Return to the Dungeon of Lust

"Look! It's the castle from yesterday!" Ryuji exclaimed before rushing across the bridge. "We made it back. That means what happened yesterday was for real too."

"So, we really did almost die yesterday because of some nut job in a freaky castle from another dimension." I grumbled, blinking a couple of times when I noticed Ryuji staring at me with wide eyes. "What?"

"Those clothes." Ryuji said shock.

"Huh? What about my clo... What the hell!?" I exclaimed as soon as I realised I was in the same attire I was in when calling on Arsene's power.

"That happened last time too, huh!?" said Ryuji. "What's with that outfit!?"

"You jelly?" I asked.

"I ain't jealous! What's going on here!? This makes no fucking sense at all."

"Hey! Stop making a commotion." a familiar voice called out to us, making ads both in surprise before turning to see Morgana peaking his head round the corner.

"Ah, you!?"

"The Shadows started acting up, so I came here wondering what it could be," Morgana explained. "To think you guys would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape."

"We're stubborn like that," I stated

"What is place? Is it the school?" Ryuji questioned while gesturing to the castle.

"That's right," Morgana confirmed, while Ryuji grew more agitated.

"But it's a castle!"

"This castle IS the school but only to this castle's ruler," Morgana clarified, serving to make Ryuji even more confused.

"The castle's ruler?"

"I think you called him Kamoshida? It's how his distorted heart views the school." Morgana said with a nod.

Ryuji still looked as confused as ever.

"Kamoshida? Distorted? Explain it in a way that makes sense!" he exclaimed to the cat, who looked back at him irritation.

"I shouldn't have expected a moron to get it." Morgana said in disappointment.

Savage. I watched Ryuji's face go red with anger.

"What'd you say!?"

We heard screams.

"What was that!?" Ryuji shouted in alarm, his fury vanishing as soon as he and I heard the hear piercing scream while Morgana simply crossed his arms and gazed back at the castle.

"It must be the slaves captured here," Morgana calmly, his words causing a wave of dread to wash over us.

"Damn, that's not good," I muttered as I glanced at the castle in contempt.

"For real?" Ryuji asked, as if hoping he'd heard wrong, when another ear piercing scream echoed through the castle walls. "Oh shit, it's for real! We saw there guys held captive here yesterday. I'm pretty sure they're from our school."

"Most likely on Kamoshida's orders. It's nothing out of the ordinary. It's like that everyday here," Morgana explained, his words making my blood turn cold. "What's more, you two escaped yesterday. He must have lost his temper quite a bit."

"That son of a bitch!"

"Ryuji?"

"This is bullshit!" Ryuji exclaimed suddenly.

The blonde rammed himself into the door, trying to bust it down with little success, "You hear me, Kamoshida!?"

"Doing that isn't going to open it, you know?" Morgana pointed out while shaking his head. "Still, it seems you have your reasons."

No kidding, Ryuji was filled with undeniable fury towards Kamoshida. What the hell happened between them?

"Hey, Monamona!"

"It's Morgana!"

"Do you know where those voices are coming from?" Ryuji asked.

"You want me to take you to them?" Morgana asked in surprise with his arms cross. "Well, I guess I could guide you there but only if he comes with us," he stated while staring at me.

I looked down at the cat curiously, "Why me?"

"I just want to get a better look at your powers. Even if you don't agree, I bet this guy'll go on even if he has to do it alone. Are you gonna leave him?"

"I never said that."

"It's settled then!"

"For real!?" Ryuji asked. "Thanks man."

"I'm already dressed for the occasion," I said, making Ryuji grin in response.

"Alright, let's do this. Follow me!" Morgana exclaimed.

"Wait," I said. "We should exit to the real world first to make sure we can."

"Oh, okay." said Ryuji.

Ryuji and I exited back to the real world. Once we confirmed we could do so, we went back to the other world. So I was going to infiltrate my school that had morphed into a castle to rescue everyone trapped inside by my asshole teacher while dressed like a street magician. When did my life turn into a Super Sentai show?

Morgana took us to the vent we escaped from last time, "This is our infiltration point."

"Ain't that where we escaped out of last time?" asked Ryuji.

"That's right. Not barging in through the entrance is one of the basics of phantom thievery."

"How're we supposed to know about that stuff?"

"I'll make sure to teach you as we go. Come on, follow me!"

Morgana went into the vent.

"So, uh, sorry for dragging you into all of this but I just can't forgive that bastard Kamoshida doing whatever the hell he wants!" said Ryuji. "Really though, thanks for coming along. I owe you big time!"

We climbed in through the shaft.

"Man, this place is as creepy as always." said Ryuji.

"Mmhm, now, make sure you do exactly as I say, alright?" said Morgana. "Follow me!"

We followed Morgana through the entrance hall.

"Hey, we went by here when we came in front." said Ryuji.

The room briefly shifted to the school's entrance.

"What the...!?" said Ryuji. "I seeing double or something just now! Was that Shujin!?"

"I've told you before," said Morgana. "This place is your school. Regardless, we don't have time to stand around. Who knows when a Shadow might show up. Come on, this way!"

