Part 1

The glare of the sun's shine greeted Kyoko Mochizuki as she arrived at the school she attends. Normally, she would be adamant on roaming around the city and annoy people to no end for the sake of her own amusement but that was several months ago.

What she was looking forward to this day was to meet once again her comrades and enjoy their company.

Cloud passed by in the skies, covering the irksome sunlight. Thank goodness, she thought. Otherwise, she would be unable to endure the light that obscured her view.

In contrast to this, the streets were quite peaceful. Though Kyoko began to notice some small crowd of students, heading to the same destination as hers began to increase evidently.

Among that crowd was the girl, who was walking in the same direction as the students heading to their school. She wore the modified uniform of Shujin Academy; her coat was unbuttoned and instead of a ribbon, she used a black necktie.

She seemed to not pay much attention to her surroundings. Well, not like the other students do. Drifting away from her thoughts, her cerulean eyes gazed somewhere afar.

However, far from her sight was an unfamiliar brown-haired girl. At first, she didn’t care that much, just a new girl. But it seemed to be too far-off, the year is coming to an end, so it is less likely for the school to accept transfers.

As the gap between her and the aforementioned girl closes, she couldn't help but think, ‘Heh~ is she new here?’ The second year pin on her blazer then captured her eye, ‘Seems like I’m having a new classmate.’

Soon, her thoughts came to halt when the other girl lifted her sight and removed her earphones, her gaze fixed on Kyoko.

The girl’s glare was rather piercing after noticing Kyoko’s stares. As a response, she gave a casual stare, before closing her eyes, shrugging it off. Then, snapping her eyes open, she returned the piercing gaze, letting the other meet her fiery glare.

Noticing it, the girl furrowed her brows deeper, then wore her headset back.

The day proceeded normally, but then— 

"Help…!" 

A painful shout that seemed to be from an elderly woman was heard nearby. Kyoko's eyes immediately alerted as she gazed around, then ran off to the source of the voice. 

"Early in the morning?!" Kyoko frowned as she proceeded to run.

Unbeknownst her awareness, the girl she exchanged glares with went to the same path as hers when she heard the old lady's scream. 

As Kyoko continued to run, she noticed another presence behind her. She arched an eyebrow curiously, "What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same," The brown-haired girl seemed to be unbothered.

After a turn, they entered a narrow alleyway that was unusually isolated. Their eyes met a horrible sight—

On the ground was the old lady who yelled for help, her gray hair was being held tightly by a man. The pitiful lady shed tears of pain and frustration, feeling the oppression of the man. Her wails shattered Kyoko's heart the moment she fully witnessed the unfortunate event.

The grandma lifted her gaze and saw the two girls, panting, as they arrived at the scene. Her eyes had a faint glimmer of hope, "H-help, please! This man's partner took my wallet!"

" . . . it's for my grandson!"

"Huuuh?!" The man stared at the two girls mockingly. "They're just petite high school girls! Ya think they can help you?!"

If only the man didn't have his gun on his hand, Kyoko would've immediately cut his tongue.

"Hey, you better leave or call the cops." Kyoko whispered to the girl beside her, not considering the fact that this is their first encounter. "I can handle this. You might get hurt," 

As a response, the brown-haired raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Did you just look down on me?" 

"Well, ya. You can't do shit 'bout it. I'm gonna beat up the bastard." In a casual yet serious manner, Kyoko said. 

"Hah! You seriously think you can stop me? I'd like to see you try," The man scoffed arrogantly, wearing a sick expression. He then closed his eyes, "You better just please me in bed and—"

"Heh, mistake." 

He swore he didn't hear anything.

No footsteps, no movements… nothing.

The moment he opened his eyes, he tried opening his mouth. To his horror, he could no longer feel his tongue, but rather, he only felt a pool of a certain liquid in his mouth.

With his eyes trembling, he slowly looked at the ground, only to see a part of him that used to be attached, on the ground lifelessly…

"Hngg…!" The man gasped, terror filling his mind. 

As Kyoko was in front of him, his twitching eyes met the girl's intimidating and murderous gaze. Kyoko began to take something from her pockets, causing the man to feel nervous and tremble even more. 

With that, Kyoko flashed her identification card.

"Licensed." 

Unable to hold it in anymore, the man fell to his knees.

The old lady's hair was freed from the man's clutches as soon as he began to shake. Kyoko alertly then caught the lady who also began to shake in fright after witnessing such a gruesome event. 

