"Huh? Who are you, mister? Don't just randomly interrupt a beautiful girl's date, okay?!"
The man who appeared before Kiana and Raiden Mei, interjecting into their conversation, was a brown-haired, brown-eyed middle-aged man who looked gentle and exuded an intellectual aura.
Looking at Welt Yang, who had suddenly struck up a conversation with her and Mei as if trying to pick them up, a skeptical expression appeared on Kiana's face.
Even if this dream incident truly had other witnesses, it was impossible to just randomly encounter them while strolling down the street. This middle-aged man was clearly just picking a random topic to hit on her and Mei, two youthful and beautiful JK (high school girl) beauties.
"Joachim, you're walking too fast. Did you find something... Oh." Just as Kiana was sizing up the man with suspicious eyes and trying to casually take Mei's hand to lead her away, a cool and pleasant girlish voice came from behind the brown-haired man.
Looking in the direction of the voice, Mei saw a cool-looking girl with messy cyan hair, her bangs completely parted to the sides, revealing a clear forehead, giving off a clean and sharp impression.
That cyan-haired girl was currently approaching slowly with a red-haired, twin-tailed girl wearing glasses, seemingly companions of the middle-aged man.
However, what truly captured Mei's attention, making her take an excited step forward and causing Kiana's surreptitious attempt to hold her hand to fail, leaving Kiana awkwardly frozen with her hand grasping air... was the familiar figure silently following behind the cyan-haired girl and the red-haired twin-tailed girl, like an attendant.
"Fa-Father?! Have your charges been cleared? Have you finally been released from prison?!" The man walking with Einstein and Tesla was none other than Mei's father, Ryoma Raiden, who had been imprisoned for economic fraud due to Cocolia's false accusations.
"Mei..." Upon seeing his daughter looking at him with an excited expression, Ryoma Raiden, who had been silently accompanying the two Anti-Entropy doctors, abruptly stopped. A flustered look appeared on his face, and his gaze instinctively drifted aside, avoiding eye contact with his daughter who trusted him wholeheartedly.
Although he had accompanied the Anti-Entropy Sovereign and the two doctors back to Nagazora City specifically to see Mei and deal with the aftermath of the Cocolia incident, Ryoma still hadn't figured out how to face his long-separated daughter.
Because of him, Mei had been living through hell, constantly tormented by the world's deep malice, nearly having the Gem of Conquest within her activated by Cocolia, which would have stripped her of her humanity and transformed her into the Herrscher of Thunder, an apostle of Honkai, to pass judgment on civilization.
Ryoma had been mentally preparing himself the entire way. He had expected to reunite with Mei at home, but he never imagined that due to the Sovereign's sudden whim, he would bump into his daughter on the street so unexpectedly.
If Ryoma had truly been wrongly imprisoned, he could at least shift all the blame onto Cocolia, the main culprit, and stand a little straighter. However, he had actually done it.
To prevent Mei from becoming the Herrscher of Thunder, Ryoma had embezzled public funds and used ME Corp's technology to develop a powerful weapon called Plasma Kagehide.
Given a little more time, Ryoma could have replenished the missing funds through company operations. But Cocolia wouldn't give him that time, striking decisively and instantly sending Ryoma, who had caused the break in the financial chain, to prison.
Ryoma had developed Plasma Kagehide to prevent Mei from becoming the Herrscher of Thunder, but precisely because of that, Cocolia was able to exploit the situation and nearly succeeded in inducing Mei to become the Herrscher... After learning what happened in Nagazora City, Ryoma broke out in a cold sweat, feeling like fate had played a cruel joke on him.
Fortunately, the situation hadn't truly become irreparable.
Although he didn't know the specific details of what transpired, Mei's mind and body were clearly very healthy now, with no immediate possibility of being catalyzed into the Herrscher of Thunder.
His daughter had suffered so much unnecessary hardship because of him, yet she still trusted him, her father, wholeheartedly, believing he was imprisoned due to Cocolia's false accusations...
At this point, admitting that he had indeed embezzled billions of US dollars in company funds was simply unspeakable... Feeling Mei's genuinely joyful gaze, Ryoma's conscience ached even more.
