The dark blue whale shadow's obvious differential treatment infuriated the Persona Shadow Mei, who felt slighted, and she began to curse colorfully in Ren Amamiya's mind.
'Raoul, use Phantom Show!!'
Ren ignored the noise in his mind and focused on commanding his Persona Raoul to use its exclusive skill, Phantom Show.
A pure, cold light like a lunar wheel rose from Raoul's palm. As Raoul crushed the wheel, the entire sky suddenly dimmed.
A pair of clear, bright, full moon rings quietly appeared in the dark blue whale shadow's scarlet vertical pupils.
However, in the next instant, with just a blink, the moon rings in the dark blue whale shadow's eyes shattered like reflections in water. It showed no signs of being affected by Phantom Show at all.
"Sleep immunity, huh? What a shame... Then let's attack directly. Raoul, full power, Maeigaon!!"
The failure of his exclusive skill, Phantom Show, startled Ren for a moment, but he quickly adjusted his tactics and switched to a purely offensive move against the dark blue whale shadow.
Cursing energy poured out from Raoul's hands, as if to dye the world in its own color, and surged towards the dark blue whale shadow's body, a vast expanse of crimson-black spectral flame that left the colossal enemy no room to dodge.
Faced with Raoul's cursing attack, the dark blue whale shadow did not sit idly by. It took a deep breath and opened its mouth, spewing forth a sky full of ice crystals as dense and dazzling as stardust from its azure whale jaw.
The fine ice crystals gathered together, becoming a terrifying torrent that could freeze all creation, and collided with the violent cursing attack launched by Raoul.
The surging crimson-black curse and the endless azure ice crystals continued to clash fiercely, sending ripples through the space of Kaslana's Palace.
The Palace itself seemed unable to withstand the collision of the two powers.
At the edge of the clash between the two opposing energies, spatial rifts, which Shadow Mei could only tear open with the authority of thunder, had already begun to appear.
When Raiden Mei and the others arrived, what greeted them was this terrifying scene of apocalyptic proportions.
The surging crimson-black curse clearly had the upper hand, steadily suppressing the torrent of azure ice crystals and slowly advancing towards the dark blue whale shadow.
'Ren, use this!'
Even while riding on Kurikara's back, Raiden Mei found it difficult to intervene in this massive clash. She took off the large Thunder Ring she wore on her hand and threw it towards Ren.
"Thanks, Mei."
Ren raised his left wrist, which was holding Jizo Mitama: Etched. The falling Thunderl Ring landed perfectly on his left ring finger.
Jizo Mitama: Etched, Replica Jizo Mitama: Etched, Key of the Void, and now the Thunderl Ring from Raiden Mei.
Simultaneously connected to the Herrscher Cores of four Divine Keys, Ren's instantaneous damage output received a significant boost.
The scorching crimson-black curse erupting from Raoul's palm instantly became incredibly violent.
The ominous, deep spectral flame, like a signal fire, ignited the rushing torrent of ice crystals and pierced through it with lightning speed, instantly engulfing the massive body of the dark blue whale shadow.
After engulfing the dark blue whale shadow, the unabated Maeigaon ultimate skill even tore through space itself, creating a giant hole in the sky of Kaslana's Palace, burning with crimson-black flames.
"...Did it work?"
Looking at the sea of crimson-black fire that had set the entire sky ablaze, Raiden Mei subconsciously narrowed her eyes, carefully searching for any unusual pulsations within the violent, cursing flames.
Boom—!!
Half of the dark blue serpent's body, still being consumed by the crimson-black curse, fell from the sea of fire and crashed into the crimson desert below.
However, Raiden Mei waited for a while longer but did not see the other half of the serpent's remains fall to the ground, as if that half had been completely incinerated to ash by Maeigaon.
'No, it probably escaped.'
The crimson-black fire that filled the sky slowly died down. Ren sheathed his Jizo Mitama tachi and turned his gaze to the massive spatial hole in the sky that had been created by his full-power attack.
With the Herrscher of the Void as a Persona and the Key of the Void as a weapon, Ren's spatial awareness was exceptionally keen.
Based on his original power, even if he could tear through the space of Kaslana's Palace, the resulting spatial hole would not have been large enough for the dark blue whale shadow to pass through unobstructed.
It seemed that the dark blue whale shadow had the ability to manipulate space, and it was as if the space of Kaslana's Palace itself was cooperating with its movements, allowing it to escape the Palace smoothly and quickly, breaking off its battle with Ren.
"...I can't sense that shadow's presence anymore. It's as if it has disappeared."
Hare stared at the giant spatial hole, but after a thorough investigation, she also shook her head slightly, indicating that she had found no trace of the shadow on the other side of the spatial hole.
Normally, the dark blue whale shadow should have left a trail after passing through the spatial hole, but its trail ended abruptly at the exit of the hole on the other side, as if it had simply evaporated.
If it didn't teleport to another endpoint, could it have transformed into some other type of unknown shadow, thus evading pursuit and hiding in another area of the impression space?
"If I had been able to defeat that shadow, I could have transformed it into a very powerful Persona. What a pity... But this half of the serpent's body obtained from the battle should still be able to be transformed into a decent Persona."
Ren glanced at the massive spatial hole created by the battle.
After confirming that no wild shadows were invading through it, he recalled Raoul and walked over to the half of the serpent's body that had fallen to the ground. He held out his hand towards the remains, which were scorched beyond recognition and still radiating intense heat.
