Tokyo Psychic

Page 116

—“The omnipotent man, the lord of all spirits, the beginning and end of humanity”, “the source of human desires”, “the beginning of original sin”.

Arcana: World/Universe

Magic: 99MAX

Strength: 99MAX

Endurance: 99MAX

Speed: 99MAX

Luck: 99MAX

【Primal Heartbeat】: With each heartbeat, all attributes ignore the upper limit and increase exponentially with the number of heartbeats.

【All-Powerful Protection】: Reflects all elemental damage except for "Omnipotent".

[God's Wedge]: All damage dealt to enemies is increased to universal damage multiplied by all attribute values.

"In the instant the Messiah saves the world and ascends to the [Universe], he leaves the power of the [Universe] for his successors."

"Now, the universe is watching you."

-

Is this for real...? This Persona...?

Suddenly, the figure of Akira Kurusu flashed in Shiva's three pupils.

All four arms contracted simultaneously, attempting to grasp the other.

Then......

boom.

With a series of sounds, four enormous arms exploded simultaneously, like kites with broken strings, flying out shakily with a waterfall of black blood, falling into the sea and polluting the surging surface.

Wow, time seems to have stopped.

Then, His thoughts abruptly ceased in the next instant.

The figure, appearing incredibly small before the giant, moved up and down with lightning speed, like a shooting star.

Shiva immediately fell backward uncontrollably.

Adam Cadmon's punch, carrying a power beyond Shiva's comprehension, instantly shattered His chest, causing His mountain-thick bones to crumble and blood to gush from His massive body into the sky!

After doing all this, the form of "Adam Cadmon" behind Akira Kurusu immediately went out.

The phantom thief seemed to lose all strength as he fell from the sky, his clothes torn on his right arm, and countless drops of blood seeping from his cracked skin.

Shoko Toyokawa, who was standing next to the lighthouse, immediately controlled "Ninru" to reverse the direction of his fall. After a brief reversal of gravity, she rushed over and hugged Akira Kurusu.

At the same time, the world was filled with rain, which mixed with the blood of the gods and fell into the sea along with the body of the giant god, creating a huge wave.

The towering waves crashed against the isolated island, plunging everything into darkness, with only the lighthouse still emitting a faint glow.

Akira Kurusu, who had been lying in Shoko Toyokawa's arms, immediately opened her eyes and looked at the blurry, flickering figure in the lighthouse.

Adam Cadmon reappeared and instantly gave chase.

Having escaped from Shiva at the critical moment of life and death, Todo Naoya has rushed to the top of the lighthouse, attempting to turn back time by killing An and Subaru.

An and Subaru, their faces contorted in pain, immediately widened their eyes, their pupils reflecting the ever-growing figure.

This "Toudou Naoya" moved with the stiffness and rigidity of a puppet, devoid of any expression, merely carrying out the order to kill An and Subaru in a hollow manner.

But just as he threw a punch at An and Subaru, "Adam Cadmon" arrived, as if transcending the concepts of time and space, appearing in an instant.

Adam Cardmont gently pushed Toudou Naoya, and his body immediately flew out, torn apart by the terrifying force within, and quickly disappeared into the depths of the torrential rain.

"Wait! It's a fake!" Anwa Subaru shouted at Akira and the others, but they were too far away and her voice was completely drowned out by the noise of the thunderstorm.

......

Having successfully rescued An and Subaru, Akira Kurusu was about to breathe a sigh of relief when his intuition immediately warned him—

Shiva, who should have been completely incapacitated, surprisingly regained control of his massive body and leaped out of the sea, his body covered in blood, and began to dance.

Dozens of jet-black waterfalls gushed from the wounds on His body, and with the movement of the dance, they became the black silk ribbons accompanying the dancers.

"Toudou Naoya" has already merged with "Shiva"; what just separated was merely the human body he had abandoned!

He began to dance without hesitation.

The whole world began to collapse.

The phantom thief immediately broke free from Toyokawa Shoko's support and summoned his Persona, shouting, "Arsène Lupin, [The Gun That Reverses the World]!"

Shiva, with its terrifying senses, caught Akira Kurusu's call, and a hint of fear immediately leaped into its pupils, which were constantly dilating due to the intense pain.

Ignoring his rapidly deteriorating body, he began to quicken his dance movements.

The sea was torn apart, and lightning bolts as large as houses shot out from the dark, cloud-covered sky.

Faced with such a vast and devastating force, humanity appears incredibly small.

But the next moment, "Satanyal" appeared.

The Fallen Angel Persona revealed its full form to the public for the first time.

A hundred-meter-long wing spread out to both sides, and azure flames burst forth from its body. A giant marble spear thrust out with a whoosh, aiming at "Shiva" on the sea surface.

The phantom thief raised his left fist, but his shout was drowned out by the roar of the sea and the sky.

Behind him, the girl was manipulating the Persona to play chaotic melodies and controlling the surging tides from all directions to protect the precarious island.

This is their only connection to the outside world.

......

If this continues, everyone will die.

An and Subaru, atop the lighthouse, were acutely aware of this.

She wanted to persuade Akira Kurusu and Shoko Toyokawa to give up on her and run away immediately, and she also thought about just waiting for the next time travel.

However, when my gaze fell upon the indistinct figure of the giant in the heavy rain, the voice that kept echoing in my heart immediately surpassed the thunder and tsunami.

[An and Subaru, is this what you wanted?]

The voice roared so fiercely.

[Letting yourself be manipulated by the gods, swept along by fate... dying again and again, being slaughtered time and again, being judged like a commodity by evil people! Hanging beside your beloved like an appendage, becoming a burden, a decoration! Only waiting for everything to end, praying that someone will deeply understand your pain... Is this what you long for?!]

