"I'm fine, Griseo... There's no need to fight anymore."
When looking at Griseo tugging at the corner of his clothes beside him, Kosma's gaze immediately softened. He gently reassured Griseo.
"I see, Griseo understands. He's not an enemy anymore then... Your color, it's very special. It's a color Griseo has never seen before."
Griseo nodded, seemingly understanding yet not fully comprehending.
Although she didn't quite understand how the situation had changed, since Kosma said it was fine, she had already let go of her earlier pointed hostility towards Ren Amamiya.
Griseo stepped out from behind Kosma. She slightly raised her fair and delicate little face, carefully gazing at Ren Amamiya's figure before her. The phantom thief's image—black hair, black clothes, white mask—was reflected in her amethyst-like, magnificent eyes.
Griseo's gaze was distant and profound, as if she wasn't directly looking at Ren Amamiya himself standing before her, but at some place ordinary people couldn't perceive.
"My color? What does that mean?"
Ren Amamiya frowned slightly in confusion. He looked down at his own body, making sure he hadn't been stained with any strange colors.
"Your color is red, a very, very red red! But it's different from other reds."
Griseo's description was as vague as a riddler's. Ren Amamiya couldn't understand what she was trying to express at all.
However, for someone of Griseo's age, being unable to smoothly translate their thoughts into words to share with others was a very normal situation... Griseo's actual age might be very old, but Ren Amamiya was certain that Griseo's mental age was as tender and young as her appearance.
No matter how Ren Amamiya looked, the only color on him was the black of his phantom thief attire. If he had to say red, it would only be the pair of red gloves he wore on his hands.
However, the color of these gloves wasn't any special red either, nothing extraordinary.
"I know, I know! Griseo can see the colors in other people's hearts, and can even paint special landscapes based on the colors in their hearts!!"
As the battle ended, the propeller transformed back into the Great Thunder Spiral Ring and returned to Ren Amamiya's finger, while Jizo Mitama: Etched also ended its transcendent state, reverting to the normal form of Jizo Mitama.
While Ren Amamiya and Griseo were conversing, Higokumaru's voice eagerly chimed in.
Higokumaru shot out from the Jizo Mitama's blade like a fox-carrot, spinning and hovering in the air between Ren Amamiya and Griseo. Like a primary school student actively answering the teacher's question in class, she excitedly raised her small hand and explained to Ren Amamiya.
"Rin, are you alright now? That's great."
Just as Higokumaru said, Griseo possessed the special ability to see the colors in people's hearts.
Although Higokumaru's appearance had changed slightly, in Griseo's eyes, the color in her heart had always remained consistent with the past, possessing a unique identifiability. Therefore, Griseo could identify Higokumaru's identity at a glance.
Higokumaru and Griseo were playmates of similar age during the Previous Era.
After fifty thousand years, seeing Higokumaru appear before her full of spirit again, Griseo immediately clutched her chest gently, a joyful smile appearing on her delicate, pretty face.
"I-I'm fine... But Griseo, why are you and Kosma here?"
Facing Griseo's undisguised joyful gaze, Higokumaru, however, seemed to be scorched by this pure gaze. The moment their eyes met, she averted her gaze.
Although she had been killed by the rioting Fire Moth soldiers and controlled by the Honkai's will due to resentment, after transforming into the Herrscher of Erosion, Higokumaru had indeed dealt an extremely heavy blow to the Fire Moth base, even reducing the already few survivors of the Previous Era to a heartbreakingly desperate, residual number.
This was a sin Higokumaru had personally committed, and Griseo was undoubtedly one of the direct witnesses to the Herrscher of Erosion incident back then.
After the excitement of reuniting with her old playmate subsided, Higokumaru immediately felt ashamed of her past mistakes, somewhat daring not to stay in front of Griseo and Kosma any longer.
"This is the Elysian Realm. Although Griseo and I are no different from the beings you recognize in your memory, we are not actually our true selves, but existences similar to projections. The real Griseo might still be somewhere in the real world, or perhaps has already silently disappeared into a corner of history."
Facing Higokumaru, who seemed to have recovered her memories and sanity from her human period and was no longer the Herrscher of Erosion dominated by the Honkai's will, Kosma very rarely spoke a long passage to explain to her.
Considering Higokumaru's IQ and comprehension ability, Kosma deliberately used terms that even Higokumaru could easily understand.
The Elysian Realm was a special area in the deepest part of Mementos, and Kosma and Griseo were Shadows existing in the Elysian Realm space.
Shadows and Personas in Mementos all had corresponding mythological archetypes. It was very reasonable for Kosma and Griseo, as Shadows, to have stronger original selves existing in the real world.
Ren Amamiya completely understood Kosma's explanation to Higokumaru. What puzzled him was another matter.