"What? You're Mei's father?!" Hearing Mei's address to Ryoma, Kiana, who had been awkwardly clenching her fists, immediately turned her attention to him.
"Strange, I've been watching the news recently. How come I didn't see any news about Mei's father being acquitted... Forget it, that's not important. Ahem, Father-in-law, nice to meet you! I'm Kiana, Kiana Kaslana! Mei's best friend!!" Kiana scratched her head with the hand still awkwardly in mid-air, then eagerly leaned forward to introduce herself to Ryoma.
Fortunately, Kiana still possessed some social awareness and didn't immediately reveal her unrealistic ambitions towards Mei in front of this elder. After all, for the traditionally-styled Raiden family, entrusting their daughter to another girl was undoubtedly too modern.
"It's normal you didn't see it in the news. After all, Ryoma was bailed out by us; he wasn't actually... cough-pff! Mophead, what are you elbowing me for?! Wanna fight?!"
Ryoma had only been bailed out of prison by Anti-Entropy; his economic fraud case had already been investigated and confirmed by the government.
Even Anti-Entropy would find it difficult to immediately clear Ryoma's name, and besides, Anti-Entropy currently didn't have the resources to waste on such trivial matters.
Tesla placed one hand on her hip, waving the other dismissively, intending to directly tell Siegfried's daughter the answer. However, halfway through her sentence, Dr. Einstein, standing beside her, expressionlessly raised an arm and delivered a powerful elbow strike to Dr. Tesla's abdomen.
Caught off guard, Dr. Tesla instantly doubled over like a lobster, clutching her stomach, forced to swallow the words she was about to utter. After clutching her stomach and recovering for a while, the hot-tempered Dr. Tesla roared at the seemingly unfazed Einstein beside her. She even raised the red power arm equipped on her wrist, making feinting elbow strikes towards Einstein's abdomen.
"Dr. Tesla, please try to read the atmosphere. This isn't the time for your comedy routine. We have important business," Einstein said calmly, taking a step back behind Welt Yang, unfazed by Tesla's power arm threat.
"Who's doing a comedy routine with you?! Mophead, don't hide behind Welt! If you have the guts to elbow me, then have the guts to come out and let me elbow you back!!" Seeing Einstein hide behind Welt, Tesla gritted her teeth in anger.
"Father... who are these three?" The farce staged by Tesla and Einstein successfully diverted Mei's attention, making her stop focusing on the wrongful imprisonment issue and instead wonder about the identities of her father's three companions.
Ryoma Raiden, saved by Dr. Einstein's intervention, let out a sigh of relief. He silently cast a grateful glance at Einstein behind Welt, then cleared his throat seriously and introduced the three Anti-Entropy higher-ups to Mei.
"Mei, during this time, you must have heard the name 'Anti-Entropy'... This is Mr. Welt Yang, the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy. And these two are Dr. Einstein and Dr. Tesla of Anti-Entropy."
"The Sovereign of Anti-Entropy—and Doctors?!" For Mei, the name Anti-Entropy was indeed all too familiar.
Cocolia, who had tried every means to crush her with malice, was the leader of Anti-Entropy... until Ren changed Cocolia's heart, Mei learned that Cocolia was only the acting leader, not the true authority. And now, the true leader of Anti-Entropy was apparently standing right before her!!
Realizing this, Mei subconsciously clenched her fists, nearly summoning Persona Kurikara. Fortunately, her rationality kicked in, preventing any rude actions. From Cocolia, who had become an ask-me-anything person after her heart was changed, Mei already knew about the complex factional relationships within Anti-Entropy.
Her father, Ryoma Raiden, was also an executive of Anti-Entropy and a member of the conservative faction, opposing Cocolia's reformist faction. It was due to this factional struggle that Ryoma was framed and imprisoned by Cocolia.
Since they opposed Cocolia and were with her father, these three Anti-Entropy higher-ups shouldn't be enemies. And come to think of it, Mr. Siegfried seemed to have mentioned Anti-Entropy doctors before; he must have been referring to these two very young-looking female doctors...
