One Man's Castle is Another Man's Game

Written in collaboration with Namichwan

An hour later, Ann was panting like an ape. The room she’d been destroying had been thoroughly scarred, with no more shadows left bar the main palace owner. Burnt and groaning, but alive. Carmen had disappeared for now, leaving Ren the chance to walk up to the angered blonde.

“You doing okay there champ?”

Ann flinched at the shoulder touch, still looking like she was running on pure adrenaline, but didn’t lash out at him physically. “Yeah, fine. But his screams are getting weaker…” She growled in frustration, preparing to send another fire spell onto the shadow. “Maybe it’s time to end it.”

“Woah woah, chill out there, Black Widow.” Ren said, getting between the two and making Ann look very enraged. “If you kill the palace owner, you kill the real person. You’ll be an actual murderer.”

Ann glared daggers at him, then sighed heavily. Her anger fading away as she realized he was right. Looking down at her hands, she felt her chest tighten slightly.

"So?! Did this do anything? In the real world?" She cast her arms around at the shattered space, smoke rising and smoldering piles of ash everywhere. There wasn't any sign of Shadow Kamoshida anymore. Not that it mattered.

But Ren just smiled gently and held out a hand towards her. His voice softening, "There."

His fingers traced her cheek softly and wiped a tear from her eye. With his thumb, he stroked her chin tenderly while his gaze stayed on hers. When he spoke again, his words came slower than usual, as if carefully chosen, "It had an effect. This place is formed from the **** minds of everyone in Shujin. Every thought, memory, wish... Everything they're thinking and feeling right now is what creates our reality here. Your mind has touched upon something deep inside the subconscious of your classmates' hearts, of the bastards of the faculty. Something that will change them forever."

He leaned forward slowly until their faces almost kissed, "Your heart has changed them. It has changed me. What you've done here in the Metaverse changes everything. I know you might feel powerless, but trust me when I tell you that you have accomplished far more than most would dare dream possible."

He kissed her and Ann melted against him. Their lips met and parted, tongues dancing briefly before their mouths opened to each other. Kissing became passionate, urgent, full of need. Hands roamed freely across bodies, exploring skin and clothing. They moved apart for air momentarily, breathing heavy and gasping for breath, but soon found their way back to each other's mouth.

Ann's heart was racing as Ren's kisses and touches sent shivers down her spine. She had never felt this way before, and it both scared and thrilled her.

That fear was enough to raise her mental hackles and she suddenly thrust him away.

Ann glared at Ren, feeling a mix of anger and confusion. Maybe she could believe what he was telling her, that this place was formed from the **** minds of everyone in Shujin, it was just that he, of all people, was the one who was now in control, using Kamoshida's palace for his own benefit.

"So, what? You're just going to use this place to your advantage and manipulate everyone?" she asked, her tone laced with suspicion.

Ren's smile faltered slightly, but he kept his hand outstretched towards her. "No, Ann. It's not like that. I didn't make this place, but I can use it to help others. I can influence their thoughts and behaviors, yes, but only for the better. To make things right," he replied, his voice calm and reassuring.

Ann didn't know what to think. Part of her wanted to believe him, to trust that he had good intentions. But another part of her couldn't shake the feeling that he was becoming just like Kamoshida, using power to control others.

She would never stop seeing that crown upon his head.

She pushed his hand away and stepped back, distancing herself from him. "I don't know if I can trust you, Ren. This all seems too dangerous and unpredictable. I'm not sure I want to be a part of it," she said, her voice cold and distant.

Ren looked hurt, but he didn't push the issue. "I understand, Ann. But please know that everything I'm doing is for the greater good. And if you ever change your mind, I'll be here," he said softly, before turning to leave the burned room behind.

He pressed the button on his phone and the supernatural realm shattered like glass around Ann’s feet as she walked toward the exit, leaving Ren alone in his new kingdom.

“She’s a bit vapid, huh?” Ren shrugged, “Morals are in the way, and she doesn’t trust me since I’m ‘related to Kamoshida’ I guess. Those wounds run deep, eh you lame shithead?” He twirled the crown in his hands, feeling the palace owner reforming in his mind but much weaker from Ann’s flaming rejection, “Still, I think I kind of love her. Me, the demon who rules this world. And thanks to her making you so weak, I think it’s normally about time my palace reflects reality, don’t you?”

