Shadow Mori Minami closed her eyes.
Immediately afterward, the ruins beneath everyone's feet began shaking violently.
Shattered stones broke away from the ground and floated up against gravity. Dust drifting through the air rapidly reversed along its scattered path.
But the palace did not reconstruct itself into the grand marble gallery from before.
When the tremors finally subsided, everyone found themselves standing inside a spacious Western-style mansion. It was the Wakaba family's residence in reality.
Shadow Mori Minami opened her eyes and explained:
"Most likely because the vast majority of my distorted desires were stripped away, the palace's scale and abnormalities have shrunk considerably as well."
Hearing that, everyone nodded in understanding.
Shadow Mori Minami continued:
"I know your main purpose for coming here was actually related to Mutsumi's palace, wasn't it? Follow me."
With that, she turned and led the way.
Only at this moment did Toyokawa Sakiko and the others truly confirm in their hearts that this operation was basically over.
There was no longer any danger.
With a slight movement of their wills, the possibility avatars possessing their bodies dispersed.
The Persona Hariti, hovering behind Nagasaki Soyo, transformed into blue flames and vanished into the air.
The group followed unhurriedly behind Shadow Mori Minami, walking through the corridors of the Wakaba family mansion.
During this time, Toyokawa Sakiko and Shinobu Kocho opened the main chat group.
The danger alert from earlier had appeared and ended far too suddenly. The other members in the group had clearly grown anxious waiting. They were now explaining to everyone what exactly had happened.
Group Owner: That scared me to death! My hand was already ready to force my way into Sakiko's world, and then Shinobu's side suddenly showed that the danger state had been lifted.
Group Owner: [Wiping sweat.jpg]
Eisen's message immediately drew follow-ups from the other group members. The screen was instantly filled with all kinds of concerned questions.
Blueberry-Filled Pudding (Shinobu Kocho): Thank you, everyone. Please don't worry. The crisis has been resolved, and I'm all right now.
Shinobu looked at the concerned words on the screen, and the corners of her mouth curved gently.
However, everyone was clearly still immersed in what had just happened.
Roasted Eggplant (Mash): That was far too dangerous… Everyone originally thought Sakiko's world was a relatively safe everyday world, which was why the group owner let you go there first to rest and relax. I really didn't expect that such a peaceful-looking world would have such a dangerous situation. [Helpless.jpg]
Toyokawa Sakiko's steps paused slightly, and guilt surged in her heart.
Classic Lunchbox (Sakiko): I'm sorry. This was all my fault. My understanding of my own world was too shallow, and I dragged Miss Shinobu into danger. [Bowing.jpg]
Roasted Eggplant (Mash): Sakiko, that's not what I meant! I absolutely wasn't blaming you! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! [Frantic kowtow.jpg]
Looking at the sticker Mash sent, Sakiko finally relaxed a little.
Giant Daifuku (Tsunade): All right, all right. Enough with the thanking and apologizing. It was just one life-or-death crisis, wasn't it? With Shinobu's experiences, she definitely didn't take it to heart, right?
Tsunade herself was a hardened veteran who had personally experienced the Ninja World Wars and crawled out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
In her view, as long as nobody died, the problem was not that serious.
Giant Daifuku (Tsunade): Besides, judging from the result, this can be considered a blessing in disguise. The reason we let Shinobu go to Sakiko's world in the first place was to see if it could resolve her psychological issues. In the end, only two days passed, and not only were her psychological issues completely resolved, she even learned that Domain Expansion thing. Based on your descriptions earlier, that move sounds really powerful!
Blueberry-Filled Pudding (Shinobu Kocho): Materializing one's own mental landscape is indeed a very convenient and versatile ability.
