With Kurikara's strength as a Judgement-class Honkai beast, the Titan mechs manufactured by World Serpent were as fragile as thin paper before it, utterly incapable of posing any threat.
In a short while, the World Serpent mech units that had once pushed Bronya and Cocolia into a desperate situation were completely reduced to immobile scrap metal under the thunderous roar of Raiden Mei's Persona, Kurikara.
And while Raiden Mei was annihilating all the World Serpent mech units on the battlefield.
Veliona finally finished venting her frustration on the Emperor-class Honkai beast Ashvini, which Gray Serpent had transformed into.
She raised her enormous crimson claws, connected by black chains. A demonic, brilliant light flashed momentarily, and a wild, vast crimson claw strike pierced through Ashvini's thick, solid, enormous body, instantly annihilating this Emperor-class Honkai beast that would have troubled even an S-rank Valkyrie.
The colossal body of the Emperor-class Honkai beast Ashvini crashed heavily to the ground, causing the entire temporary base to tremble violently.
As its life signs completely vanished, Ashvini's corpse didn't dissipate into countless particles of light like ordinary Shadows. Instead, it visibly shrank, reverting to Gray Serpent's form.
However, after reverting from the Shadow Ashvini form to a human appearance, Gray Serpent didn't regain any vitality. It remained lifeless and devoid of any sign of life.
"As expected, this Gray Serpent isn't purely human, but a robot... or rather, a cyborg who underwent human augmentation surgery."
After transforming back from Shadow Ashvini to a human form, Gray Serpent's face, its white mask already fallen, was fully exposed to Ren Amamiya's sight.
And its body, battered and broken by Veliona, revealed the secrets hidden beneath Gray Serpent's tight black clothing.
Gray Serpent's face, no longer concealed by the white mask, barely retained a human likeness. However, it had a crimson mechanical prosthetic eye, and traces of mechanical parts were faintly visible on its face. Precisely engineered components fell from the holes in Gray Serpent's body, occasionally sparking with a series of electrical flashes.
Although a part of its body still retained human flesh, Gray Serpent had undoubtedly converted most of its body into cold machinery.
Gray Serpent's identity as a cyborg didn't surprise Ren Amamiya.
With the matter being related to the Anti-Entropy organization led by Cocolia, encountering enemies who had been converted into robots was far too normal.
If there were no robots as enemies, Ren Amamiya would have found it strange and surprising.
"Don't make me personally deal with such weak small fry. You could have easily taken care of it yourself. At least call me out when you encounter some challenging enemies."
After retracting her crimson chain-claws to her side, Veliona crossed her arms in front of her chest and snorted, complaining to Ren Amamiya.
After unleashing a torrent of continuous attacks like a tidal wave and venting all her accumulated frustration, Veliona felt a rare sense of refreshment. Her mood had even slightly improved.
Her initial strong, heartfelt resistance to being summoned by Ren Amamiya to fight for him had lessened.
However, due to her personality, Veliona didn't show this subtle change in her attitude to Ren Amamiya.
"If you insist... then next time we encounter a strong enemy, Seele, you can take the lead instead of Arsene."
Seeing Veliona's arrogant demeanor after her victory, Ren Amamiya nodded agreeably, accepting Veliona's "volunteered" suggestion.
Although not as strong as Ren Amamiya's primary Persona, Arsene, Veliona's displayed strength undoubtedly placed her among the T1 [Tier 1] Personas in Ren Amamiya's arsenal.
To be more precise, aside from Siegfried, Veliona was the strongest Persona Ren Amamiya had subdued.
"Ah, this... Actually, it doesn't necessarily have to be a strong enemy for you to call me out to fight..."
Seeing Ren Amamiya's lack of hesitation, as if he truly intended to only summon her in top-tier battles where even Arsene might not secure a definite win, Veliona was momentarily stunned.
Then, her voice immediately dropped several octaves, and she spoke to Ren Amamiya again in a low voice.
Having stayed alone in the Stigmata space for so long, being able to come to the real world with Ren Amamiya's power was actually a very novel experience, especially being able to casually mow down enemies and stretch her limbs.
After experiencing it firsthand, although she still complained and showed disdain verbally, Veliona was actually starting to secretly enjoy it.
If Ren Amamiya really only summoned her in top-tier battles to act as a backup for Arsene, wouldn't she suffer a setback every time? Wouldn't every summoning be a scene of her getting beaten up?!
Although Veliona wouldn't truly die, if Seele found out about this, or even worse, if Seele witnessed it firsthand...
Veliona instantly felt the urge to dive into the Stigmata space and never come out again.
With her weakness precisely grasped by Ren Amamiya, the usually rebellious and arrogant Veliona finally lowered her proud little head before him.
"Seele, you... are you okay?"
Bronya pushed everything else from her mind. At this moment, the only thing she could see was Veliona's crimson figure.
Bronya dragged her battered and heavy body, limping towards Veliona with her half-damaged leg exoskeleton.
Her tender cherry lips trembled twice. Her usually flat, somewhat childlike voice now carried a hint of caution.
Successfully escaping a desperate situation of death and reuniting with Seele, whom she had dreamed of rescuing from the Sea of Quanta.
The reality Bronya faced felt somewhat dreamlike even to herself, almost like a fantasy concocted before death to satisfy her own desires.
Only the intense, stabbing pain constantly radiating from her body still reminded Bronya that she had indeed survived and had genuinely reunited with Seele in the real world.
...Although the changes in Seele, who had returned from the Sea of Quanta, were far too exaggerated no matter how one looked at them.
Seele, who returned from the Sea of Quanta, had a personality drastically different from before she fell into it.
