"That person... turned into a Shadow?!"
Standing in front of Bronya, Raiden Mei couldn't help but cry out in surprise as she watched Gray Serpent twist and bloat from a humanoid form into a giant white monster.
For Ren Amamiya, it was a common, almost expected occurrence for Shadows with human forms to suddenly disintegrate and reform into their true, variously shaped Shadow selves.
However, this was the first time Raiden Mei had witnessed the process of a "human" transforming into a "Shadow," so her surprise was natural.
To be more precise, Ren Amamiya had only seen human-form Shadows turn into monsters in the game.
In Mementos, all the Shadows he encountered directly displayed their original forms. Only Palace Rulers would undergo a change in appearance after being rejected and denied by their real selves.
This was perhaps the difference between a game and true reality.
Unless necessary, Shadows wouldn't bother to mimic a human form.
And this Gray Serpent that Ren Amamiya had encountered in the real world—its true identity was likely not purely human.
"He didn't summon a Persona, but turned into a Shadow himself... No matter, in the end, you'll only be defeated by me."
Facing Gray Serpent, who had mutated into a colossal, mountain-like white Shadow with sharp red and blue tissues on its shoulders and red and blue patterns flowing on its thick arms.
A flicker of surprise crossed Ren Amamiya's eyes for only a moment before he completely calmed down in the next instant.
Ren Amamiya gripped the hilt of Jizo Mitama with his right hand. His left palm, clad in a red glove, slowly rose to his face, and he deftly removed the white spirit bird mask, revealing the handsome, refined features beneath.
Since everyone present knew Ren Amamiya's true identity, there was no need for him to go through the extra step of directly manifesting a Persona using Jizo Mitama.
As Ren Amamiya removed the white spirit bird mask from his face, a pale blue spectral flame quietly ignited upon it.
In the blink of an eye, as the azure flame dissipated, the mask in Ren Amamiya's left hand had transformed into a crimson one, adorned with eerie, butterfly-like patterns.
"Persona!!"
"Shadow? What are you talking about? According to the data collected in Bronya's database, that's clearly an Ashvini-class... Huh?!!"
Bronya furrowed her brows slightly, feeling a bit puzzled by Raiden Mei and Ren Amamiya's terminology for Gray Serpent after its mutation into a Honkai beast.
This was Bronya and Raiden Mei's first meeting; they had no prior real-world altercations.
Therefore, when facing Raiden Mei, Bronya didn't feel the same inner conflict as when confronting Ren Amamiya. She could ask Raiden Mei directly without any psychological burden.
Ashvini was an Emperor-class Honkai beast, and even among Emperor-class Honkai beasts, it was considered a high-tier one. Its strength was not to be underestimated.
If it were the Schicksal Immortal Blades squad that had previously wiped out Cocolia's forces at the ME Corp base—with the power of one S-rank Valkyrie and over a dozen A-rank elite Valkyries—eliminating this Emperor-class Honkai beast would have been a certainty.
However, in this temporary base now, the only ones still possessing combat capability were Ren Amamiya and Raiden Mei.
Although Bronya knew Ren Amamiya was strong, strong enough to defeat her without a struggle, Bronya's strength was worlds apart from that of an Emperor-class Honkai beast.
Ren Amamiya could defeat Bronya, but he might not necessarily be able to defeat the Ashvini that Gray Serpent had transformed into.
Unless Raiden Mei completed her awakening and became the Herrscher of Thunder right here and now.
Although a newly born Herrscher of Thunder would be in its weakest state, with Herrscher-level strength, eliminating an Emperor-class Honkai beast would still be a piece of cake.
"----Come forth, Seele!!!"
Just as Bronya was about to explain the formidable strength of the Emperor-class Honkai beast Ashvini to Raiden Mei.
Ren Amamiya, who was confronting the Emperor-class Honkai beast Ashvini and had just thrown the crimson butterfly mask forward.
The name he called out loudly instantly triggered an instinctive reaction from Bronya.
Bronya immediately swallowed the words she was about to utter. Her cool, indifferent gray eyes naturally shifted from Raiden Mei to Ren Amamiya.
In the next instant, Bronya's pupils dilated to their absolute limit.
Brilliant crimson radiance burst forth from the butterfly mask. Countless eerie, crimson butterfly phantoms converged, forming a slender and delicate silhouette.
Gazing at the familiar figure emerging hazily from the crimson brilliance, Bronya's petite body couldn't help but tremble violently.
The emotional center of Bronya's brain was damaged; she should have been unable to express joy or shock.
But after seeing the familiar silhouette slowly materialize from the crimson light.
Bronya, whose heart was filled with intense surprise and excitement, finally let the corners of her persistently suppressed lips curve upwards into a faint smile, visible to the naked eye.
However, less than two seconds passed. When the crimson light that had filled the entire temporary base receded and dimmed.
The slight upward curve of Bronya's smile abruptly froze on her face.
The rustling and clanking of chains echoed continuously. Cold chains were wrapped around the slender body of the girl who bore an identical face and figure to Seele!
And at the ends of the chains were two enormous, ostentatious, and ferocious crimson blood claws.
Floating in mid-air in front of Ren Amamiya, Veliona, dressed in a deep black dress and with her eyes gently closed, slowly opened them. Impatient irritation flickered in her blood-red, demonic eyes.
The very first moment she responded to Ren Amamiya's call and appeared, she let out a loud, clear click of her tongue.
Bronya's vision suddenly went black.
Compared to the soft, weak Seele in Bronya's memory, the Seele who now appeared before her seemed far too rough and unrestrained.
Seele's eyes should be blue like the ocean, and her hair should be blue-black.
Previously, because the crimson light was too vibrant and bright, Bronya hadn't been able to carefully distinguish Veliona's true hair color.
