"Persona!"
With a low growl, a giant demon appeared. He wore a blood-red suit, blue flame-like chains wrapped around his limbs, a pitch-black top hat on his head, and deep red, almost inky wings spread behind him.
His name was Arsene.
This was the Persona born from Kurusu Akira's subconscious, its cognitive archetype derived from the heroic protagonist created by the 20th-century French writer Maurice in the "Arsène Lupin" series. Now, he had become the embodiment of his inner power.
The surrounding shadows were instantly drawn in, intertwining in Arsene's hand to form a smoothbore gun with sharp lines and a terrifying, thorn-like appearance.
The man desperately fleeing in the station didn't dare to look back.
Because he had already experienced the terrifying power of the Persona that the monster behind him was wielding with his own life.
As a cost, the "miracle" bestowed by a god, a ring with the power to reverse the time of death, had broken into two pieces and could no longer be used.
About ten seconds ago.
He unhesitatingly summoned his Persona and then charged at the Phantom Thief, who was holding a sick beautiful girl and seemed too busy to fight.
And then, the Phantom Thief suddenly looked up and shouted "Riot Gun" in an extremely chuunibyo-like tone. The demon-shaped Persona behind him immediately raised the smoothbore gun in his hand, and a storm of furious flames erupted from the muzzle, shattering the entire space in front of him in an instant.
...
Before his death, relying on the "World's Eye" also bestowed by a god, he saw this demon-shaped Persona for the first time, and when he analyzed its various ability values, he almost had a heart attack from the excessively exaggerated stats:
-
Arsene
—The end of the Fool's path, the "essence of Sataniel."
Arcana: Fool
Strength 99MAX
Magic 99MAX
Endurance 99MAX
Agility 99MAX
Luck 99MAX
Special Skills: [Sinful Shell], [Maeigaon], [Riot Gun], [Survival Trick], [Unshaken Will].
-
The man in white royal attire with a red crow mask felt his clothes soaked with cold sweat, constantly calling out the name of the god who had ordered him to come here to kill Iseri Nina.
But no matter how panicked, regretful, or angry he was, he never received a response from the being who called himself a god.
Now he finally understood why the "god" who claimed to be omnipotent couldn't deal with a Phantom Thief who had come back from the dead... It wasn't that he "couldn't," but that he "didn't dare."
Evidently, he had been used as a disposable tool to test the Phantom Thief's limits.
Thus, a look of determination gradually appeared in his dark golden eyes.
This Persona user unhesitatingly turned to look at the Phantom Thief, who was slowly approaching from across the station, holding Iseri Nina.
Then, under the Phantom Thief's surprised and wary gaze, he leaped up without warning, raising his hands like a fierce tiger pouncing on its prey—
"Arsene!"
"I surrender!"
Almost in unison, they cried out.
The blood-red demon behind Kurusu Akira had just raised his blunderbuss when he saw this unknown enemy drop to his knees with a thud, assuming a standard dogeza pose, while the metallic long beak of his red crow mask pierced the ground with a crisp sound, like a craftsman driving a rivet into a wooden board with a hammer.
The man seemed to realize his comical and embarrassing situation, so he shook his head vigorously, trying to shake off the mask and escape the predicament.
But the next moment, a black high-heeled boot stepped on his head, pressing him down with undeniable force.
"Who exactly are you?" Kurusu Akira's voice held a subtle hint of confusion.
"Shido… Shido Goro." The answer was incredibly stifled.
Kurusu Akira's expression grew even stranger, "Akechi Goro, do you know him?"
"Know him, of course I know him. He's the most famous clown around here."
"Hmm?"
Shido Goro, as an enemy, had no sense of keeping secrets. "He was the former 'me,' so foolish that he couldn't hide a shred of conspiracy or emotion. Even a small matter like 'revenge' was handled sloppily, and in the end, I had to personally deal with that old bald man singing on the street."
Such a love-hate story had actually developed between the two main culprits of the runaway incident… Kurusu Akira kindly reminded him, "Shido Masayoshi is your biological father."
Shido Goro said indifferently, "I killed my own father. I've wanted to do it for a long time."
Then his tone became somewhat disdainful and self-mocking, "Every time I recall how pathetic I was in high school, I can't help but feel disgusted."
Kurusu Akira, holding Iseri Nina, who looked like she might pass out at any moment, continued to question Shido Goro, "Since Shido Masayoshi was killed by your design, what about Akechi Goro?"
He was very concerned about how the two masterminds who had caused a series of disturbances in Tokyo had exited the stage.
Shido Goro answered very quickly, as if afraid that the Phantom Thief would shoot him if he was in a bad mood. "The god ordered him to assassinate the sister of a suspected Persona user at a middle school near Tokyo University, and then he not only failed but also lost his life there."
"Suspected Persona user?"
"It was a man named Narukami Yu, and the target of the assassination was his middle school sister, whose name seemed to be Dojima Nanako."
Kurusu Akira's interrogation continued, "Where is the god who gave you orders?"
"I don't know where It is, but our last meeting was in Kawasaki…"
Out of nowhere, a pair of pale hands suddenly reached out from the void, grabbed Shido Goro's head, and twisted it twice in an instant.
