Upon returning to the real world, it was late at night. The Raiden residence was already enveloped in silence, its inhabitants deep in slumber.
Ren Amamiya personally escorted Fu Hua out of the Raiden residence, not having her stay the night.
And after seeing Fu Hua off, Ren Amamiya didn't immediately return to the Raiden residence either.
He took out his phone once more and used the MetaNav App to return to the Kaslana Palace.
Of course, this time, Ren Amamiya's purpose for infiltrating Mementos wasn't for battle.
Returning to the familiar crimson desert space, Ren Amamiya's eyes once again reflected the slender and well-proportioned figures of Hare and Seele.
"Ren, I don't think we can trust Fu Hua so easily."
Ren Amamiya had just returned to the Kaslana Palace when Hare, under Seele's surprised gaze, spoke her true thoughts to Ren Amamiya with a serious expression.
"Fu Hua must be lying. Even if she isn't lying, she's definitely hiding many important things from us."
Fu Hua had already left the Kaslana Palace, so Hare no longer needed to hold back. She could freely express her inner thoughts to Ren Amamiya and even provided corresponding evidence.
"The weakened state Fu Hua exhibited under the authority of Binding… that absolutely cannot be explained away by saying her Persona's perception is more acute. She must be hiding something from us…"
If it were truly due to a perception-type Persona, Fu Hua, as a Persona user, couldn't have suffered such severe damage as Hare herself did. At most, it would have been slightly more severe, perhaps one or two times worse, than Raiden Mei and Seele experienced at the time.
"Moreover, when I tried to use my information-reading ability on Fu Hua, I found that I couldn't read the information recorded on her. I could only sense that the amount of information Fu Hua carried was extremely vast. It's completely unlike what a normal human could bear. It's almost… it's almost as if it's the kind of informational depth that could only be accumulated by witnessing civilization from its inception and development to the present day."
Hare's delicate brows furrowed slightly. She carefully organized her words internally before speaking these rather alarming statements to Ren Amamiya.
"I understand. Don't worry, Hare. I won't easily trust Fu Hua."
Ren Amamiya nodded gently at Hare, reassuring her.
Hanging out with Akechi Goro, and being some kind of "Detective Prince" at that—Ren Amamiya, who already had PTSD from Pancake-man, would naturally not trust Fu Hua as easily as he appeared to.
It wasn't just Hare who had spied on Fu Hua with her information-reading ability; Ren Amamiya had also silently done the same to Fu Hua.
The Confidant skill Ren Amamiya had obtained from Hare was naturally much weaker in effect and proficiency than Hare's own.
When Ren Amamiya found that he could only read garbled information streams from Fu Hua, he initially thought it was an anti-shielding trait of Fu Hua as a perception-type Persona user and didn't pay much attention to it.
However, combining this with the expert opinion from Hare, Ren Amamiya now realized that the garbled information stream he had read earlier was merely the tip of the iceberg. The truly horrifying part about Fu Hua was still hidden in an unseen, obscure darkness.
Unlike Durandal, whom Ren Amamiya had encountered before, although both carried an immense weight of information that theoretically humans couldn't bear, Fu Hua, who was proficient in mental abilities and possessed a perception-type Persona, was clearly much more adept at concealing herself.
"I won't easily trust Fu Hua, but I won't be hostile towards her because of it either. Everyone has their own secrets, and it's perfectly normal not to want others to know… After all, this is our first meeting with Fu Hua. It's completely understandable that she would be reserved with us."
Although Fu Hua's identity and stance were still suspicious, her abilities as a pure support-type Persona user were simply too enticing.
Ren Amamiya's current Phantom Thieves team happened to be lacking a pure perception-support talent like Fu Hua.
While Hare could usually serve as the team's eyes, her main strength was still focused on combat.
If it was purely about perception strength, Hare's Persona was clearly much inferior to Fu Hua's.
This was especially true given that Fu Hua also possessed long-range telepathy, an ability Hare hadn't mastered.
In an eerie and unpredictable otherworldly environment like Mementos, where radio waves couldn't travel normally, modern communication tools were almost useless. They only worked to a limited extent in certain types of modern-themed Palaces.