"Don't worry, there's no reason for me to hurt you." Beaming a kind and sweet smile, her words reassured the lady who gradually stopped shaking. As if she didn't torture someone just now.

"Hey, asshole." Kyoko called the man. "Where did your ally go?" 

Intimidatingly, Kyoko began to wipe the small knife she used to cut off the man's tongue with a tissue, then threw it to the man's face.

He couldn't handle the girl's fiery gaze as he immediately gave in. Still shaking, he pointed to his north.

"Sweet!" The girl said sarcastically, as she bent down to get the weapon. "I'm confiscating this, by the way."

Kyoko, noticing that the girl earlier was gone, she wandered her eyes. "Huh…" 

Deep in thought, Kyoko soon figured out the situation. "Eh… so she isn't that useless after all."

Part 2

In the meanwhile, Emiko Hayashi, began to run to the north. Her soft brown locks moved in sync with her as she took a steady yet fast series of steps. She focused her brown orbs forward, alert to see in case there's any sightings of the thief.

"That was utterly disgusting. How could she stand blood from someone's mouth splattering on her face?" The girl muttered, as she reminisced the events earlier.

"Hm…?"

Soon enough, her thoughts came into a halt once a man suspiciously walking, looking to his left and right occasionally entered her line of sight. Emiko smirked, knowing just from his movements that the man is definitely up to something. 

Calmly, Emiko approached the man. Lightly, she gave a small pat to his shoulder.

"H-hey! What the hell?!" Just from her simple touch, the man jerked in fright. "What do ya need? Huh?!"

"Heh, guilty much?" Emiko smirked in victory.

Conveniently, the place was far from being crowded. Meaning, it'll be easy to apprehend the man until the police arrive. Plus, he doesn't seem to have any weapon with him.

"S-shut up!" The man stuttered as he swung his arm to deliver a well, a lousy punch to be honest.

With ease, Emiko was able to hold off such a weak attack. Frustrated, the man made an attempt to deliver another punch. Again, Emiko swiftly dodged it as she moved to her right. 

The scene gave advantage to Emiko, who was able to easily deliver a mighty knee-kick to the man's guts. 

"You… bitch!" The thief yelled angrily as he backed off a few steps, holding his aching stomach. 

"Take that for being an ass," Emiko muttered darkly.

Until, the man suddenly pulled out a gun, much to Emiko's shock. 'Where the hell did that…?!'

It was when—

Suddenly, a familiar girl came out from another nearby alleyway just behind the man. Kyoko then gave a mighty kick to his nape. Her strong attack caused the man to roll back his eyes to the back of his head in pain.

The moment the man fell to the ground, Kyoko held the man's neck with her left foot.

"You just had to interfere, didn't you?" Emiko rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms.

"Welp, you were about to be shot anyways." Kyoko teased as she kicked the gun from the man's clutches with her right foot. Swiftly, Kyoko took the wallet that was sticking out of the man's jacket.

The old lady was there as well, and bowed in gratefulness as she received the wallet that could've been stolen already had the girls not arrived. She must admit, she truly didn't expect the girls to be monstrously strong.

"Thank you, thank you very much!" The lady repetitively bowed upon getting her wallet back. Quietly, Kyoko held her shoulder gently, wearing a kind smile on her face. It was the same for Emiko, who beamed a smile as well.

"Let's get going. Classes are gonna start soon," Kyoko spoke.

Emiko quietly turned her heel as she began to walk towards their school, a bit shocked by the fact that the random strong girl just decided to leave the scene. Or maybe, she should just shrug it off. No, scratch that.

"So we're really just going to leave things like that?" Emiko asked.

"Yep." Carefreely, Kyoko answered as she proceeded to make her way towards their school. 

She should've known that she won't be getting proper answers from this girl.

Aside from that fact, Emiko had been feeling something inside her… that was bothering her ever since she locked eyes with this girl. They have witnessed each other's fraction of themselves, yet neither brought up the topic of introduction.

And plus...

Getting straight to the point, Emiko asked. "Is it just me, or this is the first time I’ve seen you?"

"Obviously, you're—"

"Are you a transfer student?"

"... a transfer student."

Wait, what the hell? 

The two said those words at the same time, which brought up even more confusion between them. Both of them saw each other for the first time, and both of them also believe that the other is a transfer student! Just how confusing can this get?

