71 Kamoshida Palace Raid Part 2

After a few minutes of getting berated, Axel was finally able to explain who Stella was. Needless to say, Ann got embarrassed very quickly when she learned that Stella was a familiar.

Though, her embarrassment turned to anger when Stella seductively said she was aiming for Axel's heart.

Akira and Ryuji just decided to become one with the air at that point while Morgana was trying to wrap his head around Stella having a human appearance while he looks like a cat mascot.

I mean, he really looked depressed as he absent-mindedly muttered about the world being unfair. Ignoring everyone else, Stella waltz over to Axel and silently sat on his lap.

Axel twitched, feeling her hands run over his body as she whispered, "Messing with people is so fun~."

Muffling a groan, Axel rolled his eyes and sighed, "Stella… please don't joke around like this. It's... kind of uncomfortable."

Suddenly, Stella's eyes turned serious as she leaned back. Her hands grabbed hold of Axel's face, forcing him to look her in the eyes as she said, "I might be messing with them but I'm completely serious about my claim."

Chuckling at Axel's shocked look, Stella continued, "I literally can't have anyone else for a partner but you. I am a familiar, your familiar. And we share a connection far deeper than you realise."

"But-" Axel tried to speak, but Stella cut him off as she placed a finger against his lips and smiled, "I was fully prepared for what becoming a familiar entrailed. When we return 'home', try asking Olivia about the basics of having a familiar."

He could only nod as Stella smiled and pecked him on the cheek. Her smile only grew when Axel blushed.

Sadly, the moment was destined to be ruined as Ann growled and yanked the two apart.

"I don't mind you two having a relationship… just not now. I still need time to process this and I'd like it if we just focused on the palace. It's bad enough that you slept with Sae-san." Growled Ann, glaring at Axel.

Stella hissed in annoyance, her eyes becoming slits while Axel sheepishly nodded. Her glared softened slightly as she huffed, "You're lucky your cute, Axel."

A small yelp escaped Axel's mouth as Ann roughly smacked his behind before walking over to the scaffolding next to the door. The guys all turned to each other and blinked before following behind her like baby ducks.

Thankfully, Morgana and Akira had mapped out a quick and easy way to get to the treasure room. It took alot, and I mean ALOT of preparation just to open up the way.

Akira, along with Axel and Ryuji, had to manually move some obstacles as well as lower the chandeliers in the main entrance. It took hours of working inside the metaverse as well as in reality.

But it was all worth it. The shortcut literally cut 20 minutes off of their original time, which boarder on 50 minutes.

After a few minutes and an impressive display of pakour skills, the Phantom Thieves made it to the the last obstacle in their way. The rooftop.

The rooftops always seemed to be crawling with extremely hard enemies. Heck, the first time the made it to the roof, Akira almost ended up getting killed.

Luckily, Ryuji had managed to find away to spilt all the enemies up. Axel signalled Ryuji with his hand and nodded. The blonde smirked under his mask as he stealthily hid into the shadows, the others slowly following behind him.

Contrary to those who know him, Ryuji was actually quite observant, even though his mouth spat out words before his brain could even think.

He had noticed that the shadows would sometimes box themselves into a small corner, completely out of view of the other shadows. From there, it was relatively simple.

*RIIIP!!!*

All they had to do was gang up on the unsuspecting shadow and beat the shit out of him before moving onto the next.

"Arsene!"

"Captain Kidd!"

"Zorro!"

"Mordred!"

Before the shadow could make a sound, a barrage of attacks landed on the shadows before finally converting it to one of Mordred's knights.

Axel couldn't help but chuckle to himself when it came to Mordred's ability. He discovered that Mordred's ability worked kind of like the pokémon system.

The less health a shadow had, the higher chance he had to convert them. Shaking his head, Axel noticed that everyone was waiting for his orders.

Instead of moving forward, Axel quickly pulled out a few cans of soda and handed one to each member. Akira and Morgana quietly thanked Axel and slowly drank their drink while Ryuji straight up chugged the whole can.

Suddenly, a soft rumbling could be heard as Axel and everyone else began to pale and move towards Ryuji. Before anyone could stop it, Ryuji let loose a mighty belch, shaking the very ground beneath them.

