Godsbane Battlesuit—Argent Knight: Excelsis.
The donning of Schicksal's latest technological marvel brought a sliver of comfort and reassurance to Rita's extremely tense heart.
However, her spirit didn't relax in the slightest; she maintained two hundred percent focus, observing Ren Amamiya's every move across from her.
Much like the Spear of Destiny, the Godsbane Battlesuit, developed with the name "Godsbane," was naturally a powerful armament designed to counter Herrscher-level threats.
Due to its envisioned power being too immense, theoretically, this battlesuit would have required another one or two years to be successfully prototyped.
However, with Ren Amamiya's sudden emergence, Otto Apocalypse drew enough knowledge and inspiration from the Persona system theory Ren brought. He used specially tuned artificial Stigmata power to fill many of the current gaps in the Godsbane Battlesuit.
This ultimately led to the premature debut of Argent Knight: Excelsis, a Valkyrie battlesuit that was even more than twice as strong as originally envisioned.
But even wearing this latest generation Godsbane Battlesuit, Rita had no confidence in defeating Durandal, let alone the enemy she was currently facing—Ren Amamiya, who had once brought Durandal to her knees.
Escaping will count as a victory.
Rita silently made the decision to retreat in her heart, then she went all out, activating the full power of this Godsbane Battlesuit. The particle dispersion system operated at high speed, and azure crescent moon particles surged out from the Excelsis armor like a tide.
The temperature of the surrounding air dropped visibly; dazzling ice crystals and snowflakes slowly drifted down from mid-air.
Even the surfaces of the overheated, discarded mech wreckage on the ground were coated with a layer of white frost that was difficult to melt.
However, the drop in ambient temperature was merely the most insignificant phenomenon after this Godsbane Battlesuit was fully activated.
"—Argent Moon!!"
The frigid air, filled with fluttering snowflakes, quietly began to distort. Accompanied by Rita's soft cry, a humanoid mirage-like illusion abruptly appeared behind her.
A half-humanoid figure, interwoven with silver-white and ice-blue, like a silent Grim Reaper, wordlessly emanated a profound chill capable of freezing even the soul.
Based on the artificial Stigmata power within Rita's body and constructed by the crescent moon particles from the Excelsis armor system, the silver-blue knight's form revealed its true face to the world for the first time.
"So this is your Persona. In that case..."
Looking at Rita, who had changed into her Phantom Thief attire and summoned a Persona, Ren Amamiya quickly made a decision based on the attribute of the Persona she had summoned.
A crimson Tarot card was crushed in Ren Amamiya's hand. The white bird-like mask covering his cheek instantly transformed into azure flames. The Pícaro Power, symbolizing freedom and unruliness, infused the body of the Persona appearing behind Ren Amamiya, dyeing it a scorching crimson.
"Come forth, Orpheus Picaro!!"
Lifeless pale hair, a mechanical body composed of red and black, Orpheus Picaro, bearing crimson bat wings, materialized in the void behind Ren Amamiya. Tears flowed unceasingly from its sorrowful, scarlet eyes.
...Facing an ice-attribute Persona, one naturally had to choose a Persona skilled in fire-attribute abilities to counter it!
'Ren, Rita has taken Kiana hostage! Kiana is now imprisoned in one of those red mechs. Be careful not to destroy those red units!!'
Seeing Ren Amamiya summon his Persona and even enhance it with Pícaro Power, Raiden Mei hurriedly shouted a reminder to him.
Raiden Mei didn't think for a moment that Rita had any chance of defeating Ren Amamiya. Her only worry was that Ren, while fighting Rita, might casually wipe out the approaching Knight Moonbeams as fodder, which would mean Kiana, captured in a mech cockpit, would die a ridiculously meaningless death.
Ren Amamiya silently gave Raiden Mei a thumbs-up, indicating he understood the situation. Then, under Ren's command, Orpheus Picaro, holding its scarlet demon harp, charged towards Rita at high speed.
"Mmph... mmmph..."
Inside the cockpit of the red Knight Moonbeam, Kiana, who had initially feared being crushed shell and all like a crab, finally let out a sigh of relief after hearing from Raiden Mei that Ren Amamiya knew she was being held hostage inside a mech.
