"Everyone, shut up!! That's just an imposter Flame-Chaser! It can't possibly be the real one! That Flame-Chaser died long ago!!"
Seeing the researchers in the lab thrown into utter disarray by the appearance of Yae Sakura beside Ren Amamiya, Jackal felt a surge of irritation. Her voice dripped with fury as she roared at the staff around her.
"Activate the lab's tactical mechs! And the Synthetic Honkai Beasts already fitted with control devices! Divert some forces to lure that Parvati into the experimental isolation chamber! The rest, converge here and engage the intruder!!"
"So, you're the director of this lab..." Ren observed from his position. "Your days of forcibly experimenting on people are over. I, Phantom Thief Joker, am here to announce your demise!"
Standing on the highest level of the lab, a woman with tanned skin, curly brown hair, and a black jackal mask barked orders with controlled fury, bringing the panicked researchers back into line. Her commanding, arrogant demeanor instantly told Ren her position of authority here.
These researchers seem to know about Sakura, Ren mused, almost like they worship her. The bizarre situation struck him as peculiar.
Even if these researchers were devout followers of Yae Sakura, Ren had no intention of letting them off the hook.
Personas were beings from myths and legends worldwide, or characters from popular stories. It wasn't surprising that Yae Sakura would have fans in the real world.
The only truly abnormal thing was that this group of Sakura fans also seemed to worship the evil god Yaldabaoth. Or perhaps, the evil god was their true object of faith, and Sakura was just one among others they revered.
"Phantom Thief Joker? Just a pathetic clown!" Jackal sneered, her earlier anger giving way to arrogance. "How dare you barge into my laboratory! Let me show you what Jackal is capable of!!"
The World Serpent lab specialized in human experimentation, transforming people into Honkai Beasts. To prevent rampaging synthetic creations, the internal defenses and armed forces were naturally top-notch. Compared to the alloy gate easily demolished by the Emperor-class Honkai Beast Parvati, the lab's interior was truly impregnable.
One by one, reactivated tactical mechs lumbered out from the corners. Synthetic Honkai Beasts, controlled by AI, awakened from their slumber, swarming towards Ren like insects.
Feeling the tide turning in her favor, confident of victory, Jackal's tone became wildly conceited. Even through the black mask, Ren could imagine the haughty expression on her face.
"You said I forced them into human experiments? Ridiculous! I don't need to force anyone!" Believing she had the absolute upper hand, Jackal crossed her arms, elaborating on the source of her test subjects.
"All I have to do is leak the news that undergoing experimental surgery offers a chance to cure otherwise incurable terminal illnesses. Then, trot out one or two successful cases. People desperate to enter this lab, to become my research material, come flocking like moths to a flame! No matter how famous or high-status they were outside, here they grovel, begging me to save them—my point is, they're all volunteers. I never forced a single one!"
Although Jackal claimed her subjects were volunteers, it didn't mean she was some humanitarian respecting human rights. She simply reveled in the pleasure of watching renowned members of high society debase themselves, doing anything to please and beg her for salvation.
Personal gratification aside, whether kidnapping ordinary people or luring the terminally ill elite, it made no difference to Jackal. Healthy commoners or dying patients—Honkai energy treated them all the same. Survival depended solely on luck and the compatibility between their bodies and the Honkai Beast factors.
Unfortunately for her, despite countless sacrifices, Jackal hadn't come close to replicating the success of the Meta-Morph surgeries for MANTIS the Previous Era's Flame-Chasers underwent. The best she could produce were powerful, controllable Synthetic Honkai Beasts.
As for the extremely rare few who miraculously survived the experiments, their diseases cured by residual Honkai Beast Meta-Morph ICHOR factors – Jackal viewed them merely as failed products. Letting them go served only to turn them into living advertisements, luring the next batch of victims into the pit of human experimentation.
"You say you didn't force anyone... but you lied, didn't you? About the success rate." Ren's voice cut through her tirade. "And faced with subjects whose lives are entirely in your hands, I doubt you could restrain your personal whims and try your best to save everyone who might have survived."
