Chapter 10

Planeptune/Eresthian City/Hotel Room/Morning

"Hmm..." Sean groaned as his eyes opened to stare at the ceiling. He lifted his torso up, only to see on a nearby digital clock that it was early in the morning but the problem to this was that he felt completely refreshed whilst everyone else seemed to be fast asleep. Sean stared at Morgana for a moment and shrugged.

Morgana is always tired, so that isn't really surprising.

'Did I get the easy option, yesterday?' He couldn't help but question as he remembered how frustrated Marvy arrived in the room, how annoyed Jotaro arrived and how exhausted IF was.

'Eh, probably.' He decided as he lifted himself off the couch and contemplated his options.

"Guess I'll increase my Charm." He muttered as he approached the bathroom and flipped the sign to 'in use' and entered to use the bathroom.

Soon, he exited and noticed that the sun was beginning to rise through the window.

'Hmm...' He decided "Guess I'll increase Group Cohesion." Then he left to the hotel kitchen – after requesting to use it – and proceeded to make 4 sets of standard stereotypical Japanese breakfast which consisted of: steamed rice, miso soup, grilled fish, fried egg and he proceeded to make 4 coffees which all consisted of 'Panama Esmeralda Geisha' beans which – he bought from the store on the way back – had a floral aroma, fresh acidity and a sweet after tone.

Perfect for the morning, in Sean's opinion.

After he finished making breakfast, he headed back whilst proceeding to ignore the intrigued looks of people he passed by – whom noticeably were lured by the coffee – and placed the breakfast on the table in the hotel room.

"Mhm..." He heard three sets of groans as they all lifted themselves up from their beds and proceeded to all calmly sit on the couches to eat their breakfasts.

Without a word of thanks, ungrateful pricks.

"Thanks." IF commented and the other two nodded in gratitude soon after, as if they heard the narrator's grating.

Sean simply nodded back as he took a sip from his coffee.

'Hmm...' He savoured the sweat flavour and acidity 'Tastes nice.'

"HMM!~" Multiple grunts of pleasure exploded around Sean's vicinity as he opened his eyes to see all of them... act strange around the coffee.

"Uh... Guys, what the fuck?" Sean couldn't help but comment as he was confused at their reactions.

"This... is actually really, really, really good!" IF commented with her eyes practically sparkling which was uncharacteristic for IF.

"Hmm! Hmm!" Marvy nodded enthusiastically – which stunned him because he thought she hated him, or at least didn't like him – whilst Jotaro merely nodded in affirmation.

"..I see." Was the only words Sean could pick up as he raised an eyebrow.

After finishing breakfast, and all of them 'freshening' up for the day; they gathered around the table.

'Honestly, why me?' He couldn't help but ask as he felt the expectant gazes on him.

"So, let's start the meeting once more." Sean decided "First things first, what did we learn?"

IF spoke up.

"From my intel, it seems like someone's been supplying the Yellow Ribbons and Blue Dollars with weapons – even the hard to obtain ones – and it seems like same person is supplying both."

Sean nodded.

"I see, so the supplier is suspicious and may be a possible cause." Sean guessed.

"Huh, why? Couldn't the supplier be an innocent third party?" Marvy asked.

Sean was about to speak up but IF did so before him.

"No, because the scale of their gang warfare has gone out of hand to the point most weapon shops would simply stop selling them weapons." IF explained "So it's more plausible that they're doing it on purpose to fuel the chaos."

Sean nodded as he then spoke up.

"That's why for certain weapons you need a Guild membership since it's easier to keep track of the user and possible misuse." Sean chipped in as he remembered his own plight when he needed a pistol, so he had reluctantly signed up with the Guild but then soon decided to take on the 'Supporter' role to divert attention from himself. Also, thankfully his Persona Form masks the identification for his pistol so they don't know it's him when he uses the pistol.

"I see..." She nodded in understanding.

"The question would be, why are they fuelling the mayhem?" Sean asked.

They didn't have an answer.

"Who's next?" Sean asked as Marvy raised her hand as if she was in a classroom.

"Oh, me!" Marvy raised her hand as she began to speak "The supplier was someone called 'Conversation', she wears a blue-hooded robe which covers her face and she has long pink hair."

Sean raised an eyebrow 'The supplier is suspicious, why wouldn't you doubt someone with that description?'

"I see... Anything else?" Sean asked as she seemed slightly troubled.

"From what I know she visits at random intervals." She clarified as Sean nodded in contemplation.

"I see..." He responded 'So that was why she was frustrated.' He needed to think of a way to cheer her up.

"Good job." He nodded in her direction as she rubbed her head.

"No need; I should've been able to do more since I'm a ninja but I could only do this much..." She responded.

Sean raised an eyebrow.

"Your a ninja?" He asked as he realised everyone looked at him as they realised that Sean was the only one who didn't know.

"Yupperoni, I follow the way of the ninja!" She nodded enthusiastically with pride.

'Huh, neat.' Sean muttered inside as he then spoke up "What about you Jotaro?"

The discussion had finally arrived to the person whom had been silent throughout the entire discussion.

Jotaro needed a moment of contemplation before he spoke up.

"I found out that they're being controlled by spirits of sorts, or at least being influenced by certain spirits." He seemed miffed when he said 'certain spirits' which could prove to be something dangerous.

"I see..." Sean nodded to himself.

'That's odd.' Messiah Picaro spoke up within him.

'What's odd?' Sean asked.

