Persona 5 - The Jester's Point Of View

Scene 152

It was difficult to keep them in place. O felt his bones slowly giving in if this continued any time longer. He felt powerful within this layer of the world, sure, but he had his limits. Even in this body, where he had gone through battle after battle. He had to admit, the one in that previous Palace, that giant automaton thing, was a whole lot easier to handle than those two Shadows. Not only was their power surprisingly high he also couldn't put a scratch on any of them nor their armors. And he had tried it in several ways.

Putting out his claws and scratch up their faces in good, old cat fashion. Deliver punches into their guts and chests. Bite them when possible (even if he was tasting metal... Not a good taste at all to be honest). Even lift them off the ground and throw them into the next best wall. But they were fine... There was nothing about them screaming defeat. In fact it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Each time the two got up and they would only have this unsettling grin on their faces, grins way too wide for their faces. All while their eyes were glowing yet also being lifeless. And the red aura only surrounded them more and more. They were not flattering. It only seemed to give them more energy to fight, more willpower to crush anyone and anything in their path. Even this old man who was standing on his two legs, trying to keep himself from collapsing. But it was almost impossible. Any more and his bones would truly break and he wasn't sure if he could walk ever again.

The cracking was unbearable, even his ears were curling themselves together to not have to endure the creaking he heard. Then again, maybe he had also been imagining these things. Being in a human body was hard. His age started to show its ugly face, much to his own dismay. He wanted to hiss at himself for that. Was he about to let them down? Less both of them though in a sense he would be.

Was he seriously about to give out? Die in a place like this and disappear without a trace? No, he couldn't. And yet... Hah, O had no words for this. Was he really going to crumble here? No, he had no intention to. This old man was far from meeting his end. He didn't plan on it at least. But if this was going to continue then—

Yet just as these thoughts left his head he saw something happening. It was rather quick, even somewhat fast for a cat like him to follow. Just when he was going to be met with the massive blades of both Shadows he would not feel the impact. He had gotten ready to use the last of his energy to lift up his arms, grab both blades yet again and feel their sharp blades on his hands, even if they already had blood dripping down from them. It was the last ditch effort to make it out alive in this situation.

But just as he had gotten into this position with his eyes closed he felt himself grabbing the air. Curiously his tail wagged and his eyes slowly shut themselves open. And it was in fact air he was holding, nothing else. He even did a grabby motion a few times alongside some swats just to make sure. It really was nothing. No invisible object and his eyes did not play tricks either. There was nothing...

Though then his gaze shot to what was in front of him. He of course could not see much, only having a black and white (and also grey) view on things, something he lived with his entire life. Yet he saw a massive silhouette and the smell wasn't exactly pleasant either. Though it was a scent he wasn't all too familiar with, making it at first impossible for him to group this person into any category. But it was something or someone inside an armor. This armored being had just swooped in and rescued O right then and there, intentional or not. It was... Surprising... Yet what had gotten his attention even more was the conversation.

"What!? You should be all locked up!" The voice similar to O's owner was shouting, the voice being one of terror yet also fury. "How dare you show your face like that!?"

"Looks like our jailor has done a horrible job." The distorted voice of the boy known as 'Crow' scoffed. Even though it wasn't the boy to begin with. O knew. These two were the Shadows after all, mere lookalikes. "Tch, but of course. As if she had been of any use."