A soft piano melody reached his ears was the first indication. The hard bed underneath him was the second. Ren’s eyes opened once more and was greeted with the cramped quarters of at a cell, the walls lined with blue cloth. The lonely woman’s wail came through, letting Ren breathe a slight sigh of relief. He gave a small smile. He knew where he was now, which was a small comfort in of itself.
The Velvet Room was rather unforgettable, after all.
He swung his legs over his bunk and blinked as he noticed something. He wasn’t in his prison uniform (which he didn’t miss whatsoever, especially the gigantic ball and chain that came with it), but neither was he in his Phantom Thief outfit either. Instead, he still wore the white jacket and black pants that was the Chaldean uniform. And another thing caught his eye: A red tattoo on the back of his right hand. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at it. The tattoo looked like his mask, made and stylized into multiple lines connecting them together into the shape. Ren was never one for tattoos and would certainly not get one as obvious on the back of his hand. And besides, he was sure it wasn’t there before.
But he could ask his questions later. His cell door was opened so he walked through. Everything was the same: A circular room with jail cells lining the walls. Loudspeakers hanging above the center. A simple desk in the middle. Sitting at that desk was a suited balding man with an incredibly long nose and perpetual grin and standing beside the desk was a little girl in a blue dress with silver hair, holding a massive book. Their appearances were unnatural and otherworldly, but for Ren, they couldn’t have been a more comforting sight. He simply grinned up at them. “Igor, Lavenza,” he called out. “It’s good to see you again. So, is the Velvet Room the afterlife as well?”
Igor’s grin widened at the greeting. “It’s good to see you too, dear guest,” he replied, his high-pitched voice filling the jail. “Once more, welcome to the Velvet Room, though I do wish that the circumstances of our meeting were better. We have much to do and unfortunately, little resources nor time to do so.”
The girl, Lavenza, curtsied, her yellow eyes sparkling with affection. “Greetings, my Trickster,” she replied. “It has been some time – though admittedly, not as much time as we would like. Still, it’s good to see you again regardless.” Ren understood. The Velvet room and its occupants only showed when something serious was happening. The fact they were showing themselves to him once more only meant that everything was in trouble. Again. “You are not dead, else you would not be here right now. No, your mind has been summoned here once more. As the false god once said, it is your duty to prevent ruin. But… I’m afraid this time, through no fault of your own, ruin has come after all.”
Ren’s eyes widened, then narrowed. The mention of Yaldabaoth and his constant yammering about ‘ruin’ was something that nobody in the room took lightly at this point. “So I’m not dead then,” he stated simply, putting his hands in his pockets with a smirk. “Then just like that time we vanished and returned, it means we can do something about it. It’ll be like old times.” The thought of which caused his body to seize up in fear, his throat choking a bit. The experience of vanishing into nonexistence was not one he had been eager to relive, and neither was the impending execution from Caroline and Justine by the fake Igor. But he forced his fear down. As Igor had said, there was probably much to do and most likely little time to do it. Traumas could wait. It would probably be with just Morgana but… he’d manage. He always did. “Let’s summon my Personas and begin with prep. I don’t suppose you know who I’ll be taking down this time?”
Lavenza hesitated. “Trickster… “ she began. “As you know, Personas come from Shadows, who are born from the Sea of Souls in the collective unconsciouness.” Ren nodded slowly. Morgana, Caroline and Justine, and Igor had explained things to him. It took a bit of talking with Futaba and Maruki to fully comprehend them though. With shaking hands, she opened the massive book – and Ren’s eyes flew open with horror. The Compendium was the book of Personas. Ones he had persuaded to join his side and ones he had created by executing and fusing their powers together. They were powerful allies, reflecting different aspects of civilization’s mythology or history, standing as their guardians, heroes, and villains. Ren had painstakingly gathered pages and information to the Compendium, including his greatest one, born from the end of his adventures: Satanael.
The Compendium’s pages were burnt to cinder. Every last one.
“Wh-what… how….?” Ren literally didn’t have the words for it. That was impossible. He knew that the Velvet Room could be tampered with, given what Yaldabaoth had done in the past, but even he couldn’t interfere with things like the Compendium. That was linked directly to his own power, and it drew power from the Sea of Souls. But the fact it was destroyed was something he hadn’t expected whatsoever.
