15. Case 4 part 4 (1/2)

i walked back into the castle, fruit gummies in pocket and backpack on my shoulders. with any luck both would come in handy by the time the day was done.

i jumped off the staircase and into the first room to find it the same as how i left it. the same went for every room until i reached the center. the chest still even had the empty juice bottle.

i took it with me this time, stuffing it into my backpack with the intent of throwing it out. as i put my bag back on, i felt a tiny amount of guilt throw itself off my shoulders.

the less said about the other chest, the better.

i made it to the center of the castle and walked up the stairs into the room above.

i set my bag down as i walked up onto the platform in the dead center to look at the two emblem sections placed inside.

"wait… that's not right," i looked at it again and sure enough, there were two sections filled in. instead of the one that i had left earlier, a twin had appeared to its right. it was yellow and had a blue dragon on it. i followed the center and sure enough, it was pointing right at the dragon statue.

i thought back to my idea of just

eaking the mirror entrance and threw it right in the trash. there was someone else in here with me and the last thing i needed on my soul was to accidentally trap someone else in here.

at least it saved me the trouble of having to get one of the emblems. and now that i knew that the dragon was the yellow one, maybe i could narrow down my choices a bit.

i had green and white to match to a turtle and a tiger…

i glanced back down at the emblems and noted that the dragon was blue even though it was on the yellow plate. the animal didn't need to match up to the plate in color. another point towards the color being an element.

i could see a dragon either being either wind or thunder, especially since the bird took fire.

if white really was ice, then maybe i should go after the green emblem.

i went back downstairs and located the door with the green emblem above it. i slowly pushed it open and looked inside.

a green cocoon right in the center of the room. looked like i was going to have to deal with monsters.

i set my backpack down at the entrance of the door and walked up to the cocoon and waited for it to shatter and reshape itself into a monster for me to fight.

it only took a few seconds to get what i wanted. the monster i got was new though.

instead of a single armored knight or a pair of cupids, i got a strange dog-like creature. i say 'dog-like' because i was pretty sure most dogs weren't

ight green with the top of their heads replaced with a giant gem. the four part emblem was on the dog's flanks along with a band of gold that wrapped around its body.

it growled at me and rushed forward.

"come persona,"

lamia appeared in front of me, looming over the dog and slashing at it with purple nails.

it fell back with a sound that made me feel bad for a second before i hardened my heart. i ran up to the downed dog and

ought down lamia's fangs on it.

the dog faded away, leaving some cash and a fang that looked just a bit too big for the dog that i had just gotten it from.

i put it all in my bag and kept going. if i had known what i was getting into, i might have given up and just turned back.

the next three rooms were all cocoons. one armored knight followed by another dog and finished off by another armored knight.

needless to say my magic reserves were almost empty by the time i made it to the end of the gauntlet.

"not even a chest," i wailed in despair as i fell to my knees at the sight of the last room.

it was completely empty except for the open door leading into a stairwell. looked like i had made it to the corner of the castle. all that was left now was to go up…

i quickly glanced at myself and looked at the two circles that controlled my life in here. the green was almost full. made sense, i had only gotten hit once when one of the cupids had gotten lucky and grazed me with an arrow on my side. i had done more to myself using blight fang then the monsters had done today.

the yellow one, on the other hand, was maybe half full at best. if i wanted to keep fighting i would either have to rely on my daggers, keep going with blight fang, or really hope that my magic worked well on whatever was going to be at the top of the stairs.

maybe i should just have the gummies now. with one last glance at my stats, i knelt down and got the fruit snacks out from my bag and chowed down. even if they didn't do anything at least the surgery snack cheered me up.

of course if i died and my last meal turned out to be a bag of fruit gummies, i was so coming back as a ghost and haunting the vending… was the yellow circle getting bigger.

i munched on one last gummy wand carefully watched it as grew once it went into my mouth. i had enough in the tank for a few more agis if i needed them or maybe even a rakunda if i really needed it.

alright, now i could maybe do this. i got to my feet and started climbing up the stairs, watching the sky outside every time i passed by one of the windows. it was clear and insanely high off the ground like always.

"who even builds a castle in the sky and design it so that you can barely ever see the sky?" i grumbled as i kept climbing up. "why go through all the trouble if you can't even get a good view without climbing up all the way up to the towers?"

despite my griping, the castle stayed silent as i climbed its steps. i glanced up after a while and saw the wooden roof above, as well as the end of the stairs.

well, here i was. i finished climbing the stairs and quickly scanned the room. it looked pretty empty, not even having the other door to the outer walkway like the bird room had.

there also wasn't any sort of monster of the turtle or tiger variety that i could see… but i could see an emblem on the floor. a green shield fragment with a white tiger on it.

i walked forward to feel the floor again. maybe it would give me a hint as to what element i was up against. i slowly made my way to the center of the room and knelt down and placed one hand on the floor.

the other hand already in the process of crushing lamia's card.

i glanced up to see a white tiger getting a fireball in the face.

i didn't even have to look up to figure out what the tick was going to be. of course the tiger was going to waiting for me in the rafters, looking down at me and getting ready to pounce at the right moment.

instead the white tiger with black stripes landed on its side, its big white mane getting a bit singed by my flames. it got to its feet and growled at me, letting me know that my boss fight has begun.

it startled circling the room, me following its stride as we made a circle. it was walking towards the stairs, it wanted to cut me off from my escape. well i guess i was going to have to show this oversized cat that i didn't need it in the first place.

"burn them lamia!" i called as my persona formed a fireball and sent it straight at the tiger.

it jumped out of the way, leaving a green trail of air in its wake. when it landed, a small whirlwind appeared around its feet.

well that was one mystery solved. i took note that green apparently meant wind and filed away the information for later.

the tiger roared at me as a burst of wind came towards me.

i crossed my arms in front of my face only for the wind to smack me right in the stomach.

i felt myself coughing up all the air in my lungs as the tiger ran forward at me with claws bared. somehow i had a feeling that unlike the bird, this thing had more up its sleeve then magic.

i forced myself out of the way of the tiger's leap, cutting into his flank with my daggers as he sailed past me.

tiger got the last laugh of the exchange though. as soon as he went past me, i felt something cut my shoulder. i glanced to the side and the green trail it was leaving cutting into my shoulder.

trying to dodge and counter wasn't going to work… this might have to be a magic fight.

i had lamia fire another agi at where the tiger landed only for it run out of the way, leaving nothing but singed wood.

magic wasn't going to work either, not with how fast it was going. so far i had only gotten one good hit on this thing and that was when…

"oh,"

i sighed and dismissed the daggers before spreading my arms out.

"come and get me kitty cat," i taunted even as i held lamia's card in my hand.