'When people die their soul leave to the seal of souls to be claimed for four reasons: to be recycled, to be reincarnated or to be immortalised.' Arsène spoke up 'And at some cases: to be disposed of.'

'So what's suspicious about this? We're talking about spirits not souls.' Sean asked.

'It seems you don't know.' Lilith spoke up as Messiah Picaro, Arsène and Lilith nodded to each other whilst Succubus and the Jacks were as confused as Sean.

'To put it simply: the soul is the essence of someone, the soul's vessel is the spirit, and the spirit's vessel is the body.' Lilith explained.

'So the strange thing is that basically empty husks are causing mayhem?' Sean guessed.

'Something similar; it could also mean that their essence were split so only half was split. Something like Yin and Yang being separated, which would make sense if the 'dark side' is the only thing manifested and the reason they in particular were taken hold of was because some of the 'dark' essence was lodged into their spirit which corrupted their metaphysical mind.' Lilith further explained as Sean nodded inwardly. Even though he didn't understand it fully, he had the general idea.

Basically, the 'bad' remnants of the dead clinging onto life no matter the consequences which was the corruption of another soul.

'Then what about existential arcana?' Sean asked in curiosity as all his personas sighed in exasperation.

'That's an entire bag of worms your trying to open, don't worry about it.' Arsène warned and Sean took heed of it.

"I see..." Sean muttered aloud as he glanced at the expectant looks.

"From my side, I found out that it all started during a peace talk." Sean stated as IF spoke up.

"Peace talk?" She interrupted as Sean nodded.

"Yeah, they all gathered in Dapner Cave in Virtua Forest to discuss peace but suddenly war broke out for no apparent reason." He informed "But it's not really 'no apparent' as there is clearly something very apparent going on."

They all processed the information thus far as Sean decided to summarise.

"So what we've found out is the location, an undoubtedly suspicious person, a cause and another cause." Sean summarised.

"Orihara Izaya." Jotaro spoke up with a glare towards the table as everyone turned towards him "Orihara Izaya definitely knows something about this."

Everyone else seemed stunned at the assurance Jotaro had, so Sean nodded.

"Guess we should confront him now, anyway." Sean stated as he grabbed his bag which Morgana resided in.

Jotaro immediately stood up whilst the girls simply shrugged as they had a suspicion things would turn out like this.

"You know where to find this guy?" Sean asked Jotaro whom responded.

"I know just the place."

Planeptune/Eresthian City/City Central/Morning

"Why are we in the housing district?" Sean muttered to himself as he stared at a skyscraper "Oh yeah, to visit a super-rich info-broker."

"Lets go." Jotaro demanded with a 'no-nonsense' tone of voice which low-key frightened everyone in the group.

They entered the lobby and went to the register where some guy was working at.

"Oi, Izaya knows we're here right?" Jotaro threatened the poor employee who was shivering under his gaze.

"Y-yes! Mr. Orihara has been expecting four guests of certain descriptions." He nodded quickly.

"Certain descriptions?" Sean asked the employee who was still shivering.

"Y-yes! A delinquent-barbarian in white, a big-breasted ninja, a blue-coated loli and a really inconspicuous guy!" He exclaimed aloud.

Needless to say they were all pissed at the descriptions – except Sean – but they all calmly entered the elevator to get to the top-floor whilst containing their rage.

"Loli... I'm not a fucking loli..." IF steamed.

"I have other features... Stupid prick." Marvy pouted.

"Barbarian... I'll show you barbarian..." Jotaro muttered – to Sean's surprise – but then Messiah Picaro spoke up.

'They all seem affiliated with a status effect; that employee did something.' Messiah Picaro informed and Sean nodded in thanks.

"Hey guys..." He spoke up but was soon interrupted.

"WHAT?!" The two girls weren't really scary – they were kinda cute – but someone of Jotaro's muscle mass was definitely frightening.

"You've been afflicted with a status effect." He informed as they all suddenly calmed down. Self awareness can help with weak status effects, afterall.

"That bastard..." Jotaro muttered about the employee who was probably the cause.

"Huh!" Marvy grunted aloud as everyone turned towards her "Does anyone remember that guy's face." They all tried to remember but couldn't.

'Seems like some people can replicate the effect of your Persona Form's mask.' Arsène spoke up as Sean nodded in realisation.

"It was probably Orihara Izaya." Jotaro accused "He's the only bastard with enough guts to do something like this."

DING

They were here.

"Hehe... And you would be correct Jojo!" A smug short-haired and thin ravenette in a long-sleeved black turtleneck and standard jeans and brown shoes cockily replied with his feet on his desk and his head resting on his arms.

"You..!" Jotaro glared.

"Me?" The man, Izaya Orihara, mockingly questioned with a smug-grin which suggested he knew too much.

Before Jotaro could do anything, Sean placed his palm on Jotaro's arm, or as high as he could. Jotaro was 2 and a half head taller than the average-height Sean, surprisingly.

Jotaro glanced at Sean for a moment but then relented as Sean conveyed a message through his piercing eyes. Jotaro took the message and relented.

"Yes, that's right doggy! No barking! Woof! Woof!" Izaya taunted whilst Jotaro merely glared.

Sean raised an eyebrow 'Seems different from the person I know... He seems more... vibrant.'

"Your literally barking right now." Sean stated as he took one of the four seats to sit in "Being a hypocrite is unbecoming of you."

"Haha, true!" Izaya responded as he shifted his shoes off his feet to throw then behind him – which hit the window he was near – and then he tucked his feet under the table.

