Following the guidance of the golden butterfly, Ren Amamiya deviated from the original path leading to the light straight ahead, continuously advancing through the profound darkness.
After an unknown amount of time, although Ren Amamiya was still in darkness, the atmosphere of this darkness was distinctly different from the dark path he had traversed before entering the Velvet Room.
Torches were hung on the cold walls, emitting a faint glow, struggling to illuminate the surrounding environment.
"...Something seems a bit off here, Boss Joker. Did we take a wrong turn?"
Higokumaru floated beside Ren Amamiya's shoulder, shivering as she hugged her five fluffy, cherry-pink fox tails, feeling an instinctive fear of this unknown dark space.
"This looks like some kind of prison, it's so gloomy! Maybe it's holding the world's most dangerous, terrifying, and vicious criminals. Why don't we go back, Boss Joker? I feel like the place that light was guiding us to is the real entrance..."
Higokumaru cautiously raised a small hand, gently tugging at the corner of Ren Amamiya's clothes, trying to persuade him to change his mind and not delve deeper into this seemingly endless dark space.
In the desolate and void-like dark space, cold and sturdy iron-barred gates stood starkly. Inside the steel cell doors were simple beds, washbasins, and toilets, and nothing else.
No matter how Higokumaru looked at it, this place resembled a prison specifically designed to incarcerate criminals.
And based on the terrifyingly eerie and dark environment, where merely being present could gradually overwhelm one's spirit with pressure.
Higokumaru dared to pat her chest and guarantee that this prison was definitely the final holding place for those guilty of heinous crimes.
If they continued walking in this prison, who knew when a group of ferocious and terrifying criminals might suddenly jump out from the darkness and launch a surprise attack on her and Ren Amamiya.
"It's normal if it's a prison. I'd find it strange if it wasn't... You might not believe this, but I actually have an exclusive VIP cell in this prison."
Ren Amamiya's gaze remained fixed on the fluttering golden butterfly. He quickly scanned the prison environment that had emerged from the darkness, responding to Higokumaru, who was hovering beside his shoulder, in a matter-of-fact tone.
This should be the outer area of the Velvet Room, the place where the Phantom Thieves were imprisoned at the end of P5.
And the exclusive cell that held Ren Amamiya himself should be located even deeper inside.
After becoming a Persona user, Ren Amamiya could very easily and keenly perceive this otherworldly atmosphere, so different from the real world.
Walking in this dark prison, Ren Amamiya could feel that he could directly summon his Persona at any time, without needing to rely on the power of the Jizo Mitama tachi in his hand.
"V-V-V... VIP cell?! Cells have VIP options?! And Boss Joker, you've been locked up in prison before?!"
Hearing Ren Amamiya's casual response, Higokumaru's expression instantly became dumbfounded. Her five cherry-pink fox tails even stiffened into a straight line due to excessive surprise.
"What crime did you commit, Boss Joker, to be locked up in such a terrifying prison? Did you kill many, many people? Or did you destroy some city?"
After recovering slightly from her surprise, Higokumaru gently swayed her tails and asked Ren Amamiya with some curiosity.
Higokumaru had never seen any heinous criminals before. Plus, Ren Amamiya didn't look like the bad guys on TV. Therefore, Higokumaru subconsciously substituted Ren Amamiya for herself, thinking that Ren Amamiya had committed a similar crime as her.
"How is that possible? I didn't do anything; I was just maliciously imprisoned... Hmm? The butterfly disappeared?"
Just as Ren Amamiya and Higokumaru were talking, the golden butterfly that had been flying in front of him, guiding the way, quietly merged into the dark space and vanished, as silently as it had appeared.
Philemon had never officially appeared in the world of the new Persona series. Ren Amamiya was already very content that Philemon could send a golden butterfly to guide him.
However, although the golden butterfly had disappeared, ending its guidance for Ren Amamiya.
Ren Amamiya had not yet reached his intended destination.