As Ren uttered those words, a wave of energy spread through the palace, causing the walls to twist and contort in a grotesque display of corruption. The once-sparsely pure pillars turned black as night, adorned with lewd carvings and engravings. The floors became slick with an invisible slimy substance, leaving a sticky impression of Ren's ejaculatory seed, splashing on the shoes of any npc denizen shadows that still made the place their home.

Ren watched in awe as his words seemed to physically shape the world around him. His power had never felt so raw, so intense. He couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement, knowing that he was now in control of this twisted realm.

The rooms themselves changed as well. What was once elegant and regal became debased and perverse, with sexual imagery etched into every surface. The throne room, once adorned with trophies of Kamoshida's victories, now featured twisted erotic statues and paintings.The air was thick with a musky, sexual scent. A still present and confused Shadow of Shiho shuddered as she passed by grotesque statues and paintings depicting lewd acts of domination and submission. The once-beautiful gardens were now overrun with twisted vines and thorny bushes, hiding all manner of depravity and debauchery.

It was like a medieval castle had been attacked by a pubescent teenage decorator. Instead of regal paintings of Kamoshida, now there were sexy babe posters of Rise Kujikawa. Instead of the gothic chandeliers was the kind of multicolored lighting you’d find in a slightly outdated club. The library was full of porn now. And instead of the cumdump-dungeon, it was a private video game space that Ren could retreat to. Filled with every console he could think of with a large TV and couch set up for him to relax in.

The shadows that made this space their home had changed. Gone were the guardsmen, servants, and courtiers who would transform into strange and varied spirit and monstrous forms at the drop of a hat. Now the rooms and halls of the castle were populated by the familiar figures of Shujin’s staff and students, even if their features were alternately blurred and basic or overly exaggerated and sharp.

They were once mere shadows, nameless and faceless, but now they had names, titles, and levels floating above their heads.
Ren couldn't help but notice that these…. NPC Shadows seemed to move in a scripted routine, almost as if they were characters in an MMORPG. He watched as they went about their daily business, some carrying books, others chatting with each other, and some even engaging in mock battles.

What did this mean?

Had he imprinted his own preferences upon Kamoshida’s palace? The basic bastard had, of course, seen the academy as his castle. And… what? Ren saw it as an RPG to beat?

He had always had a soft spot for Dragon Quest. The soft dream-like quality to their simple yet captivating stories had always appealed to him, and he had spent countless hours playing games like Final Fantasy and Suikoden. But as he observed the NPCs in Kamoshida's palace, he couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity. It was almost as if he had stepped into one of those games he loved so much.

As he observed the scripted movements of the NPC Shadows, Ren felt a sense of control and familiarity wash over him. This was a world he could understand, where he knew the rules and could make sense of the people and their actions.

What had been done to him was the classic start to the hero's journey, he realized. He had been thrust into a world of darkness and injustice, **** to confront a corrupt system that sought to crush him. It was like the opening scenes of every RPG he had ever played, where the hero is faced with an impossible challenge and **** to rise above it.

He was a gamer and he would approach this challenge like he approached every game he played - by analyzing the stats and levels of his opponents and allies.

His eyes focused on a pair of shadows that had just came around a bend in the corridor together.

Sadow Yukio (Lvl 3 - Star Arcana): Neighborhood Helper
Kamiya Yuki (Lvl 2 - Chariot Arcana): Gossip Monger

Ren's mind began to race as he analyzed the titles of the two NPC Shadows. Sadow Yukio, a Neighborhood Helper, likely had high social stats and could possibly provide information or aid in completing quests. Kamiya Yuki, a Gossip Monger, was likely skilled in gathering information and could potentially be a valuable source of intel. Ren realized that he could use his knowledge of RPG mechanics to his advantage in this disturbing mirror to the real world.