Lavenza closed the book, her eyes watering with tears. Igor hummed. “Trickster, I will not mince words here.” Ren looked back at Igor. The long-nosed man’s grin was still there but his eyes were hard and serious. Much more so than Ren had ever seen them. And he seemed to be under some considerable strain too. “Humanity has met a ruin that it could have never foretold nor stopped. The sea of souls has been wiped with flame, and because of that, much of our power is lacking. I’m utilizing a considerable amount of my own power to keep the Velvet Room in existence, and even I do not know how long it will last.”
Ren had to catch his breath when he heard the explanation. Humanity has met ruin…? Wait, then what about his friends? What about Sojiro or Kawakami or Takemi, or everyone else?! How could the sea of souls be utterly wiped out?!? It was connected after all to humanity’s collective unconsciousness. There was no way it could be wiped out so long as humanity existed!
However, as soon as he came to that conclusion, his skin turned paler and paler. The horror came crashing down with all the weight of finality itself. The room wavered in his eyes and he couldn’t stand anymore, collapsing on his knees as all strength left him. If the sea of souls was destroyed, that meant the collective unconsciousness was gone, one way or another. Even Yaldabaoth’s control or Maruki’s paradise couldn’t inflict such a heavy catastrophe, despite them essentially being able to control everyone’s minds. No. For that to happen, in order to completely destroy the collective unconsciousness, to the point where the Velvet Room couldn’t delve into it to grant strength, meant only one thing:
Humanity was gone.
“Trickster!” Lavenza cried out in horror. Dropping the now-useless Compendium, she raced over to throw her arms around the distraught former leader of the Phantom Thieves. She had been practicing and studying gestures of affection to connect more with humanity and to surprise Ren if he ever came back, but she hadn’t ever expected to utilize her practice in such a manner or dire situation. “Please, Trickster, I know it all seems lost, but it isn’t! We might still have an opportunity! There might be a way to reverse ruin!”
Ren blinked blearily up at the girl, then back at Igor. Did… did they truly have a way? But he didn’t have his friends anymore. No connections. He didn’t even have his Personas or his powers. It certainly seemed completely hopeless. Even worse than when the false Igor nearly had him executed as Caroline and Justine wailed on him, or when Maruki had given his friends – save for Akechi – what they wanted, depriving him of allies. But was that it? Was he truly going to flop over? Despite everything, he fought back each and every time to the bitter end. He clenched his hand and relaxed it, a small ironic smirk crawling up his lips as he thought of it. True, the situation was indeed dire. Possibly utterly impossible, with this unjust game.
So for Ren, it was just business as usual. He stood back up. His Phantom Thief outfit flickered into view for a brief second before vanishing.
Igor’s eyes lit up in happiness as Lavenza released him, happy that her Trickster once more found the resolve to face the future. “Excellent, most excellent,” Igor crowed, clapping. “I must admit, none of our guests have faced such a calamity as you do now, but once more you continue to exceed expectations.” He tented his hands in front of him on the table. “Now, the situation has changed considerably, as you know. We would take direct action ourselves if possible, but as it stands, we cannot afford to waste our powers. The burden of this, unfortunately, will be yours once more, Trickster. However, we shall bestow you gifts and power immediately. They will be far different than what you are accustomed to, but I am certain you will learn to master it in due time. Lavenza, my dear? If you would.”
Lavenza nodded and turned back to Ren, placing a hand on him. “This will be unpleasant, my Trickster,” she warned him apologetically. “But please, I ask you to bear with it.” Suddenly, Ren’s body was bathed in turquoise light.
And he screamed.
It felt like his body was being simultaneously torn apart and burned alive. His nerves were on fire, his skin felt like it was going to erupt and split open all over. The headache of his Awakening had been beyond painful, but this was well past that. He was barely aware of the green light and fresh spring breeze that came with powerful healing magic as he held onto what remained of his mind, trying to last through the pain. He curled up into a fetal position, screaming his throat bloody, as he waited for the pain to finally end, one way or another.