The girl furrowed her eyebrows before asking once again, "How?"

"I wanna ask the same thing, ya know." Kyoko said, quite calmly. "Are you sure you're not messing around?" 

"Do you know that you're most likely to do that?" Pissed, Emiko replied.

Kyoko then shrugged, "True."

"But in this instance, I'm too tired to mess with someone." Kyoko yawned as she finished her sentence.

"Aren't you doing that now though?" Emiko narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Wait, let's say our names at the same time." Kyoko suddenly spoke. "Maybe our names are the same."

"Emiko Hayashi."

"Kyoko Mochizuki."

That concludes it.

"Thank god it's different." Kyoko pretentiously cared. "You do know I did that because I wanted to know your name, right?"

Emiko couldn't handle her annoying nature. 

"Figures." Emiko visibly rolled her eyes. "What could be the reason then?"

After hearing the question of the girl, Kyoko narrowed her eyes and eyed the figure in front of her suspiciously. Her actions made it seem as if she found the cause, which made Emiko open her ears to the other's findings.

"Ah, I've got nothing."

Emiko just mentally facepalmed.

The girl sighed problematically. But noticing two familiar friends, the raven-haired and blonde, walking to the school, she can't help but walk toward them excitedly.

Kyoko, also seeing the two, felt her eyes glittered seeing the man she admires and looks up to the most.

"Renren!"

"Ryuji! Ren!"

The two girls called out to their friends. Reaching up to them, was not what they truly expected.

Meanwhile, the two males had confused faces hearing the two girls called them by their nicknames. They glanced at each other before asking in unison,

"I'm sorry but who're you?"

"Who are you?"

Both the jaws of the girls dropped to the ground in shock. But, it did not stop them from re-introducing themselves.

"It's Emiko!"

"It's Kyoko!"

Hearing unfamiliar names, question marks popped from the heads of the two. However, the frustration the girls were feeling was way worse than the confusion of the two boys.

The blonde-haired arched an eyebrow, "Do we really know you?" He said as he repeatedly glanced at the girls.

On the other hand, the black haired was calm and silent.

What Ryuji said triggered something between the two, and glared at each other before yelling at each other. "You!"

The blonde sighed, "C'mon, let's just leave them be." He said as he whispered to Ren, then moved forward.

Nothing is left unobserved by Kyoko, which causes her to call out to the males once again.

"You really don't remember me?"

She asked if little tears were present at the corner of her eyes. Hearing this, Ren turned his head to her, then followed by Ryuji.

Ren placed a finger to his chin as he looked down thinking. "That's odd... I can't remember anything about you. But I do feel a special link between us."

"Then–"

Kyoko was interrupted when Emiko, without hesitation, spoke over her. "We're students from Shujin Academy too. Are you fooling around?" She seemed to be beyond anger, her eyes were lit on fire.

Seeing this, Ryuji had goosebumps all over his skin, and his spine shivered in fright. He also had cold sweat rolling to his face.

"I'm also part of the group, Phantom Thieves." Kyoko's voice suddenly became deep and low-volume.

The two males glanced at each other in shock. Emiko was also surprised, but regained her composure immediately before declaring, "Well, I am too!"

"Beginning navigation."

A robotic voice was heard from Ren's phone, causing them to gasp in shock.

"Hey, guys! What are you doing there? Planning to cut class?"

As they were warped in the dark vortex, the light blonde-haired girl joined them, causing her to be dragged as well.

Part 3

"The nav reacted."

Alice said as she averted her gaze around the area. They were navigated to a place... similar to mementos– a labyrinth of despair.

"Well thanks for the information, captain obvious." Flare rolled her eyes.

"W-What the hell is this?" Still in shock, Panther gasped.

"M-man, is this for real?" Skull was shocked as well before noticing their outfit. "O-our clothes had changed too!"

Like the others, Joker was also quite shocked, his eyes slightly wide as he wandered his eyes around the area. He glanced at the two unknown girls who claimed to be their acquaintance, no, even part of their friendship.

The girl who called herself Kyoko, had silvery short white hair and a black hairband. A black blindfold that was connected to her hair band looks like to cover her sight, for it covers her eyes. She was wearing a black dress that has a puffed sleeve that reaches up to near her wrist. White gloves which are black in the area near her fingers were worn by her. Her dress reveals a little bit of her back, while at her chest is an abstract of the letter 'A' that exposes a bit of her breast. In the skirt part of her dress, has a slit length up to her waist. She wears long high-heeled boots with translucent black stockings.

