Tokyo Psychic

Page 294

Azathoth possesses extraordinary real-world modification capabilities.

After countless cycles of practice and failure, he finally found the perfect formula to repair this persona.

If this research had been conducted a little earlier, Maruki Takuto would have been fully confident that he could have apprehended "Judas" who attacked him back then.

But upon closer reflection, it's actually unnecessary.

Judas was bound to betray that arrogant and evil god.

Maruki Takuto was so certain of this.

After all, having inherited the name of Judah, "betrayal" was the trajectory of His destiny.

The only thing I'm worried about...

He couldn't be sure whether the girl, whom Akira Kurusu had raised like a kitten, could successfully control the most ferocious and extreme rebellious will when she merged with "Judas".

Fortunately, Maruki Takuto had prepared for everything to go in the worst possible way.

With Azathoth by his side, he was confident that he could save any student from danger before the arrival of the evil god who could "destroy reality".

Suppose that the celery vine really couldn't resist the malice of "Judas" and was thus transformed into a new evil god...

Maruki Takuto was absolutely certain that he could stop the transformation process, forcibly separate the two cognitive concepts, and with the help of the Phantom Thieves, seal "Judas" in the fictional world of "Azathoth".

After dealing with the wealthy Toyokawa family, who provided money, people, and equipment, they were finally satisfied.

Maruki Takuto straightened his collar, then took out his phone and dialed Narukami Yu's number.

"Narukami-kun."

"What's wrong, Mr. Maruki?" On the other end of the phone, besides Yu Narukami's voice, there was also a little girl's fussing, "You jerk! Let me out of the house! I'm going to the bookstore to snatch a signed album from Ms. Suzuaki!"

Narukami Yu's voice sounded particularly bitter, but he still forced himself to remain calm and asked this leading figure in the field of cognitive science, "Is there anything you need me to do?"

Maruki Takuto replied, "Of course, your senior has woken up. Now please go to the port and bring him back."

"You mean Yuuki-senpai? Shouldn't we have notified the Shadow Patrol seniors first?"

"He should actually see his secretary first, rather than the Shadow Watcher, since the Persona Encyclopedia can help him adapt to his new body quickly."

"A new body..."

“Someone we’ve forgotten from the very roots of our understanding used the last embers of his life before he was ‘sealed’ to pull Yuuki back to reality from the depths of his heart. The body he’s using now is, of course, a temporary one woven from his understanding, and even his soul has been reorganized to avoid the evil god’s observation. Similarly, he also needs to renew his contract with his secretary.”

Maruki Takuto explained, "Of course, I now have a way to help him realize the concept of 'resurrection'... However, letting too many people know the truth about him in advance will make this work difficult, so it is enough for Miss Elizabeth of the Velvet Room to know about his resurrection first."

“I’ve already asked the people at Tsurumaki’s side to keep this a secret, so next… Narukami-kun, please go to the headquarters of DB Bunko and visit the famous author, Ms. Yuuki Elizabeth.”

......

I rediscovered the weight and solidity of the land.

It wasn't the Shadow Patrol's friends who greeted Yuuki Risa.

Instead...

“Elizabeth?” That’s probably what he was most surprised about.

Before he could even utter a greeting after their long separation, his secretary grabbed his face.

Elizabeth looked at her familiar yet unfamiliar contractor with a shocked and bewildered expression.

Although she also wanted to be overjoyed by Yuki's "resurrection".

But as a demigod of the Sea of ​​Hearts, she naturally sensed the abnormality in Yuuki Rika's very existence...

The retired savior in front of me seemed as absurd and incomprehensible as if he had come back to life so easily simply because someone said, "I will resurrect you."

Elizabeth tried hard to recall who actually possessed this privilege that had previously belonged exclusively to Ferremont.

But she couldn't recall the corresponding memories.

276. The Good Friday of Celery (Part 2)

Perhaps I was feeling tired.

Although school hasn't started yet, Jingqin Rencai, who was taking a nap, dreamed of the classroom in the evening.

It felt like I'd just slept through a whole math class when I heard deliberately amplified footsteps beside me.