Finally, the pain abated, leaving Ren gasping for breath as he felt the cool relief of Lavenza’s healing magic and the cold stone floor soothed his overheating body. Taking a few more calming breaths, he stood back up laboriously, with Lavenza immediately running over and supporting him. His body felt fine, but it felt… different, for lack of a better word. Whatever that gift was, it was certainly far different than what he had been granted before (granted it was the false Igor who granted him said gifts, but Lavenza and the real Igor assured him that said gifts were painless anyway). He flexed his hands in practice – and saw a shimmer of turquoise circuit lines on his skin. He immediately looked back up at Igor.
“I have granted you magic circuits and a crest,” Igor explained. “They will allow you to use powers beyond most of humanity. Unlike your powers before, they can be used in the real world at any time, without requirement of the Metaverse. Under normal circumstances, these gifts would be far too dangerous to give to any guests, both for their safety and for the world as a whole. However, it would seem Alaya has designated otherwise, and so has granted permission for these to be given to you. I do hope you make good use of them.” Alaya? What the hell was that?
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“Your powers now will be far more taxing than they once were,” Lavenza chimed in, looking at Ren with utmost seriousness and concern. “Magic circuits are a blessing and a curse. They can allow you to use powers beyond most of humanity, but they have weaknesses that we cannot shield you from. And should you overtax yourself in their usage, you will without a doubt perish. Your crest will allow you to use your powers in a similar manner as you have done so before, but I urge you the greatest of caution now. You are the only chance of preventing ruin, and… I do not want to see you hurt any more, my Trickster.”
Ren gulped at the warnings. So, he was granted power to help overcome ruin, just like he did before. Only this time, this power could kill him if he didn’t use it carefully. It wasn’t like before where if he overused Personas, the worst he got was exhaustion and a massive headache. He would have to be extremely careful how he used it. But still, what Personas did he still have? If the Compendium was utterly destroyed, then how would he get more personas? As a Wild Card, being able to switch between Personas was one of his greatest strengths, able to capitalize on any weakness. While just one Persona was fine, he doubted it would be enough.
He cast his mind back, delving into the far reaches. At the very least, there was one he could summon. After all, this one wasn’t simply a Shadow from the now obliterated Sea of Souls. This one was always there, from the very beginning to the very end. Perhaps he would be here too. “Hey. Don’t suppose you’re still there?” he called out into the depths of his mind and soul. At first, there was nothing but silence, which worried Ren. Then he heard a faint rustle of feathers and a low laugh.
“I am thou, thou art I, contractor. I am your true self, and I am always here.”
He had to grin. Well, that answered his question, didn’t it.
“I’ve also granted Morgana circuits and skills as well,” Igor added, catching Ren’s attention again. “He will be able to manifest his Metaverse form when the collective unconsciousness is stronger. Your powers shall also draw from the collective unconsciousness as well. It will be less taxing if you can summon personas that belong to your setting.” Ren blinked, then nodded. Admittedly, that didn’t make much sense but very rarely did Igor make sense, fake or real. At the very least, Morgana would have his form and his Persona back. It would be good to fight alongside him again.
A pang rang out in his heart. He didn’t have his friends though. And it was possible they were gone for a very long while.
“You will be able to come across new companions as you fight,” Lavenza told Ren. “You won’t be alone. There is an existence parallel to the Velvet Room yet not: The Throne of Heroes. They shall be another source of strength you can draw from. Your allies will tell you more about it.” Ren looked down at the girl and nodded. He was getting lost again, though admittedly he was used to both Igor and the Velvet Room attendants being cryptic as all get out. At the very least though, he did trust them. Well, the genuine articles anyway. He’ll ask once he got out of the Velvet Room to… wherever he was.
“Now, one last note, my dear guest,” Igor added, catching Ren’s gaze once more. “Some of your allies are what you call Mages. They utilize magic circuits and crests like yourself, with different specialties. However, they can be rather… unscrupulous with their gifts and their pursuit of knowledge. I must ask you to not speak to them of the Velvet Room. They have come close to breaching multiple times with a fervor that I find deeply repugnant. Should you reveal that you have access to the Velvet Room, I genuinely worry for your safety, during and after your battle. You might have fewer allies than you’d expect.”
