The mastermind, having altered Kiana's Shadow's cognition and appearance once, could certainly do it again. Durandal had clearly suffered cognitive interference; she had even lost her original memories, making the authenticity of her current memories questionable.
Combined with a girl's peculiar intuition, Raiden Mei increasingly felt that Durandal wasn't just like Kiana's relative, but perhaps Kiana herself.
"We can't rule out that possibility," Ren conceded, folding his arms across his chest. "But Durandal clearly can't give us the answers we need right now... Continue answering my previous question, Durandal. Which organization does that Overseer belong to, and how strong is he?" Ren calmly pressed Durandal for more information.
Since the cognitive interference on Durandal wasn't removed upon defeat, there must be a god-level entity involved behind the scenes.
"The Overseer is naturally the Overseer of Schicksal," Durandal replied after a moment's thought. "As for his strength... hmm, although I haven't formally fought him, I can sense a strong threat from him. If we were to truly fight, I wouldn't have absolute certainty of victory."
Ren and Mei had fully experienced Shadow Durandal's strength in battle. Within the current Phantom Thieves, only Ren could defeat her alone. Even Hare would likely struggle to win against Durandal, at best managing to escape from the battlefield. Possessing strength formidable enough to make even Durandal wary, this Overseer named Otto Apocalypse clearly had the qualifications to be a final boss.
But Schicksal... that name sounds strangely familiar too? Ren thought.
"By the way," Durandal interjected, a slight frown creasing her brow as realization belatedly dawned on her. "Aren't you artificial intelligence programs developed by the Overseer? Why are you asking me about him?"
"...Artificial intelligence? What are you talking about?" Ren paused his thoughts, looking back at Durandal with equal confusion. His experienced Phantom Thief senses immediately suggested Durandal might be describing the landscape of Otto Apocalypse's Palace—implying Otto viewed everyone in the world as AI he created, arrogantly manipulating everything.
However, after meeting Durandal's gaze, seeing the pure, seemingly unpolluted innocence in her blue eyes, Ren suspected she might not be hinting at anything profound, but genuinely misunderstanding something.
"Isn't this the virtual training room created by the Overseer? I want to log out—" Durandal's confusion deepened, making her look even more endearingly clueless. To test her theory, she closed her blue eyes and expertly submitted a logout request to the virtual training system's controls.
Durandal was no stranger to highly realistic virtual training rooms. It was just that the enemy encountered this time felt extraordinarily real and unexpectedly powerful. It was almost as thrilling as fighting a strong opponent in the real world. In this virtual training room, Durandal felt the body constructed from data was nearly identical to her real one.
Only because she was accustomed to operating data-bodies in virtual combat, making her acutely sensitive to subtle differences, did she notice. Anyone else would surely believe they were fighting with their actual physical body.
Following Durandal's silent logout command, the Holy Blade Durandal residing within her body faintly glowed gold. The next moment, Durandal slowly opened her eyes.
The familiar scenery of her exclusive training room filled her vision. She was currently running on a treadmill, a bead of sweat trickling down her forehead.
"Successfully logged out! The Overseer's newly developed virtual training room is amazing!" Durandal confirmed she hadn't just experienced a dream but had truly engaged in an intense battle with a strong enemy in another space using her mind. "Even though I lost the fight, the mental impact was far less than expected, and it didn't interfere with my real-world training!"
Furthermore, during the time spent in the virtual training room, Durandal's physical body hadn't been idly wasting away in a virtual pod as usual. Instead, guided by instinct and inertia, it had continued running vigorously on the treadmill.
"This means, after I continue training for a while and recover mentally, I can return to the virtual training room at full strength!!" Realizing she had created an opportunity for further training, Durandal's eyes lit up with excitement. She clenched her fists eagerly, feeling fired up!!
Meanwhile, inside the Kaslana Palace.
"What happened, Joker?! Did she really log out?!" Mei stared in astonishment as Durandal's figure dissolved into shimmering light and vanished. She instinctively turned to Ren beside her.
"She was definitely a Shadow, I can confirm that," Ren stated confidently. Having clearly distinguished between Shadows and cognitive existences now, he was certain Durandal was someone's Shadow, not a cognitive construct or someone's actual self. "It's not strange for a Shadow to disappear after being defeated. She likely just went to another location within Mementos."
However, if there truly was a god-level entity behind Durandal, and the organization called Schicksal possessed cognitive psience technology allowing remote control of Shadows from the real world, or even direct projection of consciousness onto a Shadow... it wasn't entirely impossible.
Ren leaned more towards Durandal being a separate individual rather than a Kiana whose cognition and appearance were altered. If Durandal's real consciousness was remotely controlling her Shadow self, it would explain why reformation was ineffective and the cognitive alteration couldn't be erased.