With only Ren Amamiya possessing the MetaNav App, if the Phantom Thieves were to get separated in Mementos due to some external reason, it would undoubtedly be a very troublesome and dangerous task for Ren Amamiya to find his scattered teammates in various unknown areas and bring them back to the real world.
But if the Phantom Thieves team had Fu Hua, a perception-support Persona user, the situation would be vastly different.
No matter where the members of the Phantom Thieves were scattered, Fu Hua's Persona, Garuda, could remotely link everyone's minds, forming an internal team channel unrestricted by distance. Splitting up, a tactic previously impossible due to communication limitations, could now be implemented.
Ren Amamiya's intuition told him Fu Hua could be trusted.
And his rationality also concluded that the benefits of recruiting Fu Hua into the Phantom Thieves far outweighed the risks.
If that was the case, then the answer was obvious.
"I understand. If you have your own judgment, Ren…"
Hare still had reservations about Fu Hua's true identity and stance, but since Ren Amamiya had made a decision, she would naturally choose to accept it, merely resolving to pay more attention to Fu Hua's actions in the future.
"Big Brother Ren, did you come back to the Kaslana Palace because you forgot to do something earlier?"
Only then, Seele, who had been outside their two-person communication channel because she lacked the ability to read information from a target, finally found a gap to interject after the topic ended.
"It's not exactly that I forgot something. I plan to go to the Velvet Room again. Hare, could you please open a portal for me?"
The MetaNav App couldn't guide Ren Amamiya to the Velvet Room in the deepest part of Mementos, and the probability of reaching that place, located in the gap between spirit and matter, by dreaming was too random.
If Ren Amamiya wanted to stably and proactively go to the Velvet Room, he still needed to rely on Hare's ability to open a spatial portal to reach the gateway connecting the material and spiritual spaces in the Serpent's Den base.
"…Now? Isn't this a bit too hasty? Although you won the battle against that Akechi Goro and even awakened greater power during the fight, you must be quite tired too, Ren. You should be resting properly at a time like this."
Upon hearing Ren Amamiya's request, a hint of hesitation appeared on Hare's tranquil face.
Reality wasn't a game; leveling up didn't fully restore one's condition.
In fact, it was quite the opposite. Besides the exhaustion from battle, the monumental feat of pushing his unique Path of Origion to a new stage, causing Persona Arsene to sublimate into Persona Raoul, had undoubtedly consumed a great deal of Ren Amamiya's mental and physical energy.
In such a weakened and fatigued state, Ren Amamiya still wanted to venture into the Elysian Realm, a space filled with mystery and danger. This unwavering forward-looking mindset, while earning Hare's admiration, also sowed a seed of worry in her heart.
It was important to remember that the internal area teleportation in the Elysian Realm was highly random. No one could predict what kind of enemy or what personality of a Previous Era Flame-Chaser they would encounter behind the portal.
Some Flame-Chasers had rather unpleasant personalities and tempers. Even if they encountered a weakened Ren Amamiya, there was a high probability they wouldn't show mercy and would instead attack Ren Amamiya with all their might.
Rushing to the next battlefield without a moment's rest after a high-intensity battle was clearly not a wise decision.
"Don't worry, I don't intend to fight anymore. I'm just going to the Velvet Room to make some preparations. It won't take much time."
Ren Amamiya sensed Hare's concern and explained.
The Velvet Room was located in the deepest part of Mementos, with the evil god Yaldabaoth entrenched within. The adjacent Elysian Realm was even more dangerous.
But Ren Amamiya had no intention of confronting Yaldabaoth, nor did he plan to explore the Elysian Realm, a high-challenge map, again.
He just wanted to enter the Velvet Room like last time and use the torture devices set up inside to consolidate his current Persona combat power.
With the unconscious god Philemon's covert assistance, Ren Amamiya wouldn't even need to face the evil god occupying the Velvet Room. The danger was almost nonexistent.