Traitors. Ren wasn’t unfamiliar with the concept. A certain brown-haired detective taught that lesson quite clearly. Still, if that was Igor wished, then Ren saw no reason to refuse it. Especially if mages were as bad as Igor implied. Hiding his discomfort, he smirked over at Igor. “Have to ask, how many times have mages tried to reach the Velvet Room?”
Igor chuckled. “Oh, no small number of times, I assure you. I might’ve lost count after fifty or so. If they do get close, an attendant is typically on hand to see them out as necessary.” Ren had a good feeling that ‘seeing them out’ usually meant ‘total obliteration’. From the times he fought Caroline and Justine, and then Lavenza, if the Velvet Room attendants were anything like them, then it was clear ‘restraint’ was rarely in their vocabulary.
“Well, if that’s all, then, I guess I’ve a world to save. Again,” he added with a slightly bitter tone. He looked over at Lavenza. “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to join us? I’ve a feeling we could use your power.”
Lavenza shook her head sadly. “My apologies, Trickster. I must assist my master in maintaining the stability of the Velvet Room. Still, I wish you the best of your journey and hope to see you soon. Just know that I love you, as I always have.”
Ren smiled, reaching over and giving Lavenza a small pat on the head, who smiled in turn. He knew that would be the answer but it was worth a shot. “Well, in that case, I’ll see you guys when I see you.” Flashing one last smirk, he walked back into his cell and kept walking as the back wall folded away into blackness.
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Singularity F – Fire-Contaminated City: Fuyuki
“….npai…. enp…. Senpai!”
Ren opened his eyes and blinked. Night sky filled with smoke. Orange light from fires. His back felt uncomfortable like he was laying on something extremely rough. Did they make it outside? Wait, they were in the Antarctic – if they did, he would either be seeing a lot more snow or be freezing like all get out. Probably both. And frankly, all he felt was uncomfortably warm from the flames.
“Senpai!”
He looked over and saw Mash again. Her wounds were gone and she looked safe. She breathed a sigh of relief. Ren had a thousand questions on his tongue but Mash quickly spoke up. “Um, I wish I could explain what happened, but everything happened so quickly,” she explained rapidly. “Please look over at your surroundings.”
Ren blinked as he looked around and his eyes widened. Surrounding them were skeletons. Their bones were charred black by flames and they held in their grips rusty, chipped swords and spears. But more importantly: they were upright and moving. Spindly and weak-looking, sure, but they were moving and didn’t look none too friendly. Looking around, he did a quick count. About six of them. They were in a clearing of rubble so they had some room to maneuver, but even then, they were still surrounded. Skeletons in what looked like to be hell. He had to wonder if even the Metaverse could be that cliched.
“Communication has been impossible,” Mash explained as she stood up, hauling something huge in her hands. It was then that Ren could take in her appearance. She now wore some sort of tight-fitting armored dress with purple highlights and hauling a metal cross-shaped shield that was about as big as Ren was tall. Though he had to admit, how was that armor protecting anything? The skirt was extremely short giving view of her bare legs, her navel was exposed, and so was her shoulders and upper arms…
Then he shook his head. Given how the Phantom Thieves dressed, he really, REALLY had no right to judge.
“Master, your orders, please!” Ren had to blink as Mash called him ‘master’. It brought to mind a certain maid – no, not right now! He can contemplate that later! Right now, they were surrounded. Mash seemed to be able to take care of herself but that didn’t change the fact that they were surrounded. There had been a few times like that with the Phantom Thieves, but he didn’t have a Vanish Ball on hand to easily get out of it. Well, time to do things the hard way.
“Take out that one over there and we’ll break through,” Ren commanded, pointing to a specific skeleton. “We’ll take out the others once we have some better footing!” Mash nodded and went to work. Her actions left Ren spellbound. Despite hauling such a huge shield, she moved faster than an Olympic athlete, quickly closing the distance to the skeleton. Raising her shield, she smashed it against her hapless victim. The skeleton flew back and crashed against a wall, breaking apart into nothing but piles of shattered bone. Shaking his head, he quickly picked his jaw off the floor and followed through the opening Mash made, both of them whirling around so the skeletons were now only in front of them rather than surrounding them.
