64 Awakening Part 1

Since the shadow decided to accompany Akira, the crystal eye was left behind as it wasn't truly apart of the shadow. Ryuji, being who he was, leaned down to pick up the crystal eye and said, \"Well, that was easy.\"

Ann rolled her eyes at him, \"Yeah, spending a couple minutes to convince her to join us was just sooooo easy.\"

Everyone chuckled when Ryuji seemed to take a hit from Ann's words. He ended up sulking for a while but Axel quickly got everyone back on track as they run to the statue.

The moment Ryuji slammed the crystal eye into the statues socket, a loud cranking sound rang out as some sort of mechanism came to a stop.

A relieved sigh came from Axel's mouth as he looked forward. A normal path way now stood before them. However, it was only a normal pathway if you ignored the 10 giant guillotines that now rested on either side.

Halfway through the pathway was a chest. Axel wasn't very interested in it but everyone else? Ryuji and Morgana dashed towards the chest, pushing each other out of the way while arguing like cats and dogs.

Akira seemed to want to open the chest as well while Ann was just confused. She tapped Axel's shoulder a couple times and whispered, \"Hey Axel? Why is there a chest over there?\"

\"I… honestly don't know. I'd say it was laid out by Kamoshida but… he's a douche so don't count on it.\" Axel replied.

After the chest fiasco, the group continued forward. However, the moment they entered the room, everyone stalled as Ryuji roared, \"The hell is this!?\"

Though they didn't vocalize it, the rest of the group agreed with Ryuji's exclamation. The room infront of the was lit up by a dim pink light as statues of… female bodies wearing bloomers littered the room.

What really shocked them was how many there were. Everywhere you looked, there would be at least one statue just sitting there.

Ann visibly recoiled at the sight. Before they enetered the palace, Axel and Morgana had given her a quick rundown on what a palace was.

That meant she knew that the palace reflected what was going on inside Kamoshida's mind, and it seemed to be filled with perverted thoughts.

Axel moved forward and gently hugged Ann. She jumped a little when Axel hugged her but she could feel the warmth from his touch and quickly moved closer as a feeling of safety washed over her.

It's funny how safe she felt just by sitting in Axel's arm, like nothing in the world could hurt her as long as he was there.

Once the group regained their barrings, they slowly made their way forward. This time, however, everyone noticed a very obvious difference between this area and the others.

There were no shadows. Everywhere they looked appeared to be shadow free. This didn't mean that the group would lower their guard. Instead, the chose to be even more cautious.

Akira, Ryuji and Morgana scouted forward together, reasoning that the area was way to quiet and peaceful for it to be actually safe.

And it was lucky they did. Almost as soon as they returned from scouting, a drastic change happened as the atmosphere became chaotic.

Shadows fell from the roof in what seemed to be a semi-liquid state before reforming into slime-like creatures.

\"An ambush…\" Muttered Axel. He quickly summoned Gemini while simultaneously moving to defend Ann.

Once the battle started, Axel stayed back and buffed the others while Akira, Ryuji and Morgana went to town. It actually impressed him with how quickly Akira and Ryuji learned to fight.

Akira's fighting style made him seemed like he was dancing, weaving through the shadows alongside Arsene. Wherever the pair went, a few shadows fell behind them.

Ryuji, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Akira. While Akira seemed like he was dancing, Ryuji fought in a rough yet effective way. Brutal hits, attacking from the shadow's blindspots, Ryuji did whatever it took to win. Hell, even Captain Kidd fought dirty.

Morgana, the only member that didn't need training, fought like the embodiment of the saying, 'Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.' He used his small size and agility to his advantage, dodging strike after strike while simultaneously having Zorro impale the shadows.

A feeling of pride welled up inside Axel's chest as he watched the group fight. He easily deflected the shadows that came to attack him when he felt a sudden push from behind, followed by the sound of something heavily smashing against the floor.

Axel quickly regained balance as he snapped backwards and froze. A giant suit of living armour stood by as it's sword impaled the ground where Axel stood. However, that's not what made Axel freeze.

In it's arms lay Ann, crying as blood ran down her forehead. An unholy roar of anger bellowed out from Axel's mouth as shot forward. Without thinking, Axel wailed against the helm of the living armour.

Ignoring the pain and blood coming from his hands, Axel continued to throw punch after punch. After a few punches, the living armour finally responded as it grabbed Axel and slammed him against the floor.

The marble floors cracked as it slammed Axel against the ground, over and over again. Ann was forced to watch his face contort in pain yet the fire in his eyes only seemed to grow.

Suddenly, a voice appeared in Ann's voice as it muttered in a sultry voice, \"Is that it? Will you just stand by and watch? Crying like a little girl?\"

Ann trembled as she said, \"W-who's there!?\"

The voice seemed to ignore her question as it continued, \"And what about Shiho? Did you not follow them so you could avenge her? Was your resolve so… weak?\"

As Ann processed what the voice said, her trembling came to a stop as a new emotion enveloped her. A feeling called… Rage.

\"What do you know!? I WILL avenge Shiho! That scumbag Kamoshida will pay for what he's done! Trying to buy Shiho, treating her like a slave! I'll personally see to it that he rots in hell for everything he's done!?!\" Roared Ann.

A bout of sensual laughter rang out as the voice screamed in ecstasy, \"Yes~! This is what I wanted! What I've been waiting for! And oh, how I've waited!\"

Suddenly, a pain like nothing she's ever felt before assaulted Ann as the voice playful said, \"My… It's taken far too long~.\"

Ann screamed in pain as the voice continued, \"Tell me… Who is going to avenge her if you don't?\"

\"Forgiving him was never the option!\"

Sweat poured down Ann forehead as small, blue flames started flickering around her.

\"Such is the scream of the other you that dwells within…\"

\"I am thou, thou art I…\"

\"We can finally forge a contract~…\"

In a burst of blue flames, the living armour was forced to release her as a red, cat-like mask now adorned her face. She gently rubbed the rim of her mask and smiled, \"I hear you… Carmen.\"

\"Your right! No more holding back..!\" Ann yelled as flames started flickering on her body.

\"There you go~ Nothing can be solved by restraining yourself.\"

\"If you understand, then I'll gladly lend you my strength~.\"

Lightly gripping her mask, Ann smirked as she forcefully tore the mask from her face, igniting into a pillar of blue flames. Once the flames died down, Axel and the boys all stared at Ann with wide eyes.

Gone was her school uniform. In it's place was a rather… skimpy, red leather suit that seemed to emulate the features of a cat. Axel couldn't help but feel hot and bothered while the others blushed.

Behind Ann stood a rather promiscuous feminine figure that both confused and scared the boys. The figure stared down at them as she smile.

Now, it would have been a nice moment but the figure was currently standing on what seemed to be a person wearing a heart-shaped box on his head. In her hand was a chain that was linked to another person wearing a heart-shaped box.

Without warning, Ann turned to the living armour and smirked. She dashed forward and ripped it's sword from it's grasp before easily cutting it down with it's own blade.

Dropping the sword, Ann looked to the roof and roared, \"You know what? I'm not some cheap girl you can toy with… You scumbag!\"

\"You forced Shiho into trying to commit suicide… You tried to own her… Now, I'll make you pay..!\"

Behind her, Carmen smirked as an unknown emotion flickered in her eyes.