Paladin lunges out from the staircase into the antechamber, running a guard through with her spear and pivoting to fling it off the tip and into another shadow. She parries two strikes, stabs another, and then tears her mask free.

"Scour them under the light of love! Bradamante!"

Bradamante surges forward, and holy light incinerates Shadow after Shadow. Their ranks break, and several crash into each other trying to get out of the way of the burning light.

It's a perfect opportunity. 

"Everyone, now!"

Joker explodes forward into the broken ranks of the enemy, her cursed dagger in her hands, and tears into them with fury while they're too disorganized to resist.

Panther and Carmen aren't far behind, driving flaming whip-strikes deep into the shadows. From the broken center of the enemy, they smash out again and again, tearing the enemy formation to shreds.

Skull knocks shadows apart with heavy swings from his pipe.

And Mona bounces from shadow to shadow like a ping pong ball, tearing into them with their cutlass. 

And the last two guards find themselves impaled through the middle on Paladin's spear, melting away to darkness.

In a matter of moments, the entire enemy formation's been destroyed. 

The show's over.

Joker goes to the last door on the other side of the room and tries it. 

"That's my Shiho," Ann positively purrs. 

Paladin blushes and grins.

Behind the door is a large room with rich decorations, and at the center a marble pedestal, above which a flickering, many-colored light floats.

Mona grins wide. "That's it! That's the treasure!"

"What, the lightshow? How are we supposed to steal that?"

Joker scowls.

"It is kind of pretty, but I thought it was supposed to be a physical object?"

"I wasn't sure this would happen, but now that I see it I've got confirmation. The treasure isn't physical at first because people don't think of their distorted desires as something that can be stolen. But that's easy to fix, we just have to do the most brazen, stylish phantom thief thing of all: send a calling card."

"A calling card? What d'you mean?"

"You send them a message — usually on physical paper or cards — that you're coming to steal their heart! That plants the seed of the idea that desires can be stolen, and makes the treasure physical here in the Metaverse!"

"It would have been great to know that this could maybe happen."

Joker sighs. "You're sure it'll work?"

"If we tell Kamoshida in the real world, wouldn't he instantly get scared about the truth coming out? That would definitely make this place be crawling with guards."

Mona nods. "The security level goes as high as it can, when that happens. But it'll work. We'll only have one day, though, so when we send the calling card we have to be absolutely sure that we'll steal his heart the very next day. If we don't, he'll think it was a hoax, that we were crying wolf, and won't believe any future calling cards."

"So it's do or die."

"Of course it had to get even more difficult."

Joker sighs. "Not to mention the real-world consequences of sending a magical threat that's followed up on."

"Alright. I think it's clear that we could get jailed for this. I don't think mind control is on the books yet, but they'll make it as a new crime for us if we pull this off."

Joker crosses her arms.

"It's still unquestionably the right thing to do. We've fought and bled for this and I'd rather rot in jail than turn back now. But if any of you wants to stop here, speak your piece now."

Panther shakes her head. "I'm not stopping here either. We're already risking jail with the airsoft guns. It's a real risk, but we've got to try."