Even having just met her, Ren instantly saw through the vile nature of the stylishly dressed, tan-skinned woman. Such an arrogant, self-important individual, whose emotions were written all over her, couldn't possibly keep her personal feelings out of life-or-death surgical procedures.
Struck to the core by Ren's accusation, Jackal fell silent. Though the mask hid her expression, her body trembled violently with suppressed rage, an undeniable sign he'd hit a nerve.
"You silver-tongued brat!" she finally spat. "Let's hope your skills match your mouth! Pray you die quickly at the hands of my army, otherwise, I'll personally rip that mouth apart and subject you to the cruelest experiments imaginable, one by one!!"
Jackal took a deep breath, then sharply waved her hand, signaling the tactical mechs and synthetic beasts surrounding Ren and Sakura to attack.
Seeing Jackal lose her cool and resort to brute force, Ren didn't feel anger, but rather a slight sense of relief. If she had genuinely been conducting these experiments solely to give the terminally ill a chance at survival, Ren wouldn't have known how to handle her.
Fortunately, Jackal made no effort to hide her villainy. Ren didn't need to hold back or change his plans for this unrepentant monster.
Ren and Sakura tightened their grips on their weapons. The lights of Jizo Mitama and Sakura Blossom flashed in unison, crimson-black and cherry-pink energies merging into a massive X-shaped sword wave that scythed through the enemies in its path like harvesting wheat.
Under Jackal's increasingly alarmed gaze, Ren and Yae Sakura fought like they'd activated their Musou attacks [A reference to Dynasty Warriors games]. Every swing of their katanas felled swathes of opponents. Neither the full-firepower tactical mechs nor the Synthetic Honkai Beasts with their varied abilities could stand against them for even a single exchange.
If Jackal weren't in her heavily fortified lab with a seemingly endless supply of reinforcements, Ren would have likely already closed the distance.
"Drop the blast doors! Release the highest concentration of sleeping gas, now!!" Realizing Ren was far more dangerous than anticipated, not just some random nobody, cold sweat trickled down Jackal's back. She hastily commanded the researchers behind her.
"But, Lady Jackal, if we lower the doors now, other colleagues will be trapped on the battlefield! Is this really— Ugh!!"
A researcher at the control terminal hesitated, but before he could finish his question, Jackal decisively pulled out a pistol, shot the disobedient subordinate dead, and forcefully ordered the others to carry out her command.
CRASH!
The heavy blast doors, strong enough to withstand even an Emperor-class Honkai Beast, slammed down, separating Jackal's control area from the intense battlefield where Ren fought.
Black pipes extended from the lab corners. Instead of bullets, thick white gas billowed out, instantly flooding the space behind the blast doors. It was high-concentration sleeping gas, designed to incapacitate Honkai Beasts.
Even though Ren held his breath immediately, the sheer concentration caused a wave of drowsiness to wash over him.
Zzzt! A brilliant deep purple spark flared from the lightning-infused ring on Ren's left middle finger. The jolt kept him awake while simultaneously generating an electromagnetic field that instantly repelled the sleeping gas around him.
Although Sakura was a Persona, Personas could still suffer from status ailments like Sleep. Having inadvertently inhaled the gas, Sakura didn't fall unconscious, but her movements slowed noticeably, her attacks less sharp, her dodges sluggish.
Looks like it's time for the new guy to show his stuff.
"Time for a change—Persona!! Come forth, Kosma!!!"
Yae Sakura's elegant form dissolved into faint blue spiritual flames. Then, the azure fire surged violently, expanding as if to consume the entire world.
When the ethereal blue flames that had illuminated the lab finally subsided, a slender figure appeared: a green-haired youth clad in green, with four twisted black demonic horns sprouting from his head and a pair of black demonic wings on his back.
Persona Kosma slowly opened his eyes. His orange irises scanned the surroundings with chilling indifference before locking onto Jackal in the control area above.
Jackal's lab was close to the Elysian Realm. Despite some information lag, Kosma had heard the entire exchange between Ren and Jackal, clearly understanding the utterly depraved and cruel acts she was committing.
Through the specialized glass of the cultivation pods lining the lab walls, Kosma could vividly see the contorted expressions of pain on the faces of the humans whose bodies were being horrifically mutated into Honkai Beasts.
