"Don't panic, Bronya! Seele's fine... In fact, not only is she fine, she's rapidly approaching the spatial corridor we opened!"
Ren keenly sensed Bronya's panic and called out to her in a steady voice, successfully snapping her out of her daze.
Even though Seele's quantum projection had suddenly dissipated, as Veliona's Persona user, Ren's connection with Seele was not broken.
The moment Seele's image dissolved into a deep blue light, Ren learned from Veliona what was happening to her.
"The shadow that's rushing towards the spatial cave has extremely powerful senses. It was able to detect the anomaly caused by the tearing of space in the Sea of Quanta from a great distance. Seele just happened to be in its vicinity and was caught in the current stirred up by the shadow when it burst into extreme speed. She's now being forced to hitch a ride, following behind the shadow towards the spatial cave."
After Ren relayed the information he had received from Veliona through their mental link, Bronya was visibly relieved. She quickly returned to her serious state, fully focused on analyzing the data.
"A suspected energy signature of Seele has indeed been captured behind that shadow... However, besides Seele, there are thousands of other shadow signatures of varying strengths that were also swept up by the powerful shadow's momentum. Everyone, get ready to receive Seele and to fight!!"
With the information from Ren, Bronya gathered all her concentration.
In the blink of an eye, she had captured Seele's main body's signal in the Sea of Quanta and discovered a large number of shadow signatures that had been swept into the quantum current along with Seele, now speeding towards the rift.
Bronya took a deep breath, her head held high with fighting spirit, her silver-gray eyes burning with an unquenchable flame of conviction.
She had thought this experiment would end in failure and had already begun to think about how to close the spatial corridor.
She never expected this turn of events to be a blessing in disguise. Because of the powerful shadow attracted by the corridor, Seele's main body, which had previously been unable to sense its location, was now chasing after the exit along with the rhythm of the Sea of Quanta.
The hope of a real reunion with Seele was within reach. Bronya glanced gratefully at Ren's back, her heart filled with understanding.
"Here it comes!"
Ren paid no mind to Bronya's gaze. He was fully focused on the spatial corridor, which was now rippling violently, ready for battle.
What truly made Ren on high alert was not the mysterious shadow with a strength roughly estimated to be three to five times that of a complete Herrscher, but Seele, who had been swept into the current it had created and was about to emerge from the corridor with it.
Because of Seele's presence, Ren's hands were tied. He couldn't go all out against the emerging mysterious shadow as he usually would, giving it a devastating opening blow.
A violent gale pierced through the rippling spatial waves, which were like boiling water, sweeping the crimson sand of Kaslana's Palace into the sky and creating a sandstorm of epic proportions. Ren did not act rashly.
He simply stood firm in the storm, calmly watching the dark-colored giant serpent that had just slithered out of the spatial corridor.
"Shadow Mei, lure that serpent shadow away from the front of the spatial cave!!"
The moment the colossal, sky-piercing black serpent shadow emerged from the spatial corridor, Ren swung his right arm and gave the command to Shadow Mei hovering above him.
The crimson lightning demon moved swiftly. Crimson musical notes composed of thunderbolts charged at the black serpent shadow from all directions, producing a dull roar upon impact with its massive, thick body.
Although the attack successfully hit the black serpent shadow, Shadow Mei frowned slightly.
As part of the tactical plan to lure the enemy away, and to prevent the black serpent shadow from going on a rampage in front of the spatial corridor due to excessive injury and potentially harming Seele, who was about to pass through, Shadow Mei did not use her full power.
But even so, the black serpent shadow's reaction was far too calm, as if it didn't even care about her herding attacks.
The black serpent shadow was shrouded in a thick black smoke. At a glance, one could only make out its rough, sky-piercing serpentine form and a pair of enormous, scarlet, vertical pupils.
Shadow Mei's gaze could not penetrate the black smoke surrounding the shadow, making it impossible for her to assess its injuries and adjust the strength of her subsequent attacks.
So, Shadow Mei could only fire crimson lightning bolts of varying strengths. Her slender figure darted through the sky around the black serpent shadow.
Fortunately, she finally succeeded in attracting its attention, luring the terrifying serpent shadow away from the spatial cave connecting the Sea of Quanta and Kaslana's Palace.
"I'm leaving Seele's reception to you, Bronya!"
Ren instructed Bronya beside him, then directed his Persona, Shadow Mei, to drive the black serpent shadow coiled in the sky away from the area.
The shadows that had been swept into the current along with Seele were not strong. Most of them were small fry. The few stronger ones could be easily handled by Hare and Raiden Mei.
Therefore, Ren focused all his attention on this mysterious and powerful black serpent shadow.
Putting aside its strength for a moment, just its giant serpent form was giving Ren a bit of PTSD, forcing him to take it seriously.
"You can count on me, Ren!"
Bronya nodded seriously at Ren's back, making a promise. Then, she eagerly looked up at the spatial corridor, from which numerous shadows were still falling.
After a few breaths, under Bronya's joyful gaze, a dark red sphere with a familiar energy signature spewed out from the spatial corridor. The dark red sphere bounced off the other falling shadows, accelerating its descent.
During its fall, the dark red sphere trailed a long tail of flame, as if it were a melting snowball. The circular space, the size of a single room, gradually shrank and eventually disappeared, leaving only a delicate young girl in a sea-blue one-piece dress, landing lightly from the sky.
A cerulean scythe flashed, slicing the quantum shadow that lunged at her in two. Seele, like a blue butterfly in a dream, landed gracefully and lightly on the ground, for the first time truly setting foot on the familiar crimson desert of this Kaslana Palace.
"Big Brother Ren, Bronya-Oneechan, Seele is back!!"
