Viewing humans as mere insects and possessing the authority to open spatial wormholes. This purple-haired, golden-eyed girl who flew out from the black tower was undeniably Ren Amamiya's target for infiltrating this Palace—the Herrscher of the Void herself.
So, instead of waiting obediently at the top of the tower like a storybook demon lord, she chose to leave and attack proactively... While it saves us a lot of trouble, I was actually planning on collecting some Will seeds.
Ren raised an eyebrow slightly, feeling a pang of regret as he watched the purple-haired girl fly out from the black tower with a furious expression. She positioned herself protectively in front of the crimson dragon Benares, instantly forcing Persona Higokumaru and Persona Kurikara to retreat.
Being spared the tedious climb through a labyrinthine tower, avoiding wasting stamina on Shadow soldiers within, and facing the final boss, the Herrscher of the Void, directly at peak condition—this was naturally an excellent turn of events.
However, with the Palace ruler appearing right before him, Ren couldn't proceed with his plan to infiltrate the black tower and steal the Will seeds belonging to this enemy of civilization.
"For the sin of invading the palace of the Queen of the Void and harming my kin, Benares, you shall pay with the blood of you ants!!"
Hovering in the sky on immense wings, the crimson demonic dragon Benares, which had appeared terrifyingly ferocious before Ren and the others, now remained docile and silent behind the Herrscher of the Void, like a gentle, loyal hound. Its four large dragon eyes even seemed soft as they gazed at the Herrscher's back.
Having her mental space infiltrated undetected by a group of strange humans, and seeing Bella—formed from her own cognition and memories—being bullied so badly by them, the Herrscher of the Void's fury surged to its absolute peak.
Floating high above, she condescendingly waved a slender white arm downwards. Instantly, numerous purplish-black spatial gates tore open, turning the entire sky into what looked like a giant honeycomb.
Snap!!
The Herrscher snapped her fingers sharply. With that crisp sound, countless white lances, shimmering with an eerie golden light, shot forth from the dense cluster of purplish-black portals behind her.
The golden lances tore through the air, creating a terrifying cataclysm akin to a meteor shower across the sky. With the intent to utterly destroy the world, they rained down upon Personas Higokumaru and Kurikara, who had harmed Benares, as well as Ren and the others on the ground.
"Incoming attack! Everyone, be careful!!"
Seeing the thousands of golden lances streaking towards the ground like a rain of golden light, Ren, positioned below, felt his eyes sharpen. He leaned forward slightly, warning Raiden Mei and Seele behind him.
Thanks to the intel obtained from Siegfried beforehand, Ren knew the Herrscher of the Void could create spatial lances or ribbons that were impossible to defend against conventionally. Creating lances that ignored defenses and directly damaged the enemy required the Herrscher to concentrate her power.
Right now, as if venting her anger, the Herrscher had unleashed a barrage as dense as the stars. She couldn't possibly have imbued every single one of those lances with the space-piercing property. However, it was possible that a few among the thousands raining down possessed that defense-ignoring trait.
Faced with this furious onslaught, the best course of action was primarily evasion, followed by countering the golden lances with attacks imbued with power to forcefully negate their impact. With enough power, even a defense-ignoring spatial lance could be brute-forced and shattered head-on.
Persona Higokumaru spewed intense, blazing foxfire from her mouth, while Kurikara unleashed waves of deep crimson lightning with sweeps of its massive wings, meeting the dense volley of spatial lances head-on. Pink foxfire and crimson lightning intertwined, detonating the lances aimed at the two Personas mid-air, causing violent bursts of light one after another.
However, the sheer number of spatial lances summoned by the Herrscher was terrifyingly overwhelming. Even though Higokumaru and Kurikara countered and detonated wave after wave, the golden streaks pouring from the purplish-black portals seemed endless, continuously surging outwards.
Under the Herrscher's immediate, full-force bombardment fueled by rage, Persona Kurikara, whose strength was only equivalent to a Judgment-class Honkai Beast, was the first to falter.
Streaks of golden light pierced through the crimson lightning defense, slamming into her massive draconic body, leaving deep, gruesome wounds. The most severe injury punched clean through Kurikara's form, leaving a hole large enough to see the scenery behind her.
Once a mistake was made amidst the Herrscher's rain of spears, Kurikara fell into an irreversible disadvantage, suffering continuous hits from the golden lances. Soon, her body was riddled with injuries, and she began plummeting from the sky.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Kurikara—!!"
Watching Kurikara fall so easily before the Herrscher, crashing to the ground battered and broken in mere moments, Raiden Mei cried out in alarm, her purple eyes filled with intense worry for her Persona.
"Don't go! Recall Kurikara first! I'll heal it later!"
Noticing Mei about to rush towards Kurikara to check her injuries, Ren grabbed her slender white wrist, forcefully pulling her back to safety behind him. While deflecting the golden lances raining down from above with sweeps of his Jizo Mitama katana, Ren calmly and coolly instructed Mei.