Beneath his wide robes, Kosma's fists clenched, hardening instantly. He had always dreamed of being a hero of justice. Even before becoming a MANTIS, before he was even a warrior, he had done everything in his power to fight evil and uphold his own sense of justice.
Jackal, benefiting from the legacy of the Previous Era, could have easily obtained the technical data for the Meta-Morph surgery from the Elysian Realm. There was absolutely no need to start from scratch, piling up corpses to rediscover a method of fusing humans with Honkai Beast factors.
Unlike the Previous Era, which was pushed to desperate measures, the Current Era still had time to maintain basic human decency.
This is an unnecessary sacrifice.
Kosma mentally condemned Jackal as [Evil].
If it were just him, facing Jackal, a World Serpent executive, he might have hesitated about delivering judgment... No, if it were just him, he wouldn't even know of her crimes, wouldn't be standing before her now.
But now, Kosma didn't need to hesitate or think. Ren's thoughts and judgment aligned perfectly with his own. As Ren Amamiya's Persona, Kosma only needed to execute the will of his summoner.
"Show them your full power, Kosma! Let these Shadows see your true form! Finish them in one go!!" Ren commanded with a sharp gesture, urging the Persona he had summoned to unleash his strength.
"That green-haired boy... those four twisted horns, like a demon's... those black wings... C-Could he really be the Kosma, one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers?!"
As Kosma replaced Sakura beside Ren, Jackal's pupils dilated to their absolute limit. Her eyes betrayed profound shock and instability.
As a World Serpent executive, Jackal had access to files concerning the Thirteen Flame-Chasers. Driven by her obsession with MANTIS warriors, she had fanatically gathered every scrap of information she could find.
She had seen the real SAKURA in the Elysian Realm before, so she knew the miko-garbed Yae Sakura wasn't that Flame-Chaser.
However, the Kosma standing before her now matched the portraits she had collected perfectly!! His clothes, his expression, even the inhuman features marking him as a MANTIS—they were identical to Kosma, the Ninth of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers. It was as if he had stepped right out of the records!!
"Kosma of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers is dead! You can't be him! You absolutely cannot be him!!" An unspoken terror gripped Jackal's heart, making her feel suffocated. She shrieked denials, desperately trying to reject the reality before her.
Why the panic?
If this was the genuine Kosma, and he was hostile towards her, a World Serpent executive... then this laboratory wasn't a perilous battlefield for him. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet where he could indulge his appetite to his heart's content!!
"Unleash my full power for a swift conclusion? Understood." Hearing Ren's command, Persona Kosma gave a slight nod.
Before the stunned eyes of Jackal and the other World Serpent researchers, eerie green flames erupted around Kosma. The slender youth's figure swelled and twisted within the inferno, finally morphing into a monstrous, terrifyingly huge silhouette resembling a demon.
"That form... that Honkai Beast... it's... an Apocalypse(Vipralopa)-class Honkai Beast, Vishnu!!"
Watching Persona Kosma demonstrate the unique MANTIS ability—the Active Honkai Reaction—and assume the form of the Honkai Beast Vishnu, Jackal felt her voice turn utterly hoarse.
Once Kosma transformed into the Apocalypse-class Vishnu, there was no longer any room for doubt. The being in her lab was, without question, Kosma, the Ninth Seat of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, himself!
In his Vishnu form, Kosma swung the cyan-gray blades on his wrists, effortlessly reaping the lives of the Synthetic Honkai Beasts. The Apocalypse-class Honkai Beast Vishnu possessed the unique ability to devour everything and convert it into sustenance for growth.
Wherever Vishnu-Kosma passed, only the wreckage of tactical mechs remained. The Synthetic Honkai Beasts cultivated by Jackal were consumed like snacks, dissolving into vast amounts of Honkai energy that Kosma absorbed entirely.
As Vishnu-Kosma rampaged through the synthetic horde, devouring every Honkai Beast in sight using Vishnu's innate ability, Ren Amamiya, standing behind him, suddenly felt an immense power surge from within his own body.