In terms of appearance, aura, and everything else, the white-haired man before him was the Kaslana that Ren was familiar with.
However, it was precisely because of this familiarity that Ren could sense an undeniable strangeness in the eyes of this man, who was identical to Kaslana in every way.
Without a doubt, the white-haired man-shadow who had just attacked Raiden Mei and Mobius was not the Kaslana he had met in the Kaslana Palace.
"I am a being similar, yet different, to the one you have met before. Here and now, this is indeed our first meeting."
Faced with Ren's scrutinizing gaze, the SIM Kevin in the Elysian Realm fell silent for a moment before slowly acknowledging this.
Although the SIM Kevin had noticed Ren's presence the first time he had entered the Elysian Realm, this was the first time they had truly met face-to-face.
The SIM Kevin had also imagined what their first official meeting would be like. Ren, who had been acknowledged by the real Kevin, would surely meet his expectations for a Successor and they would be able to get along harmoniously.
However, things had not gone as planned. When they finally met, they were on opposing sides.
A faint sense of regret arose in the SIM Kevin's heart.
"This is unexpected. Another individual like Kaslana... But if it's in this Elysian Realm Palace, then it all makes sense."
Ren withdrew his gaze and nodded slightly, quickly accepting this reasonable reality.
Although Kaslana was a collective consciousness shadow born from the Kaslana Palace in the depths of the Mementos, the depth of the Kaslana Palace could not compare to the Elysian Realm Palace, which had its roots spread to the very corners of space.
The appearance of a shadow identical to Kaslana would be strange anywhere else, but not in the true Elysian Realm Palace.
"Be careful. This man is not to be trifled with. Even if the Persona you summoned can absorb the flames from the Judgment of Shamash, he still has other elemental attacks!!"
Mobius fully reverted from her Active Honkai Reaction form. She propped herself up with her floating black briefcase and warned Ren in a very serious tone.
"It's fine. I know how strong Kaslana is. But don't underestimate the fighting style of a Trickster."
Ren glanced at Mobius and then snapped his fingers. The giant king standing before him raised its Sword of Victory, and the massive, flaming blade came crashing down like a mountain, aiming for the SIM Kevin's seemingly small and fragile body.
Brave Blade!!
The powerful and heavy sword strike seemed clumsy, but it landed with incredible speed and precision on the SIM Kevin's position, instantly creating a large crater in the ground.
"Impressive power. But this is not enough."
A calm voice came from beneath the flaming Sword of Victory. The SIM Kevin stood in his original position, holding up the Judgment of Shamash greatsword with one hand, completely blocking the giant king's Brave Blade. He looked completely at ease, showing no signs of strain.
After a brief assessment of the Persona Surtr's strength, the SIM Kevin tightened his grip on the Judgment of Shamash and suddenly exerted his strength. The heavy black greatsword swung upwards, unleashing a terrifyingly powerful sword light.
What rose with the greatsword was not the usual raging flames, but a cerulean frost that radiated an extreme cold.
The terrifyingly cold aura instantly extended from the sword into a massive, tangible ice blade. The Judgment of Shamash, wrapped in a Tyrant Sword of cold, sent the Sword of Victory flying from the Persona Surtr's hand.
Even though Ren had made the Persona Surtr retreat as quickly as possible, the SIM Kevin's slash was too fast. The extended ice blade of the Judgment of Shamash still hit the Persona Surtr's chest, leaving a long, diagonal gash on its crimson-striped body. The gash was even covered in a thick layer of frost.
Ren's eyes sharpened.
The Void Archives bracelet automatically transformed into the Jizo Mitama tachi and fell into his right hand.
A gilded, mist-like light wrapped around the Persona Surtr, and the enhancement from the replica's corrosive authority caused its aura to surge. The frozen wound was instantly melted and evaporated by the rapidly rising body temperature, and the wound itself quickly healed with burning lava.
"Blazing Hell!!"
The Key of the Void pistol and the Thunder Ring completed the energy circulation loop with the Void Archives. The energy of the three Divine Keys was fully concentrated on the Void Archives, causing the replica Jizo Mitama in Ren's hand to enter its overclocked, etched form.
The corrosive authority of the replica Jizo Mitama was fully channeled into the Persona Surtr.
The black giant king, pulsating with a golden light like a tide, raised its flame sword. As the Sword of Victory swung down, a terrifyingly brilliant, golden stream of flames, like a calamitous fire, erupted, engulfing the SIM Kevin and everything behind him in a sea of purgatorial fire.
In the next moment, Raiden Mei, who was standing behind Ren, quickly noticed that something was wrong.
Faced with the golden-red sea of fire that should have been able to completely evaporate a lake, even if she was at a safe distance, she should have been hit by a blast of hot air that could instantly dry her sweat.
However, not only did she not feel the scorching heat, but she even shivered involuntarily from the rapidly approaching cold wave.