Ann quickly moved back, disgust written across her faces while Akira slapped his forehead and angrily whispered, "Ryuji! Do you know what you've done!?!"

Ryuji couldn't even speak a single word as a sword quickly cleaved through the spot he was just sitting in. Luckily, Axel managed to pull him out of the way before it was too late.

Blushing in shame and embarrassment, Ryuji shakily said, "I-I'm so sorry, guys. I didn't mean to alert the guards, I was just thirsty!"

"It's fine, Ryuji! This actually saves us alot of time! Mordred! You know what to do!" Screamed Axel as blue flames flared into existence.

Mordred creepily eyed the incoming shadows, it's eyes flashing a menacing red as it solemnly spoke, "Yes, my liege… Knights!"

A small legion of corrupted shadows suddenly appeared from Axel's shadow, charging straight into the incoming guards. Knights clashed with knights while the pixies provided back-up.

With majority of the guards occupied, Akira and Ryuji grew more confident as they attacked together, syncing their lighting and curse element together, blasting a guard away with crimson lightning.

Ann blushed lightly as she felt her leather suit dig into her body while she leapt around like a cat, taking advantage of both her small frame and boosted reflexes.

Her whip, though weak, managed to harass and offset the enemies, leaving them open to a counter attack. Something Axel took full advantage of.

Though he wasn't as flashy as Akira and Ryuji, Axel jumped up and smashed his knee into the shadow's face. As it staggered back, Mordred appeared as Axel pushed off it's shoulder, narrowly dodging the black and red greatsword.

Landing next to Ann, Axel smirked as he roared, "CROSS SLASH!!!"

Mid-slash, Mordred's blade became engulfed in a crimson light as it vanished, leaving nothing but a thin line in space. However, the attack wasn't over yet as Mordred quickly pulled back its arm before slashing downwards, causing the battered shadow to burst into motes of light.

Giving the dissipating light one last glance, Mordred hefted it's blade over it's shoulder as it roughly muttered, "A pity…"

Suddenly, Morgana shouted, "WATCH OUT!!!" As a shadow appeared behind them, primed to strike. Without warning, Axel hastily pushed Ann out of the way and prepared himself to take a hit when…

"ORA!~"

Axel's eyes opened wide as the usually dull and bored voice of his twin Persona, Ini, was filled with anger and rage.

Dumbfounded, Axel could only watch as Ini continued to stomp the life out of the shadow, all while swearing her head off.

Gem suddenly materialized next to Axel, hiding behind him instantly as she shuddered, "Ini is scary when she's mad…"

Nodding, Axel quickly ignored the fact that Ini was stomping the motes of light into the ground and aimed his arm at Morgana as he said, "Gem! Heat Riser!"

Twirling in the air, Gem had a playful smile on her face as she happily said, "Hai~!"

A red flame-like aura appeared around Zorro as Morgana grinned, "Zorro! Show these rookies how it's done!"

Zorro blurred as shadows collapsed to the floor one by one, a single Z etched into their bodies. Once the last of the shadows collapsed to the floor, everyone else fell as well, slightly exhausted from the battle.

Panting, Akira looked over at Ryuji as he said in mock anger, "Come over here… so I can hit you… Ryuji!"

Ryuji just lay on the ground as he replied, "Nah dude... too tired to move… just come over here and hit me…"

Morgana rolled his eyes at the pair while Axel was nursing Ann. She didn't get hurt that much but she still took a few hits. Luckily, Akira was able to buy some medicine from the doctor, Tae.

Throwing a couple a few bandages at Morgana, Axel lightly said, "Could you patch those idiots up while I do Ann? We'll continue forward after resting for a bit."

Nodding, Morgana smirked as he darkly chuckled while walking towards Akira and Ryuji, his arms spread wide open as he said, "Hehehe… the doctor is in, boys!"

Axel rolled his eyes as he ignored the pain cries of his idiotic friends. Instead, he slowly wrapped up Ann's arms and legs, staring in wonder as the bandages disappeared, taking the wounds and pain with it.

Though, once the wounds were gone, Axel continued to look at Ann's beautiful legs, entranced. Obviously, Ann noticed Axel's stare as she giggled happily and muttered, "Perv~…"