Following Higokumaru's perception of the corrosive power within Bronya, Ren Amamiya and Raiden Mei quickly made their way from the ruins of ME Corp to Cocolia's temporary base.
Utilizing the abilities of Jizo Mitama and leveraging his skills as a phantom thief, Ren Amamiya successfully infiltrated the inconspicuous temporary base, finding Cocolia and Bronya, whom he had been eager to locate.
However, Cocolia and Bronya were clearly not in good shape.
If Ren Amamiya had arrived any later, not only would Bronya, whom Hare and Seele were deeply concerned about, have perished.
Even Ren Amamiya and Raiden Mei's chance to seek revenge on Cocolia, the mastermind, would have been limited to while she was still "warm."
The unfamiliar man, dressed in black, wearing a mask that revealed only a single crimson eye, and insistently holding a black umbrella indoors, was in the process of ruthlessly exterminating the clearly weakened Cocolia and Bronya.
After lurking in the shadows and eavesdropping for a while, gleaning snippets of conversation between Gray Serpent and Cocolia, Ren Amamiya pieced together some information.
It was only when Bronya could hold on no longer and was on the verge of being truly killed by Gray Serpent that Ren Amamiya, along with Raiden Mei, jumped out to save them.
Adding flowers to a brocade [gilding the lily] could never compare to sending charcoal in snowy weather [providing timely assistance]. Since it was clear that Bronya had a connection with Hare and Seele on the team, Ren Amamiya naturally prepared to start grinding Bronya's Social Link.
Rescuing Bronya from Gray Serpent's clutches, while not guaranteeing a huge jump in Social Link rank, was a symbolic act of friendship that should at least be enough to establish a Social Link between Ren Amamiya and Bronya.
After using the power of his Persona, Boreas, to detonate or freeze all the shells heading towards Bronya, Ren Amamiya, clad in his phantom thief attire, boldly appeared before everyone in the temporary base.
Because they had specifically targeted Ren Amamiya before.
Even though Ren Amamiya wore a white mask, Cocolia and Bronya recognized him instantly.
In fact, due to Ren Amamiya's identity being exposed, Raiden Mei—who wore a black ogre mask and crimson samurai armor, and was making her official debut in this guise in the real world—also had her true identity seen through by Bronya at a glance.
After all, a young woman with long purple hair accompanying the lone Ren Amamiya... Bronya could only think of Raiden Mei.
However, judging from Raiden Mei's entrance just now, it seemed she too had surpassed the limits of an ordinary person with Ren Amamiya's help, mastering a not-insignificant power... Could it be that she had begun to master the power of the Herrscher of Thunder?
Bronya blinked her somewhat listless gray eyes, silently analyzing the current situation in her mind.
Cocolia and Bronya were Ren Amamiya's enemies, having once tried to kill him and Raiden Mei. It was undoubtedly illogical for Ren Amamiya to actively save them.
If she had to make a deduction, Bronya could only assume that Ren Amamiya didn't want her to die at Gray Serpent's hands, but rather to become his pawn, controlled by him.
Ren Amamiya's timely arrival at this recently chosen temporary base might also be due to that peculiar energy he had left within her body.
Although the corrosive power had given Bronya a very unpleasant experience.
This time, however, Bronya felt somewhat fortunate that the corrosive power Ren Amamiya had left behind still existed within her.
Ren Amamiya and Raiden Mei exchanged a glance. The unspoken understanding cultivated in Mementos allowed Raiden Mei to instantly grasp the meaning behind Ren Amamiya's look.
Raiden Mei silently walked towards the critically injured Cocolia and Bronya, temporarily taking on the duty of guarding them from being killed by World Serpent's mech units.
Although Cocolia had framed her father, Raiden Ryoma, for economic fraud, leading to his imprisonment, while Cocolia herself embezzled ME Corp's assets.
She had even orchestrated the school bullying incidents targeting Raiden Mei from behind the scenes, treating her as an experimental subject, attempting to completely twist her mind and plunge her into deep despair, to be replaced by Shadow Mei in her Palace.