"So what'd you want?" Izaya asked as everyone else chose to stand.

"Dapner Cave, the ribbons and dollars, Conversation, Peace Treaty." Sean stated "I want information about these topics."

"That's so? Well, at least someone is doing something about it." Izaya grimaced as he left his chair and stared out the window, presenting his back towards everyone.

'He must be really confident we won't attack him.' Succubus commented.

'He has the right to be.' Arsène spoke up 'This place is layered with cameras and turrets, even bombs.'

Succubus paled 'Oh... shit.'

'I'm not planning on doing anything rash, and neither will I let anyone else.' Sean commented.

"Sounds like you don't like the problem." Sean stated whilst Izaya burst out laughing.

"Don't like the problem? No, I despise the problem!" Izaya exclaimed "How dare such a filthy creature even dare corrupt the artistic beauty of discord that some low-tier humans were doing?!" He seemed genuinely pissed "Let me tell you this: that woman, Conversation, is not human. That filthy creature, dared to play with my personal toys." Izaya huffed in anger as he calmed himself "Her existence itself is both corporeal and incorporeal, like a manifested ghost." He explained vaguely "That's all I'm giving on that particular topic."

"Anyway, ribbons and dollars right?" He asked as Sean nodded "They're, in simple terms, my toys."

"Toys?" IF asked whilst Marvy seemed shocked.

"Yes. Toys. And like all toys, I was going to throw them away; have them kill each other in their so-called 'peace talks', but instead that blasted creature decided to interfere and somehow interfered with them. She altered them as if they were nothing, she stole my toys." Izaya spoke enraged at the fact someone messed with something that was 'his' which disgusted many in the room – Sean included – but no one commented on it.

'He seems... More unstable than the Izaya I knew.' Sean commented inwardly.

"Dapner Cave, what about that?" Sean asked.

"That cave? Here's the map." Izaya threw a map as if he already knew what they came here for and everyone else realised it too.

"Inside the cave, there seems to be some contraption of sorts which drive people insane or something similar. Do something about it and you don't owe me anything." Izaya stated as he practically told everyone to piss off soon after.

Planeptune/Eresthian City/City Centre/Morning

They were all sitting down on the edges of a water fountain.

"He seemed..." IF spoke up.

'Odd? Funky? High?' Sean contemplated his options for a moment.

"High?" Sean finished.

"I was going to say 'odd', but that works too." IF responded.

Jotaro nodded as well.

"The bastard seemed different from his usual passive-mockery." Jotaro spoke "He seemed more insane."

"More insane?" Marvy asked.

"His fascination with humans has made him seem insane on many occasions." Jotaro commented.

"I see..." Sean muttered as he then spoke up "Welp, time to adapt the plan." He gathered everyone's attention.

"My guess is that whatever's at the cave has some mind-altering effect." Sean stated "And so my full guess is that whatever's at the cave will release the control over the people if we take care of it."

"So we're all heading towards the cave together?" Marvy asked.

Sean was stuck in a momentary contemplation.

'The fact that they all seemed to be easily effected by the status effect could've been Izaya's way to see if they could resist the cave's effects.' Sean remembered the time in the elevator 'I could go alone because I seem to be resistant to it, or go with everyone which is risky.'

He contemplated as he rubbed his chin.

"Sean?" IF called out as she looked at Sean who seemed to be deep in focus.

Sean soon spoke up.

"No, I'm going by myself." Sean decided as they looked at him with shock, but Jotaro seemed to be more understanding.

"Why?" IF asked in contained rage "Why do you always do things by yourself?" IF asked out of the blue.

'Huh?' Sean then noticed a pattern. When he's doing a job with IF he usually has to do something by himself due to her not being proficient in something he is proficient in.

'Like that one time I had to infiltrate an 18+ club which was owned by a violent yakuza since it would've been weird if a woman went into one of those clubs to... examine. Or that one time when there was a limited group that could enter a 'Selective Dungeon' hence why he had to volunteer to boost the overall group's capabilities and IF wasn't as useful as someone with a similar fighting style hence why she had to stay behind. Or that one time their group was being attacked by a monster horde so I volunteered to hold them back by myself so I could wait for them to go so I could go PT mode to personally take them all out.' Sean then realised something 'I really DO do things by myself.'

Sean glanced to his sides and saw an equally livid Marvy and a mildly livid Jotaro. 'I thought they didn't like me? And I don't know them enough for their reactions.' Sean was baffled and failed to comprehend the basic worry strangers had for fellow co-workers.

'Need to diffuse the situation.' He decided.

"—is what I would like to say, but I have an idea." Sean stood up.

"An idea?" Marvy asked.

"Yeah, status effect resist items." He clarified "Time to go shopping."

They all glanced at each other in satisfaction.

"Let's go." IF commenced.

'I really need to increase my Understanding.' Sean decided.

Planeptune/Eresthian City/Northern (Electronic) District/Morning

So there they were, in front of an accessory shop which seemed to integrate machines with accessories to get an effect.

"Hey IF." Sean called out to her who glanced at him.

"Discs give status effects, right?" He asked as she nodded.

"Wait..." Marvy called for his attention "You've never used a Disc before?"

Sean nodded "Never really knew what a Disc would be for."

Jotaro and Marvy seemed shocked whilst IF seemed to be nodding in understanding to their reactions.

"...Is it really that odd to not know?" He couldn't help but ask.

"It's really weird to not know." IF clarified whilst Jotaro nodded.

