73 Kamoshida Palace Raid Part 4

Following his command, Ann and Morgana leapt towards the door, only to be caught off guard by a barrage of volleyballs. Akira and Ryuji were just as unlucky as a platoon of volleyball pygmies swarmed them.

Gritting his teeth, Axel burst into a blaze of blue flames and roared, "MORDRED!"

Unlike usual, Mordred burst out from the flames, the flames behind his helmet faceplate twisted into a sadistic grin as he roared with insane laughter.

He literally flew across the ground, arriving infront of the pygmies within the blink of an eye as he brutally struck them down. One by one, they fell but Asmodeus seemed to just create more.

Luckily, Ryuji managed to grab Akira as he huffed, "Captain Kidd! Take us to the door!"

The skeleton pirate burst to life as he quickly sailed past Akira and his summoner, hoisting them up onto the mast as he zoomed by.

Seeing them make a getaway, Asmodeus screeched as another platoon of pygmies charged after them. Just as Axel was about to provide them some cover, two voices echoed from the back of the room.

"Carmen!"

"Zorro"

A bolt of fire and a gust of wind came barreling towards the boys, only to barely zip by them as the two attacks became one. The wind pushed the fire to become even deadlier as the red flames turned blue.

Unlike the groups persona flames though, this flame turned the charging pygmies into ashes. Asmodeus suddenly screamed out in pain, tipping Axel off to a weak points as he yelled, "Target his weapons!"

Obviously, no one missed the pained scream Asmodeus made. Instead, they all gain a feral grin as Akira lead the charge, summoning Arsene and launching a barrage of curses.

Before the attacks could land, a mirror-like shield appeared and nullified the damage from the curses. Stunned, Akira soon found himself face to face with a metal volleyball that would have crushed him if not for a timely rescue from Ryuji.

"Thanks Ryuji." Said Akira, a cold sweat dripping down his forehead with how close he came to death.

"No problem, dude." Replied Ryuji, shooting a thumbs up to Akira.

Asmodeus grinned while eyeing the pair with his chameleon-like eyes. Roaring, Asmodeus pushed itself off the ground while tossing another golden volleyball into the air as it screeched, "GOLDEN SERVE!"

The golden ball came hurtling at the pair, igniting into flames as it hissed through the air. Suddenly, Axel landed infront of them.

The two boys stared with wide eyes, screaming at him to run away when he turned back and gave them a confident smirk.

Their shock quick became awe as the ball slowly stopped in the air. Ryuji and Akira, being the closest to the ball, stared at Axel with wide eyes as he stood tall, his shirt destroyed as his muscles visibly trembled in exertion.

Even though his Persona form was damaged, the clothing and armour he wore slowly healed itself as he grunted before tossing the ball to the side.

Asmodeus glared at Axel and angrily roared, "How's that possible!?! A stupid, insignificant human like you should've been turned into paste!!! How could you possibly withstand my attack!?!"

Letting his screaming muscles relax, Axel sighed and blankly said, "Maybe it's cause your weak as shit?"

A red aura, filled with malice burst out from Asmodeus as it pushed it's body of the ground and leapt towards Axel.

"Akira!" Screamed Axel as he hastily dodged the berserk demon.

Realising that Axel was distracting the demon, Akira quickly pulled Ryuji off the ground and towards the rest of the group.

"While Axel's buying us some time, we need to deal with the demon's toys. Strike fast and be sure to destroy it!" Said Akira.

The group nodded and dispersed. Asmodeus quickly noticed the disappearance of the Phantom Theives but instead of being suspicious, it grinned as it mockingly said, "Would you look at that. You've been abandoned."

Axel gained a solemnly look as he back himself into a corner and said, "So it appears…"

"Any last words, you pitiful little insect?" Said Asmodeus as he smirked victoriously.

Axel nodded as his solemn look quickly morphed into a fox-like grin, "Yup. Now!"

Figures quickly sprung up from the shadows, surrounding the demon from all sides as they each unleashed every ounce of power they had.

One by one, Asmodeus's toys broke like glass, shattering into motes of blackish light. A pained groans escaped Asmodeus's lips as it looked around with wide eyes and roared, "HOW!?! I SAW YOU INSECTS RUN!!! I EVEN FELT YOUR PRESENCES LEAVE THE ROOM!!!"

Akira sneered at the demon as he said, "What you felt leave was our personas. Since they are like a beacon that screams 'here I am', all we had to do was make you think we left while we set up an ambush."

Turning to Axel, Akira smirked as he continued, "Luckily, our leader is smart. While he distracted you, you never even realised that he was kiting you into an ambush!"

"I… WILL NOT BE MOCKED BY A GROUP OF INSECTS! I AM THE GREAT DEMON OF LUST, ASMODE-"

"SHUT UP!"

Suddenly, Ann was infront of the demon, smashing it's face back and forth as she roared, "YOU THINK YOUR SO GREAT!?! YOUR NOTHING MORE THAN A BIG ASSHOLE!!!"

"WHAT DID SHIHO DO TO DESERVE WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!!! WHY DID YOU TURN HER PARENTS AGAINST HER!!! WHY DID YOU BEAT HER WHEN SHE COULDN'T FINISH HER TRAINING!!! WHY DID YOU PUSH HER INTO TRYING TO TAKE HER OWN LIFE!!!"