Furthermore, Durandal's parting words had greatly intrigued Ren. Thinking back, Sophia, the red-haired heroine from P5S who overshadowed the other red-haired female side character, was an AI active in the Metaverse. Ren had only finished P5R before transmigrating, his knowledge of P5S relying solely on scattered information gleaned online.
Since AI is involved, could this be related to the plot of P5S? Following this line of reasoning, could the god behind Schicksal be Demiurge, the final boss of P5S?!!
If the god behind Durandal was Demiurge, Ren could actually breathe a small sigh of relief. Although unfamiliar with Demiurge, Ren at least knew that in P5S's story, Demiurge was defeated by him, the true Trickster. Compared to other unknown gods and demons, Demiurge, a known beatable god, was undoubtedly a very suitable final boss—at least more suitable than other deities.
But first things first. Ren hoped Demiurge could wait his turn. Let Ren forge the Sinful Shell and eliminate Yaldabaoth first, then he'd gladly face Demiurge. Failing that, if Ren could somehow obtain Yu Narukami's Izanagi-no-Okami, perhaps he could stand a chance against Demiurge too.
"If Durandal really is Kiana's Shadow, Kiana should dream about the two of us again tonight," Mei theorized, planning her next move. "I'll try asking her cautiously when I see her tomorrow... Until Kiana calms down, Joker, you probably shouldn't meet her in the real world."
Mei had figured out a way to potentially verify Durandal's identity.
However, while Mei could meet Kiana, Ren probably shouldn't. Mei had initially worried about Ren and Kiana meeting precisely because she feared a situation like the current one. Kiana liked her, and she liked Ren.
Kiana, feeling like her territory was invaded and she'd been metaphorically cheated on, would undoubtedly be furious upon meeting Ren in reality, likely wanting to unleash her renowned brute force on him.
Mei had witnessed Kiana's terrifying strength when she dealt with the Chiba Academy girls who tried to bully them physically; Kiana's raw power had astounded her back then. But having seen the power of other Kaslana family members, Kiana's teenage brute strength now seemed utterly inadequate in Mei's eyes.
Previously, Mei would have worried about Ren getting hurt. Now, if Kiana dared to pick a fight with Ren in the real world, she'd likely be swatted down like a bug in seconds.
Therefore, until Mei could persuade Kiana to calm down and peacefully accept her relationship with Ren, it was best for Kiana and Ren to avoid meeting, just as before.
"Mm, okay. Leave Kiana to you." Ren was preoccupied, his mind racing with thoughts of Demiurge. Facing two... possibly more... god-level enemies eyeing him covetously, Ren felt an suffocating pressure bearing down, fueling an urgent desire to secretly train harder and get stronger. He merely gave Mei a distracted affirmation.
"Speaking of which, I didn't expect Schicksal to be related to Mementos too," Mei sighed, shifting the topic after the Kiana discussion temporarily concluded. She reflected on the information gleaned from Durandal. "I thought Schicksal was just an ordinary religious organization. If Schicksal's Supreme Overseer is an evil person exploiting Mementos for profit, that's truly dangerous for this world."
She sounded genuinely concerned, surprised that Schicksal, which seemed like a religious group transitioning into a corporation, had deep ties to Mementos.
"Hm?" Ren paused, pushing down his anxious thoughts. "I remember Schicksal being a fictional organization from the game Kallen Fantasy, right? When Durandal mentioned the name, I assumed the leader was just a big fan of the game and named the organization after it, or maybe Schicksal itself developed Kallen Fantasy." Ren now recalled where he'd seen the name Schicksal before—while researching Kallen and Yae Sakura online.
"I thought Schicksal was some huge organization lurking in the shadows," Ren continued, looking at Mei with surprise. "But from what you're saying, Mei, Schicksal seems quite open about its existence? They haven't hidden their traces?"
"...What are you talking about, Ren?" Mei looked at him strangely, a perplexed frown forming. "Although it has transitioned from purely religious to semi-religious, semi-corporate, Schicksal is undoubtedly the largest religious organization in the world. Its global influence is immense. Even children have heard of Schicksal."
"The largest religion... shouldn't that be Christianity?" Ren asked, a sudden bad feeling creeping into his heart. "Who is the god Schicksal worships?"
"Christianity? What's that? I've never heard of that religion..." Mei frowned, completely unfamiliar with the name. "As for Schicksal's faith, they naturally believe in the omniscient and omnipotent Lord."
Mei's utterly baffling yet matter-of-fact words sent a horrifying chill down Ren's spine. His scalp tingled, and he instantly felt drenched in cold sweat.
Something's wrong.
This world... something is very wrong!!
Could it be... this world doesn't have Christianity?!!