"Yeah, really weird; Discs are super useful for all sorts of things! Ninjas like me usually use a slot to add to my stealth and SP Skill powers." Marvy clarified "Whilst brawlers like Jojo use Discs to empower certain stats or people like IF increase the ability of certain skills."

"I see..." Sean nodded in understanding. "You said they use a slot, do all of you have any slots remaining?" Sean asked whilst they all nodded and gave answers reminiscent to affirmation.

"I don't really need a Disc which gives 'mental affliction resist' or 'status effect resist' like you guys, so I'm gonna get something else." Sean explained "See you guys here in an hour." He then proceeded to walk in and adventure through the store.

'Hmm...' He browsed the wares 'To think Discs could be so useful...' Soon he found something which caught his eye.

○○○

Flame Emblem (old)

Effect: Tabletop Perspective Lv.2, Morale Boost Lv.1, Group SP regeneration Lv.3, Withdraw Gift Lv.2

○○○

Sean was drawn to this particular Disc because of 'Tabletop Perspective' and 'Withdraw Gift', the other effects were merely a bonus.

Tabletop Perspective could be used both in battle and out to either scout or locate which would be useful, an example is hiding behind a wall to see the enemy position however to add onto this Sean could simply read the sound waves to gather information; there are lots of ways to use Tabletop Perspective. Withdraw Gift, on the other hand simply let's the benefits of resting be increased which is super useful in a group.

"Guess I'll buy this..." Sean muttered as he picked it out and bought it from the store.

"Guess we'll be tight till we get paid." Morgana commented from Sean's bag.

"It was worth it." Sean declared as he equipped it to his neptunian system on the 'equipment' section. He instantly felt the ability of doing what he could not before arise.

He then began to head back. But then soon paused as he was heading back as he saw something he didn't like.

"L-let go!" A pink twin-tailed and golden-eyed woman pleaded as three individuals in suspicious attire tried to keep hold of her with a nearby employee simply ignoring it. "People with such low IQ like you can't do this to me..!"

'How cliché...' Sean commented as he approached them.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sean asked pleasantly as it could all just be a misunderstanding.

"What does it look like?" One of them replied back.

"Doing a crime." Sean blatantly stated as he glanced at the woman in a green sailor uniform.

"They don't have your permission to act like this, do they?" He asked the spectacled girl who seemed a year or two younger than himself.

"Wha--of course they don't! These brainless monkeys started grabbing and touching me – started molesting – without my consent!" She exclaimed back as Sean nodded.

"I see..." Sean approached them as he glared at them with a piercing glare "Then, please do let go of her."

"Y-you can't!" They were about to protest but Sean channelled some of Arsène's pressure onto them.

"I insist, you leave her alone." He gave off a calm smile which seemed to eerily frighten them.

"T-tch, the bitch is ugly anyway." They walked away as they glanced at her... blessed assets for a moment.

Sean then turned towards the girl who spoke up.

"I-its not like I needed your help or anything! So don't go thinking I owe you something!" She seemed to be reluctant when she spoke – as if the right words weren't coming out of her own mouth – and so Sean simply nodded.

"Sorry, just have a problem with things like this..." He sheepishly rubbed his neck.

"W-well, as long as you understand..." The pink twin-tails relented quickly.

"You have problems with helping people, if you ask me." IF spoke up from behind Sean as she tossed him a Doc P which he caught "Like seriously, Sean, you need to stop going out of your way to help everyone you see..." IF shook her head whilst Sean raised an eyebrow.

"You of all people, is saying that to me?" Sean asked.

"There's a difference between you and me." IF spoke "I only help when it gets too out of hand, whilst you interfere before it can get out of hand. See the difference?" She asked as Sean simply shrugged and finished his Doc P in one go and threw the can into a nearby bin.

"No comment." Sean spoke up as he turned to the twin tails "Anyway, gotta go; see you when I do." He nodded his head – ignoring her reluctant calling out to him – and went together with IF back to the meeting spot.

When they arrived, Marvy was already there whilst it seemed like they were waiting for Jotaro to come, however he came soon after.

"Got everything you need?" Sean asked as they all nodded.

"I see, then let's go to Virtua Forest." He declared as they used the city gate to exit to the forest after confirming no one was looking for them or found them or followed them.

Planeptune/Virtua Forest/Western Area/Morning

"So first, it seems like we'll need to find the place." Sean stated as he stared at the map Izaya gave.

"Follow me." He commanded them as they followed him through a multitude of trees and soon they walked into an open plain.

"Surprisingly close." Sean commented as IF spoke up.

"It has to be, otherwise how can two groups of pushovers possibly enter IF it's in Virtua Forest Depths?" IF rhetorically asked as Jotaro nodded.

'Pushovers?' Sean questioned 'Oh right, get strong enough and a bullet doesn't do much. Does that mean I took the bullet for no reason the other day?' Sean realised.

"I can see It!" Marvy chirped as she stared at a bunch of shrubs but upon further inspection two human-sized holes could be seen.

"It seems like it caved in." Sean observed between the two human-sized holes.

"We can do this three ways," Sean turned around to the party "One: we split up, two: we enter together and try to fit in even with the low space."

"And third?" IF interrupted.

"Third is Jotaro smashing the between and creating a new entrance from these two holes, although it may be slightly dangerous." Sean stated the three options as they all thought it through.

Eventually an answer was made.

"I vote we split up." Surprising it was IF – the woman was whining about Sean doing things alone – which got a few raised eyebrows.