Asmodeus roared as it tried to strike Ann with its hand. Luckily, Axel quickly pulled her out of the way, kicking Asmodeus in the face as he hugged her into his chest.

"Ann… calm down. Kamoshida will get what's coming to him. Trust me. But we can't kill Asmodeus. If we do, Kamoshida will die and even though he deserves it, he needs to face judgment and suffer for his crimes. Death… would just be an easy escape for him." Axel whispered into her ear as he softly stroked her back.

Ann slowly calmed down as she hugged Axel back. However, when Axel was about to release hid hold on her, Ann suddenly pulled him close to her and whispered in his ear, "Please… come with me to visit Shiho after all this is over."

Softly smiling, Axel nodded before turning back to Asmodeus. The 'great demon' from before was no where to be found. Now, he was just a sack of shit, filled with anger.

Axel slowly walked forward, grabbing the demon by it's hair as he stared into it's eyes and growled, "Now listen here you piece of shit. Me and my friends are gonna leave now so you best go back to your shitty little hole you call a body and change the piece of shit from the inside out."

Asmodeus sneered, "What makes you think I'll do that?"

Just as Asmodeus finished talking, Axel reeled back his arm and thrust it into Asmodeus's eye socket. The demon screamed and thrashed about but Axel ignored it's struggles as he clawed the eyeball and tore it out.

The group flinched at Axel's brutality as Ryuji kneeled over and dry heaved while the only ones watching without reacting too badly were Morgana, Akira and surprisingly, Ann.

Heck, Ann didn't even flinch as she stared at the demon with a cruel smile. Asmodeus slowly began to shrank until it returned to its human form.

With his eye bleeding, Kamoshida wailed as he stumbled away from Axel, fear etched on his face as a dark stain appeared on his underwear.

Axel glared at the shadow and spat on the ground as he said, "Make Kamoshida turn himself in or else."

Turning around, Axel slowly moved towards the door as S.Kamoshida disappeared into motes of light, fear etched into his very being as he stared at the back of the one he feared.

However, Axel and the group just made it to the door when the palace started to shake.

"This place is coming down! With no core of shadow to keep it stable, the palace is destroying itself to fuse back with the metaverse!"

Just as Axel was about to make a plan of escape, a familiar voice spoke for the first time in a while as it said, [World Trial: Persona 5 has been completed.

Objective: Survive until the end of Kamoshida's palace. The host must aid 'Akira Kurusu', 'Ryuji Sakamoto', 'Ann Takamaki' and 'Morgana' in their conquest of Shadow Kamoshida's Palace.

Complete

Reward(s): Gains the title 'Unhindered: Persona 5', System Points: 250,000, Multiverse Gacha Ticket(s), ??? (Please receive to identify).

All restrictions placed on the host shall now be lifted.]

Feeling the familiar sensation travel through his body, Axel grinned happily as he turned to the group and said, "Change of plans. Follow behind me!"

Without warning, Axel took off towards the large, stained glass window of the tower, the group quickly trailing behind him.

"Mordred! Open the path for me!"

"Yes, my liege!"

Mordred burst to life as he heaved his sword off the ground and slashed the glass window, shattering it to pieces.

Axel quickly opened his inventory and pulled out a hand full of seeds as he jumped out the window and roared, "Rip-off style! Budget forest emerges!"

A deep green glow covered Axel's arms as threw the seeds forward. The moment they left his hand, the seeds burst apart as thick tree branches burst forward, intertwining with one another to form a wooden bridge.

Akira and Ryuji quickly followed behind Axel, only slightly surprised as they had seen him set fire and freeze a room before. Ann and Morgana, however, froze as their jaws fell to the ground in shock.

Ann knew he could use magic but she didn't know it was to this scale. Luckily, Axel leapt back into the room once he finished making the bridge as he grabbed the two and yelled, "Questions can come later. We need to leave. NOW!"

The pair quickly nodded to Axel and jumped out the window, quietly admiring the lengthy bridge Axel made.

Sadly, the area connecting onto the palace collapsed as the bridge trembled. Axel's breath hitched in his throat as Ann fell off.

Just as he was about to launch himself at Ann, Morgana called out Zorro. The masked persona launched towards her in a burst of wind and gently tossed Ann towards Axel.

Easily catching her in his arms, Axel shot Morgana a thankful glance only to blink when he saw a black, cat motif truck standing where Morgana once stood.

"Questions later. GET IN!"

The doors flew open as Axel quickly jumped into the drivers seat. With a hefty growl, the trucks engine roared to life as it took off down the slowly collapsing bridge.

As they came to Akira and Ryuji, the wheel suddenly turned on its own as the back seat door swung open. In a swift motion, the truck dipped slightly and swept both Phantom Theives off their feet and into the back seat before straightening up and shooting down the bridge.

Everyone just looked at each other in shock, non more so than the boys as Axel became respectfully and said, "Holy hell, Morgana. You just saved them 'fast and furious' style."

Sadly, that movie franchise didn't exist in this world as Morgana said, "Uh… what style?"

Axel bitterly smiled as he held the steering wheel and said, "Nevermind…"