This was clearly still the outer area of the Velvet Room, not the deepest part where the evil god was entrenched.
"What does this mean? Is it because he heard I know something about the Velvet Room, so he stopped guiding me, wanting me to walk the rest of the way myself? Or does he want me to stay here and not go to the deepest part to face that evil god?"
The sudden disappearance of the golden butterfly made Ren Amamiya halt his steps. He stood in place, frowning slightly, carefully pondering Philemon's intentions.
Judging from Philemon deliberately using a golden butterfly to guide Ren Amamiya from the light entrance to the outer area of the Velvet Room, he probably didn't want Ren Amamiya to go to the deepest part and directly confront the evil god.
By guiding Ren Amamiya to the outer area of the Velvet Room, Philemon might have eluded the evil god's eyes and ears, or perhaps he had deterred Yaldabaoth, the false god, with the power of a true god.
In short, although Philemon, this god of human unconsciousness, was inactive to the extreme, since he had made a slight move, it was best for Ren Amamiya to heed the advice of this benevolent god and not continue to the deepest part of the prison to confront the evil god.
"Boss Joker was also inexplicably locked up without doing anything? I get it, I get it!!"
Higokumaru didn't pay attention to the disappearance of the golden butterfly. After hearing Ren Amamiya say he had been forcibly imprisoned despite his innocence, tears welled up in Higokumaru's blue eyes.
She nodded her small head vigorously with empathy, then her entire small body suddenly pounced onto Ren Amamiya's shoulder. She extended her short arms and tightly hugged half of Ren Amamiya's face.
"What do you get... Oh, you really do seem to understand this anger of being imprisoned. But unlike me, if you hadn't been imprisoned in the past, you really would have done bad things, right?"
Ren Amamiya extended two fingers, grabbed the back of Higokumaru's slender, smooth neck, and after tugging twice, finally pulled Higokumaru, who was clinging tightly to his left cheek, into mid-air. He gently swayed her doll-like, petite body and said so.
Higokumaru seemed to have been sealed in that black box along with the sacred treasure by Kallen for the past five hundred years. It was not at all an exaggeration to say she had been imprisoned.
The deadly sin present in Yae Sakura's Palace was the sin of [Wrath]. As the Shadow-side of Yae Sakura, Higokumaru's [Wrath] from being imprisoned for over five hundred years naturally far exceeded the sum total of Ren Amamiya's anger from being imprisoned by the evil god in the Velvet Room cell.
However, at that time, Higokumaru was still "Higo-maru," still the "Higo-maru" of Yae Sakura's inner Shadow. If she hadn't been sealed in the black box by Kallen, she would definitely have done something extremely terrible to Yae Sakura.
Sealing away one's inner Shadow and not facing it, although this kind of escapist method couldn't completely cure one's psychological problems, it was indeed very effective.
"Even though that's true... I didn't do anything at that time, and it was really too much to just kill me once like that!!"
Higokumaru's doll-like petite body swayed gently in Ren Amamiya's hand. She puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction. Her cheeks, inflated like a pufferfish, made Ren Amamiya involuntarily extend a finger to poke Higokumaru's fair, soft cheek.
Just as Higokumaru was complaining to Ren Amamiya in a melancholic tone, Ren Amamiya's finger, poking Higokumaru's small face, paused slightly.
It wasn't that Higokumaru's words had touched Ren Amamiya in some way.
He had just suddenly felt a sense of covert surveillance.
This hidden presence seemed to have always had its gaze fixed on Ren Amamiya, but it was as natural and silent as the world itself, so Ren Amamiya had never noticed the feeling of being watched before.
It wasn't until Ren Amamiya was chatting with Higokumaru that the hidden presence suddenly seemed to waver, exiting that harmonious, natural state akin to the world itself, which led to Ren Amamiya noticing the existence of this behind-the-scenes observer.
The one secretly observing him from behind the scenes should be Philemon, the god of unconsciousness who had released the golden butterfly to guide him here.