"I agree." Jotaro spoke up whilst Marvy gave the same reply with the more enthusiasm.

"So who are we pairing with?" Sean asked them.

"I'll go with you." IF declared with no room for argument with Sean and surprisingly the other two simply nodded.

"Alright, let's go." He shrugged.

Planeptune/Virtua Forest/Western Area/Dapner Cave/Morning

The cave that they entered was really shallow, so IF had to be at the front with one of her phones being used as a source of light using the 'torch' function.

After multiple minutes of walking there was a silence. It wasn't comfortable per se, but it did definitely inconvenience them mentally. Sean didn't exactly understand why it felt uncomfortable, he just knew he didn't like it.

Thankfully, IF spoke up.

"So..." She tried to start up a conversation as Sean hummed to show his attention "Remember what I told you about when you came here?" She asked.

Nothing rung a significant bell.

"..No. I don't recall you did." He replied as she huffed.

"You know, about you venting your frustrations and telling about your problem." She clarified.

'Tch, she remembered.' Sean inwardly clicked his tongue; he hoped vaguely for her to forget about it.

"First, you typed it." He replied as interrupted.

"Same thing." She protested.

"Sure it is." He mocked as he then grinned even though she couldn't see his face "And second, 'vent my frustrations'? Oh my, how forward of you."

"I-I didn't mean that and you know It!" Her ears reddened from Sean's perspective, whether it was from embarrassment or anger he did not know "Anyway, stop trying to divert the topic and explain!"

There was a moment of silence.

A sigh reverberated, it wasn't Sean's.

"Fine. I won't tell you to vent your frustrations, but at least tell me your current problem." She relented as Sean realised this was as far as he could take it before her Social Link reversed.

"Fine, turns out I had a power I never knew but there should've been signs of it long ago but it hasn't appeared till now and the signs should've been easy to notice for people close to me." Sean responded as she then replied.

'So it's a matter of whether you can trust them or not?' IF realised as she decided to use his lack of information against him "Oh that? That's probably Skill Evolution." She technically didn't lie.

"Skill Evolution?" Sean couldn't help but ask as he felt a figurative weight lift off himself for some reason.

"Yeah, it's a somewhat rare occurrence which happens when you either fully master a skill or simply have enough affinity with it to evolve." She informed.

'But my Social Links are a function of my Persona System, not a Skill. Though now that I realise It, my SP is increased because of my S. Links whilst my HP is increased because of my C. Links, so it should be possible for my two systems to interact with each other. So maybe, my Persona System is adapting?' He then realised something else entirely.

"Hey, IF." He called out to her.

"What?" She asked.

"Tell me if you see something strange." He asked her as she probably felt confused as Sean continued to think 'I wanna see if she gets a Skill. Though, since she's a Chariot she should get a power based on that like Ranpo and confirm my theory about the twins.' He nodded to himself 'Chariot represents: direction, control and willpower whilst alternatively represents: lack of control, lack of direction and willpower.' He analysed 'IF is a Guild Agent so that means she travels a lot.'

"Huh?" IF murmured as she paused her walking in the corridor whilst Sean's eyes burned in dire curiosity.

"Did you get a Skill?" Sean asked as she nodded dazedly.

"Y-yeah... I got a Skill called 'The Chariot 7-VII' and it's description is 'Your bond to a certain special someone allows you to teleport to places you have seen before. The cooldown can be reduced the closer your bond is' or so it says." IF explained as Sean felt very light.

There was a moment of silence.

"IF." Sean called out to her.

"Yeah?" She responded.

"Thank you."

I AM THOU... THOU ART I...

THOU HAST SHATTERED A CHAIN OF THY SUBMISSION...

BUT THOU SUBMISSION STILL IS ASCERTAIN...

'A chain of submission?' Sean wondered as he felt the world – or at least the cave's corridor and IF – had more colour than initially observed.

After that, they didn't really have anything to talk about as they continued to adventure through the corridor until they arrived at a large room. The room had torches glistening up the surroundings on pillars, the floors were designed in squares with intricate Egyptian markings.

"Where's the others?" IF asked as she tried to observe the hole Jotaro and Marvy went through only to not find a hole.

"I think they went to another room." Sean guessed "Get their input." She nodded in affirmation as she went on her phone to text them.

Sean let her text whilst Sean observed the room more. Other than the walls made of dirt, the intricate pillars and floors, Sean could see light coming from a window whilst across the room they were in – where the light shone onto – there were floating transparent platforms whilst under that there were spiky cones ready to impale anyone who falls in and after that there was another entrance which couldn't be seen through but Sean had a gut feeling that lights would ignite if they pass this area.

"Yeah, seems like they found an area similar to this. We've agreed to carry on till we meet each other." She informed Sean as he nodded in confirmation. It may be reckless, but his curiosity is tingling.

'Curiosity killed the cat.' Succubus whined.

'And satisfaction brought it back.' Arsène argued.

After they confirmed that the platforms were solid, they crossed the spiky cones pretty easily as they approached the door. The moment they entered, numerous torches lit up.

They followed the corridor and it led them to somewhere entirely different in terms of aesthetic.

To their left was a see-through cyan barrier of sorts which presented Jotaro and Marvy looking at them. The barrier had runic markings whilst the whole room had designings of circles which held similar runic markings.

Marvy waved at them and he waved back.

Upon further observation, across the current room was multiple pillars which seemed to have space for an item and it even evolved to a second floor being present with a similar disposition.

But that wasn't what caught his attention.