The transformation ability was activated. The half of the dark blue whale shadow's remains dissolved into faint blue points of light and reassembled.
Finally, the faint light turned a familiar deep green.
A round, mushroom-like head opened its blood-red maw, and dark green tentacles waved powerfully in the air.
Riding a luxurious chariot made of gold, the newborn Persona announced its presence to the world with a piercing shriek.
"————"
Looking at the very... phallic dark green Persona, the onlookers, who had been filled with curiosity and anticipation for the new Persona, fell into a strange silence.
"...Well, that's magnificent."
Faced with Ren's visually striking new Persona, Hare was stunned for a moment, then quickly recovered. She propped up her chin nonchalantly, carefully examining and commenting on Ren's Mara.
"The Bronya has a bad feeling about this. This Persona... it couldn't be the one you mentioned before, could it..."
Bronya's small face scrunched up slightly. She raised her hand to cover the eyes of the curious and confused Seele beside her.
Her delicate face, which had not yet fully recovered its ability to express emotions, now clearly showed a look of disgust, as if she had just seen something dirty.
Although this was the first time she had seen this Persona, and she had not yet heard Ren call out its name, a strong premonition had already formed in Bronya's mind, as if she could easily speak the name of this indecently shaped Persona if she wished.
"That's right. This is Lord Mara! I never thought that transforming half of that shadow's remains into a Persona would result in Lord Mara."
Ren nodded, frankly admitting to Bronya's terrible guess and openly speaking the name of the dark green... phallic Persona.
"Th-this is Lord Mara?!!"
Raiden Mei covered her mouth, her face beet red. Her gaze flickered over Ren's Mara, but curiosity and interest quickly drew her eyes back to secretly examine it.
"Big Sister Bronya, why are you covering Seele's eyes? Is there something about Big Brother Ren's Persona that Seele can't see?"
Before Bronya covered her eyes, Seele had caught a glimpse of Lord Mara's appearance. Although she didn't know why Bronya was covering her eyes, she stood obediently, letting Bronya's hands remain.
"...In any case, Ren, you should put your Lord Mara away first."
Bronya twitched awkwardly and urged Ren in a strange tone. Only after Ren had recalled the newly acquired Persona to his heart did she slowly lower her hands from Seele's eyes.
In any case, calling such a strangely shaped Persona "Lord" was just too weird...
Bronya's feelings were incredibly complicated.
It wasn't just her; even Kallen, who had been curious about the Persona Mara's appearance before, was now in a strange silence after truly seeing Ren's Mara, as if she didn't exist.
"Big Brother Ren!!"
After Bronya finally lowered her hands from her eyes, Seele looked at Ren, her sea-blue eyes shining brightly. She eagerly opened her arms, ran over, and threw herself into his embrace.
Excluding the times she had used her quantum projection, this was the first time Seele had interacted so intimately with Ren in her own body.
Watching Seele, with her skin like jade, enjoying herself in Ren's arms as he gently stroked her small, cerulean head, Bronya, who had just let her go, suddenly felt her head sink, and then sink again, as if two invisible green hats had been placed on it.
'Never mind, isn't this fine too...'
Bronya let out a soft sigh, but on second thought, she began to feel better.
She liked Seele, and she liked Ren.
And Seele liked her, and she liked Ren even more.
Thinking about it carefully, her relationship with Seele hadn't changed much.
It was just that Ren had been added... To be more precise, she and Seele had joined Ren's harem.
"Well done, Ren Amamiya."
A calm, deep voice suddenly intruded into the harmonious atmosphere.
Kaslana, having resolved the issue with the Sea of Quanta communication, walked over. His usually calm blue eyes now seemed to hold a strange light as he stared directly at Ren and praised him.
"Your strength has grown far beyond my expectations. Perhaps you have already surpassed me."
Although Kaslana had been constantly overridden before, as the will of the Kaslana Stigmata's supreme space, he had retained the authority to observe and was aware of all the changes that had occurred in this Stigmata space.
It had been over one thousand five hundred years since Kevin was exiled to the Sea of Quanta. During this long time, his power had been constantly worn down.
To preserve his strength as much as possible, Kevin had transformed himself into the form of a serpent-like magical beast, best suited for survival in the Sea of Quanta, relying on preying on quantum creatures to sustain himself.
However, the creatures in the Sea of Quanta could not provide him with enough nutrients and Honkai energy, so Kevin had always been in a weakened state.
It was only now, thanks to Ren's attempt to retrieve Seele, that Kevin had returned to the world on the Imaginary Tree from the Sea of Quanta.
After leaving the Sea of Quanta, Kevin no longer needed to expend extra energy to survive and could freely hunt imaginary creatures with compatible attributes to recover.
It wouldn't be long before he could regain his long-lost peak strength by devouring the imaginary life in the Imaginary Space.
However, even though Ren had defeated Kevin's form that was not specialized for combat, and even though the current Kevin was not at his peak...
A win was a win.
The fact was, Ren Amamiya had decisively defeated the World Serpent, Kevin, in his transformed state, and had repelled the evil god Yaldabaoth, as he called it.
"As a reward, I will grant you the power of [Kaslana]. Not [Kallen Kaslana], but the power of the entire Kaslana Stigmata."
By repelling Kevin, Ren had proven his strength to Kaslana.
Therefore, Kaslana decided to grant Ren the final reward at this moment.
The power of the Kaslana Stigmata.