
Madran went through the green door, only to find that she entered the room with the code and sign.
"Hmm..."
Madran went back into the room, finding a very confused Suga.
"Ok. I've figured it out."
Madran scanned the area. The green door changed to a red one, and the same happened to the other doors. As she saw, there was only a green door.
"Ok! This one!"
Madran pointed to what looked to be a red door to Suga. Suga nodded hesitantly, and went through. They did this twice more, until the color combinations were all finished.
"Ok!"
"I doubt we're finished."
Madran saw that they were in a new room, labeled "CHECKPOINT" on the ground. There was yet another sign on there.
"V=IV, II=III, I=VII. Hmm, Roman numerals."
"Five equals four, two equals three, one equals seven."
"So, if these flip around, then..."
Madran scanned the sign.
"Ok. IV=V, III=II, VII=I."
Suga nodded, and the pair went to the next room.
"Wait! The sign!"
Suga went back to the previous room as Madran listened.
"V, II, and I are correct, as well as green, blue, and pink. If a door has these numerals on it and is one of these colors, go through it."
"So, I just need to scan and you need to pay attention."
"Gotcha, Fwoosh."
Madran and Suga looked around, finding a red door with an IV on it. Madran scanned it, finding that it was a door with green color and five written on it.
"Ok! This one!"
Madran and Suga went through the door.
"Gosh, my head hurts."
"Something tells me that there's one last wave after these next doors."
Madran scanned around again, finding a red door with a III on it.
"So, the colors repeat?"
"I guess."
Madran led Suga through that door, and the same repeated, with Madran finding a secret green door marked with a secret I. They made it through, and when they stepped into another room, Madran stepped on a switch.
"Huh?"
Madran saw that many colors were different, with seemingly everything flipping colors.
"Ok, so everything inverted?"
Madran scanned, and saw that the doors were changing colors at intervals. Pink doors changed to black, blue changed to yellow, and red swapped with green.
"Yikes."
"So, we gotta be quick?"
"Yep!"
Madran began running for the closest door with correct colors whilst scanning, making her way to the next section. Suga crowded through the door with Madran, not wanting to be stuck in a random corridor. The girls rushed through several more doors, until they came across another checkpoint room.
"Ugh... again? Can't this be over?"
Madran pulled a switch, and she checked back into the other corridor. The switching had stopped.
"Well, at least that ended."
"Yep!"
Madran went to read the next sign.
"Cerebus, High Pixie=GO, Oni, Incubus=STOP. Um, maybe..."
Madran scanned the sign, seeing that it went to Oni, High Pixie=GO, Cerebus, Incubus=STOP.
"Ok! Um, do we have to fight shadows?"
"I guess."
Madran went to the sign next to the next entrance.
"Ok. All the same rules apply, but if we fight an Oni or a High Pixie, or both, in front of that door, we go. If we fight a Cerebus or Incubus in front of the door, then we find another. We also have to finish the fight. Um... it also says that if an Oni is with a Cerebus, then we also can't pass."
"So, any shadow that isn't correct will nullify every door that it appears in front of?"
"Yeah, that sounds right. Let's go."
Madran and Suga went into the next corridor, and saw that there were bouncers standing in front of every door. Madran found a door, that, by scanning, had the correct color and sign. She then walked up to the bouncer, getting his attention and ripping his mask off. The bouncer turned into an Oni, and was quickly disposed of.
"Ok! This door!"
Madran and Suga went through that door, and found another set of doors and bouncers. Madran initiated a fight with another bouncer standing in front of a black door with a VII, and found that there was an Oni and a Cerebus.
"Crap. This one won't work."
Suga nodded, and the took the shadows out.
"This is going to take forever."
After a few more doors, they finally found a correctly colored and numbered door with two High Pixies and a Cerebus guarding it. They removed them, and went through that door.
"Please make this be the last one..."
Nightingale nodded.
"I bring good news. I have realized the power of Sukukaja."
Madran looked back at Nightingale, nodding.
"Good! I mean, nothing'll beat Philemon in buffs, but, well, Sukukaja's nice."
Suga nodded, and they went to check more doors. After yet more aimless wandering and trail and error, they found a correctly-matching door with five High Pixies and two Cerebuses guarding it. After a bit of a struggle, they took the High Pixies out, and disposed of the Cerebuses.
"Ok! Please make this be the last one..."
Madran went through the door, and saw that there weren't more colored doors, Roman numerals, or bouncers. There was a Safe Room, and nobody else was there.
"Ok. Let's go in there."
Suga pointed towards the Safe Room, and they entered.
"Gosh. That was exhausting."
"What does Shiini-san do in his spare time?"
"Look at naked adolescents and devise puzzles would be my guess."
Madran chuckled.
"Well, if I think of this from a symbolic view, then he's trying to make us suffer like how he probably has done to many others?"
"Oh, yeah, that gets me thinking. So, remember when it was mentioned that you would just sow us the way through?"
"Yeah."
"I wonder... did Clown, Beauty, and Butterfly all get things that were mentioned?"
"Oh. Yikes."
Madran grimaced. Philemon then entered through the door, and looked to be fine.
"Hi!"
"Greetings. Goodness, that entire walk was quite the test of my resolve to not go insane..."
"Aha! I knew it!"
Philemon looked over at Suga.
