Using the power of the MetaNav App, Ren Amamiya led Raiden Mei and the others out of the Herrscher of the Void's Palace and into the adjacent area of Mementos.
The app didn't teleport them directly in front of the target Shadow but rather to its general vicinity, displaying a navigation route to the target's location on the phone screen.
The target Shadow resided in a deep layer of Mementos, meaning the wild Shadows encountered along the way were also high-level. Fortunately, Ren wasn't alone, and his teammates were more than capable. Eliminating the Shadows blocking their path didn't drain too much of their energy.
"Persona—Come forth, Benares!!"
Ren raised the Jizo Mitama katana high. Azure flames erupted fiercely above him. Persona Benares, deep blue in color and covered in thick, white exoskeleton, appeared at Ren's summons, opening her cavernous maw to let loose a deafening draconic roar.
"Roar, Kurikara!!"
Raiden Mei, standing beside Ren, threw her black oni mask, summoning Persona Kurikara as well. The two colossal demonic dragons, one deep blue and the other crimson, similar in shape and size, coiled in the skies of this Mementos region.
Under the command of their respective summoners, Ren and Mei, Persona Benares and Persona Kurikara simultaneously attacked the powerful Shadow blocking their path ahead.
Piercing frost and heaven-shaking lightning rained down continuously from above like a natural disaster, bombarding the formidable Shadow—a grayish-black mechanical body wielding a large golden sword, with a strange device resembling a golden astrolabe spinning in its center.
The attacks from the two dragon Personas struck true on the massive body of the gray-and-gold mechanical Shadow. The intense force of ice and lightning inflicted severe damage.
As the gray-and-gold Shadow stabbed its greatsword into the ground for support, sinking into a one-knee kneeling posture, precise and strange mechanical parts fell from its body. Its aura clearly weakened and diminished.
However, just as Ren was about to order Benares to deliver the finishing blow, a phantom golden clock abruptly materialized beneath the heavily damaged Shadow's feet.
The phantom clock spun rapidly counter-clockwise. As the hands reversed, the gray-and-gold Shadow's own time seemed to reverse as well.
Shattered mechanical parts flew back, reassembling onto its body like a video playing in reverse.
Finally, the gray-and-gold Shadow pulled its supporting greatsword from the ground, once again brandishing its weapon towards Ren and the others. Ren could feel the Shadow's power had slightly decreased, but the injuries it sustained earlier were undoubtedly fully healed.
A Shadow that can manipulate time... Interesting. Feels like it has value as a Persona, Ren thought, his eyes lighting up at the sight of the Shadow reversing its own time. The idea of capturing this wild Shadow as his own Persona took root.
If he succeeded, perhaps using the skill scrolls Griseo created back in the Elysian Realm, Ren might even be able to grant his own Persona, Arsene, this mysterious time-reversing power.
At this thought, Ren's gaze towards the gray-and-gold mechanical Shadow grew even more fervent.
The hands of the phantom golden clock returned to their starting position, and time in the area seemed to stagnate. Ren felt his body become fixed in the air, even blinking required effort, though his consciousness remained unaffected.
But when Ren mobilized the power within him, the sluggish state, like being trapped in mud, was instantly broken, and he regained freedom of movement.
The moment it interfered with the surrounding time, the gray-and-gold mechanical Shadow activated the rollers beneath its feet, charging towards Ren like a large, high-speed spinning vehicle, its heavy golden greatsword slashing straight for Ren's neck.
Although Ren broke free from the time-lag effect promptly, facing this extremely strong Shadow alone would undoubtedly put him at a disadvantage. Persona Benares was still circling high above, unable to immediately rescue him.
Even attempting a ranged attack would risk hitting Ren along with the Shadow due to their proximity.
"Big Brother Ren—!!" Seeing the mechanical Shadow thunder towards Ren in an instant, swinging its golden greatsword, panic flashed across Seele's delicate face. Her slender form, clad in its sea-blue dress, instantly dissolved into a pure blue Quantum Shadow state.
Using quantum power to bypass the time-lag effect imposed on her, Seele rushed towards Ren as fast as she could, silently praying she could reach him in time.
However, after taking a few rapid steps forward, Seele suddenly felt something was off. Raiden Mei and Hare had each used their own methods to break free from the time-lag effect, but instead of rushing to help Ren, they stood calmly in place, observing the battle with composure, showing no signs of worry whatsoever.
Realizing this, Seele's mind jolted. She subconsciously looked at Ren's face, then abruptly stopped her quantum state, standing perfectly still. Why? Because a widening, increasingly audacious grin was spreading across Ren's face.
Without needing to reach up and tear it off, the white bird mask on Ren's face spontaneously erupted into flickering blue-azure flames that scattered outwards, revealing Ren's face marked by a bold, wickedly charming smile.
Persona Benares, high above, silently vanished without a trace. In its place appeared a tall figure clad in a tailored evening suit the color of soaked blood, wearing a black top hat, and bearing massive, dark falcon wings on its back.
Persona Arsene materialized directly in front of Ren. Its outstretched sharp black claws firmly caught the golden blade swung by the gray-and-gold Shadow, absorbing its powerful momentum without even a tremble.