Blueberry-Filled Pudding (Shinobu Kocho): However, I very much doubt whether this ability can be used in my original world or other worlds. Strictly speaking, the reason I was able to use it this time was still based on the rules of this cognitive world. [Suspicious.jpg]
Blueberry-Filled Pudding (Shinobu Kocho): As for the psychological issues Lady Tsunade mentioned…
Blueberry-Filled Pudding (Shinobu Kocho): Sakiko's world is indeed very suitable for resolving these kinds of traumas. In the cognitive world, complicated psychological shadows and obsessions can be directly materialized into symbolic entities. As long as one fights them and kills the materialized entity, the issue can be resolved in a simple and forceful manner.
Sporty Lunchbox (Belle): That method of solving psychological problems really is way too convenient! If we could bring our companions there for a trip, a lot of problems could be resolved. [Admiration.jpg]
Sporty Lunchbox (Belle): But speaking of that, after listening to your battle review earlier, I feel like the combat style in Sakiko's world is incredibly idealistic!
Sporty Lunchbox (Belle): These native Shadows can actually cross power systems directly and imitate the abilities of possibility avatars! They can even perform more unreasonably than the original abilities in certain differentiated details!
Sporty Lunchbox (Belle): I guess this really is a world where cognition determines everything. As long as someone subjectively believes they can do it, they really can do it in the cognitive world. Sakiko's world has a much higher combat ceiling than I imagined.
Sporty Lunchbox (Belle): Its level of terror is practically no lower than the world Big Sis Kafka is in. [Cold sweat.jpg]
Purple Sweet Potato Taro Paste (Kafka): Hehe, there is still a difference. Paths are not pure idealistic powers where whatever you imagine becomes real.
Purple Sweet Potato Taro Paste (Kafka): Pathstriders can obtain power only if they conform to the basic philosophy of their respective Paths. Sakiko's cognitive world, on the other hand, can ignore rules as long as the cognition is strong enough.
This topic instantly drew the interest of the group members.
Following Kafka's words, everyone began enthusiastically discussing the difference between the power systems of the cognitive world and the Star Rail world.
All kinds of ideas regarding idealism, the ocean of the subconscious, and the breadth of Paths rapidly flashed across the screen.
While following Shadow Mori Minami, Toyokawa Sakiko silently watched the text rapidly refreshing on the light screen.
The discussion gradually deepened. Everyone set aside the complicated manifestations and analyzed only the underlying logic of the worldviews.
In the end, the group concluded that the cognitive world's exceptional beings were more divine, but the threshold for obtaining power was also extremely high and even more dangerous.
Meanwhile, judging only from its framework, the Star Rail world had relatively lower requirements for becoming a Pathstrider, so there were more exceptional beings there.
However, considering the vast cosmos of the Star Rail world, with countless civilizations as numerous as grains of sand in the Ganges, such a terrifying base number would naturally produce beings who exceeded common sense.
After all, rules existed to be broken. Therefore, the Star Rail world had both more exceptional beings and more absurd ones, so it was still somewhat more ridiculous than the cognitive world.
At the same time, Sakiko moved the main group's light screen aside and opened the Persona 5 subgroup interface.
The moment she entered, Sakiko raised her brows.
She discovered that at some point, Senior Shinomiya Kaguya had pulled her boyfriend Shirogane Miyuki, as well as her personal maid and close friend Hayasaka Ai, into this subgroup as well.
The chat records in the subgroup were densely packed. Sakiko scrolled upward and skimmed through them.
Aside from their initial surprise at the existence of the chat group, the subsequent discussion ranged from legal loopholes in multinational commercial mergers and acquisitions, to the latest medical research papers, to optimization of enterprise management efficiency.
Shinomiya Kaguya displayed the extraordinary qualities of a conglomerate daughter. Between the lines, her words carried the rigor and efficiency of the elite class.
What left Sakiko speechless, however, was that both Shinomiya Kaguya and Shirogane Miyuki had livestream icons beside their avatars, with access restricted only to each other.
Clearly, the two of them were already completely immersed in their own little world. Toyokawa Sakiko felt as though she could smell the sticky sourness of romance.
As for Hayasaka Ai, she occasionally sent messages like "Received" or "Handled," looking exactly like an emotionless work machine.
Sakiko smiled.
