Confidant: Death

Leaving the palace became easier with each run. And with Ann in desperate need for medical attention, Axel seemingly turned into a whirlwind as he charged towards the exit.

Morgana barely managed to run alongside him as he screamed, "Take her to the safe room! I'll stabilize her condition using 'Dia' and 'Patra'!"

Axel nodded to Morgana as he shot forward. Shadows of all shapes and sizes came out to stop them but Axel and Mordred made quick work of them, gathering a small army of obedient and expendable soldiers.

Everytime Mordred converted a shadow, Axel immediately sent it out to clear the path. The shadows had absolutely loyalty towards Axel so they charged into the largest groups of shadows and sacrificed themselves to clear out as many enemies as they could.

By the time Axel and the others made it to the safe room, Mordred only had 5 soldiers left. The knight commander, two succubuses, a jack-o-lantern and a jack frost.

However, the remaining shadows were far stronger than normal. They all fought with everything they had against an absurd amount of enemies. Even Mordred level up a couple times.

Taking a deep breath, Axel lay Ann down on the table as he looked towards Morgana. Obviously, Morgana didn't need to be told what to do so he quickly started healing her.

Now that they were out of trouble, Akira and Ryuji collapsed onto the floor. The pair panted as Ryuji said, "Man… that was pretty intense."

Akira sighed at the way Ryuji phrased it but didn't disagree. The battle as well as their retreat was quite intense. One of them even got hurt.

While everyone was busy, Axel muffled a groan as he mentally muttered, 'Status.'

When the battle started, Axel was getting so many notifications that he silently muted the notification function.

As the screen appeared in front of him, Axel's eyes widened slightly as he noted the amount of points he had.

[Name: Axel

Age: 15

Gender: Male

LVL: 11

LVP: 79%

HC: Healthy

MP: 3500/3500

STR: 31 (+1)

AGI: 23 (+3)

STA: 38 (+3)

INT: 35

DEX: 21 (+1)

MEN: 35

LUC: 10

CHA: 28 (+8)

Status Points: 0

System Points: 37,010.]

Seeing the rather large jump in points, Axel wondered what could have giving him such an amount. He knew that defeating enemies gave him a certain amount due to the repeatable quests he had but the amount was miniscule.

Plus, he didn't even defeat that many of them nor did he do so on his own. Confused, Axel asked the system how he got the points.

However, the system didn't reply to him as a series of screens appeared. Apparently, Axel managed to complete a series of quests that revolved around acquiring a persona.

The rest of his points came from the huge amount of shadows he demolished. Plus, he hasn't checked his status in awhile so it was understandable that his stats and points had grown.

Anyway, even though Ann's wounds were healed and Morgana was treating her to make sure, Axel still wanted her to get checked by a doctor.

Sadly, if he took her to an actual doctor, they would be inclined to not only ask questions but to contact her parents as well. And Axel didn't know if she could lie to her parents about the metaverse.

Ann made it clear when he stayed over that while they were barely ever home, Ann absolutely loved her parents to death. Axel still remembered when Ann visibly lit up when she and her mother argued about what to have for lunch.

Shaking his head, Axel turned towards Akira, who had rested enough to stop panting, and said, "Akira, would that doctor be available tonight?"

Akira yawned tiredly as he nodded, "She closes around 10 but she usually lets me come in after hours."

The room suddenly went silent. Akira, finally realising just how his words sounded, panicked as he opened his mouth to explain.

However, he was too late. Axel grinned at Akira (Even though he knew nothing was happening between him and the doctor… yet.) while Ryuji gave Akira the most betrayed look in existence.

Even though he was healing Ann, Morgana's hands twitched as he cried in an exaggerated manner. Axel chuckled at Akira as his expressions rapidly changed until it settled on annoyed.

---

With the night just beginning, Axel followed after Akira while supporting Ann. Her face was pale, worrying Axel so much that knots appeared in his stomach.

Morgana had repeatedly told Axel that she was stable but that didn't stop him from worrying. Akira had already informed the doctor that he had someone that needed to be seen.

He also made up a small lie about why she needed to be seen. Even though he didn't like lying, Akira knew that most people wouldn't believe him if he talked about the metaverse. Heck, he didn't even believe it and he's been there.

Once the group arrived at the doctors, Akira went to knock on the door when it abruptly opened. Staying in the doorway was a woman with short dark blue hair.

She wore a white doctor's robe and had a very annoyed expression on her face. Scanning the group for a couple seconds, her eyes ended up on Akira once more as she walked back inside.

"Hurry up and get in. I want to get something to eat and Leblanc closes soon."

Heading the doctors words, Axel slowly helped Ann walk inside while the rest opted to stay outside. Akira explained that this was better for everyone considering that her actual office was quite small.

As soon as he stepped foot inside her office, Axel lay Ann down on the bed when a subtle click rang through the room.

Axel turned and raised an eyebrow at the doctor but all she did was roll her eyes at him as she proceeded to ignore him.

For 10 minutes, the doctor ignored his existence, only acknowledging him when she asked about Ann's condition and how she came to be like this.

Obviously, Axel fed her the same lie Akira did but somehow, Axel had the slightest feeling that she didn't believe. However, that didn't stop her from finishing her job.

Ann saw all this and tried time and time again to back Axel up but the doctor took her words with a grain of salt.

Suddenly, the doctor stood up as she sighed, "Alright you two. You can be quiet now. I know that you won't talk about the real reason she's here so stop lying to me."

Glaring at the pair, she continued, "Just this once. I'm willing to overlook this just this once. But! If you come back here injured, I expect nothing but the truth, got it!!!"

Ann was hesitant to reply but Axel nonchalantly accepted. He didn't mind having an able doctor as an ally and by the time they actually needed to come back here, Axel's magic should be unsealed, giving him proof to actually convince her.

Axel actually planned to recruit alot of people, mostly confidants from the game, to help with the Phantom thieves operations. He was also going to explain the significance behind the metaverse and the Phantom thieves.

Obviously he wasn't going to tell them how he knew this or who the main villain. That could potentially put Akira and his other friends in danger when they interact with ****** in the future.

Anyway, with that out of the way, the doctor began explaining to the pair about Ann's condition. Besides a couple scratches and a rather hidden case of malnutrition (Ann shyly explained that she was on a diet), she was technically fine.

The doctor also noted that she seemed a bit pale and recommended a hearty dinner and lots of rest. Finally hearing from a doctor that she was ok, Axel released a long sigh as he relaxed into his chair.

Ann smiled at Axel as she hobbled off the bed and plopped herself down on his lap, grasping his hand as she lovingly kissed his cheek.

The doctor was both happy and jealous of the pair as she swung her arm, "Alright you love birds. Can you please leave? I still need to lock up before I can leave and I don't want to miss out on Sojiro-san's curry. I swear, the man's a god in the kitchen."

Axel chuckled as he said, "I'll ask Sojiro to save you a plate."

The doctor looked at Axel with her eye raised. She silently scanned him for a few seconds before holding out her hand, "Thanks… The names Tae, by the way. Tae Takemi. I just opened my office so I can't offer alot in terms of services but I pride myself on quality."

Taking her hand, Axel shook her hand and smiled as he said, "Nice to meet you, doc. I'm Axel and that's Ann, my girlfriend."