Because the game was too old and had no localization, Ren Amamiya hadn't played the original Persona series. His understanding of Philemon was entirely based on lurking in forums and absorbing information. He didn't know which nerve of Philemon his conversation with Higokumaru just now had struck.
But it didn't matter. Since he knew that god was still watching him and hadn't left, things would be easier.
"Phi... Lord God, you're watching me, right? I need your help now!"
Ren Amamiya had intended to call Philemon by name, but since he was the one asking for a favor from a god, he changed his address midway to a more respectful one.
"I'm here to retrieve the equipment that Hare previously sent to the Velvet Room, commissioned to be crafted with Will Seeds and Treasures. I also want to borrow the power of the Velvet Room to complete Persona fusion... Although I don't really want to face that evil god in the Velvet Room, I still need to improve my strength overall."
"Since you prevented my meeting with the evil god, I hope you can at least satisfy my need to improve my strength."
In the original Persona series, Philemon seemed to exist as an auxiliary role, facilitating humanity's awakening of Persona abilities.
As the creator of the creator of the Velvet Room, Philemon, the god of unconsciousness, had no reason to be unable to do something as trivial as fusing Personas, which even the Velvet Room attendants could do. In fact, he could surely do it better and more perfectly than Lavenza and the twins!
Just as Ren Amamiya's voice fell, having made his request to the hidden Philemon.
Ren Amamiya immediately felt the gaze on him suddenly disappear, as if Philemon had already left.
"Boss Joker, who are you talking to? There's clearly no one here... Don't tell me you're talking to something I can't see?!"
Higokumaru, floating in mid-air, straightened her red and white shrine maiden outfit, which had become messy from Ren Amamiya's handling, and covered her slightly exposed smooth shoulders again.
She looked around curiously but didn't observe any existence that could communicate with Ren Amamiya.
Being in a dark and terrifying prison, seemingly designed to evoke unease in people's hearts, Higokumaru's mind suddenly recalled scene after scene of horror movies she had watched on TV in the past.
Her body suddenly stiffened to the extreme, and once again, with an extremely strong survival instinct, she pounced towards Ren Amamiya's shoulder.
Rumble rumble rumble----!!!
Higokumaru had just climbed onto Ren Amamiya's shoulder when a series of terrifying booming sounds, like heavy objects crashing to the ground, suddenly came from not far ahead.
"Eek!!"
The dark prison had always been in a silent and profound state. The sudden eruption of thunderous roars, this abrupt switch between extreme silence and loud noise, made Higokumaru, who was already a bundle of nerves from her own overthinking, tremble violently.
Higokumaru let out a disgraceful scream and even frantically tried to pull open Ren Amamiya's collar, wanting to hide herself in his chest.
"Don't panic. What are you afraid of? If we're talking about ghosts, wasn't Yae Sakura also a female ghost for five hundred years? And a malicious and resentful one at that. I don't see you being afraid of Yae Sakura... If there really are any ghosts, I'll just have Sakura come out and deal with them then."
Ren Amamiya flicked away Higokumaru, who was trying to pull open his collar, with a flick of his fingers. He spoke to Higokumaru, who was floating in the air捂住 [covering] her head, in a somewhat helpless, comforting tone.
"R-Right, that seems to be true. If it were Big Sis, I wouldn't be scared at all!"
Hearing Ren Amamiya's comforting words, Higokumaru, clutching her reddened forehead froze in mid-air. She nodded as if in sudden realization, a clear look of foolishness in her eyes.
Yae Sakura seemed perfectly normal, at most a bit ignorant due to her limited perspective, but why did Higokumaru look so foolish...
After letting out a soft sigh, Ren Amamiya turned his gaze to a spot not far in front of him. That was the area where heavy objects had fallen from the sky.
As the faint dust kicked up by the falling airflow gradually dispersed.
A sinister guillotine, its entire body gleaming with a cold light, and a blue electric chair.
Were starkly reflected in Ren Amamiya's eyes!!