Looking at Ren's back, who had lured the black serpent shadow away from the spatial corridor and was still fighting it, Seele's azure eyes overflowed with a watery tenderness.
Even though she knew Ren, who was in the middle of a battle, couldn't hear her, she first smiled gently in his direction before turning her gaze to her Bronya-Oneechan, who was quickly approaching.
"Seele, welcome back!!"
Bronya drew close to Seele, her silver-gray eyes glistening with moisture. A gentle smile appeared on her flawless, delicate face.
She tightly held the hands of the long-lost Seele, completely ignoring the fact that Seele had greeted Ren first.
"Welcome back, Seele... But let's save the pleasantries for later. We need to eliminate these shadows that have invaded Kaslana's Palace as quickly as possible and then go help Ren."
Raiden Mei looked up at the sky.
The spatial corridor torn open by the conquering lightning had shrunk considerably compared to before, but the influx of shadows from the Sea of Quanta showed no signs of slowing down.
In fact, due to the current stirred up by the black serpent shadow, it was becoming even more intense.
"There's no need for that trouble. According to Ren, this Palace is our 'safe house'. We Phantom Thieves are not fighting alone here..."
Hare waved the banner in her hand, and thousands of purple banners shot out, piercing through the attacking shadows.
Her blue-purple eyes then settled on Kaslana, who was standing there as if disconnected, becoming increasingly silent.
"This is Kaslana's Palace. It would be more convenient for the master of this Palace to deal with these uninvited, unwelcome guests."
"...Indeed. Leave the spatial corridor to me. You go support Ren."
Kaslana's response was a beat late, but she quickly returned to her usual self. As the Palace Ruler, her authority was activated.
The spatial corridor in the sky, which was already shrinking, now began to close at a visible rate under her deliberate repair.
Small Honkai beasts and imaginary skeletons materialized in Kaslana's Palace. Summoned by the Palace Ruler, they bypassed the members of the Phantom Thieves and met the intruders from the Sea of Quanta head-on.
With their overwhelming numbers, they intercepted and suppressed the quantum creatures that Hare and the others couldn't handle all at once.
"Thank you for your help, Kaslana!"
Seeing Kaslana single-handedly hold back all the shadows pouring out of the spatial corridor, Raiden Mei let out a sigh of relief.
After thanking Kaslana, she eagerly turned around, rode her Persona, and chased after Ren's battlefield. Hare and Bronya followed close behind.
"Shadow Mei, this is far enough! Full power, Megidolaon!!"
Ren stopped in his tracks, no longer intending to hold back. He gave the command to his Persona, Shadow Mei, to unleash her full power.
"I've had enough of this! Damn crawler, how dare you look down on a divine apostle! Fall, and grovel pathetically on the ground! Feel your own powerlessness and insignificance as you gaze upon the glory of a god!!"
Receiving Ren's permission to go all out, a cruel, cold smile appeared on Shadow Mei's face.
The giant crimson lightning demon floating behind her no longer played the guitar but held it in its palm like a tachi, and swung the massive guitar, which was wrapped in a deep, demonic, living lightning, at the black serpent shadow's body.
The sounds of strings and thunder vibrated together. Incessant crimson lightning crashed down from all directions, completely enveloping the black serpent shadow in a scene of apocalyptic divine punishment.
Relentless crimson lightning struck the black serpent shadow's body. To Shadow Mei's satisfaction, her lightning attack finally had a significant effect on the black serpent shadow.
The black smoke surrounding the black serpent was dispersed by the crimson lightning arcs, revealing the true form of the giant serpent shadow beneath.
The dark blue scales reflected a cold, deep light. Sharp, white keratin layers, like daggers, covered its entire body, displaying its flawless offensive capability to any onlooker. Shadow Mei's joyful expression froze slightly.
The crimson lightning attack unleashed by the Persona Shadow Mei: Trickster God had only managed to disperse the black smoke hiding the black serpent shadow's true form.
It had only left some scorched or cracked marks on its scales... She hadn't been able to penetrate the defense of the cold scales and truly harm the flesh of this mysterious giant serpent shadow!!
Even more ridiculously, the cracks on the mysterious giant serpent shadow's scales were healing at a visible rate. In the blink of an eye, the damage caused by Shadow Mei: Trickster God had completely disappeared.
"Don't be discouraged. Maybe this guy just has high lightning resistance. In any case, thank you for your hard work. Come back for now, Shadow Mei."
Ren comforted the audibly gritting Shadow Mei and recalled the very unwilling Persona back to his heart.
Then, Ren pointed the faintly glowing cerulean Key of the Void at his temple, his gaze meeting that of the dark blue giant serpent shadow coiled in the sky.
In those massive, scarlet, vertical pupils, there was none of the violence and cruelty Ren had expected. Instead, they were filled with a familiar sense of indifference and detachment, as if it were separate from the world.
Standing on the battlefield, facing an unusually strong enemy, Ren had no time to ponder the source of this sense of déjà vu. He suppressed the thought and pulled the trigger of the Key of the Void.
"Persona—"
To be able to withstand Shadow Mei: Trickster God's full-power bombardment without taking damage, this was no ordinary shadow. He had to hit it hard!!
"I'll leave the rest to you, Raoul!!"
Ren summoned his strongest Persona without hesitation.
Cerulean spatial fragments shattered like glass.
A crimson-black storm suddenly rose from behind Ren. When the storm subsided, his main Persona, Raoul, with his black-and-gold mechanical bat wings and white-and-red gentleman's hat, appeared, exuding a deep, oppressive, and terrifying aura.
Looking at the Persona Raoul that had appeared in the void behind Ren, the dark blue giant serpent shadow's perpetually indifferent scarlet vertical pupils finally began to look serious.
Its massive serpentine body, which had been relaxed in the sky, now slowly tensed and rose up.