Although she did indeed intend to rely on Senior Shinomiya to deal with the Toyokawa family, she was not some capitalist. She would not keep fleecing Senior Shinomiya without end and make her work even during the time she should be dating.
Besides, since a great terror was hidden in the depths of Mementos, her original plan was destined to be postponed. Handling her father's Shadow would have to be done with extreme caution. For now, she would cross the river by feeling her way forward using Aunt Minami as reference.
While Toyokawa Sakiko and Shinobu Kocho placed most of their attention on the chat group, Nagasaki Soyo, walking toward the rear of the group, had other thoughts.
She moved closer to Wakaba Mutsumi, looked around, and asked with a trace of doubt in her eyes:
"Mutsumi, where is Little Mo right now?"
Wakaba Mutsumi was silently following Shadow Mori Minami. Hearing Soyo's voice, she turned her head slightly, a trace of confusion flashing across her face.
"Little Mo?"
Nagasaki Soyo revealed a gentle smile and explained:
"That's the new nickname I gave Mortis. Does Mutsumi think Little Mo sounds nice? Or would Mo-baby be cuter?"
Wakaba Mutsumi quietly looked at Soyo for a moment and realized that after awakening her Persona, Soyo's desire to take care of others seemed to have been amplified. She was currently in a phase of overflowing maternal love.
Mutsumi shook her head indifferently and turned back to face forward, her tone as flat as ever.
"Call her whatever you want. I don't mind."
Then Wakaba Mutsumi explained:
"When Sakiko called me over in the group earlier for support, I left her outside the palace on standby."
"Eh? You left her outside?"
Soyo's brows furrowed slightly.
Wakaba Mutsumi said no more.
"I'll call her over."
The next instant, Mortis appeared out of thin air in the corridor.
Mortis showed no question or alertness toward the current situation. After all, her memories were synchronized with Wakaba Mutsumi's.
Seeing Mortis appear safe and sound, Nagasaki Soyo let out a long breath of relief.
She immediately stepped forward with a bright smile, reached out, and took Mortis' right arm. Then she gently leaned her head against Mortis' shoulder.
"Little Mo, I'm so glad you're all right. When I saw you weren't with the group just now, I was worried you might feel lonely, or think we were excluding you."
Faced with Soyo's actions, Mortis' lips twitched slightly. Then she helplessly accepted it in silence.
Soyo paid no attention to Mortis' coldness. Instead, she smiled even more happily and hugged her arm a little tighter.
At that moment, Shadow Mori Minami, walking at the very front, reached out and gently pushed open a door.
"This is what you were looking for—Mutsumi's palace."
She stood beside the door and turned sideways, giving everyone a clear view.
Toyokawa Sakiko, Wakaba Mutsumi, Nagasaki Soyo, Mortis, and Shinobu Kocho entered the room one after another.
This was a room on the second floor. It should originally have been Wakaba Mutsumi's bedroom, but its interior arrangement was completely different now.
The room had no decorations and no trace of daily life.
In the very center stood a single-column display table made of luxurious wood.
The table was about one meter tall. Its wooden surface had been polished smooth as a mirror. Even someone with no knowledge of wood could tell at a glance that it was valuable.
Placed directly atop the table was a slightly yellowed miniature brass city about one meter in diameter.
Everyone gathered around and examined it carefully.
One miniature building after another, all forged from brass, stood tightly connected. Countless tiny gears, springs, and pipes were faintly visible in the gaps between the city structures. Among those brass structures, fine wooden decorations were arranged in an orderly and tasteful manner.
Beside the base at the edge of the miniature brass city, a huge metal winding key carved with complex patterns was inserted into the city's foundation.
"This is… Mutsumi's palace?"
Nagasaki Soyo was somewhat surprised.
Shadow Mori Minami walked to the display table and said:
"I normally influence it by winding this music-box city."
"When I turn the key, through this action carrying the meaning of control and driving, my will gradually erodes the palace's control rights. It turns Mutsumi's palace into a machine that operates along a predetermined track, distorting her cognition into the form I desire."