The girl, referred to as Emiko, wore a big white masquerade mask along with a desert-colored military jacket, bulletproof armor of the same color, and combat boots, as well as a white muffler around her neck.
Unlike her real appearance, her hair became pale blue that was casually short, with a tuft of hair tied up on both sides of her forehead, and her eyes became indigo-colored.

"Woah, shit! You both look badass!" Skull said as he grinned excitedly.

"So this is what you meant when you claimed to be a phantom thief," Joker said seriously. "However, no one can assure right now who is the real one."

The girls looked at each other. Having the need to prove their innocence, they both looked at each other like they’re mortal enemies.

Alice, removing her mask, her blindfold shattered into a blue glass, while gray chains covered in white fire appeared behind her after saying, "Let's determine this now."

Drawing her sword, Flare replied. "I agree."

After figuring out what they meant, Skull showed slight panic. Thinking of stopping them, he said, "W-Wait–"

Only to get interrupted by Joker, "It's their decision."

Without her mask, her eyes were revealed– including her dark expression, completing it with a cocky smirk. Behind her was her persona, a tall and fine gentleman with slick dark blue hair and blue eyes. He seemed to be mannered, and his inner clothing was butler-like. However, the design of his coat is a completely different image. He also has a pipe on his left, and a cane was held in his right. Six old-fashioned stylish magnifying glasses were around him.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

As a reply to the other, Emiko smirked in confidence. Her persona was also seen to her back, a figure of a blonde female with an eye that was red and the other was aqua, wearing royal silver armor and had enormous angelic white wings which were flapping soundly carrying a long spear with a circular head.

"I am born ready. Heck, your persona is a male? What are you, a tomboy or something?"

"How shallow." Kyoko's devilish expression turned into a dark and serious one, before taking out her gun from her belt.

"Well, not that it matters." Emiko said. She positioned her sword, wielding it like an experienced swordsman. Dashing to the other, who was wearing a cocky grin before whispering, calling out to her persona.

“Holmes."

The silver chains on her persona's back were then enveloped in blue fire. Lifting her arm, all her fingers aiming at the other girl, the chains then blasted to the direction of the brown-haired girl, like snakes creeping to its prey.

However, using her sword, she managed to push them away with her sword, producing clanking sounds. It did not stop the other from shooting her chains, with flames. She lifted her pistol and aimed at the head of the other girl. Pulling the trigger, revealed was bullets lit with white flames.

Again, dodging the attacks was an easy task to Emiko. While, to the other, she was not mocked that the other dodged it, for she was just playing this like a video game.

Finally reaching the other, Emiko shouted, "Take this!"

However, when she got close, in an instant, Kyoko cast a debuff against her.

"Fog Breath."

Muttering it, she wore a smirk. Then small black circles appeared in front of Emiko, and went inside her. Her agility dropped in the process. In a blink of an eye, Kyoko hit the other's nape with the back of her pistol, before kicking her in the stomach. 

“Ack!” A cry of pain escaped Emiko as she flew a few feet backward.

She lifted her eyes to see a satisfied dark smile on Kyoko’s face which disgusted her and made her feel sick.

Thus, her lips moved as she murmured the name of her Persona. Valkyrie was summoned flipping her enormous black wings with an amused grin printed over Emiko’s face.

With a snap from Emiko’s fingers, Valkyrie flapped her wings powerfully creating an icy wind that flew around Kyoko creating what it seemed to be an ice prison the shape of a large sphere.

“Who’s laughing now, huh?” Emiko said this while giggling. 

“Tch.” Kyoko clicked her tongue enough space, she teleported behind her enemy. 

Drawing her gun loaded with enchanted bullets, she then shot Emiko from behind aiming to her legs. 

The sound of the bullets pierced through the realm of Mementos. However, what shocked the group was that Emiko remained unscratched. Behind Emiko was her persona, Valkyrie and protected the girl with her closed wings using them as a pair of armor.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. How unfortunate indeed.” Emiko shook her head.

“Hah, you talk too much. Without your persona, I wonder what’s your true strength?” Kyoko’s calmness was seen along with her cocky smirk. “Wanna know my bet?”

“Haha, I bet you'd be a dust before my eyes.” Kyoko sickly said as she kept her swords, preparing herself for the battle between them.