Jing Qinrencai immediately shuddered and subconsciously straightened up.

"Amamiya! Ah, no, Akatsuki... that! I didn't..." The girl's stammering voice stopped abruptly the moment she saw the face of the person next to her.

It was a beautiful face, but shrouded in the deep shadows of dusk, it appeared ferocious and terrifying.

Jingqin Rencai was extremely familiar with this face...

Hina? She should have called out the other person's name. But her throat trembled, and only a fearful whimper escaped her lips.

Her voice was tinged with a sob, especially when she saw the girls behind Hina. A sense of fear welled up from within her, like thick ink spreading across rice paper, instantly covering her entire face.

Jingqin Rencai once thought she had grown up and that even if she saw those regretful and angry scenes again, she would no longer shed tears or feel fear.

But when Iori Niina truly returned to the depths of her memories, she realized that she had simply become accustomed to relying on Kurusu Akira's help...

There will always be someone who helps her when she feels helpless and lost, pulling her out of the mud and pushing her towards the bright sunshine.

So she can forget those troublesome and hesitant things, and face her new life with her head held high and without worries.

Sitting on the steel tube chair, the cold, hard plastic surface gave off a chilling sense of confinement, causing Jingqin Rencai to subconsciously hold her breath and lower her face, not wanting these phantoms from her memories to see her expression.

Why haven't I woken up yet?

Jing Qinren felt incredibly embarrassed to stay there for even a second longer.

She didn't want to see those hateful faces anymore, nor did she want to hear their despicable laughter.

I don't want to stay in this place where there's no Ryūki Akatsuki anymore...

but......

There was no way to wake up.

Jing Qinren looked down at her hands, the orange-red glow of the setting sun burning on them. The lines on her palms looked like the black ash left after the branches had burned out, very fine strands that faintly spread out, revealing an illusory power.

“I don’t hate you anymore.” She looked at “Hina”, who was leaning over the table with a mocking smile, and the illusory figure vanished in an instant.

But when you look at the place where "Hina" disappeared, the faces of those phantoms are still hideous and terrifying.

Jing Qinrencai noticed that they did not approach as she remembered.

They stood frozen in place, like a sculpture.

A pen was extended from beside her, its cap pressing against Jing Qinren's unconsciously raised hand.

A familiar voice rang in the ears of Jingqin Rencai, whose face was filled with horror.

"No, Ninja..."

The girl beside him let out a sly chuckle. "Unlike Hina, whom you just saw, they are no longer the silhouettes you remember... So, try to keep your movements small, or these girls will really die in reality, okay?"

Jingqin Rencai tilted her head in confusion and saw "Jingqin Rencai" who was bending over, with her hands behind her back, looking at her with a sly smile.

Despite having a vague expectation, Jing Qinrencai was still inevitably startled.

She then remembered her old friend who had just vanished, and hurriedly asked the "Jingqin Rencai" in front of her, "Where...where did Hina go?"

"Jingqinrencai" tilted her little head and looked at her, "Subconsciously you don't want Hina to be here, so Hina is just a shadow reflected by your negative emotions."

Having received extensive training from the Phantom Thieves, Iori Rina has gained knowledge of many aspects of the Impression Space.

...She quickly understood the words that seemed to be a reflection of her own shadow.

The "Jingqin Rencai" in front of me smiled with satisfaction. "That's right, this is your 'Palace of the Mind'. So you can freely create the palace's layout or inhabitants according to your own cognition and emotions. Of course, you can also grab some shadows from the nearby Impression Space to be your subjects."

"You make me sound like some kind of king..."

"Strictly speaking, you are a god here~"

Unlike Jingqin Rencai, the "Jingqin Rencai" standing next to her, although having the same hair color and face, was wearing a thick white robe that was out of season.

Beneath the long robe was the school uniform of the private Xiujin Academy.

"Jingqin Rencai" gazed at her with a pair of dark golden eyes that seemed to radiate light. "So, my lovely Nina, these guys who hurt you in the past are all gathered here... Is there anything you want to say to them?"

