"Hare, isn't the portal ready yet?"
While trying to secure Seele's body during the high-speed movement, Ren Amamiya's hand inadvertently touched her, causing Seele's face to suddenly flush crimson.
And the Reaper, consistently tailing Ren, witnessed Seele's change in expression. The crimson glow surrounding it intensified further, and its speed in approaching Ren seemingly doubled.
The Reaper was far too aggressive, showing no signs of stopping its pursuit of Ren, and was visibly closing the distance between them.
A bead of sweat appeared on Ren's forehead. While keeping one hand on Seele, he turned his head to ask Hare, who was floating beside him.
"Apologies, the environment of this Palace is too unique. I need more time than usual to successfully open a portal."
A look of apology appeared on Hare's exquisite and dignified face as she responded to Ren in a low voice.
Hare, of course, also wanted to open the portal as swiftly and decisively as usual.
But the environment of this Palace was truly too peculiar, situated at the intersection of the Imaginary Space and the Sea of Quanta.
To construct a portal here that could safely return them to the outside world, Hare had to expend far more effort than usual.
"The MetaNav app has to return to the Palace entrance to be used again, but it seems like we're out of time..."
The Reaper moved through this dark space as if it were its natural element, completely unaffected by the vision-impairing darkness.
Judging by the Reaper's current speed, before Ren could carry Seele back to the Palace entrance, the Reaper would have caught up to him.
"Forget it, let's go all out! You take the lead—Go, Huodou!"
Ren frowned, making a decision in his mind. He abruptly stopped running, decisively and swiftly waving his arm, issuing an attack command to Persona Huodou, which had been following close behind him.
In the game P5R, the Reaper had a very peculiar mechanic.
If attacked by the Reaper, it could make two attacks in one turn.
However, if one proactively attacked the Reaper, then the Reaper could only make one attack per turn in battle, making the fight significantly easier.
Although Ren didn't know how this game mechanic of the Reaper would manifest in the real world...
Seeing no way to escape the Reaper's pursuit in time, Ren decisively commanded Persona Huodou to lunge fiercely at the Reaper.
"ROOOOAR—!!!"
Persona Huodou, with its lava-like golden-red hot mane and the majestic appearance of an ancient saber-toothed tiger, let out a deafening roar.
Deep crimson flames erupted around its body, temporarily dispelling some of the darkness in the Palace. With unstoppable momentum, it launched a full-force, self-sacrificing ram towards the Reaper.
However, Persona Huodou's impressive and valiant charge failed to touch the Reaper's body even slightly.
The Reaper, its form concealed by the swirling, ominous red light, merely raised a hand and waved. Its incredibly sharp, ghastly claws completely sliced through Persona Huodou's body as it attacked, wreathed in hot flames, as easily and naturally as a hot knife cutting through butter.
Just as Persona Huodou entered a death state, its "Unyielding Spirit" passive skill automatically activating, with surging flames erupting from its wounds, attempting to reassemble Huodou's soon-to-be-shattered body and revive it...
The rustling sound of chains grew louder.
Crimson-black claws extended from the deep red ethereal glow, like the scythe of Death from hell.
With a flash of crimson claw light streaking through the air, Persona Huodou's massive beastly form, which was in the process of reviving, suddenly exploded like a firework, disintegrating into a shower of dim sparks that shot out in all directions.
"—So strong! It took down Joker's Persona in just one hit?!"
Watching the Reaper completely dismember the attacking Persona Huodou into a shower of dim fireworks in a mere instant, seemingly without expending much effort...
Mei's eyes widened in astonishment, an exclamation escaping her lips unconsciously.
Only then did Mei realize why Ren's first reaction upon seeing this eerie figure called the "Reaper" was to order a full retreat for the entire team.
In this dark environment where visibility was poor, fighting the Reaper, which was completely unaffected by the darkness, was essentially actively increasing the difficulty of the battle and inviting suffering.
However, they now had no other choice but to brace themselves and fight the Reaper in this pitch-black Palace.
Compared to the easily startled newcomer Mei, Hare's reaction was much calmer.
Her expression merely grew slightly more solemn.
Compared to Mei, Hare's understanding of Ren was undoubtedly much richer and more comprehensive.
A Persona of Huodou's level was merely the weakest among those Ren possessed.
The strength of an Emperor-class Honkai Beast was acceptable for clearing out mobs, but to face a Palace Ruler entrenched in its own Palace, victory was naturally impossible.
Even with the ominous red light as a cover, Hare had still seen through the Reaper's true identity.
Beneath that sinister crimson glow was clearly a young girl with an appearance identical to Seele's!
The difference between Shadow Seele and the real Seele was that Shadow Seele's eyes were entirely crimson, and she wore a black dress adorned with silver-gray chains. Her hair, which should have been blue, was also a crimson-black, as if stained with blood.
As the Palace Ruler presiding over this Palace, Shadow Seele's strength was naturally formidable.
However, as a Manifestation-type persona of a Stigma, Shadow Seele's strength was clearly outstanding even among her kind. The power she wielded even gave Hare a sense of familiarity.
The Schariac Stigma contained the powers of both creation and death.
Hare wasn't particularly adept with the power of creation, but her body, as a Stigma crystallization, passively radiated the curse of death at all times.
And when Shadow Seele raised her claws to completely tear apart and eliminate Persona Huodou just now, Hare could clearly sense it.
The power Shadow Seele had just used clearly contained the aura of "Death"!
"It's your turn—Persona! Arsene!!"