He continued to observe the NPCs as they went about their scripted routines. He spotted a few more with interesting titles:

Kato Haruka (Lvl 1 - Temperance Arcana): Student Council Hopeful
Nakamura Tatsuo (Lvl 4 - Strength Arcana): Star Athlete
Matsuda Ayumi (Lvl 2 - Emperor Arcana): Art Club Enthusiast
Tanaka Daiki (Lvl 1 - Moon Arcana): Bookworm
Murakami Yui (Lvl 3 - Hermit Arcana): Social Butterfly
Aoki Hiroshi (Lvl 2 - Lover Arcana): Class Clown
Okada Megumi (Lvl 1 - Strength Arcana): New Student

It didn’t take him long before he realized he could mentally ‘click’ upon an NPC and a window displaying their stats and a brief bio appeared. Ren couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement as he delved into the stats and bios of the NPCs. It was like he was playing an immersive RPG, but this time, he was living it. He looked over the various attributes of the NPCs, noting their levels, skills, and abilities.

He spent way more time than he should have, delving into the stats and bios of each NPC, trying to figure out their strengths, weaknesses, and how they could be of use to him.

His attention was drawn to three particular individuals: Kasumi Yoshizawa (Lvl 4 - Faith Arcana): Phantom Dancer, Makoto Niijima (Lvl 2 - Priestess Arcana): Student Council President, and Sadayo Kawakami (Lvl 3 - Temperance Arcana): Intimate Maid. Despite the fact that their levels were in line with every other NPC he’d taken note of, their stats blew the rest out of the water.

Kasumi had high agility and dexterity and for some reason she had a spirit stat that was completely lacking in every other NPC he’d looked at.

Makoto Niijima's stats were also impressive, particularly her intelligence and analytical skills. As the Student Council President, she likely had a wealth of information at her disposal and could provide valuable insight and strategy for completing quests. Though something about her revealing outfit made Ren think he should look into her more further…

Kawakami-sensei’s charisma was twice as much as the average, which seemed crazy to Ren as he recalled her sleepy, irritated manner when he’d interacted with her. Then again that title of “Intimate Maid” certainly had connotations. Was she involved in some illicit activities or was it just a strange quirk of the game? Or was she somehow Kamoshida’s maid and Ren had completely missed that fact? He decided he needed to investigate further to find out the truth.

But there was one thing he wanted to try first.

Out of everything that had happened, Ren had yet to look beyond the world that was the school. He’d activated his phone app at Kamoshida’s apartment, but beyond finding out it served as ‘the King’s secret retreat’ there wasn’t anywhere else that allowed him to access this other world.

He knew they were out there, other palaces, he could see them. This world was built just the same as his, all the architecture stayed the same outside the castle’s walls, with drab colors on a deep red sky. But patches of other palaces could be seen from the highest point. A bank, or maybe a casino, it was almost like mirages that weren’t allowing Ren to really see them. In some visions it looked like the whole city was underwater. As the head of the palace, Ren could feel there were others like him. Other palace rulers out there…

He just had no way to get to them.

Until now.

Clicking down on Kawakami’s level bar, he’d noticed quite a few options.

COMMAND
ATTACK
ITEM
NEGOTIATE

The idea of Kawakami having an attack button was pretty funny to Ren. But the options inside the menu really gave him pause, as it said ‘Type which Palace you’d like to attack’ and then left him with a floating keyboard. Three things were apparently needed to give the order, ‘Ruler’, ‘Type of Rule’ and ‘Location’. All three of which, Ren had no idea about. He typed out ‘Kamoshida’, ‘King’ and ‘Shujin’ but it said it was ‘wrong’. He then switched it to himself, and the error message changed to ‘Would you like to attack your own palace?’ to which he decided to click ‘no’ to.

A few attempts of typing out various people, places, and locations came out fruitless. If he could find out this info then maybe he could start expanding his influence. Taking over a different palace could be just as fun, especially if he could get in early before the ruler did anything untoward.

Perhaps that was what the levels were for? It was all so confusing. After typing out an attempt that ‘Rise Kujikawa’ was an ‘Idol Ruler’ at ‘Kanamin Kitchen’, a new popup appeared.

‘Would you like the tutorial on how to attack?’

“Uh, yeah. Please.”

What appeared was a small multi-screened powerpoint that Ren could look through. All while the NPC Kawakami taught her students, Ren was learning how to conquer. It seemed the NPS were for attacking, and you’d need the relevant info in order to attack the right palace, but the process was rather interesting.