An and Subaru bit their lips, and bright red blood flowed from between their teeth.

The chains binding her body broke in the next moment.

A defiant human figure stood tall behind her, [Shout out my name! An and Subaru! Even if our lives have fallen into an endless cycle of reincarnation, let us proclaim this will of rebellion to the gods even in our suffering!]

Standing atop the lighthouse, An and Subaru took a deep breath, their eyes burning with a deep purple flame that quickly engulfed their entire bodies, transforming them into a straitjacket-like garment, and a plaster-cast half-face mask appeared on their faces.

She gripped the mask on her face with both hands, her fingers digging into the gaps where the mask met her skin, and blood splattered rapidly in the gale like cherry blossoms.

She screamed the name of Persona in anguish.

Sisyphus!

Behind An and Subaru, the indomitable figure instantly became clear.

Fate has struck like a boulder... but I have caught it time and time again.

A balance suddenly appears between Sisyphus and Shiva.

Sisyphus, with his hands outstretched, suddenly lifted the scales and smashed a huge rock onto the right side of the balance.

This boulder is the embodiment of An and Subaru’s anger, despair and pain accumulated from countless near-death experiences!

Shiva, who was fully focused on guarding against Satanyal, had no time to pay attention to any of this and could only watch helplessly as Sisyphus's power was activated.

It felt like a videotape being rewound.

His dance was instantly reduced to the first movement.

The world, which was on the verge of collapse, was instantly restored to its original state.

In that instant, Akira Kurusu, controlling "Satanyel," pulled the trigger.

The [Armor-Piercing Sin] bullet shot out from the marble barrel and pierced His brow.

Shiva's body disintegrated amidst the roaring thunder in the sky.

He stared at the phantom thieves on the isolated island with a bewildered look, his gaze shifting from Toyokawa Shoko to Kurusu Akira, and finally settling on An and Subaru. For a moment, he even felt like laughing.

Damn Ferremont... they actually created a bunch of monsters.

In the final moments of his life, he looked up at the dark sky.

How pathetic, Naoya Todo. When you betrayed the Velvet Room, why didn't you think of this moment?

Many years ago, in the summer, he was also chosen by Ferremont as the "savior".

Countless images flashed before my eyes, and my memory suddenly became clear...

He thought to himself, "So that's how it is. My world was destroyed long ago, but because of my regret, I was brought here by that guy named 'Judas'."

As for the "me" now... I'm just a shadow of that man named Toudou Naoya.

In the moments before his complete demise, "Tōdō Naoya" separated Shinma Kōren's shadow from the photo frame.

This was the last thing he could do.

*

Shin Ma Hsiao-lien, clutching his photo frame, plummeted to the ground, struggling frantically in mid-air and desperately calling for help from the Phantom Thieves.

Having just awakened his Persona and exhausted all his strength, An and Subaru collapsed limply from the top of the lighthouse.

In order to preserve the island's integrity, Toyokawa Shoko, who had almost exhausted her mental energy, was no longer able to have "Ninroku" play any more pieces.

Due to excessive exertion, Akira Kurusu fell into a brief sluggish state, unable to react in time, and for a moment unable to control the massive "Satanyel" to catch the other party—but his instincts were sometimes faster than his reaction. Almost immediately, he drew his empty pistol and pointed it at his forehead, determined to summon the Persona that could save the day at any cost.

However, at the critical moment when life and death hung in the balance, the photo frame in Xinma Xiaolian's hands suddenly broke free from his embrace.

The picture frame crashed heavily to the ground.

The seawater receded rapidly from all directions, and soil, lawns, and flowers quickly filled the entire world.

The island remains an island, the rain still pours down, but what surrounds it is now a sea of ​​flowers that expands ever further into the darkness.

Whether it was Xinma Xiaolian or Anhe Mao, they were all gently enveloped by the sea of ​​flowers and landed safely on the ground.

Akira Kurusu paused for a moment, then put down his pistol.

A fierce wind, carrying small pebbles and a shower of purple hydrangeas, approached him. A bloody gash appeared on his face, and a pebble grazed it before he could see it. Blood oozed profusely from the wound on his right arm, the streaks of blood twisting in the wind like slender flames, not falling but carried into the sky by the wind.

Toyokawa Shoko quickly ran over and helped Anwa Subaru up. She glanced cautiously at Shinma Koren beside her.

Xinma Xiaolian ignored their gazes, simply kneeling on the ground in a daze, staring at the broken photo frame in front of him, the woman's shattered face in the frame, and the sea of ​​hydrangeas spread out behind her, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face.

He slapped himself hard across the face, just missing the other side where Akira Kurusu hadn't hit. Then, as if he were regretting his entire life, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the photo frame, letting out a terrible cry.

It was impossible to tell whether the water on his face was tears or rain.

......

The lighthouse's gas lamp, like a gleaming sword, spins and cuts through the darkness, slicing to the edge of the isolated island and creating a slender, upright silhouette.

The phantom thief bent down in the rain and picked a bunch of bright golden hydrangeas from the ground.

The flower petals, radiant with light, kept falling from his hands, eventually piecing together a thin photograph.

The real treasure was actually here...

The moment he took the treasure.

The world has truly begun to collapse; this palace of desire is crumbling.

"Joker! Run!" Anwa Subaru and Toyokawa Shoko shouted to him from beside the lighthouse gate.

Akira Kurishi glanced back at Shinma Hsiao-lien, who was still kneeling in the heavy rain, and then quickly ran towards the lighthouse.

He ran past the girls, brushing past their shoulders, and gave each of them a high five in the air with his still-intact left hand.

The young man's powerful slap shattered the slanting rain, shattered the silence deep within the lighthouse, and also seemed to want to shatter that era of sin and punishment sealed away in a corner of history.

*