The barrier ended at the statue at the end of the room, splitting in half at the position which included the tip of its nose. The statue was some sort of stone pharaoh, but it's eyes were closed.

Sean's instincts were roaring madly at him whilst his personas warned of upcoming danger.

It's eyes opened and eerie smile became present. A crack was formed on its still face, broken by its own smile.

"This... is bad news isn't it?" IF murmured as it's glowing eyes glared at everyone present.

Sean felt a figurative weight on his mind, but he shrugged it off easily. The others? Not so much. IF was rolling on the floor in pain for a good 30 seconds before finally regaining herself, and it was the same for the other people on the other side of the barrier.

"That fucking hurt!" IF exclaimed as she felt slightly dizzy. Her back straightened when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but when she realised it was Sean she relaxed.

"We've gotta do something." Sean informed as he stared at the pillars which seemed to hold some glowing orb, but it seems like on Jotaro's side they also had orbs but it seemed to be red in colour which was opposite to Sean's side's blue.

"My guess is that we've gotta take out the orbs at the same time as the others." Sean informed as IF nodded in trust, but suddenly a purplish colour erupted from the statue's arms and malevolent purple spectral beings appeared "And my next guess is that they're supposed to stop us."

He sighed.

She sighed.

"Lets do this." Sean muttered as he then spoke up to IF "Tell them to take care of the orbs at the same time as us."

"Got it." IF nodded as she slid out one of her phones and sent a message to Jotaro.

From the barrier, Sean could see Jotaro open his flip-phone and began to speak to Marvy. Once they finished talking, they looked over to Sean and IF and nodded.

"It's show time..." Sean muttered audibly enough for IF not to hear and turned to IF "You take care of the monsters, I'll get rid of the orbs." He ordered as she nodded.

However before he did anything his palm grew white as he tapped IF's back.

"Sukukaja, Tarukaja, Rakukaja." Sean granted her a speed, strength and defense buff and then proceeded to jog along with IF to approach one of the 8 orbs.

"What do we do about the height problem?" IF asked as the pillars were fairly tall whilst dodging a spectral fenrir's dive.

"I can handle it." Sean replied as he used his equipped grappling hook to hook onto the first pillar's flat surface and then he proceeded to let himself be pulled by his grappling hook.

"Lets see if they're ready." Sean stared across the barrier and saw Marvy climb onto the first pillar whilst Jotaro was annihilating any enemies who dared to near "Guess we don't have to worry about them being slow."

Marvy waved to Sean as they both smashed it; Sean smashed it with multiple bullets from his TT-33, Marvy smashed it using her dual katanas.

"7 more to go..." Sean muttered as he noticed that he could hook onto the other orb and travel there but in doing so would probably leave IF to fend for herself and thus betray her trust. He chose to jump down – with a roll – and assist IF.

BANG BANG BANG BANG

SLICE SLICE SLICE SLICE

They both rip and teared spectral monsters after spectral monsters, until they had breathing room.

"Since when did you have a grappling hook?" IF asked confused whilst Sean raised an eyebrow.

"Why wouldn't you take a grappling hook into some ruins?" Sean asked back equally confused. They both stared at each other confused, but eventually they just shrug.

"Sukukaja, Tarukaja--" Sean shifted to his right to dodge a sword from a spectral knight "Rakukaja." As he continued to buff IF's speed, strength and defense.

"Same as last time?" IF asked as she sliced the head of the spectral knight with one of her silver katars.

BANG

"Yeah." Sean replied as he shot the platform of the next pillar to create a small area for his grappling hook to properly grapple onto it.

"Up we go." He grappled onto it and with a flamboyant backflip landed onto the platform. He looked at the other side of the barrier and saw Marvy already there waiting for him, he did a thumbs up and they repeated what they did last time.

"You doing okay?" Sean inquired as he kicked down a spectral knight from behind IF who was busy fighting off the enemies in front of her.

BANG BANG BANG

"Yeah, I am." She responded as she sliced the spectral fenrirs and spectral spearman whilst Sean finished off the spectral knight.

"Good, let's continue then." He nodded in response as he darted his grappling hook to the next pillar and flung himself towards it.

Same as the first time, he waited for Marvy to arrive and once she did they both took out the orbs.

But something different happened this time.

An eerie chuckling resonated from the pharaoh – which sent dread down Sean's spine – as he saw a blue laser being shot at IF.

'Trickster, the girl!' Both Messiah Picaro and Arsène howled with the rest giving similar exclamations.

'Shit, I won't make it...!' Sean realised as he dived towards IF.

However, something unexpected happened. Everything stopped.

'It's because of Jotaro.' Sean instantly knew as he tackled IF away from the beam's vicinity. However, he laid there waiting for time to resume so Jotaro wouldn't be suspicious.

Time resumed again.

"H-hey... What are you doing?" IF asked sounding very aggravated.

"Saving you from being vaporized by a laser beam." Sean snarked as he lifted himself off her, just in time to fire a bullet at a spectral monkey which was about to throw a bomb.

"That so..." IF muttered as she muttered to herself again "You touched my..."

"So we gonna continue or what?" Sean asked impatiently.

"Continue?!" IF's voice hitched for some reason.

"Yeah, or else we gotta deal with more monsters." Sean clarified.

"Oh that. Yeah, let's continue." She responded sounding eerily calm.

Sean – not knowing what to do because of his low Understanding – simply shrugged and decided cleanse the next horde of monsters with her.