"Whether it's insults, lectures, exchanging feelings and thoughts at the time... or even directly retaliating against them..."

"Jingqinrencai" walked around Jingqinrencai with her hands behind her back, coaxing her, "Here, Nina can do whatever she wants. You are the only voice that matters here."

Jing Qinrencai's mouth dropped open. After a long moment of stunned silence, she timidly asked, "Jing Qinrencai?"

"And what about you? If I were the master of the palace... wouldn't you also be Nina?"

“I am not your shadow,” the girl beside him said with a smile. “Because Nina has the talent of awakening Persona, your shadow will not truly appear here.”

“But…” Jingqin Rencai was stunned.

She remembered what Lai Xixiao had said.

The persona is a manifestation of the shadow—because the shadow is a part of a person's subconscious projection onto their cognitive level of the world.

It was only through the "lens" provided by Ferremon that it was able to pass through the Sea of ​​the Heart and take on a completely new form.

But what if the shadow of the celery seed didn't appear in the impression space or the mental palace...?

Where should her persona be?

But while thinking this way, "Jingqin Rencai" went to those sculpted girls.

A divine radiance seemed to flow from his originally childlike face.

"Izakura Rinna" raised her hand and patted the shoulder of a tall girl in front of her. "Murata-kun, it's been such a long time since we last met."

Jing Qinrencai remembered what the other person had just said and quickly stood up to stop him...

However, she would soon regret her actions.

The moment Ishigami stood up, she could feel an immense, unimaginable force unleashed.

The torrent of time surged forth with every gesture she made, instantly engulfing Murata, whose hair was dyed.

Under the helpless and desperate gaze of Izanagi, the once beautiful high school student aged visibly, her back hunched, her hair gray, and her once smooth skin withered like a crooked tree in a drought, wrinkled and incredibly rough...

That face, which was very popular at school, was now covered in cracks, like a marble sculpture eroded by the wind in the desert.

What terrified Jingqinrencai even more was that the "Jingqinrencai" standing next to the sculpture seemed to be frightened by this sudden change.

Then, he turned to face the aging Murata with a look of disgust.

It seems that they are disgusted by the other person's ugliness.

So "Jingqinrencai" raised her hand and shoved Murata's shoulder forcefully.

Murata's already precarious body collapsed instantly, accompanied by a horrific scene of blood spraying out, right before Izare Nina's eyes...

It's broken.

The crimson hue of blood blended into the twilight.

It splattered all over the whole body of the celery seed vegetable.

It also stained the girls around it red.

"Jingqinrencai" only had blood on her hands, but seemed even more frightened, and took two steps back.

"Oops... I didn't mean to..." Before she could finish speaking, she blinked and made a face at Izanagi. "Did you really think I'd apologize?"

Jingqin Rencai belatedly realized what was happening and instinctively screamed, "You...you're killing someone?!"

Just as she was trying to stop "Jingqin Rencai", she discovered that her body was terribly weak.

It was as if I had contracted a serious illness, and I couldn't muster even the slightest bit of strength.

"Murder?" "Izakura Nina's" expression instantly turned cold and stern. "Nina, would you be sad if you accidentally stepped on an ant on the roadside at school?... Or rather, you wouldn't even notice their death, would you?"

As she spoke, "Jingqin Rencai" reached out and pushed over another "sculpture," then she said to the terrified Jingqin Rencai with a smug look on her face, "And what if this ant accidentally crawled into your trouser leg and bit you? I think... any human would instinctively reach out and kill it, right?"

"Jingqinrencai" looked down at the girl in front of her, whose life had been turned back to that serious illness in late spring, and then revealed a hearty smile. "I know, Nina has always regretted it, hasn't she? Regretted not being able to stand up for herself, regretted not being able to fight back against these bullies..."

Her voice was devilishly alluring, “But it doesn’t matter, Nina now has power.”

“Here, Nina can take revenge on them however she wants, as long as she so desires.”

"Take away their youth, their beauty, their figures, their cognitive abilities, their sensory sensitivity... and even their lives."