"And if I turn the key in reverse, the gears will run backward, forcibly rewinding the situation inside Mutsumi's palace. Just like what you saw yesterday."
After hearing that explanation, everyone finally understood.
So that was how the time reversal they had encountered in Mutsumi's palace had been achieved.
Toyokawa Sakiko approached the display table and carefully searched through the brass city with her eyes.
Sakiko extended a finger, pointing to an extremely ornate opera house building, then to another towering cathedral building.
"And these two places are?"
Toyokawa Sakiko raised her eyes toward Shadow Mori Minami and asked.
Shadow Mori Minami followed the direction of Sakiko's finger. Her expression complicated, she explained:
"These two locations are the two major cores of Mutsumi's palace. They are precisely what have been resisting my erosion all this time, preventing me from completely taking control of this place. If not for these two buildings, this city would have become my toy long ago."
First, she pointed to the domed cathedral building that emitted a soft white light.
"Inside the cathedral is the Shadow formed from Mutsumi's cognition of her mother. I suppose it can be regarded as the embodiment of her deep longing for maternal love. She forcibly twisted the melody of the music box that I controlled into her own sound. Through that, she overlaid my erosion, greatly reducing my control over the entire city."
After speaking about the cathedral, Shadow Mori Minami slowly shifted her gaze to the opera house.
"And inside there… is the Shadow formed from the Sakiko in Mutsumi's heart."
Toyokawa Sakiko's heart abruptly skipped.
"That Sakiko Shadow is doing the same thing. She supports the other half of the defense inside the opera house, resisting my erosion."
After those words fell, the room suddenly entered a brief silence.
Toyokawa Sakiko froze in place. Then she slowly turned and looked at Wakaba Mutsumi standing nearby, her eyes growing hot in waves.
Wakaba Mutsumi sensed Sakiko's gaze.
She turned her head, met Sakiko's eyes, and the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile.
Looking at that smile, Sakiko only felt her eyes grow even more painfully sore.
She blinked hard, took a deep breath, and forcibly pressed the emotions surging up inside her back down.
Now was not the time to be sentimental.
Sakiko turned around, stared seriously at the brass city, thought for a moment, and then asked a question.
"Then are there any limitations when using the reverse-winding method to rewind time?"
Could this time-reversal method be used by them?
During the previous time reversal, time on the material level had been rewound, but their own memories and the records in the chat group had been preserved.
Consciousness and higher-dimensional information had escaped the restraints of the rule.
Could that limitation be broken?
The chat group aside, could memories also be rewound?
join here to read ahead.
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 210)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl 285
"Is this chat group even serious?" (This matter is completely finished.)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (This matter is completely finished.)
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 280
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 240
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 305
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer (This matter is completely finished.)
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume5/8
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 135
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 160
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 125
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 180
My Harem Is Indescribable 110
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 115
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 120
Still playing traditional Honk 105
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 120
What Should I Do After Switchi 70
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 80
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 140
Checking In in Demon Slayer 100
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 115
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 95
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 90
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel (This matter is completely finished.)
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 95
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 90
Why did they assign me to Uma 95
MYGO Beauties 80
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 100
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 135
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 150
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 70
The Uma Musume Who Became 75
I'm Definitely Not the King of 130
After Maxing Out Every Class 135
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 120
I, the Elden Sword Saint 70
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 65
No One Knows Pokémon Better 65
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 69
From Trilobites to Titans 65
Chainsaw Man: Contracted with 105
DanMachi: My Party Members Are 120
An Anime Heroine Darkened 60
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Links 80
Honkai: The Fire Devil 115
Honkai Transformation Cards Volume2/70
Age of Heroes, I'm Just a Back 85
Uma Musume Has No Weird Fan Le 80
At age 8, she co-starred with 80
Honkai: Schicksal Media 81
An Extremist in a Slice-of-Lif 70
Chainsaw Man, but I'm Aatrox 60
Honkai Apocrypha: Are the Valk 60
An Extremist in a Slice-of-Lif 45
Morgan Shirou's Journey in Dan 43
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