"Okay, I'm doing it now." Sean informed her as he nodded and hooked onto a pillar.

He turned to look at Marvy and saw that she had been there for quite some time. Like before, they both shattered it. One with bullets, the other with katanas.

"That's the fourth." Sean informed IF who nodded as she was seemingly surrounded.

"Demonic Inferno!" She exclaimed as all the monsters around her evaporated into ash because of a bunch of flame pillars.

"I thought it was 'Demon Flames'?" Sean asked confused as he buffed her like last time and neutralised more spectral monsters. There seemed to be a lot of humanoid beings this time around.

"It can be called either name." She informed as she instantly culled their numbers quicker thanks to Sean's buff.

"Neat." Sean commented as he flung himself to another pillar and waited for Marvy to arrive. Seems like her side was swarmed with animals.

Soon Marvy arrived at her orb and shattered It, but thankfully Sean saw it's eyes light up before another beam was shot hence why he managed to tackle IF out the way just in time.

'The third and fifth? Is there some sort of significance? I assumed it was going to be third, sixth and ninth... Oh wait, there is no ninth.' He felt like someone slapped him with a metaphorical slipper.

Sean picked himself up whilst giving a hand to IF who took it.

"I can dodge, you know?" IF complained as Sean sprayed some bullets to take out the spectral animal horde.

"It's not about whether you dodge or not." Sean replied as he went into his neptunian inventory and threw multiple grenades to cull their numbers as he explained his theory "It's about the statue seeing our partnership."

"Huh, what do you mean?" IF asked perplexed.

"Think about it. Izaya sent them to this particular cave, two gangs with no chance of cooperating – or at least a small chance of doing so – with a status which forces them to turn on each other – some status effects need willpower to break through them, it's unlikely for them to even try not to harm their enemies – and the fact that the statue is always aiming for you when it should be aiming for me is proof." Sean explained his theory. 'Also the fact that it's eyes are observing our every moment.'

"Does this mean Izaya knew about this?" IF asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. My guess is that he would've tried to kill them all but the third party interfered and did something." Sean guessed as he inwardly felt he was missing some important pieces "And he got us to get mental-affliction resist items to subtly warn us about this in his own way."

"Don't you think your stretching It?" IF asked as Sean nodded.

"Yeah, I do. I'm missing some important pieces." He admitted as he grappled onto the sixth pillar and flung himself towards it flamboyantly.

Surprisingly, they both made it at the same time and destroyed it at the same time.

Sean rejoiced IF and noticed something.

"We've got birds." Sean muttered as he saw flying-type spectral monsters "This'll be more troublesome. Sukukaja! Tarukaja! Rakukaja!" And proceeded to give a speed, strength and defense buff.

"Can you handle It?" She asked slightly worried.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

"Can I?" He grinned as he managed to eliminate hordes of flying spectral monsters with a few bullets.

"...Can you?" She asked slightly worried.

"I can." He deadpanned as he grappled onto the seventh pillar and flung himself on it. He waited for Marvy to go to her pillar and once she thumbs upped he destroyed it along with her.

BEAM

The pharaoh fired another beam quicker than last time, so Sean had to tackle IF in haste.

"Argh!" He grunted as he felt blood spurt out a hole in his shoulder "Diarama." He healed the wound and stood up.

"You hurt?" She asked very concerned because she realised she couldn't dodge it like the other beams.

"Not anymore." He replied as he began to cull the numbers of the birds, animals and humanoid spectral beings. He threw grenades, incendiary grenades, sticky bombs and made use of his inventory for once.

"I'll be going now." He informed her as he grappled onto the last pillar. The hook shook hard whilst Sean was still traveling in mid air and fell.

"Shit!" Sean cursed as he realised he was going to fall into a horde if monsters, he looked at the pillar and saw a gorilla of sorts onto of it "You pushed me off, now your gonna pull me back in!"

Sean rotated in a backwards roll as he flung his grappling hook around the gorilla's neck and wrapped it around the neck and body. He grunted loudly as he pulled himself to be pushed into the air, as he was upside down in the air. Whilst Sean was spinning in the air he saw the pharaoh's smile. It was... blissful for a split moment before it regained it's crooked smile.

"I'll think about that later." Sean decided as let himself be dragged by his grappling hook to where the spectral gorilla was.

"ROOOAAAAAR!" It howled at Sean as it's hand shone a bright orange. Sean rolled to the side – on the small platform – and narrowly missed being burnt alive.

'That was close.' His spine shivered as he shot at the gorilla till it died, however since that wasn't working Sean jumped on its large arm and ran up to its head. He then proceeded to throw a bag of grenades into it's mouth – mixed with some incendiary grenades – and planted sticky bombs on its eyes.

BOOOOOOM BOOOM BOOM BOOOOOM

A chorus of explosions reverberated in the surroundings, nearly knocking Sean down as he destroyed the orb after confirming Marvy was ready.

BOOOOOOOM

Suddenly white smoke filled the room and soon disappeared into nothing. All the monsters were gone and all that remained was a tablet in the centre of their half of the room.

"What's this?" IF asked Sean as he arrived near her.

"It seems to need numbers." Sean remarked as he saw that the numbers 1 – 10 were presented "And from the looks of it there are only 3 slots for numbers."

"So what's the numbers?" IF muttered to herself.

"Three, five, seven." They both repeated.

GRUMBLE GRUMBLE GRUMBLE

The bright lights of the barrier disappeared inti sparkles.