"...Aren't you called Higokumaru? Why does Griseo call you Rin?"
Ren Amamiya looked at Higokumaru, who had habitually floated to his shoulder, with a slightly strange expression, and asked the Higokumaru who had lowered her small head.
"Rin was my old name. Boss Joker, you can just keep calling me Higokumaru. That's my name now."
Higokumaru waved her small hand at Ren Amamiya. She didn't seem to want to talk about the name [Rin].
Because she was the Shadow corresponding to the real Griseo, the Griseo in Elysian Realm knew Higokumaru, who was also Yae Sakura's Shadow.
Personas, how wondrous!
Thinking about it carefully, Persona names indeed could change.
As a Persona user's heart grew stronger and they reached new awakenings, their Persona would evolve. Not only would their abilities be greatly enhanced, but even their appearance and name would change accordingly.
Generally speaking, Persona evolution had three stages.
And Shadows and Personas were two sides of the same coin. Shadows would also become stronger due to changes in the emotions of their real-world selves, even leading to changes in their names and appearances. This was also very reasonable.
Ren Amamiya no longer concerned himself with Higokumaru's past name. He once again focused his attention on Griseo.
"Griseo, does that ability of yours to see the colors in people's hearts have any special effects? I mean, can it affect others in any way?"
Since Griseo could see the colors in people's hearts, she should also be able to interfere with those colors, thereby creating some special effects.
Because of his agreement with Kosma, Ren Amamiya didn't plan to subdue Griseo as his Persona as well... To be more objective, after subduing Kosma as his Persona, Ren Amamiya once again felt that familiar sense of approaching his limit.
Even if Ren Amamiya wanted to subdue Griseo as a Persona, his body probably didn't have enough Persona slots to accommodate her.
When I get back to the Kaslana Palace, I'll ask Kaslana to help upgrade my Persona storage slots again.
Ren Amamiya made this decision in his heart.
Although he couldn't subdue Griseo as a Persona, if Griseo's ability to see the colors in people's hearts could produce some special effects, then she could still exist as a support character, providing behind-the-scenes assistance for Ren Amamiya's battles.
"Griseo can paint with the colors in other people's hearts. Griseo once painted for Kosma, and then monsters appeared in the painting. Kosma said those were the monsters in his heart, and those monsters listened to Kosma very well."
Griseo tilted her small head slightly. She extended a fair, slender finger and lightly tapped her chin, responding to Ren Amamiya in an ethereal tone.
"In other words, you can summon Shadow soldiers from the painted person's heart in the form of a painting? A sufficiently interesting ability."
Ren Amamiya raised an eyebrow slightly. He quickly understood the effect of Griseo's ability.
Commanding a large number of Shadow soldiers to attack enemies, like Kosma did before, was indeed an excellent combat strategy. No matter how many of those Shadow soldiers were consumed, it wouldn't cause any heartache.
However, Ren Amamiya had already awakened as a Persona user. He didn't have a Palace or Shadow in his heart. It was still unknown whether Griseo's special ability could work on him.
"In any case, Griseo, could you paint a picture for me? I want to test if this ability can affect me."
After pondering for a moment, Ren Amamiya made a decision. He planned to let Griseo paint a picture using the colors in his heart.
If he could summon Shadow soldiers that he could freely command through the painting, it would be a huge gain.
If he couldn't summon them, it would still be a no-loss outcome.
"I understand. Then leave it to me."
Facing Ren Amamiya's request, Griseo's tender and light voice suddenly deepened. She nodded with a serious expression, as if pretending to be an adult. Even her tone of voice became much crisper and more articulate.
Griseo's behavior was just like... a naughty child suddenly imitating someone? And she was imitating Ren Amamiya himself, right in front of him!
Just as Ren Amamiya's eyes widened in astonishment at Griseo's unexpected behavior, Kosma, as if worried Ren Amamiya would misunderstand Griseo's character, hurriedly explained to him.
"Griseo's heart is like a blank canvas. Once she has been in contact with someone for a long time, she will be stained by their colors, and her words and actions will also lean towards the person she has been in contact with. Only when Griseo paints those colors with her brush can she return to her original appearance."
"I see. What an amazingly interesting characteristic."
After receiving Kosma's explanation of Griseo's current state, Ren Amamiya immediately showed a look of relief.
Since Griseo's words and actions were starting to lean towards his own, it meant she had already entered a working state and had proactively touched the colors in his heart.
Under Ren Amamiya's gaze, Griseo climbed back onto the tall chair she had been sitting on earlier.
After replacing the canvas on the easel with a brand-new blank one, Griseo dipped her brush into the palette a few times. Her fair, slender fingers held the brush and began to sketch and paint stroke by stroke on the blank canvas.
