"It looks like the tea was to your liking, Commander, I'm glad you enjoyed it," Remarked Tilda, as Jules finished the tea and let out a content sigh.
"Yes, it was quite good, so light and refreshing. Thank you, Tilda, I appreciate it," Smiled Jules in response.
"You're most welcome, Commander. Now, then...," Trailed off Tilda with a mutter, as she took out a walkie-talkie behind her back and quietly clicked it three times, before Jules swiftly sprang onto her feet in alarm as a pair of hooded figures suddenly teleported into the room, on either side of her desk.
Jules vaulted over her desk as the pair fired off blasts of wind and water at her, which collided against each other as she narrowly evaded the attacks, before manifesting her sword out of her Storage Ring.
"Wha-...how the hell did she react so fast!?"
"Damn it, I thought we had her."
"I see, you must be members of Exalt. It seems you haven't learned your lesson, I'll have to teach you the hard way. But don't worry, I won't kill you...no, I have a lot of questions for you, and I intend to have them answered. Let's capture them alive, Tilda, make sure to-...," Began Jules, before trailing off with a sharp gasp of pain.
Her gaze shakily trailed down to the middle of her chest, a curved blade poking out through it, covered in blood. She then glanced back, her eyes widening as she met Tilda's gaze...
"I really am glad you enjoyed the tea, Commander. It'll be the last thing you ever enjoy," Smirked Tilda, before she pulled the blade of her scythe back out, a shudder of pain erupted across Jules's body as blood poured out and streamed down her torso.
Jules stumbled forward shakily, her vision blurring slightly as she coughed out blood, which splattered across the floor.
She then shook her head and gritted her teeth, tightening her grip on the handle of her sword before swinging it across towards Tilda, but she couldn't generate any real force, her swing weak and feeble.
Tilda evaded the attack with ease, before backing away as the two hooded figures made their way around, surrounding Jules as they began to charge up Spells.
"Wh-what...," Uttered Jules shakily, before coughing out blood with an agonized wheeze.
"Unfortunately, it seems I missed your heart, but that's fine...you see, I coated the blade of my scythe in a rather lethal poison. You'll succumb to it and die soon enough...of course, I'd be happy to put you out of your misery before the poison runs its course," Chuckled Tilda, as she swung her scythe across to get the blood off the blade.
"I...I will not die so easily!" Snapped Jules, as she unleashed an intense shockwave of flames, knocking Tilda and the hooded figures away, before taking out a Spell Card and activating it, disappearing from sight.
"Wha-...shit, she had a Teleport Spell on her! She got away!" Exclaimed one of the hooded figures.
"Tch, she must have decided to keep one on her after the last attack, I should've thought of that. But it's fine, it doesn't really matter. The poison will kill her in a matter of minutes, even if she manages to get her hands on an Antidote Spell, it's too late," Replied Tilda with a shrug.
"Oh, right...that poison needs to be nullified within the first twenty seconds or so, and it's already been longer than that since you stabbed her."
"Yeah...this poison is pretty sticky though, I hope it doesn't ruin my blade. I can't shake the blood off since it's stuck to the poison, I'll have to scrub it off later," Sighed Tilda, as she stared at the blade of her scythe disdainfully.
"It is a Relic Armament, so I don't think you have to worry about-...," Began one of the hooded figures, before abruptly trailing off as the door suddenly burst open.
"Commander! I heard-...huh?" Came Siele's voice, as Tilda quickly turned around and backed away from the door.
"Shit...," She muttered to herself, as she began to reach into her pocket for a Teleport Spell.
"What...what is this? What's going on here?" He inquired, a dark look appearing in his eyes as his gaze fell upon the hooded figures, who backed away warily as he thought to himself, "Whose blood is that, on Tilda's scythe and on the floor? Neither she nor the hooded figures are bleeding...n-no, it can't be..."
"I'll tell you what's going on...this is a revolution! We shall restore the Kingdom of Persona to its former glory! If you're smart and wish to be on the right side of history, then you'll join us, Prince Siele!" Responded one of the hooded figured, as he extended his hand out.
"Where is my sister? What the hell did you do to her?" He responded icily.
"Oh, she's most certainly dead by now. And her demise was brought about by her own insanity, supporting the deranged changes that have been made by the unworthy Queen...even one of her most trusted subordinates could not abide it," Chuckled one of the hooded figures, as he nodded at Tilda.
"I see...then, you're all dead," Remarked Siele with a look of cold fury, before he shot towards one of the hooded figures in a rapid blur as he manifested his twin blades out of his Storage Ring, driving one of them forward as he closed in and plunged it into the figure's throat before he could react, a choked, agonized gasp ringing out before Siele pulled the blade back out with a violent twist.