"You guys alright?" Sean asked the other group but he noticed Marvy was injured on her shoulder. She had the same wound as Sean.

"Diarama." He healed her as she smiled at him.

"Thanks." She thanked him as he nodded.

"So what now?" IF asked as she proceeded to set off a flag.

GRUMBLE GRUMBLE GRUMBLE

"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAR!" The pharaoh howled into the heavens as a malevolent dark purple energy gathered into the centre of the room which seemingly came from the entrances they all came from.

"D-die..." The sentient shadow screeched. It didn't have any amazing features, but it certainly felt dangerous to all those present "Revenge to those traitorous bastards.... I'll kill you all..."

'Is this...?' Sean asked his personas.

'Yes. This is the source of the problem. The yin to the passed on yang.' Arsène informed.

'His hatred anchors him to the world. Let us relieve him.' Messiah Picaro practically demanded with no room for argument.

'Got it.' Sean confirmed.

"DIEEE!" It screeched as it summoned a spectral dagger and it's eyes glowed a bright blue.

Sean rolled to the left and went behind the party.

"Sukukaja, Sukukaja, Sukukaja!" He gave all three of them speed enhancements "Tarukaja, Tarukaja, Tarukaja!" Then proceeded to give them all strength enhancements "Rakukaja! Rakukaja! Rakukaja!" And finished it off with defence enhancements.

"I'll support you guys from behind!" He informed them as they all gave noises of confirmation.

"Ranbu!" Marvy got up close and did four different slashes from different positions and finished with a backflip cut.

"DIE!" The shadow gripped Marvy's leg as she was backflipping and dug it's spectral dagger in it.

"AHH!" Marvy groaned in pain as red veins appeared on her.

"ORAAAAAA!" Jotaro decked the shadow in the face and grabbed Marvy back and laid her near Sean.

"Take this." Sean gave her a Revive Pill which overloaded her HP and SP and got rid of her status effect as a side effect "You good to go?"

"Peachy." She nodded as she joined IF in her rapid flurry of dual slices.

"Heavenly Demon!" IF summoned multiple sword-like shooting stars which attacked the shadow 10 times.

"Star Platinum! Hamon Spear!" Jotaro summoned purple electricity to form a spear and launched it to the shadow.

"Batton Ranbu!" Marvy powered herself with a golden-green colour and slashed twice with the second knocking it back followed by a clean third strike which left afterimages of leaves that did extra harm to the shadow.

"RAAAAAAA! DIE, DIE, DIE!" It defied it's fate as it summoned more spectral daggers and lodged them into Jotaro's arms and shoulders and surprisingly it pierced through Jotaro like a thousand degree knife on cheese.

"Guh!" Jotaro grunted as he fell back to Sean.

IF who saw this took hold over Jotaro's position and tried to slice it multiple times with her katars with it seemingly always dodging.

Marvy went behind it and managed to slash one of its arms off whilst IF had to retreat because of being stabbed in the eye by a floating dagger.

"Diarama, Diarama!" Sean healed both Jotaro and IF and sent them back.

'Hmm...' Sean observed the shadow whilst the others were seemingly fighting it desperately "Sukukaja, Sukukaja, Sukukaja!" Speed boost "Tarukaja, Tarukaja, Tarukaja!" Strength boost "Rakukaja, Rakukaja, Rakukaja!" And a defence boost.

'It's a shadow. Messiah Picaro related them to yin. It's dark in colour.' A solution formulated in Sean's mind as he spoke up to IF "Hey, IF! Use Delphinus!"

IF didn't have leeway to reply as she was busy dodging the shadow's attacks which seemingly got stronger over time, but she decided to place her trust in Sean.

"Jotaro, Marvy, cover her!" He ordered them and they gave nods in reply.

IF charged a golden energy in her palm which caught the attention of the shadow as it desperately tried to reach her quickly.

"Rakukaja!" Sean gave a defence buff to Jotaro hoping he got the message, and thankfully he did.

"GAH!" Jotaro was sent flying as IF finished charging her attack.

"La Delphinus!" The moment the eruption of light erupted from under the shadow it shrieked in pain.

'So shadows are weak to bless.' Sean noticed 'Obvious but good to know.'

"Diarama!" Sean healed Jotaro as he then turned towards IF "Spam your Delphinus!"

"Got It!" She nodded as she charges her attack.

"You two, stall for time!" Sean ordered as they nodded.

"Roger/Yes." Marvy and Jotaro responded.

As they were stalling for time Sean occasionally granted them heals and boosts until IF was ready.

"I'm ready!" IF declared.

"Hold it for a moment!" Sean stopped her as he casted his own spells on her "Tarukaja, Tarukaja, Tarukaja, Tarukaja, Tarukaja, Tarukaja, Tarukaja, Tarukaja, Tarukaja, Tarukaja!" Sean sent 10 attack enhancements As he realised something "... It needs one more." But there was a problem, his SP was dangerously low. He didn't know what to do as he would surely pass out but on the other hand if he did then there would be a high chance they would win, Sean knew that everyone was running low on gas and even with his items it would be hard simply because they don't have enough leeway to actually consume the item with how strong the shadow grew across the fight.

"FUCK IT!" He exclaimed as he decided to risk it.

"Tarukaja!" He sent another attack enhancement as his vision began to fade.

"...a....phinus...." Were the only words he could make out as he passed out with an intense light covering the room.

He felt like such a burden.

SUNG-JIN-WOO'S DIARY HAS BEEN STORED INTO NEPTUNIA INVENTORY.