If a Persona is defeated outright in battle, summoning it again costs several times the normal amount of SP and mental energy, and requires a waiting period. Ren had experienced this back in the Elysian Realm when Jack Frost was defeated by Kosma, rendering it temporarily unsummonable.
Fortunately, using Persona Kosma to absorb vast amounts of SP from Shadows in the World Serpent base had restored Jack Frost to full fighting condition within Ren's heart.
Unlike Ren, Mei didn't have a Persona skill that could absorb enemy SP during battle. If Kurikara were truly destroyed by the Herrscher, Mei would be largely out of commission for the remainder of this fight, at least for a short while.
"I understand!" Taking Ren's advice, Mei nodded seriously. With a thought from her, the heavily injured Kurikara instantly reverted to its black oni mask form, returning to her hand.
"Right, Acheron, take this ring for now. You should be able to draw out more power from it than I can."
After clearing the spatial lances heading towards them, Ren seemed to remember something. He took off the Mighty Thunder Ring from his left hand and, with extreme speed, placed it onto Raiden Mei's left ring finger.
The Mighty Thunder Ring was a special piece of equipment crafted from the Will seed and Treasure found within Mei's own Palace.
If Mei, the original source, used the ring herself, her perfect compatibility with it would undoubtedly allow her to unleash even greater power than Ren could. It might even boost Kurikara's strength.
"Eh? This is... a ring? And on this finger..." Mei's body stiffened slightly as she watched Ren place the Mighty Thunder Ring onto her left ring finger.
However, they were still in the middle of a dangerous battlefield. Mei paused for only a second before instantly pushing aside distracting thoughts and refocusing on the battle against the Herrscher of the Void.
Although Ren had tried his best to clear the incoming lances, the Herrscher hadn't stopped her attack. The cleared space in the barrage was quickly refilled, and during the brief moment Ren handed the ring to Mei, the lances surged towards his position with unstoppable force.
But before the golden lances could land, a blue phantom resembling a butterfly flashed above Ren. Seele, moving with the grace and agility of a butterfly's shadow, weaved through the bullet hell created by the Herrscher. She occasionally swung her blue scythe, slicing apart the spatial lances aimed at Ren and Mei, effectively covering Ren while he equipped Mei.
Thrust into combat against such a powerful foe right away, the clearly inexperienced Seele soon made mistakes. Fortunately, she wasn't fighting alone.
Whenever Seele's defense faltered, a purple javelin from Armored Hare would streak past like a meteor, perfectly filling the gap, intercepting and detonating the lances Seele missed.
Hare's dream shield, protecting her main body, was exceptionally strong. Even standing amidst the storm of spatial lances, the purple shield showed no sign of breaking.
However, knowing the Herrscher's powers, Hare constantly watched the lances' forms, wary of any that might ignore her shield's defense and pierce her true body.
"Return, Higokumaru—It's time to unleash your full power!!"
Having quickly handed the ring to Mei, Ren used the precious time bought by Seele and Hare. He focused his concentration, raising his Jizo Mitama katana high, and called out to Persona Higokumaru, who was desperately dodging the Herrscher's bombardment in the sky.
Under the Herrscher's astonished gaze from above, Higokumaru's body instantly dissolved into an ethereal cloud of crimson-black miasma. While effortlessly evading the spatial lances, the vast miasma surged downwards like a tide, pouring into the blade of the Jizo Mitama katana Ren held aloft.
Higokumaru's will and power returned to the Key of Erosion, Jizo Mitama. The blade instantly underwent a powerful transformation, shifting in a breath's time into its PRI-ARM mode: Jizo Mitama: Etched Form.
"That is...?!"
Seeing the Key of Devourer in Ren's hand enter its PRI-ARM state, the Herrscher of the Void's expression changed slightly. The incredibly familiar weapon transformation triggered some very unpleasant memories.
During the Second Eruption, Siegfried Kaslana had transformed his Judgment of Shamash into Might of An-Utu. Then, in a half-human, half-Honkai beast state, he wielded the greatsword, wildly spamming its active skill [Judgment Of Shamash - Unleashed]. Even the Herrscher of the Void, possessing the power of five Herrscher Cores, could only flee desperately from Siegfried's pure, overwhelming power, nearly losing her life.
That incident became a deep-seated trauma for the Herrscher.
Thankfully, when she reawakened from her vessel years ago, she had severed one of Siegfried's arms. Siegfried Kaslana was defeated; he could no longer stand in her way.
Once she fully revived and took control of this vessel, the one-armed Siegfried would be no threat at all, merely waiting for his execution!
"Just changing the shape of your weapon doesn't mean you can rewrite the outco... outcome? Where you ants are easily crushed by me!"
Just as the Herrscher gathered her stray thoughts, a cruel, arrogant smile forming on her lips as she looked down at Ren and the others, Ren silently applied the enhancement ability of Jizo Mitama: Etched Form to himself.
Simultaneously, a bird beak mask adorned with a purple iris flower silently appeared in Ren's hand. With a forceful throw, Ren hurled the purple iris mask forward, and an eerie, crimson flame surged forth.
"The rest is up to you, Persona—Siegfried!!!"