As the phenomenon accompanying the Persona summoning completely disappeared, Bronya immediately noticed the most obvious difference in hair color between Veliona and Seele.
However, although her personality had changed, and her hair and eye color were slightly different from the original.
The girl Ren Amamiya called "Seele" did indeed exude an aura that felt familiar to Bronya.
...It was Seele's aura. She was indeed Seele.
She hadn't expected Seele's appearance and personality to undergo such a drastic, earth-shattering reversal after not seeing her for some time.
Even though she was just watching from a distance, Bronya suddenly felt a dizziness even stronger than when she was attacked by Rita at ME Corp earlier.
But it was okay... As long as Seele could come back, it was fine!
After all, surviving alone in a bizarre and unpredictable place like the Sea of Quanta, it was natural for Seele's personality to change. No matter how Seele changed, Seele was still Seele. As long as she could come back, it was fine!
Bronya quickly came to terms with this. The tension she had constantly felt since Seele fell into the Sea of Quanta finally, completely eased.
"Such an ant-like, weak enemy, and I still have to deal with it personally. What a pain!"
Floating in the sky in front of Ren Amamiya, Veliona suppressed the churning annoyance in her heart and complained to Ren Amamiya with great dissatisfaction.
If Seele were in danger, Veliona, while verbally expressing similar disdain, would secretly enjoy helping Seele overcome her difficulties.
However, Ren Amamiya, who had just forcibly subdued her, clearly hadn't earned that kind of treatment yet.
Veliona genuinely resisted working for Ren Amamiya for free, but she couldn't say no to him.
Ashvini was an Emperor-class Honkai beast. If Veliona could only stay in the Stigmata space, even with her support, Seele would need to expend considerable effort to defeat Ashvini.
But Ren Amamiya's ability to summon Personas was indeed excellent. Even the dissatisfied Veliona had to admit that she was currently appearing in the real world with her full strength, in her peak condition.
Enemies of the Emperor-class Honkai beast level—no matter how many came, she could easily annihilate them.
Holding onto the thought that eliminating the enemy sooner would mean getting back to Seele sooner.
After letting out a soft sigh, Veliona raised the crimson blood claws connected by the black chains. Her figure, like an eerie red butterfly phantom, flickered and crisscrossed in the sky in an instant.
In a flash, Veliona closed in on Ashvini's body and launched a wild and terrifying crimson claw attack against the heavily armored Emperor-class Honkai beast.
A heaven-shattering, blood-red claw strike slammed onto Ashvini's thick, white, armor-like hide. Under Bronya's utterly astonished gaze, it dealt a severe blow to the powerful Emperor-class Honkai beast.
After transforming into its Honkai beast form, Gray Serpent completely lost its rationality, retaining only the destructive instincts of a Honkai beast.
Upon being attacked by Veliona, Ashvini immediately let out a shrill roar and swung its thick, pillar-like white arms towards Veliona in a counterattack.
Although she wanted to hurry back to Seele, Veliona clearly didn't intend to let Ashvini, the culprit who made her work overtime, off easy before leaving.
Even though she possessed the strength to instantly kill an Emperor-class Honkai beast, Veliona still dragged things out with Ashvini for a while out of sheer spite.
She manipulated her crimson chain-claws into fists and clashed head-on with Ashvini's swinging white arm-pillars, squarely overpowering the massive Ashvini and forcing its heavy body to retreat continuously.
"Seele... Is that Seele? Bronya, am I seeing things? Is that really Seele?!"
Watching Veliona attack Ashvini with her crimson chain-claws as if manipulating agile snakes—effortlessly and mockingly, like a cat playing with a mouse, each attack inflicting massive damage on Ashvini—Cocolia's eyes widened in instant astonishment.
Although Cocolia knew that Seele, as a Stigmata awakener, must have received a powerful strength boost after surviving the X-10 experiment.
But Cocolia had never imagined Seele could obtain such terrifying power as to toy with an Emperor-class Honkai beast.
The formerly gentle and cute Seele, like a little white rabbit, now had a mocking attitude and possessed violence surpassing most people.
This overwhelmingly strong contrast even made Cocolia suspect if she was hallucinating Seele due to excessive blood loss before death.
However, soon, the roar of a dragon that suddenly thundered by her ear made Cocolia's body jolt. Her head throbbed with a sharp pain, and the intense agony made her fully recognize the reality of the situation.
"----Roar, Kurikara!!"
Raiden Mei, like Ren Amamiya, threw the black ogre mask in her hand. The crimson dragon Kurikara descended upon the world from a dazzling burst of lightning. From its commanding position, it spewed forth an intensely brilliant pillar of purple lightning, clearing out the World Serpent mech units that were charging towards Cocolia and Bronya regardless of losses.
Ever since Gray Serpent had mutated into that giant white Shadow called Ashvini, those robots had been launching suicidal charges as if they had lost their controller.
Fortunately, Raiden Mei, the Persona user, was there to guard them. One Titan mech after another was reduced to immobile scrap metal under the vast torrent of lightning spewing from Kurikara.
Even when the Titan mechs launched a coordinated long-range bombardment of shells, Raiden Mei commanded her Persona Kurikara to destroy all the projectiles, preventing Bronya, who was behind her, from suffering even the slightest harm.
"So, so strong! Just a short while ago, you were an ordinary person. Only a day has passed, and you've already become this powerful?!"
Behind Raiden Mei, Bronya, who was under her protection, had eyes filled with intense shock.
From a weak, ordinary person who could do nothing, to possessing such terrifying strength that it seemed she could do anything now.
Raiden Mei had probably already mastered the power of the Gem of Conquest, seizing the authority belonging to the Herrscher of Thunder, hadn't she?!