"Ryoma's daughter, come with us. We have something to ask you," Tesla said, seemingly tired of arguing with Einstein. She sighed, rubbing her forehead, then bluntly made her request to Mei.
"What can't be said here? If you want to take Mei away... then I'm going with Mei too!!" Words like "Anti-Entropy Sovereign" and "Anti-Entropy Doctor" made Kiana feel completely bewildered.
Although Mei's father was there as a guarantor, Kiana still found Welt and the other two very suspicious and didn't feel safe letting Mei leave with them.
"Not you, Siegfried's daughter. If you come with us, it will cause a lot of trouble... After all, you're being targeted by a behemoth organization no less formidable than Anti-Entropy." Tesla crossed her arms, waving Kiana away with a slightly disdainful gesture, rejecting her request to accompany them.
As a crucial part of Otto's plan, Kiana was surrounded by Schicksal's eyes and ears. Welt and Tesla's identities were very sensitive. As Anti-Entropy higher-ups aware of Otto's plan to revive the Herrscher of the Void, their contact with Kiana would undoubtedly alert Overseer Otto himself.
A brief, accidental meeting and quick separation like now was still manageable. If they were in contact any longer, Schicksal's Valkyrie forces would probably come attacking. If they dared to take Kiana to a secluded place for a talk, Tesla even suspected Otto might suddenly pop out of thin air to backstab them.
"You called me 'Siegfried's daughter'—do you know my scummy old dad?!" Hearing an unexpected name from Tesla, Kiana's eyes widened in astonishment, and she quickly pressed Tesla for more information.
"...Kiana, being targeted by a behemoth organization no less formidable than Anti-Entropy?" Kiana focused on the news about her father, Siegfried. But Mei, from the previous words, focused on Tesla's assessment of Kiana's current dangerous situation.
Recalling Kiana's Shadow's various abnormal behaviors in Mementos, Mei's pupils suddenly dilated to their limit. Just like how she was targeted by Anti-Entropy's Cocolia, could Kiana also be targeted by the mastermind of another organization, who was trying to conduct cruel and terrifying experiments on her?!
"Since Kiana is in such a dangerous situation now, then she should stay with us even more!" Knowing Kiana was targeted by some colossal organization, Mei had even less reason to let Kiana be alone.
"No need to worry, Miss Raiden Mei. As long as Miss Kiana doesn't have prolonged contact with sensitive individuals like us, it won't trigger an overreaction from the mastermind... In fact, quite the opposite. Letting Miss Kiana be alone will be safer for both of us," Einstein explained methodically, slowly raising a finger.
"...Kiana, could you please wait for me for a moment? I have some questions I want to discuss with Father and the others. I'll come back to find you after things are settled." Mei's eyes flickered several times. She finally made up her mind, a deeply apologetic smile appearing on her delicate face as she slowly spoke to Kiana.
Before today, Kiana was clearly unaware of the surveillance and control by that so-called colossal organization, just like Mei herself during her school bullying days at Chiba Academy. Only Kiana's Shadow's abnormal state in Mementos highlighted how different Kiana was from others.
To allow Kiana to maintain her peaceful and happy life as usual, Mei decided to bear the heavy truth herself, not letting Kiana worry or feel pressured... This was not only Mei's personal sentiment as Kiana's friend but also experience learned from Ren Amamiya.
The state of a Shadow in Mementos was closely related to the individual's inner state in the real world. Just as Cocolia had tried to continuously pressure her, attempting to make her mind completely collapse.
If Kiana's mind fell into deep despair due to knowing an overly cruel and heavy truth, an irreversible terrible situation might occur; the birth of a distorted Palace of the Mind in Mementos would be the mildest consequence.
If things got worse, and Kiana's consciousness in the real world was completely devoured, her body taken over by Shadow Kiana from Mementos... then even Mei wouldn't know how to save her.
"Sorry, Kiana, I actually hid something from you. I've already met Mr. Siegfried. He once mentioned these two doctors to me. The Anti-Entropy doctors are indeed trustworthy... And I made a promise with Mr. Siegfried. Although he seems unwilling to meet you for some reason right now, as long as I fulfill what I promised him, Mr. Siegfried will be willing to meet you again." Mei's voice was full of apology as she gently spoke to the abruptly stunned Kiana.