Her chest heaved dramatically as she tried to move her body to signal her presence.
However, even though Hare had used Schariac Toxic Blood to neutralize the effects of the Spear of Destiny, the superior insulation of the Knight Moonbeam's interior still protected Kiana, in the 'pilot's' seat, from most of the Honkai energy erosion from the Schariac Toxic Blood.
Coupled with the neurotoxin specially designed for Kiana Kaslana's genes, Kiana, bound in the mech cockpit, no matter how hard she struggled, could only wriggle slightly like a caterpillar.
She wanted to cry out for help, but couldn't even form coherent words... Her faint, dream-like whimpers were even quieter than the humming sound of the mech's operation.
After struggling futilely for a while, Kiana, however unwilling, could only resign herself to staying put in the mech's cockpit.
Anyway, there was no longer any risk of being mistaken for an enemy and eliminated. Kiana managed to wriggle into a more comfortable position. Then, full of curiosity, she began to observe the battlefield situation outside through the cockpit.
'Ren? Is that man's name Ren?'
'It really is that masked kid from my dream! Damn it, now the nightmare has become reality! Damn masked kid, damn NTR-man!'
'Why does Mei like this guy? He's just a bit strong, and a bit handsome... But looking closely, he is quite handsome, kinda good-looking actually...'
Kiana, whose heart was set on Raiden Mei, had initially felt Ren Amamiya was a terrible person and was about to glare at him.
However, halfway through her glare, her gaze inexplicably softened. She had a strange feeling that Ren Amamiya was becoming more and more pleasing to the eye.
Just by looking at his figure, Kiana felt a sense of comfort and tranquility in her heart.
It was only then that Kiana realized that although she felt she should be very angry and dislike Ren Amamiya, this third party intruding between her and Raiden Mei, in reality, from the moment she saw him until now, Kiana had never felt the slightest bit of ill will towards Ren Amamiya.
Instead, a inexplicable yet cotton-like warm and gentle sense of trust had slowly welled up within her.
No matter how hard she tried to squeeze out some bad words to criticize Ren Amamiya in her mind, Kiana ultimately couldn't truly harbor even half a bit of ill will towards the Ren Amamiya before her...
Forget ill will, she was even starting to develop a faint liking for Ren Amamiya.
"Agidyne!!!"
Orpheus Picaro's fingers swept across the scarlet demon harp. A profound melody, as if played from the deepest depths of hell, spread through the air. A massive flame, as scorching and dazzling as a small sun, suddenly blazed into existence from the void, pressing towards Rita with unstoppable momentum.
The battlefield, which had fallen into a frozen state due to the vast amount of crescent moon particles, instantly became unbearably hot again. As Agidyne shot forth, the white frost covering the battlefield and the mech wreckage along its trajectory directly vaporized and disappeared.
Facing the Agidyne projectile hurtling towards her like a blazing sun, beads of cold sweat appeared on Rita's forehead. But soon, even these few drops of sweat were forcibly evaporated by the scorching heatwave rushing towards her.
She violently swung the ice-blue giant scythe in her hand.
An extreme freezing aura instantly spread out, forming a labyrinth of several massive icebergs, three or four stories high, around Rita.
As Rita took a step back, her slender and curvaceous figure was instantly reflected on the smooth, mirror-like surface of the azure ice.
Layers upon layers of Rita's beautiful figure were simultaneously refracted and reflected on the smooth mirror surfaces of the icebergs, making Rita's true location seem elusive and mysterious.
However, in an instant, the blazing solar projectile that had descended from the sky fiercely bombarded the already melting iceberg shields. Scalding white steam instantly billowed up.
The iceberg labyrinth, which should have provided Rita ample cover to hide and dodge, offered not even a symbolic resistance against Orpheus Picaro's Agidyne attack.
It was easily melted by Ren Amamiya into inconspicuous puddles on the ground.
In the next second, within that scalding white steam, hot enough to thoroughly cook a human body, a silver-white half-humanoid figure charged through the entire cloud of steam like Moses parting the sea.
A crescent-moon-shaped arc of a slash gracefully cut through the air, and the extremely cold scythe, glinting with a blue mura, cruelly and perfectly struck towards Ren Amamiya's neck.
