Persona Siegfried, in his beast form, raised the Might of An-Utu greatsword high and brought it crashing down with full force onto the fallen Durandal. The terrifying flame sword descended as if cleaving the world, obliterating half the ruined city before Ren Amamiya, leaving not even a trace of its existence behind in the wake of Judgment of Shamash - Unleashed.
Raiden Mei directed Persona Kurikara to blow away the dust swirling across the battlefield. Durandal's figure once again came into view. This time, Durandal, who had seemed as indomitable as a Saint Seiya character, had finally collapsed, thoroughly battered and bruised. Though she struggled to rise, her body no longer obeyed her will, leaving her lying helplessly on the ground.
Durandal's combat adaptability was extremely high; she could have held out against Persona Arsene for quite some time. However, recognizing this trait, Ren hadn't given her the chance to fully acclimate to his fighting style.
By continuously switching Personas, Ren ensured that before Durandal could adapt to the previous one's combat pattern, the next Persona's assault would seamlessly follow, leaving no openings. Unable to leverage her unique strength, Durandal was thus thoroughly defeated by Ren.
"We won!! As expected of Joker!!" Mei exclaimed, her eyes wide in disbelief for a long moment before she finally clenched her fists, accepting the stunning reality with excitement. "I thought we'd need the whole Phantom Thieves team to take down this Shadow, but Joker actually won all by himself?!"
Mei had just suggested retreating, yet Ren had defeated Durandal with dazzling speed. As Ren's partner in exploring Mementos, Mei was well aware of his immense strength and rapid progress.
It wasn't just Ren; Mei felt she had also benefited greatly from the intense battles against Shadows in Mementos, her own power growing considerably. However, Ren's rate of improvement far exceeded her expectations. She had assumed their progress was roughly parallel.
But now, it seemed clear that Mei, Hare, and Seele were actually holding Ren back. While they undoubtedly shared the burden of fighting in Mementos, without teammates, Ren, though needing to handle more Shadows, would certainly unleash far more devastating power. Even during this fight against the golden-haired girl Shadow, Ren probably hadn't gone all out.
Everyone was improving, but Ren's progress was exponentially faster.
"Her appearance didn't change after being defeated? Looks like this is her original form," Ren commented, tilting his eyebrow as Persona Siegfried's figure slowly faded from before him. He observed Durandal, lying motionless on the ground in the distance.
"...Right, the priority now is to figure out this golden-haired girl Shadow's true identity," Mei remembered, her focus shifting from Ren's true strength back to the connection between this Shadow and her friend, Kiana Kaslana. "Since we've defeated her, she should answer our questions truthfully now!" Realizing this, Mei quickly strode forward, joining Ren as they approached the area where Durandal had fallen.
"That was an exhilarating battle! You're strong..." Durandal remarked as Ren and Mei unhurriedly walked up to her. Unexpectedly, Durandal, who should have been immobilized, had already recovered some stamina. Though still unable to stand, she managed to sit cross-legged on the sandy ground.
"...Indeed, my training is still insufficient. As punishment for failing, I must double my training regimen today!" Feeling the fatigue and pain she hadn't experienced in a long, long time, finally recalling the taste of defeat, Durandal felt no trace of gloom.
Quite the opposite, as Ren, the one who defeated her, stood before her, a straightforward smile graced her upturned, exquisite face. Though her blue eyes showed weariness, the will to continue fighting Ren burned brightly within them.
"Never mind the training..." Ren interjected, slightly taken aback by Durandal's pure mindset and her utterly unconventional post-defeat remarks. "I'm asking you, are you Kiana Kaslana?" What mattered most to Ren was her true identity.
However, faced with Ren's question, the golden-haired Shadow girl, who shouldn't be able to lie, showed undisguised confusion on her dust-streaked, beautiful face. "Kiana Kaslana? Who's that? I don't know anyone by that name." Durandal frowned slightly, certain she didn't know a Kiana Kaslana. Yet, hearing the name sparked something faint in her mind, like a half-remembered echo. She felt she might have heard the name somewhere before but couldn't recall where.
"You must be looking for a Valkyrie from the Kaslana family. Unfortunately, you have the wrong person. I am not Kiana Kaslana..." Durandal stated firmly. "My name is Bianka Ataegina Durandal, a Valkyrie of Schicksal." She placed a hand gently over her chest, introducing herself seriously to Ren.
Even though this is the Overseer's virtual training room, she thought, judging by this person's speech, behavior, and combat performance, his programming must be at an advanced AI level. Treating him as human wouldn't be wrong.
"So, not Kiana after all..." Durandal's answer wasn't entirely unexpected by Ren. Although they had defeated her and could question her, the possibility remained that Durandal wasn't a disguised Kiana, but another unknown Shadow entity.
However, the name Durandal reported made Ren pause. "But if you're not Kiana, how did you enter this Palace? Logically, only Shadows with blood ties to the Kaslana family should exist here, yet the name you gave doesn't include 'Kaslana'." Ren was certain Durandal was a Shadow. Without Kaslana blood, a wild Shadow shouldn't be able to appear within the Kaslana Palace.