"Knew what?"
"Well, we mentioned some possible things that might happen, and it's been a two-for-two!"
"Hmm. Yours must of been boring, then."
"Well, it was a memory game that involved Nightingale."
"Well, Plague, I can see why you hated it."
"Yeah..."
Philemon nodded.
"I had to walk down the path, alone, while many vile and inappropriate sounds were blasted from seemingly nowhere. It makes me wonder if they had a few on-set actors..."
"Oh. My. Well, then, does that mean that Beauty and hopefully Clown got the quiz?"
"I hope. Well, I wish that it isn't uncomfortable."
"It probably is. We're kinda in the mind of a pervert here."
Philemon nodded.
"Why, yes. It's about time for this to end, so, when Clown and Beauty arrive, we'll be leaving."
"Sure."
The three waited for the other two team members to arrive, engaging in small talk about how school went, how everyone's life was going, and such. Finally, after what felt like hours, Sheila and Chicory entered the room.
"Hi!"
Chicory barked, running up to Madran and licking her face. Sheila giggled, spinning her mask around.
"Well, that certainly was an experience."
"What happened, Beauty?"
"Well, we had to do a quiz as we went on. Any wrong questions, and we had to fight some shadows. We ended up getting about six questions wrong. The questions went from simple questions about stuff around Shibuya, to what my address was, to really weird questions about me."
"Oh. Please, do not elaborate further."
Sheila nodded to Philemon's request.
"Oh, don't worry. I was really freaked out by how much he knew of me."
"Well, are we ready to head back?"
"Yep!"
Sheila nodded, very eager to go. Everyone else agreed, and Philemon took everyone back to the Velvet Room. Elizabeth was excitedly chatting with Margaret, and they both turned to face them.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room! How was your trip?"
Madran smiled.
"Oh, well, it was kinda mind-bending for me and Suga, but we got through."
Margaret nodded.
"Sheila, are you getting accustomed to your persona?"
"Yep! Oh, by the way, Nefertiti said that she learned how to use something called Tentarafoo. I tried it, and the shadow that got hit by it had a nervous breakdown."
Margaret nodded.
"Ah. Tentarafoo is a status ailment spell that inflicts panic on the target. It would seem that Nefertiti is shaping up to be an ailment persona."
"What types of personas are there?"
"Hmm... analysis, magic, healing, physical, mixed, ailment, instakill, and buffs and debuffs. Madran's is mixed, buffs and debuffs, and analysis, Suga's is healing and magic, Chicory's is physical and magic, and yours is magic, instakill, and ailment."
"So, they can mix?"
"Yes. For example, one of my patrons, Risette, had a persona that was analysis, buffs and debuffs, and healing."
"Wait, Rise is a persona user?"
Sheila looked very shocked.
"Why, yes. She can wield, um..."
"Didn't you say Himiko?"
Elizabeth piped up.
"Himiko has become an ultimate persona. You shall learn of those later."
Everyone discussed personas more, and Madran went back to her room. She went out, and saw that Elia was chatting with someone. True to Elia's word, she had invited Maya over for some drinks and such, and they were getting along very well.
"Yeah. So, after that, Ulala was cured of the Joka curse, and-"
"Hi!"
Madran came out of her room. Maya seemed shocked that Madran randomly appeared from nowhere.
"Oh! Madran's back."
"Where was she?"
"Bodacious Babes duty. Sheila awakened!"
Madran went to sit at her seat across from Maya.
"So, how're y'all doing?"
"Ciao! I was detailing my few adventures about 16 years back."
"Cool. Um, who's this Ulala?"
"Oh, Ulala's one of my friends. She's another persona user, and uses, um..."
Maya thought for a bit while Madran turned to chat with Elia.
"So, you invited her over?"
"Yep! She's actually really cool. I mean, you don't expect a news reporter to be off, fighting demons and stuff."
"Oh! She was called Asteria."
"Neat. So, Sheila gained the power of Nefertiti. I mean, I was thinking something like, uh, Callisto or whatever."
"Callisto? Now, that rings a bell..."
"Hmm?"
"Oh, yes. Callisto was Astria before Ulala was given her ultimate persona."
"Wait, an ultimate persona?"
"You should ask Philemon about it."
"Yeah, that sounds interesting. I doubt I'm anywhere close to that, though."
"Yeah, I'm no expert on personas, but, by how Maya was putting it, she had Maia for a long time."
"Uh..."
"Maia was my original persona."
"By the way, how did you use your persona? Like, I just say something and take my mask off."
"Oh! Well, I simply will it, and say a trigger word."
Chicory ran down the hallway, eager to greet this new arrival. Maya stood in a more open place in the house.
"Ciao!"
A blue ring went around her, and a blue aura surrounded her body. She held her left arm out and up, and a blue hand came from it. Just as quick as that had happened, Artemis formed and went from Maya's body.
"I am Artemis, queen of ice and of the moon!"
Artemis looked around.
"Ah. I recognize you, dear Madran. However, it seems that you cannot use your persona on this plane. Farewell, then. Tell Hyperion I said hi..."
Artemis sunk back into Maya's body, and she put her hand down. Madran and Elia were completely shocked by this, and they went to ask her more questions.
END OF CHAPTER 25
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That's all for this! I hope that you all enjoyed. I'll see every one of you next time! Bye!