“Right, let’s go, Mash!” Ren yelled.
Mash nodded. “Yes, senpai!”
She immediately charged back into the fray, her shield once more raised and smashing through another skeleton. Ren looked over at where the skeleton was destroyed and picked up its sword. The blade had snapped in half, now resembling more a dagger than a sword.
Ren smirked. Good.
Charging forward, he ran up to one of the skeletons that was trying to flank Mash. Moving low, he got a few slashes in before the skeleton swung its sword, causing him to hop back to dodge it. He frowned. For a bag of bones, it was surprisingly resilient. He wished Futaba was here to give him support, but she wasn’t, so he had to make do. Reaching up to his face, he made to cover it with his hand, giving the skeleton another smirk. He could feel his body heating up and a familiar laughter echoing through his head.
“Come, Arsene!”
Blue flames erupted from behind Ren as his Persona appeared. Clad in red and a top hat, its black wings stretched out as his flaming face flashed a malevolent grin. It towered easily over the skeletons and everyone else present. Ren grinned at the feeling of his old friend at his back once more. “Ravage them!” he roared. Arsene laughed as he flew forward. Swinging his heeled feet, he cleaved through a skeleton and caused a geyser of darkness to erupt under another, shattering the former and dissolving the latter.
Mash had destroyed two skeletons herself but stopped to watch flabbergasted at Ren’s actions. “M-Master, how… what…?” Unfortunately, she had neglected the last skeleton, who raised a spear and thrust. She barely got her shield up in time, the impact causing her to slide a few feet back. Ren scowled and was prepared to summon Arsene once more when –
“Zorro!”
A gust of sharp wind blew in, slicing the skeleton’s arm, then the rest of him, away. Ren looked over and saw Morgana once more. He was now in his metaverse form – a cartoon-like bipedal cat that barely reached up to his knee, with a far too large head. In his hands was one of the skeleton’s swords. He leaped down from the rubble and grinned up at Ren. “Really, Joker? I know you had a newbie with you, but I didn’t expect you to get THAT rusty,” he commented smugly. “Guess it was a good idea I came with you after all.”
Ren had to chuckle. “Yeah, you were right, Morgana,” he replied with a smug grin to match his. Then his grin smoothed out to a gentle smile. “Thanks for being here.”
Morgana chuckled. “Always got your back, Joker.”
“U-Um…”
Ren and Morgana turned to Mash, who was staring at the two of them in confusion. “A-are you two mages?” she asked. “What kind of magecraft was that? And…” She looked over at Morgana. “Who… or what…. Are you? I haven’t seen anything like you before.”
Morgana grinned. “Glad you asked, Miss Kyrielight! I’m the ever-awesome Morgana! I help out Joker here and he wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far as he did without me!” Ren just rolled his eyes and smiled good-naturedly. Morgana liked to be full of himself a lot of the time, but it was harmless. Besides, watching Mash’s confusion was amusing, as it always was.
“Oh, um, a pleasure to meet you, Morgana,” she said with a bow (after she set her shield aside). “But… you called senpai Joker? Is that some sort of nickname or…?”
The transformed cat glanced over at Ren. “It’s a nickname, yeah, from our other work,” he explained vaguely. “Force of habit – don’t worry too much about it.” That mildly surprised Ren. Normally Morgana was deeply insistent on code names since they didn’t know what shouting their real names would happen in the Metaverse. But then, they weren’t in the Metaverse, were they? And besides, no doubt Morgana had been briefed about the situation from Igor as well. This was all too real for all of them.
Suddenly, a blue light popped up beside them. All of them dropped to combat stance as the blue light resolved itself into… an image of Roman. “Right, I finally got through!” he said, his voice tinged with desperation and relief. “Hello? This is Chaldea Command Room! Do you read me?” Mash opened her mouth to respond before Roman continued talking. “Wait, these readings… Ren, are these magic circuits? And a crest? You didn’t have any just a moment ago! Where did you – how did you –“ Something grabbed his attention and he looked down and saw Morgana. A few seconds passed. Then…
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!?”
Ren sighed, facepalming. There was a lot to explain, wasn’t there.