Clang clang clang clang clang—!!
The crisp sound of metal striking metal, like iron being forged, suddenly resounded across the battlefield. Facing Argent Moon's attempt to decapitate Ren Amamiya, Persona Orpheus Picaro raised its demon harp, steadily blocking the scythe slash that carried azure ice crystals as it swung rapidly down from the air. Using the scarlet harp as a weapon, it countered Argent Moon in a back-and-forth exchange.
"Trying to bypass the Persona and directly attack the Persona user?... That's not in line with the combat etiquette between Persona users."
As the silver-blue scythe and the scarlet harp collided, the violently churning airflow had completely swept away the white steam pervading the battlefield. However, just as the view cleared, the figure of the enemy, Rita, had also unknowingly vanished.
Commanding Orpheus Picaro to send the scythe-wielding, silver-white half-knight flying into the distance, Ren Amamiya's eyes scanned the surrounding battlefield. While searching for Rita's hiding place, he spoke calmly to Rita, who was still somewhere on the battlefield.
From just their initial exchange, Ren Amamiya had sensed the "professionalism" emanating from Rita's every move.
Whether it was the disregard for life shown by immediately attacking the Persona user without hesitation, or the exquisite display of stealth and assassination techniques, all of it proved Rita Rossweisse's expertise as an assassin, despite her maid persona.
Judging by the strength Rita displayed during their brief encounter, she was undoubtedly a capable subordinate of that Schicksal Overseer.
If he could capture Rita alive, he would surely be able to obtain valuable intelligence about the boss-level existence, Otto Apocalypse, from her.
This district was already enveloped by the barrier Hare had deployed. Without destroying the barrier, Rita couldn't escape no matter what.
"'High energy reaction detected three thousand meters directly above—Ren, be careful!'"
Rita's figure had completely vanished from the battlefield, leaving only those Knight Moonbeam mechs still roaming. Ren Amamiya narrowed his eyes slightly. He reasonably suspected that Rita had taken the opportunity to hide in the cockpit of one of the mechs.
And to make Ren Amamiya wary of acting rashly, the mech Rita chose to hide in would inevitably be a powerful red Knight Moonbeam, the same type as the one holding Kiana hostage.
Just as Ren Amamiya turned his gaze towards the few red Knight Moonbeam mechs on the battlefield, Bronya's slightly urgent voice suddenly rang out from a distance, shouting a warning to him.
Before Bronya's voice had completely faded, Ren Amamiya had already tilted his head up towards the sky.
Upon the originally clear and azure sky, a warship was now hovering. An extremely dense purple energy was rapidly converging towards the cannon muzzle aimed at the ground battlefield directly below the ship.
By the time Bronya and Ren Amamiya noticed the presence of this airship, its Honkai energy beam cannon, having accumulated sufficient energy, was already poised to fire.
BOOM—!!!
A purple beam of light, like the wrathful judgment of a god, crashed down. The sealing barrier woven by Hare only lasted for three seconds before being covered in cracks, then completely shattered.
And the Honkai energy beam cannon fired by the airship, after piercing the barrier, continued to plummet towards the ground battlefield with undiminished momentum.
"Thanatos Picaro!!"
Inverting inside out, the red-and-black god of death, wielding a longsword, broke free from its cold mechanical shackles. Roaring at the sky, under the command of its Persona user, Ren Amamiya, it shot straight up to meet the purple beam of light falling from the heavens.
A monstrous black flame, like hellfire, surged out from behind Thanatos Picaro, and it carried this flame as it fearlessly collided with the descending shipborne cannon blast.
'Good chance!'
Just as Ren Amamiya had predicted, Rita, hidden inside the cockpit of a red Knight Moonbeam, her eyes suddenly lit up.
Seizing the moment when Thanatos Picaro and the EOS's shipborne cannon were locked in a desperate struggle, she decisively issued a command to all remaining Knight Moonbeam mechs on the battlefield.
In the next instant, beneath the sky dominated by the burning black flames and the purple light cannon, figures of silver-white Paladin-class mechs soared into the air.
The red Knight Moonbeam mechs, hidden within the tide-like swarm of Paladins, shot out at high speed in various different directions.
—The sealing barrier is broken! It's time to escape!!