Using the Confidant ability gained from Hare to analyze the Shadow, Ren learned its name—[Imaginary Construct: Nihilius].
This Shadow named Nihilius was extremely powerful.
If this were Ren shortly after awakening his Persona, even with Hare's support, defeating this Nihilius Shadow would have required considerable effort. However, facing the Ren who had grown significantly stronger, this Nihilius Shadow seemed somewhat lacking.
"Finish it, Arsene!!"
At Ren's command from behind, a sinister crimson light flared in Persona Arsene's eyes. Its dark fingertips exerted more force, and the golden greatsword caught in its claws instantly shattered into flying fragments under the immense pressure.
The claw techniques learned from Kosma's Signet of Daybreak flowed instinctively through Arsene. A flash of deep crimson light from rending claws flickered past. Appearing behind the Nihilius Shadow as if teleporting, Arsene casually tossed aside the fragments of the golden astrolabe held in its black claws.
In the next instant, Imaginary Construct: Nihilius, its obvious core—the astrolabe—destroyed, crashed heavily to the ground, its aura visibly diminishing to rock bottom. This time, before Persona Arsene, Nihilius was too grievously wounded even to reverse time and repair itself.
"Imaginary Construct: Nihilius, become my Persona!... Still no good, huh?" Ren stood before the fading Nihilius Shadow and made his offer of recruitment. If Nihilius were willing, it would naturally receive immediate healing and avoid a meaningless death.
However, much to Ren's slight disappointment, Nihilius showed no reaction to his offer, as if completely unable to hear or understand his words.
Even when Arsene used Dream Needle to plunge it into a comatose dream state, Ren couldn't subdue this difficult Shadow as he had with Hell Hound and Boreas in their dreams.
Ren had actually anticipated Nihilius being unsubduable.
He had already tried capturing similar Shadows before, all attempts ending in failure. Repeating the failed process on Nihilius was purely because its time-manipulating power was just too tempting.
But since it was impossible to capture Imaginary Construct: Nihilius as a Persona either way, Ren could only regretfully deliver the final blow, overcome this powerful obstacle, and continue searching for the actual request target Shadow.
"Finish it, Arsene... Hmm?!"
Just as Ren was about to order Arsene to eliminate the Nihilius Shadow completely, he suddenly sensed something and stared intently at his exclusive Persona, Arsene.
Arsene nodded at Ren, then gently shook its head. While Ren was puzzled by Arsene's unusual behavior, Arsene suddenly reached out towards the fallen Nihilius Shadow. A deep, eerie crimson light instantly flared, completely enveloping the Shadow's increasingly weak, broken body.
"This is... Transcription?! Joker, you've even mastered the ability to transcribe Shadows already?!"
Watching the Nihilius Shadow's gray-and-gold body gradually melt away like spring snow, enveloped by the crimson light emanating from Arsene, Hare—who had seemed somewhat preoccupied, perhaps still dwelling on her conversation with the Herrscher's Shadow—snapped to attention.
Her eyes widened in astonishment, disbelief filling her blue-purple gaze.
Although she had grown accustomed to Ren's world-shockingly heaven-defying learning ability, Hare never expected Ren to grasp something as complex as transcribing lifeform information on his own in such a short time.
Hare had summoned her [Ideal] Warriors—created through transcription—in front of Ren before, but she had never actually performed the transcription ability itself in his presence... Meaning, Ren had completely derived the method of transcribing life from his ability to read information!
"So this ability is called Transcription... I think I understand..." Ren nodded slowly, his gaze fixed intently on the remnants of the Nihilius Shadow before him.
From Hare's words, Ren learned the name of this upgraded Confidant ability. And from the feedback from Arsene, his other self, Ren grasped how to use this Transcription ability and its effects.
"Forcibly subdue a Shadow and randomly transform it into the form of a Persona, huh..." Ren murmured softly to himself.
Although Hare's negotiation skills were consistently high—there were few Shadows she couldn't persuade—Ren hadn't expected her final Confidant ability to allow direct, forceful subjugation of defeated Shadows.
However, Shadows forcibly subdued using this "Transcription" ability wouldn't retain their original appearance but would transform into the form of a different Persona... Setting aside the main P5 narrative, in the P4 world, it was normal for a Shadow's form to differ from its Persona form after conversion.
Thus, the change in appearance after forced subjugation didn't seem particularly surprising to Ren.
While Ren contemplated this new Confidant ability, Arsene had already completely transcribed the existence information of the fallen Imaginary Construct: Nihilius Shadow.
A brilliant white light of new life flared brightly. When the dazzling white light gradually dimmed, the massive gray-and-gold body of Imaginary Construct: Nihilius was gone.
In its place floated a giant, dark-golden clock. Engraved upon it were the elegant figures of three goddesses, with three golden wings extending from each of their backs.
"So this is the Persona obtained by transcribing Imaginary Construct: Nihilius... Persona Norn!!" Gazing at the golden clock of the three goddesses of fate floating before him, Ren recognized this Persona's identity at a glance.