Raiden Mei should have immediately exacted revenge on someone who had so maliciously manipulated her fate.
However, since Ren Amamiya was willing to let Cocolia live a little longer, Raiden Mei naturally wouldn't object.
Besides, even if Raiden Mei did nothing, Cocolia looked like she was about to die from blood loss anyway.
The sound of Raiden Mei's low-heeled shoes tapping on the ground echoed continuously.
As Raiden Mei approached, Bronya's small body tensed up abruptly, but she quickly relaxed again.
Even if it was only for a little while, at least for now, Raiden Mei was on their side.
"I think I just heard you say 'Serpent'? Are you an evil god... Are you a believer of that 'Serpent'?"
After Raiden Mei took her position near Bronya.
Ren Amamiya gently rested the back of his Jizo Mitama tachi on his shoulder and turned to question the silent Gray Serpent, who remained rooted to the spot.
Gray Serpent's attire undoubtedly fit Ren Amamiya's stereotypical image of a member of the Serpent's cult.
He looked incredibly sinister and suspicious, not like a good person at first glance.
Especially the white mask he wore.
Looking at the white mask on Gray Serpent's face, Ren Amamiya felt his hands start to itch; his very DNA was about to stir.
If Bronya hadn't been in mortal danger, Ren Amamiya would have definitely snuck up behind Gray Serpent, flipped over his head, and viciously ripped off that white mask, initiating a battle with Gray Serpent to the tune of "Take Over" automatically playing in his mind.
When Gray Serpent was previously conversing with Cocolia, he was fervently praising the "Serpent," appearing very much like a zealot.
Gray Serpent's identity as a believer of the evil god was already a certainty.
Cocolia had clearly colluded with the evil god's believers, and then she was double-crossed by this evil god believer, Gray Serpent.
Presumably, the ones who destroyed ME Corp and turned it into ruins were also evil god believers belonging to Gray Serpent's organization.
Although the evil god Yaldabaoth might not care about its believers, there was a high probability that the evil god was still watching his every move from the other world.
If Ren Amamiya were to attack an evil god believer on sight without a word, he feared he wouldn't sleep well at night because of the evil god.
If they could have a proper conversation, Ren Amamiya wouldn't mind letting Gray Serpent go.
After all, Ren Amamiya had encountered cadres of the Serpent's cult before.
He could communicate normally with both Hare and Raven.
However, this Gray Serpent's thinking was clearly different from the cadres Ren Amamiya had previously encountered... Only he seemed to be a fervent believer in the evil god from the bottom of his heart.
"Evil god? That one? Heh, you don't understand the greatness of the 'Serpent' at all!"
Upon hearing Ren Amamiya's ambiguous question, Gray Serpent sneered disdainfully, believing Ren Amamiya was just bluffing.
Gray Serpent had, of course, investigated Ren Amamiya. It was confident that its intelligence network was unparalleled; even information on Schicksal's top brass could be easily laid bare before it.
According to Gray Serpent's intelligence, Ren Amamiya had been an ordinary person in the past, with no involvement in Honkai-related incidents.
His awakening of Stigmata power was merely due to a coincidental fall into imaginary space, a miraculous awakening of heaven-defying strength due to the environment and the crisis.
For someone from the current civilization who had become strong through sheer luck like Ren Amamiya, Gray Serpent, while wary of the Key of Erosion, Jizo Mitama, in his possession, wouldn't attach too much importance to Ren Amamiya himself.
Journeying from the end of the Previous Era to the present day of the current civilization, Gray Serpent had witnessed the birth and fall of too many powerful individuals over this long expanse of time.
Ren Amamiya, having awakened his Stigmata power, was indeed strong. But when viewed against the entire length of history, especially compared to the Thirteen Flame-Chasers of the Previous Era in Gray Serpent's eyes, his power didn't seem that outstanding.
"You might not believe this, but I've actually met the evil god... met the Serpent. For his sake, I can let you leave here. But if you're unwilling to back down, then fighting you is my only option."
Ren Amamiya raised an eyebrow slightly. Gray Serpent's arrogant and fanatical attitude made Ren Amamiya foresee that it was unlikely to simply turn around and leave.