It seemed the way it worked wasn’t going to make Kawakami pick up a pipe and attack the bank. Instead, her cognitive ‘NPC’ version would be going to battle against the other denizens of the palace. Changing into battle shadows just for the fight, like a transformation into a stronger form just for war. The process was sort of like attacking a city in Civilization. If Ren’s NPCs were stronger then he’d be able to overtake that other palace, and no harm to his NPCs would occur. Even the ones damaged in the fight would reform, as long as they took down the rival Palace Ruler by the end of the battle. He COULD send just Kawakami, and if she lost then she would be claimed by the rival palace. But it was better to send everyone for the big threats.

There were other things to note. Such as the fact there were smaller locations to attack as well. One’s unconnected to palaces, but would need access to a place called ‘Mementos’ first. Whatever that was.

But the big thing was the note on how to increase levels. It wasn’t just strength training, it was specifically ‘Palace Ruler Attention’ that increased his NPC’s abilities. It was why it was mostly the sports students who had slightly higher stats. Kamoshida had paid extra attention to them, so their level was higher. It was also why Ann was apparently level 8 already. Though perhaps her Persona awakening helped with that too.

Ren was happy with the info. But now he wanted to have some fun.

Clicking on the ‘Command’ tab, Ren was greeted with another fill in the blank/keyboard combo. This time though it had auto-filled ‘It is normal that Sadayo Kawakami’, though the option to delete that was still present. He smirked, thinking of all the wonderful things he could do to the bored teacher.

‘It is normal that Sadayo Kawakami has a Ren Amamiya shaped dildo in her ass at all times’.

“Error! Must be level 10 before this command can be entered!” Hmm, so there was another reason to get levels up. His teacher was only level 3 right now, a bit higher than some of the students so Ren hoped he could still get away with some fun.

‘It is normal that Sadayo Kawakami teaches in only her underwear.’

Watching his little NPC look very confused at her clothing was pretty hot. Ren couldn’t hear what they were saying but he knew exactly what his busty teacher was apologizing for.

Quickly, she brought her baggy yellow jumper and t-shirt up over her head, revealing the white brasserie underneath that seemed to barely contain her tits. Then she removed her long skirt, with the cute pink panties she’d not really wanted anyone to see revealed to her entire class. Kawakami had no idea why she wore them today if she knew she was going to be teaching them, just grumbled something about laundry day and went back to teaching.

The reaction had been pretty subdued from the crowd. Some of the boys and girls were clearly a little flustered internally, but since it was a normality command they did not call her out on her updated appearance. Kawakami taught in her underwear, that was a fact.

Ren wanted to grab her, to squeeze the juicy melons in front of the class, but her form was that of a ghost. Like his hand passed through a mass of black ooze before it reformed into Kawakami.

However, the shudder she felt looked too real to pass up.

Instead of grabbing, Ren focused his efforts on Kawakami’s areola area. Watching the black mass bend around his fingers, but when he gave up it was clear that her nipples were now budding out of her brassiere. Just enough to make two dents in her top. A blush forming on her NPC face that was clearly reflected in the real world as she turned away from the class. It was like Ren was the ghost, whispering to her body to tingle just where he wanted.

And he wanted to slap her cute ass in front of everyone. ‘It’s normal that Ren can spank the NPC and have it affect the real Kawakami.’ He smirked while typing in the new command, happy that it wasn’t an above level… 4? Her level had gone up from the underwear command/teasing. He shrugged, happy that his video game system was lewdly based in his favor. Adding one more line to the normality code before rubbing his hands together.

SLAP!

“Thank you sir, may I have another?”

Her voice reached all the way to this world. Ren getting to hear the NPC with Kawakami’s slightly hilted line properly, mostly because of the command he added before spanking her. Again, no one really reacted… apart from the reddening mark on his teacher’s ass. The jiggling cheeks ripe for more slapping, more spanking, and more appreciative thanks as he did.

Kawakami wasn’t sure who she was saying that to, but did as she was commanded. She’d been slapped, by something, and it was normal for her to ask for another, for some reason.

Deciding her ass had had enough punishment, Ren left the class feeling great. And left his teacher with the inability to sit down without moaning. Something that hadn’t been normalized and made her very embarrassed.