We went into the dungeon to find a knight patrolling.

"Shoot," said Morgana. "I had a feeling there would be guards here. It's looks like we're going to have to start fighting our way forward."

"For real?" asked Ryuji.

"Oh boy, I'll just teach you the basics of battle for now. You'd better not forget all of this. Always try to ambush enemies instead of rushing everywhere headlong. Attack from behind whatever you can. You'll need to strip their masks off to momentarily break the control that the Palace ruler has over them. If you succeed, your opponent will be caught off guard, allowing us to jump in for a preemptive attack."

"So we wanna get the jump on 'em and make the first strike? Okay, got it!"

"Uh, you know you're just going to be watching, right? You don't have a Persona. But anyway, let's go!"

I got behind the knight and pulled his mask off, making him transformation into a pumpkin demon but we defeated it. We got to the cells where Ryuji stopped us before to find them empty.

"Why ain't anyone here?" asked Ryuji. "Dammit, they were here before! Where'd they go!?"

"Quite down!" said Morgana.

"Oh yeah, there were more of them further in too!"

Ryuji ran off ahead.

"They might have been transferred already." said Morgana.

Ryuji returned with a panicked expression, "Crap, I can hear footsteps coming! Lots of 'em!"

"It would be a problem if they discovered us now. Hey, let's head into that room. We should be able to hide in there until they leave."

We followed Morgana through a door that had an added distorted aura to it.

"The Shadows probably won't come in here," Morgana said while crossing his arms.

Ryuji gasped and panted, trying to regain his breath, "How can you tell?"

"There's a lack of distortion here, meaning the ruler's control over this area is weak," Morgana explained, his words serving to confuse us, when the area suddenly began to change into an ordinary classroom before returning back to it's castle-like appearance.

"Is this a classroom!?" asked Ryuji in shock.

"Now do you understand? This place is another reality that the ruler's heart projects." Morgana said in a haughty tone as if happy to see we were finally starting to learn about this world.

"This is Kamoshida's reality? Shit makes no sense at all!" Ryuji exclaimed, looking as confused and frustrated as ever while Morgana continued his explanation.

"One could say it's a world in which one's distorted desires have materialised. I call such a place a Palace."

"A Palace?"

"This is happening because he thinks the castle is his own castle," Morgana said.

"So, it became like this cause he just thought of it like that!?" Ryuji summarised with wide eyes.

It was then that the frustrated blonde let out a soft laugh before his anger returned in full **** and he slammed his fist into a nearby wall. "That son of a bitch!"

"You must really hate this Kamoshida guy," Morgana pointed out with his arms crossed which seemed to only set the infuriated teen off even further.

"Hate doesn't even cover how I feel. Everything is that asshole's fault!"

"I don't know what happened between you two but don't let your emotions get the better of you. His lackeys are everywhere inside. Your curious about your outfit, aren't you?"

"A little," I admitted with a nod.

"Yeah, I'm curious as hell about it too." Ryuji admitted while giving me a glance.

"That's also because of this world," Morgana began to explain with a smile.

"More stuff that makes no sense."

"Anything distorts according to how a ruler pleases within his Palace. A school can turn into a castle like this, after all. In order to prevent such distortions, one must hold a powerful will of rebellion. Your appearance is a manifestation of that. It's the image of rebellion that you hold within."

"My image of rebellion is an over-the-top street performer?" I asked.

Ryuji let out a frustrated groan.

"Ugh, I'm so fed up with all this! I'm more curious about you than his clothes! What the hell are you anyways!?" he exclaimed.

"I'm a human, an honest-to-god human!" Morgana answered.

"No, you're obviously more like a cat!" Ryuji said bluntly.

"This is well... It's because I lost my true form. ...I think," Morgana said uncertainty.

"You think?" Ryuji repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"But I do know how to regain my true form. The reason why I snuck in here was for a preliminary investigation of those means," Morgana assured with a nod.

"Until you got caught," I pointed out bluntly.

"Yes, I ended up getting caught but now I'm free to exact my own **** on Kamoshida," Morgana said in a determined tone. "I've been tortured by Kamoshida too! I'm gonna make him pay for sure!"

"What is this, a manga? This is serious crazy," Ryuji groaned.

"If we're gonna keep going, we should hurry along," Morgana said firmly before turning to me with a smirk. "I'll be counting on your skills this time too, rookie. Got it?"

"No worries. Arsene and I have your back," I nodded with a smirk of my own.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna **** it all on you. I thought it might help, so..." Ryuji said as he pulled out a gun.

"I brought it just in case!" he said, handing me the gun. "It's a model gun though, so it only makes sounds!"

"That's a toy!" Morgana said.

"But it looks totally real, so it'll at least fake 'em out."

"A replica Tkachev, eh?" I said. "The make and model for this is pretty top of the line. I wonder if you could take me to where you got this."

"I brought some medicine too. You know what they say, "Providing is pre... something". Huh? Huh?" Ryuji said with a joking grin.

"So you were planning this from the start," Morgana pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "Well, fine. If you're ready to go, we'll resume our infiltration. Hm, there are probably still sentries making their rounds out there. Let's use this time to has out our current situation."