Phantom Thieves of Hope - A Danganronpa X Persona 5 Story.

Chapter 99: The World's Nastiest

Alice in the Childrens Land - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

"God dammit..." Lab-Rat spat, "What the hell is all this!?"

The air in Ashikawa's Factory Palace was thick with an oppressive heat as the Phantom Thieves stepped into a cavernous room that felt more like an industrial graveyard.

Shafts of dim, sickly light leaked through broken ceiling grates, illuminating twisted metal beams and enormous conveyor belts that lined the walls, each trailing down toward the hulking mouths of smoldering furnaces. The faint sound of crackling flames rose from below, punctuated by the unnerving clang of metal scraps sliding down into the fire.

Scattered around them were broken mannequins, some slumped against rusting machinery, their hollow eyes blank and empty, limbs twisted at unnatural angles. Others had been left halfway down the conveyor belts, poised to tumble into the flames at any moment. They were discarded, lifeless, awaiting the inevitable.

"Jeez," Razor muttered, her arms hugging herself as she eyed the furnaces warily, "What is this place? Some kind of...incinerator for rejects?"

"Seems that way," Lab-Rat answered, frowning as he scanned the surroundings, "These mannequins...they're like the students Hope's Peak discarded, thrown away when they became inconvenient. Ashikawa's idea of failure, probably, as we've seen."

"This room..." Sleuth swallowed hard, a grim determination in his eyes, "It's his twisted view of us. Anyone who doesn't fit his perfect mold or threatens their 'reputation'...they get thrown away like trash."

"So this is how the Steering Committee sees people? I mean, we already knew about this, but still, seeing it symbolized is..." Mozart moved closer to the conveyor belt, her face shadowed with anger and sadness as she ran a finger over a mannequin's shattered hand, "They just...toss them out if they think they're defective?"

"This place...it feels so wrong!" Usami, hopping up to peer over the edge of the conveyor belt, shuddered as she looked at the flames below, "Like all the students who were hurt or silenced are crying out here...it's too much!"

"You're right," Leprechaun stepped forward, placing a hand on her head, "This whole Palace is built on twisted values that see people as nothing but tools. But that's why we're here...to put an end to this."

"Then we'll make sure no one else gets thrown away like this," Sandbox nodded in agreement, her gaze serious, "The Steering Committee can't keep doing this to people."

With a deep breath, they steeled themselves. Ahead lay a rickety metal walkway that stretched across the room, directly above the furnaces, leading to an exit barely visible through the thickening haze.

If they wanted to proceed, they'd have to cross it...and no doubt, the shadows lurking here would be less than welcoming.

"Make sure you watch your step," Lab-Rat said as they sauntered along the catwalk, "I know the Metaverse is made up of cognition or whatever, but I think it's a pretty universal belief that lava kills you."

"Yeah," Sleuth said, looking down, "The further away from that, the better."

The path was a long, precarious walk above a pool of boiling lava, occasionally dotted with the forms of monstrous Shadows swimming through the molten rock. The heat was suffocating, and the air itself seemed to shimmer with an infernal energy, as though the flames below were struggling to break free.

"Sandbox," Leprechaun turned back to her, "how much further until we reach the next generator?"

"Shouldn't be long now," Sandbox responded. "But it looks like the path gets a little narrow ahead. Be careful."