From the center of the golden sea of fire, which exuded a sacred aura, a terrifyingly cold wave spread out in all directions against the fire in an unbelievable manner. Massive pillars of ice shot up from the ground, and despite being scorched by the golden-red flames, they showed no signs of melting. In fact, within a few of the ice pillars, the golden-red flames themselves were frozen solid.
Clang—!!!
A loud, sharp sound of metal clashing rang out. From the tip of a massive, rapidly growing ice pillar, a blurry figure leaped out and instantly cut the Persona Surtr in half at the waist.
After a moment of pause, the figure, exuding an extreme cold, rushed towards Ren and thrust the black greatsword in its hand at him, which was then blocked by Ren's replica Jizo Mitama: Etched.
"Such strength..."
Ren gritted his teeth, struggling against the absurdly powerful force from the other side of the blade.
Even with his left hand supporting the back of the blade, he could only feel his hands going numb from the shock... To not be sent flying in a close-quarters fight with such a powerful shadow was already an extraordinary feat for him, a Persona user who had inherited the power of many Stigmata.
A clap of thunder rang out. The Raikiri, wrapped in crimson lightning, thrust out from Ren's side with incredible speed. Faced with Mei's fierce attack, the figure that was pressing down on Ren did not choose to take it head-on, but instead relaxed its grip and nimbly retreated from in front of Ren.
"So this is Kaslana's true form, and his true strength..."
After the figure that had torn apart the Persona Surtr had retreated, Ren finally had a chance to see his enemy's true appearance.
Two sharp demon horns grew from his wild, white hair.
His upper body was only covered by black and white bandages, revealing a semi-human form. His hands and feet, however, had completely transformed into a black-and-blue demonic form.
His long, pointed ears and the prominent, tattered, black-and-blue demon wings all symbolized that the person before him had completely shed the shackles of a human body on his power.
Ren silently flexed his numb wrist. A cold sweat slowly trickled down his forehead.
Using the Persona Surtr's Brave Blade had only been a probe. When he had ordered it to use Blazing Hell, although he hadn't used his full power, he had been serious.
Kaslana had also made a contract with him and had become his Persona.
Based on his understanding of Kaslana's strength, the Blazing Hell unleashed by Surtr should have been enough to hold him off for a short while, during which he could have snowballed his advantage and eventually tipped the scales of victory in his favor.
However, the reality was completely different from what he had expected.
This Kaslana that had appeared in the depths of the Elysian Realm Palace... how was he even stronger than the collective consciousness Kaslana from the Kaslana Palace?
"Don't think of him in the same way. Face this man as if he were the strongest, unknown enemy you've ever encountered!! Unlike the one you've met in the outside world, the man you're facing now... he is in his prime, imprisoned by the Elysian Realm Palace!!"
Mobius's belated warning from behind made Ren's vision go slightly black.
If you knew that this Kaslana shadow in the Elysian Realm Palace was in his prime, you should have told me earlier!!
Ren had originally planned to use the fact that memories were not shared between shadows of the same type, and his knowledge of Kaslana's true strength, while the other Kaslana knew nothing of his strength and Personas, to gain an advantage on the battlefield.
But because of the difference between the two Kaslanas, he had fallen into a disadvantage.
No matter how you look at it, as the collective consciousness of the Kaslana Palace, the original Kaslana should be the strongest of its kind, right? How could the result be the complete opposite...
"If the enemy is Kaslana, then we'll use a Kaslana to fight him—"
A shining, red World arcana card appeared in front of Ren's outstretched hand. Just as he was about to use his mental power to summon the Persona Kaslana for a taste of his own medicine, the Persona Kaslana in his Sea of Souls sent him an apologetic message.
[Don't summon me, Ren. Use another Persona to fight. Even with your power, I'm no match for that enemy. And he knows all of my abilities. It would be difficult for me to gain an advantage against him... Depending on the enemy, flexibly switching to a Persona with an advantage is the true fighting style of a Trickster, right?]
The Persona Kaslana's message was rational, yet somewhat disheartening. Even with the blessing of Elysia's power, the Persona Kaslana still believed that he could not defeat his prime shadow self. This fact undoubtedly made Ren's heart sink a little.
To be safe, the most rational course of action would be to recall the real Jizo Mitama tachi and fight the wild Kaslana with his full strength.
But Higokumaru was still working overtime, trying to hack into the Elysian Realm Palace's database. The promise to Mobius, and the temptation of experiencing the authority to modify the collective unconscious firsthand, made Ren hesitate to recall Jizo Mitama.
Whatever. I'll just clash with him head-on a few times and see how strong this shadow-form wild Kaslana really is. If it's too much, I'll recall Higokumaru and Jizo Mitama.
"Come, Persona—"
Ren made up his mind. He crushed the red arcana card in his hand, pointed the Key of the Void pistol at his temple, and pulled the trigger.
Amidst the flashing red and blue light, a pair of black-and-gold, mechanical, jagged wings spread open, and a gentleman in a red coat, black tight pants, and a top hat descended into the void behind Ren.
"—Raoul!!"