Ren Amamiya had a dream.
Or rather, he was currently aware he was in an illusory dreamscape, yet felt as if trapped in a mire, unable to escape on his own, only able to let the dream unfold spontaneously.
Ren felt as if he had returned to the time before he transmigrated, lying in bed and starting to play the world's greatest game, P5R.
But this time, the gaming experience was an immersive first-person perspective. He personally experienced being framed for a righteous act, only to be taunted to his face by Masayoshi Shido. He desperately wanted to punch Shido's detestable face, but his body remained stiff and unmoving like a mechanical program, merely following the agonizing pre-scripted cutscenes.
Just as Ren thought he'd have to relive the entire P5R storyline in his dream to be freed, nearly putting on his "suffering face," things finally took a turn.
As Ren lay on the shabby bed in the attic of Leblanc Cafe, he fell into a dream within a dream.
The invisible shackles binding his movements quietly vanished. He had regained his freedom.
"...Freedom? More like I'm about to start another prison sentence..."
A sacred, ethereal choir, its melody etched into his DNA, echoed around him. Ren opened his eyes on a cold, hard bed.
Sure enough, the sight that greeted him was the all-too-familiar scenery of a prison.
Ren sat up from the hard bed. His clothes had been replaced with a black-and-white striped prison uniform, and heavy shackles bound his hands and ankles.
Ren looked out of his solitary cell. Through the gaps in the bars, he clearly saw the twin loli wardens in their blue guard uniforms standing before his cell.
And occupying the very center of this blue prison, sitting behind a single desk with an air of effortless composure, was an old man with white hair.
Though dressed formally in a black suit, the old man's long, Pinocchio-like nose and pointed, elf-like ears clearly marked him as non-human.
"Welcome to my Velvet Room."
Noticing Ren's gaze, the white-haired old man, Igor, stretched his lips into a smile that nearly reached his ears.
Igor extended a white-gloved hand towards Ren, delivering the welcoming line to the new prisoner of the Velvet Room.
"Igor's" voice was deep and dignified, like that of an old gentleman, but it wasn't the real Igor's voice.
The real Igor's voice was much higher-pitched. As a doll created by Philemon, even his voice had an inhuman quality.
And the Igor before Ren, a guise adopted by the Evil God Yaldabaoth, had no intention of perfectly playing the role.
Since the new guest of the Velvet Room wouldn't know the real Igor, it didn't even bother to disguise its voice.
Inside the Velvet Room cell, dressed in a prison uniform, Ren's physical abilities seemed to have been reduced to that of an ordinary person. The cold shackles on his wrists and ankles felt heavy and uncomfortable.
Ren tried to summon his phantom thief attire, but even after several attempts, he couldn't regain the power of the phantom thief of hearts.
"Prisoner! The Master is speaking to you! What do you mean by just sitting there and staring? Are you scared witless?!"
Caroline, the short-tempered twin with her right eye covered by a black eyepatch, frowned at Ren's flat, disrespectful reaction. She slammed her electric baton against the cell bars, creating a jarring, ear-piercing clang, and loudly berated the prisoner in the Velvet Room.
"Do not worry. You are merely in a dream. Your physical body in reality is still safely asleep in bed."
Justine, the calm twin with her left eye covered by a black eyepatch, explained Ren's already known situation in a cool voice.
"This is a place between dream and reality, mind and matter. A room that only those who have formed a contract in some way may visit. And I am its master, Igor. Remember that."
The long-nosed old man, Igor, tapped his fingers on the desk, appearing both composed and exuding an air of superior intimidation and pressure.
"The Velvet Room changes according to the heart of its guest. It seems you are indeed a prisoner of fate. In the near future, you will inevitably face ruin. To resist this fate, there is only one means: 'rehabilitation.' This is your only path to escape destruction..."
Igor, impersonated by the Evil God, sat at his desk, eloquently speaking about the Velvet Room's origins and functions, casually blaming Ren for the Velvet Room's transformation into a prison.
The entire process was almost identical to the game. The Evil God seemed to intend to continue masquerading as Igor to oversee Ren's journey of rehabilitation.
After all, in reality, Ren had never met the true Igor. Theoretically, he had no way of judging how convincing the Evil God's impersonation was.
However, Ren already knew the real Igor was imprisoned, and the current master of the Velvet Room was the usurper, the Evil God Yaldabaoth—the final boss he needed to defeat, the root enemy of his own destiny.
After attracting the Evil God's attention, Ren, due to the circumstances in the real world, chose not to hide his abilities. He used the MetaNav app at the earliest opportunity to enter Raiden Mei's Palace, speedrunning it in less than a day and returning laden with the Sloth Will Seed crystal and the Palace Treasure.
The Evil God possessed the ability to spy on both the real world and Mementos. Coupled with the MetaNav app installed on Ren's phone by the Evil God, it wouldn't be surprising if their conversations were being eavesdropped upon.
Ren had mentioned the Velvet Room in his conversation with Hare.
But the Evil God now was consistently treating Ren like a complete newcomer. This made Ren feel a little unsure, so he could only silently play along with the Evil God's act.
If things followed the game's plot, Igor, impersonated by the Evil God, would release Ren's mental self back into his physical body after their initial greeting.