To provide Griseo with sufficient paint, Ren Amamiya didn't leave to explore other areas but stayed beside Griseo, watching this little painter depict the scenery she perceived in Ren Amamiya's heart from scratch.
Not only Ren Amamiya himself, but even Vill-V and Aponia in the deepest part also widened their eyes attentively, carefully observing the painting Griseo created with her brush.
Aponia had agreed to let Ren Amamiya leave the dark prison of the deepest part and sent him to Griseo's Painter's Dream Studio for the purpose of using Griseo's special ability to judge whether Ren Amamiya's character was trustworthy.
As Griseo continuously waved her brush, painting on the canvas.
Oppressive red paint gradually covered the entire blank canvas, bringing a strong sense of unease, as if the end of the world was descending.
A dark red torrent, like an ocean, surged in the sky. A god with a halo above its head and six wings on its back, high above, manipulated the dark red, world-ending flood to crash down upon the cities and humans on the ground.
In the cities below, humans had already perished in the world-ending dark red flood. Monsters lurking in the red flood dragged humans down, and then monsters, identical to the deceased, replaced the identities of the dead and walked the earth anew.
Just as Aponia was feeling oppressed by the scroll Griseo painted, her vigilance towards Ren Amamiya constantly rising, and even beginning to waver and consider whether to treat Ren Amamiya as an enemy.
Griseo once again waved the brush in her hand. This time, she added a spark of rebellious hope to this apocalyptic scene of a god destroying the world.
Above the city about to be submerged by the world-ending flood, a demon king figure suddenly appeared—wearing a golden mask, its body as enormous as a mountain, occupying almost the entire canvas space, with six black, fallen angel-like wings sprouting from its back.
The pitch-black demon king raised the longsword in his hand high, letting out a roar of defiance towards the god perched high in the sky, unleashing the world-ending flood. Beneath him was a utopia that had never been tainted by the red flood.
Anyone looking at it could realize that in this picture, this black demon king wearing a golden mask was the true protagonist.
"For the survival of humanity, to rebel against the fate given by the creator who bestowed their power. Although his appearance looks terrifying in the eyes of others, he actually possesses a gentle and kind heart completely different from his appearance..."
Aponia gazed deeply at the painting of the demon king rebelling against god, completed by Griseo. Her fair hands were tightly clasped before her chest. Her previously wavering and hesitant mood finally became firm and stable.
"Griseo's paintings are as stream-of-consciousness and difficult to understand as ever. But this time, I think I can see what it's about... Phantom Thief Joker uses the power of Stigmata, and Kevin, as the strongest in the Previous Era, plus his intimate relationship with MEI, it's not an exaggeration to say he's one of the sources of Stigmata power."
Vill-V rubbed her chin, thoughtfully analyzing the scroll Griseo had completed.
"Therefore, that world-destroying god is Kevin, and the demon king launching a magnificent rebellion against god is Phantom Thief Joker. The so-called world-ending flood actually refers to Project Stigma. Those new monsters that replaced the human dead are the Stigmata's 'Ideal Forms'... Kevin should also know that Phantom Thief Joker would have a very strong resistance and rebellious sentiment towards Project Stigma."
"Even though he knew Phantom Thief Joker would become the biggest obstacle to his execution of Project Stigma, Kevin still sent him to the Elysian Realm... This is really in line with Kevin's usual style of doing things."
After analyzing Griseo's painting of the demon king rebelling against god, which was based on the colors in Ren Amamiya's heart, Vill-V shrugged her shoulders as if helpless.
She nonchalantly turned her head to look at Aponia beside her, carefully observing Aponia's current expression with the corner of her eye.
"Although chosen to be the executor of Project Stigma, Kevin hopes more than anyone that someone can stop him from completing Project Stigma. It's not surprising that he would choose to cultivate a savior candidate who can stop him."
"However, even if the demon king defeats the world-destroying god, it doesn't mean the world will no longer suffer the crisis of destruction. To completely free the world from the scourge of disaster, the demon king must come up with a more perfect solution than the god's. Otherwise, all his efforts will only delay the time of humanity's destruction and replace it with another form."
Aponia stared intently at Ren Amamiya's figure on the virtual screen. She slowly extended her fair, slender finger, touching Ren Amamiya's face on the screen, and spoke in a low voice.
The miracle Kevin longed for was not just Project Stigma being stopped, but the successor of the current civilization coming up with a gentler and more perfect salvation plan than Project Stigma.
Aponia couldn't predict what kind of salvation plan the phantom thief named Joker would come up with, but she was willing to try to believe.
If you asked why, it was because Ren Amamiya was the only miracle whose trajectory of fate Aponia had been unable to see through so far.