The reason he said "almost" was because Ren Amamiya planned to make a detour to Griseo's area in the Elysian Realm to copy some more skills using Griseo's power.
With Kosma, a native Persona living in the Elysian Realm, Ren Amamiya wasn't worried about encountering any dangerous incidents on his way to Griseo's area.
Even if a battle did occur, as Hare worried, Ren Amamiya wasn't so exhausted that he had lost all ability to fight. At worst, it would just mean resting a bit more upon his return.
"If that's the case, then I shall accompany you to the Velvet Room, Ren."
Realizing Ren Amamiya's firm resolve, Hare sighed softly. Then, she slowly nodded, agreeing to Ren Amamiya's request, though she added the condition that she would go along as well.
"Seele… Can Seele also go with Big Brother Ren to that place called the Elysian Realm?"
Seele anxiously clutched the hem of her skirt, softly voicing her desire to go along as well to Ren Amamiya.
Seele harbored the same worries as Hare. Although she didn't know the specific dangers of the place called the Velvet Room, judging from Hare's attitude, it clearly wasn't some amusement park one could easily come and go from.
Seele also wanted to contribute her part for Ren Amamiya, and… if possible, she didn't want to be left alone again.
"Seele wants to go too? …No problem, let's go together then."
Seeing Hare finally relent, Ren Amamiya let out a slight sigh of relief.
Thank goodness Hare wasn't Morgana; she wouldn't forcibly decide he was tired, otherwise, it would have been embarrassing.
Hearing Seele's carefully uttered whisper, Ren Amamiya nodded at her without hesitation. And after receiving Ren Amamiya's approval, a genuinely joyful smile blossomed on Seele's exquisite and flawless face.
A dreamlike, beautiful purplish-blue portal silently opened. Ren Amamiya and the two girls passed through it. When they opened their eyes again, the scene reflected in their pupils had changed to a cold, silvery-gray.
Returning once again to the secret base set up by the World Serpent, Ren Amamiya had already mentally prepared himself to go on another rampage to complete his infiltration.
However, this base, once single-handedly crushed by Ren Amamiya, had not been reclaimed by World Serpent. The already desolate base appeared even colder and more deserted. Only a few staff members, marked with the Jizo Mitama symbol, still roamed the base, maintaining the overall operation of the facility, which now had less than ten percent of its advanced equipment remaining.
As a critical node for sealing the Velvet Room in the material world, even after Ren Amamiya's rampage, this base shouldn't have been abandoned so decisively… Yet, that's how strangely things had unfolded.
Even though Ren Amamiya was puzzled by this, and even after using the power of his Jizo Mitama katana to inspect the entire base and question the staff members still under its control, he still received the answer that this crucial base had been almost completely abandoned by World Serpent.
What decision World Serpent had made was none of Ren Amamiya's concern.
After confirming that there were no traps targeting him in this base, Ren Amamiya once again traversed the secret passage in the deepest part of the base, stepping into the dark and oppressive space of the Deepest Threshold.
"This is… a prison? The Velvet Room Big Brother Ren always talks about… is actually such a pitch-black prison?!"
Standing in the deepest part, like a giant black box with no blind spots, where not even airflow could penetrate, Seele slowly widened her blue eyes, filled with astonishment, her gaze sweeping over rows of cold, empty, pitch-black prison cells.
The name "Velvet Room" sounded very pleasant. Seele had initially thought it would be filled with soft, warm velvet, just as the name suggested. However, the reality was the complete opposite of the warm fantasy in her mind; it was the coldest of prisons.
CLANG—!!
Just as Seele was gradually adjusting to the extreme darkness and could see clearly in this prison, a sudden, strange noise echoed. A massive stage light, like a theatrical prop, abruptly lit up in front of Ren Amamiya and the others, casting a dazzling, scorching light like the sun.
A curvaceous figure stood in front of the giant spotlight. Like a magician on stage, she elegantly removed her black hat, slowly bowed to the visiting Ren Amamiya and the two girls, her tone filled with immense cheerfulness and elation.
"Welcome, welcome—Welcome to the performance of Vill-V, the greatest magician of the century's end!!"