Although Bronya had accepted Seele's gift and become a Persona user, she was ultimately not a spontaneously awakened, true Persona user.
According to Hare, she couldn't meet the current Bronya, or it would only lead to Bronya being harmed by her special constitution.
Only Persona users like Ren Amamiya and Seele could stand safely beside Hare.
Bronya's and Hare's strengths couldn't even be compared. Since Bronya and Hare couldn't be in the same team, who to leave out of the team was not a question that required any hesitation.
After breakfast at the Raiden residence, Ren Amamiya took Raiden Mei and infiltrated Kaslana's Palace, leaving Bronya at the Raiden residence to look after the house and maintain the Phantom Aficionado Website.
Seele, existing in the world as Ren Amamiya's Persona, naturally also slowly disappeared from before Bronya after Ren Amamiya, the Persona user, left the real world. Her consciousness returned to the Kaslana Palace, where she completed a reunion with Ren Amamiya that Bronya couldn't see.
"Kaslana, how exactly do I use this [Key] you gave me? I tried it in the real world, but I couldn't find the location of the Velvet Room, which exists between matter and spirit, using this [Key]."
The first thing Ren Amamiya did upon returning to the Kaslana Palace was to ask Kaslana, who stood motionless in the distance like an iceberg.
Unable to enter the Velvet Room through dreams, and unable to find the door to enter the Velvet Room in the real world using the [Key] Kaslana had given him.
Ren Amamiya had no choice but to seek help from Kaslana, who had given him the [Key], hoping to get more detailed instructions on how to use the [Key] from him.
"The [Key] alone is not enough. The Velvet Room is a strictly sealed forbidden area. To enter the Velvet Room in the real world, you need a [Guide] in addition to the [Key]."
Kaslana slowly turned around, his emotions so stable they were without a ripple as he responded to Ren Amamiya.
"Hare knows the area where the Velvet Room is located. You can have her take you to the door of the Velvet Room. Use the [Key] I gave you to open the sealed door and enter, to find all the answers you seek."
"Indeed, the Velvet Room's coordinates in the real world are very hidden, and its defenses are perfectly executed. To enter the Velvet Room, one must infiltrate the main base of the Serpent's cult. This is a very dangerous undertaking for anyone... However, with Joker's skills, it shouldn't be a problem to infiltrate the Velvet Room covertly."
Hare showed a gentle and soft smile. She gently reached out towards the void in front of her and, with a casual gesture, created a portal connecting to the World Serpent headquarters.
After learning from Ren Amamiya and Seele that Bronya had been successfully rescued and hadn't been completely transformed into a cyborg girl, Hare, who originally had a quiet and gentle personality, began to appear somewhat eager. She couldn't wait to help Ren Amamiya.
"The fluctuations caused by spatial teleportation will be detected by the advanced equipment deployed in the base. Fortunately, I have the status of a cadre in the Serpent's cult. I just need to show up openly and accept a mission... However, in that case, I won't be able to look after you, Joker. You'll have to infiltrate the deepest corridor of the base on your own and find a way to enter the Velvet Room."
Because she could only provide cover for Ren Amamiya and couldn't directly send him to the Velvet Room, Hare's words carried a strong hint of apology.
World Serpent inherited the technological legacy of the Previous Era. The Velvet Room... [Elysian Realm], as the foundation of World Serpent, had its protective measures tightened to the extreme. Only World Serpent cadres and cadre candidates could enter it.
With Ren Amamiya's current combat ability, which could even steadily defeat a Herrscher, the beings that could truly pose a threat to him were not in the World Serpent headquarters along the way, but rather inside the [Velvet Room], Ren Amamiya's destination.
Theoretically, even if Ren Amamiya gave up stealth and tried to enter the Elysian Realm openly, there were no cadres in the World Serpent base who could stop him.
However, Ren Amamiya clearly didn't intend to enter the Elysian Realm just once. To be able to visit the Elysian Realm continuously in the future, Ren Amamiya had to maintain secrecy and conduct covert operations.