“Oh? Challenging me I see? Interesting.” Emiko smirked as her Persona vanished into blue flames and returned as a black mask on her face.

“Let’s do this the old-fashioned way,” Emiko stated as she pulled her fists up taking a ready position.

“Never mess with the daughter of an ex-soldier.”

Emiko’s foot moved a few inches before sprinting towards Kyoko with her fullest speed but before she reached her completely, she jumped up and aimed her foot at her face to deliver a powerful kick.

“Hoho, you think you can defeat me with that?” 

With ease, Kyoko dodged the attack by moving to her right then grabbed Emiko's leg. She left a dark chuckle before throwing off Emiko's body a few feet backward as if it was a lifeless doll.

“Arrrggghhh…!”

A painful grunt escaped Emiko's lips as she touched her head that was oozing out blood. She looked at her fingers stained with blood, before wearing a deep frown of annoyance. 

In a blink of an eye, the pale blue-haired was on her feet with her sword drawn, then dashed in her full speed to make a surprise attack on her enemy. The gap between them immediately decreased. 

Before Kyoko could realize it, Emiko was already in front of her face with her sword piercing through her stomach. 

Emiko was wearing a cocky smirk as she successfully made her attack. On the other hand, Kyoko coughed blood and appeared to be displeased. 

“Heh.” 

All of a sudden, Kyoko gave out a laugh, which brought shock to the other. A mighty kick in the stomach was then received by Flare from Alice, causing her to lose grip on her sword.

Once Flare fell to the ground, the silver-haired fearlessly pulled the sword that was piercing from her stomach. Though more blood flowed from her mouth, she didn't seem to have felt pain from the attack. 

Alice then throws Flare's sword aiming to her leg. The sword pierced through Flare's right leg, which made her hiss in pain.

Flare gave Alice a death glare as she looked back and met Alice's cocky smirk which even annoyed her more. However, one thing was for sure— she needed to heal. And so, she took a smoke bomb from her pocket and threw it as a cover. 

But of course, it was not the only surprise she left for Kyoko. 

The temperature in the entire area suddenly dropped heavily. It alerted Alice, though in this rare case she didn't notice the little present from Flare.

All of a sudden, ice crystals rose from the ground, and was increasing every second until it finally reached Alice. Alice averted her gaze to the direction of the source of the ice crystals. At the last second she was able to dodge the attack but she still received a heavy wound on her leg as her skin was scraped by the ice. 

“Ugh…! Damn you bitch!”

Alice felt numb on her leg due to the aching coldness she was feeling. She fell to her knees, but as soon as the area calmed down, she lifted her gaze to take a look around the area. Flare was nowhere to be found. 

Forgetting the slight pain, Alice stood on her feet. Though she failed to stand properly, she went on to face her enemy. 

Alice was sure that Flare was hiding in a safe room. She was walking around cautiously with a gun on her hands, ready to shoot any figure that threatens her.  

After a while of going out and spouting insults to Flare that might evoke her to come out, finally, Alice arrived at the door. 

Alice sneered, as she didn’t waste any time and gave the door a heavy kick, thus, opening it. 

Quite expected, Flare gave Alice a surprise attack with an attempt to deliver a mighty kick to her face, in which Alice blocked with ease and then proceeded to shoot Flare. 

As if predicting her enemy's movements, Flare easily dodged the bullets aimed to her head, but got shot on her shoulder instead. Flare hissed in pain, as she held her shoulder, but still it didn't stop her from attacking the other again.

After a little bit more of a clash between the two, they were out of the room. The two almost showed an equal match, however, of course one was dominating the other. 

"Let it snow." Flare blew a snowy dust causing Alice to get confused by the unharmful attack yet alerted. Flare would try to hide tricks under her sleeves, and Alice just couldn't get enough of it. As soon as the dust hit her, Alice's eyes widened in shock as it turned to very sharp blades slicing and injuring her.

However, Alice reacted fast before the blades could injure her everywhere.

"Repel!"

She shouted, as all the blades were repelled away from Alice and were striking back at Flare. Some of the blades pierced through Flare's skin, while the others were destroyed by Alice.

"Taste your own med!" Alice arrogantly told Flare.

Flare, despite the insult, was still determined to continue the fight and defeat Alice.

"Taste my demise!" Flare laughed sickly as she kept on attacking Alice's shield non-stop with her sword.