As the man collapsed onto his knees while gasping in pain, blood spurting out of his neck, Siele swiftly fired out a small but rapid blast of water at Tilda as she pulled out a Spell Card, hitting her hand and knocking it out of her grasp, before firing out a blast of water at it and smashing it to pieces.
"You're not getting away...you fucking traitor."
The other figure stumbled back in fear before firing off a burst of wind as he took out his Teleport Spell, activating it and teleporting away as Siele shot towards Tilda rapidly, his eyes filled with a murderous rage...
Meanwhile, in Amber City...
"No, I think ripping off fingernails is overrated, skinning is the way to go, it's the best method of surface-layer torture," Remarked Lexia, as she took a bite of a piece of cake.
"I disagree, there's no way skinning is superior to ripping off fingernails. I mean, think about, do people scream louder when you peel off their skin or when you rip off their fingernails?" Pointed out Colt objectively.
The two of them were at a cafe, having completed their duties for the day, and were engaged in a rather unusual debate.
"That's only because the initial burst of pain is greater with ripping off fingernails, both methods are equally painful afterwards, since they both ultimately expose the layer of flesh below the skin. But with skinning, you've got a lot more area to work with, while with fingernails, there's only ten and then the fun's over."
"That's part of the fun though...having a limited number makes it more challenging. I don't have anything against skinning, of course, it's a fine method of torture in its own right, but ripping off fingernails is simply just the superior method," Stated Colt firmly.
"No, it's the opposite, skinning is-...," Began Lexia, before trailing off as screams rang out in the distance, followed by several crashes.
"We should probably go check that out, huh?" Sighed Colt, as Lexia swiftly wolfed down her cake.
"Mhm," She nodded with her mouth full, before standing up and adding as she swallowed, "Pay the bill and let's get going."
"Uh, you want me to pay for your order too?"
"Well, yeah, the guy usually gets the bill, doesn't he?"
"Ah, so what you're saying is...this was a date," Smirked Colt in response.
"Wh-wha-...n-no, that's not what I was-...fuck it, I'll pay for mine!" Stuttered Lexia as her face turned red, before setting down some money, as Colt did the same.
"We, uh...we should probably get going. Pretty sure people are dying out there," Remarked Colt, as more screams rang out.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going. Don't fall behind."
"Uh-huh."
The pair then hurried over in the direction the commotion was coming from, rushing over as more screams and crashes rang out.
It wasn't too far from the cafe, so it didn't take them long to arrive at the scene. As they turned the corner and reached the area, several hooded figures came into sight, attacking the civilians around them, while a handful of Knights fended them off.
"Go evacuate the civilians! We'll take care of this ourselves!" Lexia called out to the Knights, as she and Colt shot forward.
"Yes, ma'am!"
"We'll leave this to you, then!"
Lexia then fired out a barrage of bone bullets from her fingertips at the assailants, cries of pain ringing out as a few of them got riddled with the bullets, collapsing onto the ground as the projectiles penetrated their bodies, drawing out several trickles of blood.
Colt then extended out multiple blood tendrils from his palms, sending them shooting out towards the figures as he sharpened the ends of the tendrils and whipped them around, inflicting several deep gashes and slicing off a couple of arms.
The hooded figures quickly scattered and spread out, before launching a simultaneous volley of Spells at the pair. Colt swiftly formed a wall of blood in front of them, blocking the attacks.
As their attacks petered out, Lexia shot out from behind the blood wall, bringing out her Relic Armament from her Storage Ring and swinging it across while extending and expanding the weapon, sending it hurtling across the air towards some of the hooded figures.
They quickly scrambled away in alarm, but one of them was too slow to react, the large, spiky metal ball slamming onto the middle of his torso with a loud crunch, before crushing him against the side of a building behind him, blood gushing out of his mouth as the middle of his body got smashed flat.
"You'll pay for that, you Commoner bitch!"
"How dare you kill one of our comrades!?"
"Oh, don't worry...I'll send the rest of to where he is shortly," She smirked with a sadistic gleam in her eyes.
To her surprise, they continued to maintain their distance, before she swiftly backed away as they launched another barrage of Spells, as Colt shot forward and formed a blood shield in front of her as the attacks closed in, blocking them out.
"Something isn't right here. Their Spells aren't all that strong, and many of them are carrying weapons, but they haven't even drawn them yet. Their malice and bloodlust is obvious, but it feels more like they're trying to buy time or something, rather than outright trying to kill us," Remarked Colt with a frown.
"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing...this isn't good. If they've been tasked with buying time, then they're just decoys...the question is, for what?"