"Perhaps Miss Bianka possesses some degree of Kaslana bloodline," Raiden Mei offered her deduction, her voice calm as Persona Kurikara vanished from the sky above and she placed her black oni mask back on her face. "Just diluted enough not to have the signature white hair."
If they had encountered Durandal randomly in Mementos, Mei wouldn't have made any connections. But having suspected Durandal might be Kiana's Shadow, the more she looked, the more she saw the resemblance in their facial features.
Though their surnames differed, Mei felt certain Durandal had Kaslana blood.
"I... have Kaslana blood flowing through me?" Durandal herself froze upon hearing Mei's speculation, even before Ren could react. "I've never considered that before, but... it's possible." She pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly, feeling it plausible.
"To be honest, I've lost my past memories. I know nothing about my former identity. Even my current name wasn't given at birth." The three major families within Schicksal often intermarried. Sometimes this produced stronger offspring; other times, bloodline traits diluted, becoming weaker than a single lineage.
Although Durandal had golden hair, the possibility she was a Kaslana with diluted blood before losing her memory couldn't be ruled out.
In Durandal's view, this space was the Overseer's virtual training room. What the combat AI said essentially reflected Overseer Otto's thoughts. Since Overseer Otto says I have Kaslana blood, he must have investigated something. I must carry the Kaslana bloodline and have a significant relationship with that Kiana Kaslana girl! Durandal nodded to herself, feeling convinced.
While not obsessed with her forgotten past, the idea of recovering lost memories and rediscovering her true identity intrigued her. Regardless of her past identity, it wouldn't hinder her mission to fight the Honkai.
"You said you lost your past memories?" Ren's eyes lit up upon hearing this. He scented a familiar plot development. "When do your earliest memories begin? Do you remember the first person you saw?"
Following typical story patterns, Durandal must have lost her memories due to the actions of some mastermind. And to turn the amnesiac Durandal into a tool, that mastermind would surely appear before her immediately to begin the brainwashing process. If Durandal remembered who that person was, Ren might be able to unravel the mystery connecting Durandal and Kiana Kaslana.
Ren had input "Kiana Kaslana" into the MetaNav App, yet it led him to Durandal. This was clearly bizarre. The app's creator was Yaldabaoth, a pseudo-god level entity. To interfere with an app created by Yaldabaoth, preventing Ren from locating the real Kiana... could the mastermind who caused Durandal's amnesia be another pseudo-god level being?!
These god-level entities love their schemes and plotting, Ren thought, feeling like he was about to stumble into some vast conspiracy. That's the trouble with merging worldviews; all sorts of demons and monsters crawl out. At this rate, Ren might set a new speedrun record for god-slaying among Velvet Room guests, adding more weight to their average god-kill count.
"My earliest memory... begins six years ago," Durandal answered openly after some thought. "I woke up in an orphanage. Standing before me was the Overseer, Otto Apocalypse, acting as my attending physician." She tilted her head slightly, puzzled. "Why do you ask?"
"Overseer? Sounds like a classic villain title!" Ren felt he was grasping the threads, step by step closing in on the hidden truth. "The kind that definitely has a health bar in a game!" It was common knowledge that characters with titles like Overseer or Pope often turned out to be final bosses in novels and games.
"Which organization is this Otto Apocalypse the Overseer of? How strong is he?" Ren pressed further. To disrupt the MetaNav App's guidance, Overseer Otto Apocalypse either made deals with gods to gain power, or perhaps he himself was an unfathomably powerful pseudo-god. Ren needed to carefully gauge the Overseer's strength.
It now seemed Raiden Mei's friend Kiana was embroiled in something extremely serious, targeted by at least a pseudo-god level entity. If Overseer Otto's power was mediocre, Ren could try to help Mei rescue the targeted Kiana. But if Otto was backed by god-level beings, or was a pseudo-god himself... Ren could only lie low and continue leveling up, waiting until he could forge the Sinful Shell and bring the invincible Satanael to confront this Overseer Otto!!
"Joker," Raiden Mei interjected hesitantly while Ren questioned Durandal about Otto's strength. "Since Miss Bianka still hasn't regained her memories after being defeated, could it be because the entity interfering with her is too powerful? Or... what if Miss Bianka is Kiana's Shadow, but her cognition has been interfered with, making her believe she's someone else?!"
Ren had previously told Mei about the connection between the false god and the MetaNav App. Based on the available information, Mei had reached a similar conclusion to Ren: Kiana was being targeted by another pseudo-god. It made sense that cognitive interference imposed by a pseudo-god wouldn't be easily dispelled.
The distorted cognition hadn't been fully repaired; Durandal might still be under the mastermind's control!!
"Huh? I'm Kiana?" Hearing Mei's speculation, Durandal looked even more bewildered. She subconsciously pointed at herself, feeling her head strangely itchy.
At times like this, Durandal really missed her adjutant, Rita. As her maid and external brain, Rita would surely be able to sort everything out logically, telling Durandal definitively whether she was Kiana Kaslana or not, without Durandal needing to tax her own brain.
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