Otherwise, although World Serpent couldn't pose a threat to Ren Amamiya, it was entirely possible for them to completely seal off the entrance to the Elysian Realm, or even threaten the very existence of the Elysian Realm itself.
"It's fine, infiltration is a phantom thief's specialty. I'm ready."
Azure spectral flames ignited on Ren Amamiya's body. His black phantom thief attire and white spirit bird mask adorned his body.
Ren Amamiya tugged at the red gloves on his hands, summoned Jizo Mitama and Higokumaru, and after preparing to infiltrate the enemy base, he bid a temporary farewell to Kaslana, Raiden Mei, and the others, and stepped into the portal that had appeared in the void in front with Hare.
On the other side of the portal was a cold-toned corridor forged from steel.
The moment he teleported from the Kaslana Palace to the base of the Serpent's cult, Ren Amamiya utilized his agile skills as a phantom thief, quickly finding a secluded corner to hide his figure, and used Jizo Mitama's power to invade the control system of this base.
To prevent his infiltration from being detected by the base's controller, Ren Amamiya didn't make large-scale changes to the base's data permissions. He only hacked into the surveillance system to erase records of his presence and obtain the patrol routes of the automated robots within the base.
Just as Hare had said earlier, this base indeed had precision instruments for detecting spatial fluctuations.
Hare had just teleported into the base, and the portal behind her hadn't even completely faded.
A figure dressed in black, wearing a white single-eyed mask, and holding a black umbrella indoors, looking identical to the Gray Serpent Ren Amamiya had already killed, appeared eerily in front of Hare, engaging her in conversation with a gloomy and sinister tone.
Black clothes, black umbrella, white mask—this seemed to be the standard configuration for the cyborgs of the Serpent's cult...
Witnessing the conversation between another Gray Serpent and Hare, Ren Amamiya seriously considered the possibility of finding a cyborg, stripping off its attire for himself, or perhaps just blending in by holding a black umbrella.
After all, Ren Amamiya's phantom thief attire was also black clothes and a white mask; all he lacked was a black umbrella.
Relying on Jizo Mitama's virus-like ability to invade electronic devices, it wasn't impossible for Ren Amamiya to access the special network among the cyborgs.
However, this joking thought only lingered in Ren Amamiya's mind for a moment before he decisively discarded it.
Ren Amamiya had just eliminated a Gray Serpent executing the mission to kill Cocolia yesterday. Information about him might have already been uploaded to the cyborgs' internal network by that Gray Serpent.
If spotted by the Gray Serpent cyborgs, Ren Amamiya's identity could easily be exposed.
It was better to honestly proceed with the infiltration operation in the style of a phantom thief, without anyone noticing.
Relying on Jizo Mitama's corrosive power, Higokumaru projected a real-time Marauder's Map in front of Ren Amamiya, thoughtfully marking the best stealth routes and the patrol areas of the robot guards.
Whether it was exposed cameras or extremely concealed built-in surveillance devices, nothing could hide from Jizo Mitama's power.
Ren Amamiya's figure flashed past the cameras at extreme speed like a black falcon. Whenever he passed a camera, the surveillance equipment would experience a perfectly timed delay, the time freezing just before Ren Amamiya passed and resuming only after he had left, always maintaining a normal image of no one passing through.
Ren Amamiya, wielding Jizo Mitama, was like a fish in water in this base, as if he had cheats activated. His infiltration was exceptionally smooth; he felt no resistance at all.
The base map collected by Higokumaru didn't mark the location of the Velvet Room. However, Hare had already informed him that the Velvet Room was in the deepest part of the base. Ren Amamiya just needed to reach the deepest part of the base.
While Ren Amamiya was heading towards the Velvet Room, he passed by a laboratory of the Serpent's cult.
While the laboratory door was open, human experimental subjects—their faces contorted in pain, their bodies mutated into various grotesque, non-human tissues, as if they were transforming from humans to Shadows and had only succeeded halfway, their auras extremely weak and on the verge of complete death—were being transported out by automated robots to an unknown location.