"Mei, you've already met my scummy old dad? I see, was it that time at Chiba Academy?... Since they really know my scummy old dad and also know Mei's father, then I have nothing to worry about. But Mei, you have to come back quickly!!"
On the day Chiba Academy was destroyed, Siegfried had appeared there. Kiana, at that time, happened to have skipped class because she had found information about Siegfried being sighted in Nagazora City. She subconsciously assumed Mei had met Siegfried then. Kiana's eyes darted around quickly.
With a reluctant expression, she waved at Mei and watched her leave the street. Although she verbally agreed to let Mei leave with Tesla and the others, Kiana, with her cat-like curiosity, naturally wouldn't just obediently wait there.
As for being targeted by some colossal organization, Kiana considered it complete nonsense, as unbelievable as a fortune teller on the street suddenly telling you that you have terrible luck ahead.
Therefore, after Mei and the others' figures gradually receded, Kiana sneakily followed them.
"Strange, I clearly saw them go this way. How did they disappear in the blink of an eye?!" However, after turning a corner, Kiana scratched her head in confusion, realizing she had completely lost track of Mei and the others.
"Kiana shouldn't be able to find us here. Let's discuss our matters in detail, Miss Raiden Mei." Welt Yang, who had used gravity manipulation to instantly move everyone from the ground to the rooftop, only turned to face Mei, who was looking at him with a tense expression, after Kiana had left the area below, full of question marks.
"Or perhaps... I should call you Miss Acheron of the Phantom Thieves now?"
"Phantom Thief Acheron? What's that? Are you referring to Mei?" Hearing Sovereign Welt of Anti-Entropy address Mei so formally, Ryoma Raiden, her father, subconsciously frowned and asked in surprise.
"...Fa-Father, please don't ask anymore." Mei pressed her lips tightly together, her expression impassive, but her fair, delicate earlobes had quietly turned crimson.
Siegfried had intricate ties with Anti-Entropy. It wasn't beyond Mei's expectations that the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy would know her identity as a Phantom Thief.
However, having her Phantom Thief codename, which meant "Underworld River," read out like a public execution in front of her own father, who knew her best... Mei, who thought she had graduated from her chuunibyou phase but hadn't quite, instantly felt an intense spiritual shock that made her want to dig a hole with her toes.
"I've investigated the Phantom Thieves Channel website you created and heard from Siegfried about your method of stealing people's hearts. If the entity whose heart is stolen possesses a certain degree of power, they can retain partial memories of their encounter with the Phantom Thieves in the form of a dream."
Welt clasped one hand behind his back, speaking to Mei in a steady, deliberate tone, like a university professor.
"I wasn't lying to you and Kiana. Although Kiana misunderstood it as a crude pick-up attempt, I did indeed feel drowsy not long ago, and when I closed my eyes, I had a rather peculiar dream—I dreamed of a black-haired youth in black clothes, wearing a white mask, and a petite girl with silver hair."
After waking from that dream, Welt, just as Siegfried had said, felt his body become slightly lighter. Welt's body didn't have a Honkai Beast's instinctive consciousness like Siegfried's, but it did contain the 300,000 victim consciousnesses within the Herrscher of Reason's Core.
Therefore, upon realizing he had been targeted by the Phantom Thieves, Welt immediately checked the condition of the Herrscher Core in his body. Sure enough, the Herrscher of Reason Core, which should have been a complete entity formed from 300,000 parts, had unknowingly lost about a hundred parts of its core power.
Welt Yang's Honkai energy resistance was limited. He wasn't a Stigmata awakener, nor even a female with slightly higher Honkai resistance; he was just an ordinary human male. While accepting the Herrscher of Reason Core granted him its powerful authority, Welt's body also became ravaged by Honkai erosion.
After Joker of the Phantom Thieves stole one three-thousandth of the Herrscher of Reason's authority, Welt's eroded body, due to the reduced pressure, could actually take a slight breather, becoming much lighter.