Alice laughed arrogantly, then she eyed Flare. Some sort of aura came, and all of a sudden Flare was repelled as she fell to her knees and cracks made it to her sword. The strength of the shield was intensified at that moment.

Alice walked to Flare's sword then heavily stepped on it, thus, crushing it.

"No sword now, what do we do?" Alice insulted her enemy with an evil smirk plastered on her face.

Flare immediately stood and gave her enemy a sweep kick, which caused her to fall to her knees. Alice clicked her tongue in annoyance but as soon as she lifted her gaze, Flare was once again nowhere to be found.

"Goodbye!"

Flare's voice was heard as she giggled innocently as she ran as fast as the light around Alice like a tornado creating a massive wind blocking her view as she kept slicing her from where she didn't know.

Cuts made it to Alice's tender skin, which also tore her clothing. Despite the possible stinging sensation, Alice must be feeling, her expression gave a different feel. Her eyes were dull and her pupils dilated, with doll lips curved into a sinister smile.

"Eh~ you are too abusive. Or was I too merciful?"

Alice said and insanity was present in her eyes. In a blink of an eye, her sword has already pierced through Flare. Her actions were stopped as her body was brought mid air by Alice.

The pale blue-haired coughed blood heavily, as she felt pain all over her body and lightheaded due to blood loss. Alice then throws Flare's body as it slid through her sword.

"Cough! Cough! You...! Bitch...!"

Flare managed to muster those words, as she summoned Valkyrie to cast a healing spell. After that, Valkyrie flapped its wings creating a powerful storm. Flare jumped on her hand then down to Alice aiming for her neck.

Alice looked at the direction of Flare as she sneered. Flare laid upon her hands on Alice's neck and was choking her tightly. However, Alice seemed to be numb to the pain. Alice still had that devilish smirk across her face.

Alice inserts her arms inside of Flare's arms, then grabs her enemy's head with her. She then pierced her thumb on Flare's eyes, pressing on it tightly until it bled. Alice was laughing hysterically at Flare's screams in horror.

The attack made Flare lose grip of her neck, and so she brushed off Flare's arms then grabbed her head again to give her face a mighty knee-kick.

Flare's face was bloodied up, not to mention disfigured. Her nose was broken, her eyes were dulled and bleeding, and her head was oozing out blood. 

“Hah! That's whatcha get!”

Alice snickered as she caressed Flare's face, in which the girl brushed it off harshly.

"If you thought you won, shame on you!"

Flare was lit up on a determination as she stood. A sword pierced through Alice's body, and soon more swords stabbed Alice. Alice appeared to be shocked as she coughed more blood, and as soon as she lifted her sight, she saw a sea of swords floating, with Flare smirking in confidence.

"Eat this!" Flare threw the two swords she summoned which turned into two flying circular saws.

What met the circular saws was chains enveloped in white flames, thus deflected and protected Alice. Sherlock Holmes was already behind Alice, and the swords who used to stab the silver-haired were burning in white flames. Around Alice was white flames and on her wounds that appeared to be healing her.

"You think I'd let you heal in front of me?!" Jumping up with the sea of swords in the sir, Flare began grabbing them one by one throwing them on Alice.

Right before the swords could reach Alice, the girl opened an eye then stood with her sword on her hand, and Sherlock Holmes was still behind her. She then stabbed the ground with her sword enveloped with white flames, and soon cracks made it from its source.

"Fufu~ you look a little shaken up." Flare chuckled as there was an endless sea of swords on top of her before pointing down with her finger causing them all to fly towards Alice.

More chains rose from the ground ready to clash with Flare's swords. Again, clanking sounds were produced as the metals clashed. However, the chains were the one winning the battle. 

Part 4

"You're done for!"

Flare declared as she had finally pinned down Alice. She placed her sword near the girl's pulse in her neck. However, Alice, on the other hand, had a completely different expression. Her eyes were blank, like a doll's eyes. However, it contradicts with her devilish smirk plastered on her face, which brought unease to Flare.

There was blood splattered almost everywhere, and it appears as though that the blood belonged to the girls who had been through a bloody battle. Flare panted heavily as an aftermath of the battle, and is yet to completely end Alice's life.

Wearing a determined look, Flare gripped onto the handle of her sword. As she was about to slice the girl's neck, all of a sudden, Alice was out of sight.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

It was the sickest laugh they have heard in their life as the sound echoed from above.

"Naive."