During Ren's silent wait, the unique abilities he displayed in both reality and Mementos finally prompted a different reaction from the Evil God masquerading as Igor.
For a fleeting moment, Ren caught a glimpse of golden feathers drifting down from the sky in his peripheral vision.
However, when he looked properly, he saw nothing, as if it were merely an illusion caused by his tense state of mind.
In that brief moment of distraction for Ren, Igor, who was sitting with his legs crossed at the desk, paused slightly. Then, he resumed tapping his fingers on the desk as if nothing had happened.
However, his large, bloodshot white eyes now held a look of keen interest directed at Ren in the Velvet Room cell.
"Summon your Personas. Let me see them."
Otto Apocalypse, having invaded Ren's dream with the power of the Mimic Fenghuang Down and observed for a long time before usurping the identity of the Velvet Room's master, "Igor," mimicked Igor's earlier tone of voice, speaking slowly to Ren in the cell.
"...What do you mean? What are you trying to do?"
Hearing the Evil God's words, a strong sense of alarm surged within Ren.
Although a Persona user's Persona wasn't as private as a Stand user's Stand ability...
Being asked by the Evil God to summon his Personas upon first entering the Velvet Room triggered a certain PTSD in Ren.
Persona Arsene, awakened entirely by Ren himself, was arguably the Persona he controlled most proficiently and the one with the greatest potential.
What if he obediently summoned Arsene as the Evil God demanded, only for the Evil God to pull out a Pixie and order Caroline and Justine to fuse Arsene into a skill card? Ren would suffer a devastating loss.
"You seem wary of me. But it matters not. As long as you abide by the rules I set, I will not harm you. And now... show me your Personas, one by one."
Aided by the power of the Mimic Fenghuang Down, Otto could clearly observe Ren's hidden emotional reactions, analyze and read his dream identity, and even use the power of words to make Ren subconsciously overlook and accept certain unreasonable aspects.
Otto, playing the role of the Evil God playing Igor, clasped his hands on the desk, his voice calm as he explained to Ren.
Ren's origins were irrelevant. What Otto truly cared about was the Persona Kallen that Ren possessed.
Otto first wanted to confirm whether the Persona Kallen Ren held was indeed the true Saint he knew.
Ren's mental fortitude exceeded Otto's expectations. Even with Otto fully utilizing the power of the Mimic Fenghuang Down, Ren still maintained a stable state of consciousness in the dream, merely unable to hide his inner emotions.
This made Otto feel a tinge of regret. The power of the Mimic Fenghuang Down was ultimately limited. If he had managed to borrow a few real Fenghuang Down feather from that old friend before leaving, he might have reaped some unexpected rewards now.
"...Alright, I understand."
The Evil God's words, seemingly frank and open, made Ren pause silently for a moment. Then, he nodded lightly, agreeing to the Evil God's... no, the False God's suggestion.
Yaldabaoth seems to be able to see through my mental defenses, Ren thought. When in its presence, even in my mind, I should probably avoid calling it the Evil God for now. False God will do.
With Ren's current strength, he alone could never successfully resist the False God. Since the False God wanted to continue the game according to the established procedure for nurturing a Trickster, Ren's best course of action was to play by its rules.
Anyway, following the False God's rules to the end, Ren was certain to profit, even if the process itself would be torturous, like being imprisoned.
Fortunately, he had two adorable loli twins as warden assistants. Otherwise, this experience of being imprisoned under the False God's watchful eye would be truly terrifying.
"Come forth, Huodou!"
After receiving the False God's permission, although Ren still couldn't change into his phantom thief attire or break free from his shackles, he could at least summon Personas.
To prevent the False God from suddenly attacking and fusing his Persona Arsene into a skill card, the first Persona Ren summoned was Huodou, who ranked lowest in his team.
"This is the next one, Boreas!"
"Higokumaru!"
"Yae Sakura!"
In the Velvet Room cell, Ren once again performed his classic "reciting the menu" routine.
Noticing the False God remained unmoved, simply watching him summon Personas, Ren relaxed slightly and summoned his possessed Personas one by one.
"Kallen!"
As Ren's final trump card, Persona Arsene, awakened by himself, was naturally saved for last.
However, before Ren could summon Arsene, just as he threw out the purple iris mask in his hand and summoned Persona Kallen into the Velvet Room...
The False God, sitting leisurely on the blue chair at the desk, showed a sudden, noticeable fluctuation in its gaze.
Even Ren, imprisoned in the cell with his physical abilities reduced to an ordinary human's level, could clearly see the False God's distinct reaction to Persona Kallen's appearance.
"A perfect Persona! Although her current strength cannot yet be called powerful, if carefully nurtured, once her potential is fully converted into strength, she will surely become the strongest Persona!"
Gazing at Phantom Thief Kallen—who Ren had summoned into the Velvet Room, now looking around her surroundings with a bewildered expression, dressed in her purple fitted suit—Otto's eyes couldn't help but fill with excitement and fervor.
He couldn't stop himself from praising Kallen before reining in his excitement with masterful acting.
"So, where, and how, did you obtain this Persona?"
After successfully seeing the Kallen Ren summoned, Otto, masquerading as the False God, kept his eyes fixed on her.
In a deep voice, steady as an old gentleman's, he asked Ren the question that concerned him most.