To make a comparison that made even Bronya's own head feel heavy, the Seele she knew was like a gentle and cute classic magical girl.
But the Seele before her now, who had returned from the Sea of Quanta, whose representative color had even changed from blue to red, and who wore a deep black dress... was almost like a magical girl who had undergone an evil inversion, her personality completely different from the original.
But it was okay. As long as Seele could come back, it was fine. Even if her personality had changed, Seele was still Seele.
Bronya kept repeating this in her mind, trying to convince herself.
However, when she looked at Veliona floating beside Ren Amamiya, clearly having some kind of mysterious connection with him, Bronya still couldn't suppress a strong sense of melancholy and bitterness welling up in her heart.
"----Okay? Heh, my dear Sister Bronya, do I look like I'm okay right now?"
Watching Bronya, who, despite the damaged exoskeleton on her left leg, still stubbornly limped towards her.
Veliona, who had been somewhat soft-spoken and timid in front of Ren Amamiya, now raised her delicate eyebrows defiantly. A smile blending mockery and ridicule instantly appeared on her exquisite, flawless face, her tone deliberately sarcastic as she spoke to Bronya.
This was Veliona's first face-to-face meeting with Bronya.
However, even when she was in the Stigmata space, Veliona had felt jealous and annoyed by Bronya, who was very close to Seele.
Now Bronya was standing right in front of her and hadn't even distinguished between her and the real Seele, mistaking her for the real Seele.
Seele trusted Bronya so much, yet Bronya couldn't even tell her and Seele apart. Veliona instantly felt it was a great injustice to Seele.
Bronya also appeared increasingly disagreeable in Veliona's eyes.
Since Bronya hadn't recognized her identity, Veliona simply went along with the mistake and made a mocking remark based on Bronya's misunderstanding.
"Seele..."
Looking at the mocking smile Veliona gave her, a flustered and helpless look appeared in Bronya's eyes. Like a primary school student who had made a mistake, she silently lowered her small head, a sharp pang of pain surging through her heart.
Although still expressionless, Ren Amamiya could clearly sense that Bronya had fallen into an extremely dejected mood.
"Even though you promised Seele you'd rescue her from the Sea of Quanta, Sister Bronya didn't manage to do anything, did she? In the end, Seele still had to rely on this phantom thief to leave the Sea of Quanta~~~~"
Veliona seized this golden opportunity to vent all her negative emotions onto Bronya, whose little head drooped lower and lower.
Looking at Bronya, who was deeply tormented by guilt, Veliona, who could only watch Bronya flirt with Seele from the Stigmata space, now felt an intense sense of satisfaction.
Being able to come to the real world and thoroughly taunt Bronya—even if she died and returned to the Stigmata space this time, it was already worth the price of admission!
Veliona wasn't entirely lying.
Through this experience of being summoned to the real world by Ren Amamiya, and recalling some snippets of conversation she had heard from Kaslana in the Kaslana Palace.
Veliona was already confident that she could indirectly summon Seele to the real world by leveraging the connection between Ren Amamiya and herself, and between herself and Seele.
Although she couldn't keep Seele in the real world for long, it would at least allow Seele to temporarily escape the infinitely vast, empty prison of the Sea of Quanta and return to the real world to enjoy the taste of freedom for a while.
"Bronya's injuries are quite serious; she needs treatment as soon as possible... Seele, do you know any healing skills?"
Ren Amamiya carefully examined Bronya. Her silver-gray twin-drill pigtails were somewhat messy, her delicate and pretty face was stained with some dust, and her small, slender body was covered in wounds from which fresh, human-red blood flowed.
The originally mechanical-style exoskeleton armor was shattered, revealing Bronya's tender, slender calves hidden within.
These wounds on Bronya's body undoubtedly confirmed the cold reality that she wasn't purely a robot, but had become her current self after undergoing human experimentation.
Fortunately, Bronya hadn't been completely converted into a robot by Cocolia and still retained most of her human vital signs.
Compared to Gray Serpent, who had been almost completely converted into a robot, Bronya was clearly still more inclined towards the human form of life.
Presumably, Seele and Hare in the distant other world would be very happy to know this news.
If Bronya's body had been modified to the same extent as Gray Serpent's, with circuit boards visible in her wounds, then Ren Amamiya would be completely helpless and could only hand Bronya over to professional mechanics for repair and maintenance.
Fortunately, Bronya was currently more like a human. Healing-type skills could still work on her, and it wouldn't be difficult for Ren Amamiya to treat Bronya's injuries.
"Huh? Healing? I only bring death to enemies. Healing is completely unrelated to me!"
Upon hearing Ren Amamiya's question, Veliona raised an eyebrow slightly and responded to him matter-of-factly.
Not to mention that Veliona wasn't good at healing and only excelled at bringing the threat of death to enemies through destruction.
Even if she did possess the ability to heal human bodies, Veliona wasn't very keen on healing Bronya for no reason.
At the very least, Bronya would have to suffer for a while to learn her lesson, and then, at Seele's pleading, she would reluctantly treat Bronya.
"No choice then. You can go back first. Next, it's Arsene's turn, who has healing skills."
Perhaps it was due to Veliona's somewhat special form of existence.
Although her raw strength wasn't as formidable as Arsene's, the cost for Ren Amamiya to maintain Veliona's existence in the real world was about three times more strenuous than maintaining Arsene's activity. She was truly a mana guzzler.
"Wait, I haven't----!!"
Before Veliona, whose eyes had widened subconsciously, could utter her last words, Ren Amamiya decisively canceled the summoning maintenance for Veliona, sending her back to the other world.