As for whether Welt's strength was weakened by the loss of the Herrscher Core... it was somewhat embarrassing to admit, but even at his peak, Welt Yang couldn't fully utilize the power of the Herrscher of Reason Core, let alone in his current injured state. Even if the Herrscher Core's upper limit was reduced, he still couldn't reach that slightly reduced output limit.
If the number of Herrscher Cores was reduced to a level Welt's body could perfectly handle—neither being severely eroded by Honkai nor being unable to fully exert the Herrscher of Reason's authority—perhaps the combat power Welt could ultimately unleash would be even stronger than his current battered state.
However, the Herrscher of Reason Core was ultimately an important relic passed down to him by Welt Joyce, and he hadn't yet tested Joker's character. Under no circumstances could he just let Joker steal the Herrscher of Reason's power.
"Ah, this..." Hearing Welt Yang's description, images of Ren Amamiya and Bronya instantly flashed in Mei's mind.
They said they were going out to verify some things this morning. How did they end up verifying things by going to Mementos with Bronya, and even visiting Mr. Welt's Palace of the Mind together...?
An individual possessing a Palace of the Mind could only be said to have strong, distorted obsessions and desires; their real-world self wasn't necessarily a bad person.
From Mr. Welt's words and actions, even after having his heart stolen, he didn't lose his temper with her, a member of the Phantom Thieves. He clearly wasn't a heinous villain.
As a member of the Phantom Thieves, being caught red-handed by the victim in the real world, Mei felt an awkward and subtle emotion welling up.
"Joker might have accidentally stumbled into Mr. Welt's Palace. Our Phantom Thieves' current mission target is the Herrscher of the Void, as requested by Mr. Siegfried... This must be a misunderstanding. After all, Joker didn't mention any plans to conquer your Palace to me before." Although Mei didn't know how Ren ended up in Welt's Palace, she could at least confirm this Palace was outside the Phantom Thieves' prior plans.
Facing this Sovereign of Anti-Entropy, who had his heart stolen and might still be experiencing it, Mei chose her words with a very peculiar feeling.
"So, Sovereign, Mei, what on earth are you talking about?! Phantom Thief Acheron, Phantom Thief Joker, Palaces, stealing hearts... I don't understand any of it! Is this some new jargon?!" Ryoma Raiden clutched his head, feeling a headache.
He felt like he had only been in prison for a short time, but after his release, the world seemed to have updated itself at an astonishing pace, and everyone was speaking a language he couldn't comprehend.
A world that only I can't understand... accomplished!!
"Father, you don't know? Could it be... Mr. Welt and the others didn't tell you?" Hearing Ryoma say he completely didn't understand her conversation with Welt, an astonished look appeared on Mei's face. She subconsciously glanced towards Welt and Dr. Tesla.
"...We indeed haven't explained all this to Ryoma yet. After all, Miss Mei, you Phantom Thieves are more familiar with these matters than we are, aren't you? Rather than forming stereotypes due to our explanation, it's more appropriate to hear your explanation directly, Miss Mei," Einstein shrugged nonchalantly, responding to Mei.
Of course, the main reason was that time was too tight. Welt and Tesla had just bailed Ryoma out of prison and only had time to roughly explain the current situation to him. As for the abstruse information about the Phantom Thieves, which even they, two Anti-Entropy doctors, hadn't fully grasped, they naturally couldn't inform Ryoma of everything.
But to Mei's ears, this meant Ryoma's rank within Anti-Entropy wasn't high enough to access information about Mementos, which only the Sovereign or acting Sovereign could know. And even Anti-Entropy's understanding of Mementos wasn't deep enough, far from being as familiar with its knowledge and intelligence as Ren Amamiya, the leader of the Phantom Thieves.
They hoped to obtain more information about Mementos from the Phantom Thieves.
"...I'm just an ordinary member of the Phantom Thieves. If Mr. Welt wishes to speak with the Phantom Thieves, it's better to communicate directly with our leader, Joker. I will be responsible for contacting Joker." Mei's eyes flickered a few times. She finally made up her mind, took a deep breath, and stated her request to Welt, the leader of Anti-Entropy.
"However, in exchange, I hope to obtain information about Kiana from Anti-Entropy—you must know exactly what Kiana has suffered and what kind of situation she is in now, right?"