Crack. The sound of a broken cervical spine, bones piercing muscle and skin, was so clear.
The process happened so fast, as if it had been rehearsed thousands of times, perfectly seizing the moment the Phantom Thief was distracted.
By the time Kurusu Akira tried to stop it, Shido Goro had already lost his breath.
What the hell.
The Phantom Thief hugged Iseri Nina tightly, his gaze coldly sweeping his surroundings.
He was with a sick ordinary person and couldn't possibly search extensively in the Mementos. Even if he found traces of that "god," he couldn't engage in high-intensity combat while ensuring Iseri Nina's safety.
This was clearly not a calculation… In that moment, he clearly felt the hostility from the entire Mementos.
But that hostility vanished in an instant, not like a hesitant decision, but more like a choice made after anticipating the outcome of a battle.
The Phantom Thief looked at the corpse with the broken neck at his feet, an unspeakable anger churning in his eyes.
Iseri Nina, who completely failed to understand the situation or notice the abnormality around her, merely huddled in Kurusu Akira's embrace, trembling as much as she could.
And as if mocking his scruples as a righteous figure, a large door suddenly opened on the wall of the Mementos.
The enemy hidden in the Mementos dared not rashly attack Kurusu Akira and feared the consequences of battle, so they actively opened a portal that allowed him to return directly from the Mementos to reality.
It gave the illusion of kneeling and begging for mercy while still acting tough.
Kurusu Akira, holding Iseri Nina, walked towards that door without hesitation. As he was about to leave, he turned back to look at the profound darkness in the train station, silently mouthing words.
"Just wait, I'll soon tear off all your claws."
...
In the deepest part of the deserted Mementos, a round object suddenly swelled up inside Shido Goro's blood-soaked corpse, illuminated by emergency lights.
Then, a strange-looking white small beast slowly crawled out of Shido Goro's clothes.
It looked at the now completely closed door through which Kurusu Akira had left, with some lingering fear.
It almost made a contract with that girl, making her a "magical girl" too.
Why did it have to provoke such a monster beyond its plans? The density of original sin clinging to him was so high it was almost materializing.
It shook its head for a while, then floated up, rushing into the darkness of the train station like a streak of light.
----------------
Yongen-Jaya at 12:23 AM.
One had to be thankful that this street was too old, so no cameras were installed.
"Are we… safe?"
In the dark street, Iseri Nina cautiously looked at Kurusu Akira, who had suddenly reverted to his school uniform.
"You are safe." He still maintained the princess carry. "Appearing in that place… was it caused by clicking the 'Metaverse Navigator'?"
"I'm sorry." Iseri Nina's voice was very soft.
"I should be the one apologizing. I didn't expect those guys would rather expose such a big weakness just to kill you."
Iseri Nina struggled to lift her arms and wrapped them around Kurusu Akira's shoulders, pulling herself closer to him, as if that would give her more security.
"Amamiya… you're a psychic, aren't you?"
"It would be more accurate to think of me as a 'Stand user'." Kurusu Akira walked down the street, holding her. "Let's just consider what happened tonight a nightmare."
Iseri Nina didn't cry, or rather, she didn't have the strength to cry. She just coughed a few times. "Sakura-san must be very worried now."
"After all, you've been missing for two hours."
Kurusu Akira put her down and took out his phone to check the time.
"What should I do now…" Iseri Nina didn't have the strength to cry, but her voice was thick with sobs, and she looked at the Persona user in front of her with misty, bewildered eyes.
Kurusu Akira was dialing Sakura Sojiro, "Just say you had a fever and hallucinated, climbed out the window, and then lay in the grass unconscious for two hours until I, who rushed back to Yongen-Jaya, found you."
"Such a clumsy lie…"
Kurusu Akira pointed at Iseri Nina's dusty pajamas, "This is actually the most reasonable explanation."
A moment later, the call connected.
"Amamiya, is something wrong?" Sakura Sojiro's tone was filled with annoyance and anxiety.
"I found Iseri." Kurusu Akira repeated the excuse he had just made up for Iseri Nina.
"This child… sigh!" A heavy, helpless sigh came through the receiver. "You two wait for me, I'll be right back."
"Where is Sakura-san now?"
"Police Department." After this explanation, the call was hung up.
Kurusu Akira was about to comfort Iseri Nina a few more words when he found her leaning against him, her face full of exhaustion, emitting soft, even breaths.
Through the thin pajamas, he could feel the girl's body temperature and the soft scent of shampoo.
He did not make a sound to disturb her, only looked up at the dim sky with a touch of melancholy.
Plans have changed. Tomorrow, he'll have to go to the AU carrier headquarters to investigate the situation.
The Phantom Thief thought that he could also make a detour to the City Hall; perhaps he could find some useful clues there.
The boy and girl leaned against each other in the hazy night, old-fashioned streetlights casting the distorted shadow of a transformer box onto a low white wall, intermingling with the swaying branches of a banyan tree, looking like the balcony where Romeo sang a love song to Juliet.
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