However, Ren Amamiya's choice wasn't specifically for Gray Serpent himself, but rather for the evil god in the other world to see, to prevent it from causing him trouble later.
Since Gray Serpent was unwilling to back down obediently, Ren Amamiya naturally didn't need to hold back any longer and could just attack him directly.
"Foolish rhetoric. The Sovereign who leads the Serpent is no longer in this reality. How could you have met the Sovereign, who is separated by the vast Sea of Worlds? If you want to deceive someone, there should be a reasonable limit to make it seem more real."
There was a hint of mockery in Gray Serpent's tone. It absolutely did not believe Ren Amamiya could have met Kevin Kaslana, simply because Kevin was currently in the Sea of Quanta, unable to return to the real world, still waiting for his loyal subordinate to rescue him.
If Ren Amamiya had truly met Kevin, wouldn't that mean he could freely enter and exit the Sea of Quanta, possessing terrifying abilities or technology that even Gray Serpent, a denizen of the Previous Era, hadn't been able to implement?
That was, of course, impossible!
"It seems communication is ineffective. In that case, I'll have to ask you to make your exit... Huh? Huh?! HUH?!"
Ren Amamiya slowly lifted the Jizo Mitama tachi from his shoulder, the crimson blade pointing towards Gray Serpent.
The fox-eared shrine maiden, Higokumaru, floating in mid-air on Ren Amamiya's other side, instantly transformed into a streak of crimson spiritual light, surging into Jizo Mitama and greatly enhancing it.
However, Ren Amamiya had just manipulated Higokumaru back into Jizo Mitama, unlocking its true power, and hadn't yet actually attacked Gray Serpent.
Gray Serpent's next action made Ren Amamiya's eyes widen in astonishment.
He suddenly raised the cold pistol he had used to attack Bronya and Cocolia, not aiming at Ren Amamiya, his formidable enemy, but unhesitatingly pointing the pistol at his own temple.
Bang----!!
Under Ren Amamiya's astonished and uncertain gaze, Gray Serpent pulled the trigger with extreme speed. The powerful bullet ejected from the chamber instantly pierced his head, flying out from the other side of his temple into the distance.
...He killed himself?
But I haven't even used Jizo Mitama's power to rewrite his mind yet?
Watching Gray Serpent shoot himself in the head with such fluid motion, Ren Amamiya, tightly gripping the Jizo Mitama tachi, even subconsciously suspected if Higokumaru had manipulated Jizo Mitama's power to actively give Gray Serpent a suicidal suggestion.
Otherwise, why would a zealot who was just sneering and making harsh threats suddenly raise a pistol and shoot himself in the temple?
"Wait, something's not right... He's not committing suicide! Mei, be on alert!"
The surprise in Ren Amamiya's eyes had just surfaced when he keenly noticed that no blood or brain matter splattered from Gray Serpent's head as the bullet passed through.
Ren Amamiya's gaze instantly became wary, and he loudly reminded Raiden Mei on the other side.
Pointing a pistol at one's own temple and pulling the trigger, yet not suffering a fatal injury—this pose had a special meaning in the Persona worldview Ren Amamiya currently inhabited.
The Persona users in the P3 worldview summoned the power of the Persona hidden within their hearts by making a death-suggesting gesture of shooting themselves!
Gray Serpent's intention in shooting himself in the temple wasn't suicide, but rather the sounding of the counterattack horn to charge at Ren Amamiya!
However, what was unexpected was that.
After Gray Serpent shot himself in the temple with a pistol bullet, an astonishing and drastic change did indeed occur in him.
But that change wasn't Gray Serpent summoning his Persona by shooting himself with a pistol.
Gray Serpent didn't summon some mysterious Persona from the void behind him. On the contrary, his body began to violently contort and expand.
In but a moment, the white mask on Gray Serpent's face suddenly fell enormous off. His face turned deathly pale, and his body grewly, mutating into a colossal, pale, Xenomorph-like monster with red and blue tissues respectively on its shoulders!