Together, we Conquer

Watchers From Afar

Madran and the group all arrived back in the weird, psychedelic space that she saw before. They then arrived, through Madran's guidance, at the strange checker-board platform. Philemon was there, apparently practicing with a weapon. The group watched him swing a large, two-handed sword around, and was in awe at how skilled he was at beating up a dummy.

"Wow, is that a claymore?"

Philemon stopped, turning around. His mask was still on, and he quickly made the sword vanish.

"Oh, no, no, you're actually quite good at it."

Philemon lowered his head a bit. Sheila then spoke up.

"Is something bugging you... hey, we have our clothes?"

Philemon shook his head. Suga looked around.

"What is this place?"

Madran thought for a bit.

"Ooh, is this where you would, um, give out personas? I heard from Maya and her friends that you gave them all of their ultimate persona thingies."

Philemon nodded.

"Yes. I would come to them in a dream, informing them of their situation. Then, when the time came, they would awaken."

Sheila looked back over at him.

"What's your favorite ultimate persona?"

Philemon nodded.

"Have you heard of Kei Nanjo?"

Madran nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah! The, uh, business guy, with that #1 thing all over him."

"His first persona was Aizen Myouou. When he awakened, his family's butler and his caretaker was killed by zombies. This, along with the other three accompanying him, was what triggered that awakening. Later in their journey, after a slight altercation with a shadow, Aizen Myouou changed into Yamaoka."

"Who's that guy? Some mythological figure?"

"His butler."

Madran's jaw dropped.

"So, his butler..."

"Yamaoka was such a part of Kei, that, when the time came, Yamaoka became his true self."

"Wow."

"Now, for my least favorite."

"Huh?"

"Yes. There is one that I wasn't so proud of."

"Oh, um, ok."

"So, I feel that you met Ulala-"

"You hate Astria?!"

Philemon remained silent.

"But... she's pretty! And, ooh, I really like the-"

"Could you please let me explain?"

"Ok..."

Madran stuck her lip out.

"In fact, nobody of Maya's group are my real favorites, even Artemis. It was Igor who supplied them."

Suga shook her head.

"You really shouldn't hate something just because you didn't have anything to do with it. I looked into it, Maya and Maia have an extensive history. Surviving fires, demon attacks, a serial killer, Nyx-"

"How do you know of this?"

Madran smiled.

"Well, y'know, we all did some digging. You can't expect rowdy teenage girls to not be curious. Sheila found out about the fire, demons, and serial killers, I found out about Maia, her first persona, and Nyx. Also, the lady who was lookin' at me the other day was a robot with a persona."