Alice said as she wore a sinister smile of a devil, as she jumped from where she was with her sword wielded by her hand, ready to stab the girl's nape.

Flare clicked her tongue as she had just remembered that Alice can teleport. Alice's sick laughs continued on as the sound of the blade's gusts in the wind gave chills to their spines.

The sound then disappeared as Alice teleported just above Flare, and there was no bit of second left until the pale blue-haired's life would come to an end. No one in the area could match the silver-haired speed. It was as if they were all waiting for the death of Flare.

"Checkmate."

The one who truly emerged victoriously was Alice. Only one step was left to end the pale blue-haired's life. Until, all of a sudden a sword clashed with the silver-haired as Alice's sword was propelled away.

As if her instinct, Alice in an instant shot the one who deflected her sword. As the one walked to where the light was, it revealed a figure of a young lady with blonde hair and was shot at her shoulder. Though it seemed that the shot did not affect her that much.

“Kyoko.” The young lady called out the girl's name.

“Mary, what's going on?” Kyoko curtly asked.

From the shadows, another figure slowly went to where they were. The said figure has short white hair and yellow eyes. It was a young lady; it was Elizabeth. She wears a blue dress that resembles a stewardess' outfit with five black-lined circles outside small yellow circles, blue gloves, a blue attendant-like hat, black leggings, and blue, knee-length boots.

“Mochizuki-sama. I've heard about you from my brother.” Elizabeth spoke. 

It appears as though everyone in the area was beyond confused, after having such an intense battle to be interrupted. Questions remained unanswered until this very moment. The arrival of the two ladies served as an opportunity for them to rearrange their minds filled with questions.

“I-i, don't know where to start… but all of this is my fault. Teehee.” Elizabeth gave an awkward laugh from embarrassment as she scratched the back of her head.

Part 5

After the explanation was given to them, everything was clear on how and why they arrived at this situation. 

“So… you’re saying that three parallel worlds merged,” Emiko paused. “My world, her world, and the canon world. Damn, you sure are a fourth-wall breaker.” 

“Yes, and it's my fault due to my attempts to free the Great Seal.” Elizabeth looked down.

“And why we arrived at this mess,” Hana continued her statement, with a vein popping out of her head.

“Parallel worlds merged? Never knew parallel lines actually meet, ” Sarcasm was present in Kyoko's voice, as a small smirk was on her face. 

“Sigh… Don't add up to the problems, smartass— I mean, Mochizuki-sama.” Elizabeth sighed problematically. 

“Well, we just need to defeat that Nyx then. C'mon, we don't have a choice.” The way Skull said it seemed mature as if he truly did understand the situation.

“Did you even understand it?” Panther sweatdropped, and also dropped an insult. 

“Mhm! On point, Lady Ann!” Morgana suddenly popped out beside Panther, his eyes filled with admiration. Soon enough, he wore a smug smirk to insult the blonde.

“You--!” Skull gritted his teeth in annoyance, but he was interrupted when someone spoke over him.

“Don't forget that Nyx also merged with her alternate selves,” Elizabeth spoke.

“Which means, she also had her strength tripled, too strong for the Great Seal to handle.” Joker continued the attendant's sentence.

“Exactly. We still lack much manpower,” Elizabeth said.

“So, I'll be summoning the other members.” 

The voice came from a distinguished man who was walking to where they were. He looked as if Elizabeth's brother noted their similarities in appearance, even in attire. 

The man had a short white hair that was neatly combed, parted to its sides. His eyes are yellow in color, and he wears similar attire to Elizabeth's in terms of color scheme. His attire seemed to be of a butler; for he wears a blue vest over his black long-sleeved polo complemented with a blue necktie. He also wears black pants with blue lines running through the sides, and black shoes.

Behind the man was their close friends; the other members of the Phantom Thieves, including the high school detective. To their shock, two unfamiliar groups also came.

“Victor, thank you for your assistance.” Politely, Hana thanked the mentioned man.

“My pleasure,” Victor replied.

The other members were still gazing at the mysterious area they were brought to. Soon, their eyes laid upon the two unfamiliar girls. 

“Heh. Not bad,” Emiko said in satisfaction, with a hand on her hip. 

Soon, footsteps were heard causing the group to look at the direction of the sound.  It was Kyoko, who walked forward in confidence with a smirk plastered on her face. She lifted her gaze with determination to bring everything back. 

“The board is set . . . Now, let us begin the game.”