As the laboratory door closed, the human screams and irrational, Shadow-like roars that Ren Amamiya could faintly hear completely died down, becoming completely silent as if they had never existed.
"...."
As an evil organization that worshipped an evil god, it was natural for the members of the Serpent's cult to be radical and insane. It wasn't surprising for one or two mad scientists who enjoyed human experimentation to appear.
After returning from the Velvet Room, I'll wreak havoc and completely destroy this laboratory.
Ren Amamiya silently memorized the location of this laboratory, then quickened his pace and continued to sneak towards the Velvet Room located in the deepest part.
When Gray Serpent transformed into Shadow Ashvini yesterday, Ren Amamiya had wondered whether Gray Serpent had transformed from a human into a Shadow, or if a Shadow appearing in the real world had disguised itself as a human.
And based on the miserable state of the experimental subjects he had just seen, the Serpent's cult was clearly researching the cruel technology of transforming humans into Shadows.
Even Cocolia wouldn't conduct such inhumane and cruel human experiments... Uh, wait a minute, did she really not do it?
Cocolia and Gray Serpent clearly had a cooperative relationship. It wasn't impossible that she had obtained the technology to transform humans into Shadows from Gray Serpent.
Even if Cocolia hadn't experimented with this forbidden technology of transforming humans into Shadows on Seele and Bronya, it didn't mean she hadn't transformed other children in the orphanage into non-human Shadows.
Although Cocolia had already been forcibly made to repent by Ren Amamiya, this didn't mean her sins were redeemed. She was still just as rotten, not much different from the mad scientists in the Serpent's cult. Ren Amamiya didn't need to treat Cocolia differently or whitewash her just because she was forced to repent.
"Is this the place? The area not recorded on the base map, the corridor Hare mentioned that connects to the Velvet Room."
Ren Amamiya glanced at the base map held by Higokumaru in the void beside him. He had already reached the end of the area recorded on the base map.
However, after shifting his gaze from the virtual map, a long, dark, and mysterious passage, exuding a profound aura, clearly still lay before Ren Amamiya.
The passage at the end of the base was very narrow, only allowing one person to advance at a time.
As Ren Amamiya stepped into it, a boundless sense of darkness, devoid of any light, quietly engulfed his figure.
Ren Amamiya walked slowly in this dark and profound passage. He didn't know how far he had walked in this pitch-black space when a cool, icy sensation suddenly appeared on the back of his left hand.
Ren Amamiya took off the red glove on his left hand. The [Key] given to him by Kaslana, the sigil-like pattern resembling a greatsword, was slowly emitting a faint glow, becoming the only light in this dark space.
Under the faint light of the sigil key, the boundless darkness enveloping Ren Amamiya's body gradually dissipated like melting spring snow.
A soft light, very conspicuous in the darkness, slowly lit up from directly in front of Ren Amamiya.
Just as Ren Amamiya was preparing to head towards the location of that light and completely traverse this darkness.
A golden butterfly, possessing a bewitching, demonic charm, quietly flitted past Ren Amamiya, as if guiding him, slowly flying towards an area deviating from the light's location.
"A butterfly... not blue, but golden?!"
Gazing at the golden butterfly that brushed past him, Ren Amamiya's eyes instantly widened in astonishment.
This was the domain of the Velvet Room. It was perfectly normal for butterflies to appear as imagery in the Velvet Room.
However, the butterfly that appeared before Ren Amamiya was not a normal blue butterfly, but a golden butterfly, like dark gold!
As far as Ren Amamiya knew, blue butterflies were symbols of the Velvet Room's residents, like Lavenza and the other Velvet Room attendants.
And golden butterflies... were countless times nobler than blue butterflies.
Blue butterflies were merely symbols representing the golden butterfly.
To be more specific, the being symbolized by the golden butterfly was none other than the one who created Igor, the master of the Velvet Room—the god of humanity's collective unconscious, Philemon!
Now I have no choice but to follow the butterfly's guidance!