"Ren, whose Palace are we exploring today? We already conquered the Herrscher of the Void's Palace yesterday, right? Could it be that the Palace you and Bronya discovered yesterday wasn't just the Herrscher of Reason's, and you also found another new, mysterious Palace along the way?"
After walking a certain distance away from the Raiden residence, Raiden Mei still hadn't released Ren Amamiya's hand. Instead, she tightened her grip slightly, then gently turned her head to look at Ren Amamiya beside her.
As her smooth purple ponytail swayed playfully, Raiden Mei asked Ren Amamiya with great curiosity.
Although she knew they would be infiltrating a brand-new, mysterious Palace today, Raiden Mei still didn't know the identity of the Palace's owner.
"Bronya and Ren only discovered the Herrscher of Reason's Palace yesterday… At least, that was the case during the daytime."
Bronya followed closely behind Ren Amamiya, taking small, quick steps. Her indifferent silver-gray eyes paused briefly on the clasped hands of Ren Amamiya and Raiden Mei, before she softly explained to Raiden Mei.
"Bronya is right. I also only inadvertently realized the existence of this Palace last night when I went to the Velvet Room to make preparations. The owner of this Palace is… [Ren Amamiya], that is, myself."
Ren Amamiya stopped walking. As he revealed the name of the target Palace ruler, Raiden Mei and Bronya, who were walking beside him, widened their eyes simultaneously, looking at the black-haired youth in astonishment.
"—Your own Palace, Ren? But didn't you say before that it's impossible for Persona users to have a Palace?"
Snapping out of her surprise at Ren Amamiya's shocking revelation, a puzzled look appeared in Raiden Mei's violet eyes. She slowly spoke, questioning Ren Amamiya.
When he had introduced the relevant knowledge about Persona users to her, Ren Amamiya had deeply ingrained the common knowledge that Persona users couldn't have Palaces into Raiden Mei's mind.
However, now Ren Amamiya was saying something shocking again, stating that he, as a Persona user, also possessed a Palace. This naturally left Raiden Mei and Bronya, who had fully absorbed the common knowledge Ren Amamiya had given them, astonished.
"No rule is absolute. There will always be exceptions, though they are few and far between. Excluding myself, I only know of one other human who simultaneously possesses a Palace and a Persona."
Ren Amamiya calmly explained to Raiden Mei and Bronya.
If it weren't for Griseo inadvertently painting his Palace onto the canvas, Ren Amamiya might never have realized the fact that he, too, was a Palace ruler with a Palace of his own.
"The Palace we're infiltrating today is actually your Palace, Ren…? Isn't this difficulty a bit too high for me?"
After fully understanding and accepting this news, Bronya's eyes twitched slightly. She suddenly felt a cold sweat.
If the Palace of the Herrscher of Reason, located in the outermost layer of Mementos, was a beginner area perfectly suited for her, a newbie Phantom Thief, to level up and adapt step-by-step, then Ren Amamiya's Palace, the mindscape of an ace Phantom Thief who had constantly battled the most ferocious Palace rulers in Mementos and even reached the deepest part, the Elysian Realm, was an absolute danger zone, the very front lines, for a complete novice like Bronya.
Bronya hadn't even fully awakened her own true Persona yet and had only barely earned the qualification to stand alongside Ren Amamiya and Hare. She felt that if she were to truly infiltrate Ren Amamiya's Palace, she might be casually swatted to death in a corner by some random Shadow mook passing by—the difference in level was simply too great!
If it weren't for her inability to express emotions due to the aftereffects of the experiments, Bronya felt that her expression would have long since crumbled.
"You don't have to worry about that. I'm the owner of the Palace. In my cognition, Bronya, you and Mei are companions, guests invited to my Palace. Therefore, you won't be attacked by the Shadow guards in the Palace."
Hearing Ren Amamiya's explanation, Bronya immediately placed a hand on her small chest and let out a long sigh of relief. Raiden Mei, on the other hand, also slightly relaxed her tense body.
"Ren, what's that in your hand? A… card?"
Releasing Raiden Mei's hand, Ren Amamiya reached into his pocket.
However, what he took out, besides his phone with the MetaNav App, was a red and black card with a stylish design.
Raiden Mei curiously leaned closer, carefully examining the red and black card in Ren Amamiya's hand.
A crimson background, which gave one a slightly oppressive feeling, covered the card. Black circles spread outwards like ripples.
And at the very center of the black circles, in the middle of the card, was a crimson top hat. Below the top hat was a red mask with white flames burning in its eye sockets.
"Take Your Heart—Ah, this is the logo and slogan you asked Bronya to design for the Phantom Thieves Channel website, Ren!"
Looking at the pattern and slogan on the red and black card in Ren Amamiya's hand, Raiden Mei immediately recognized its origin.
"Having the website icon made into a card like this feels even more stylish than seeing it on the computer…"
Raiden Mei's amethyst eyes shimmered slightly as she examined the red and black card in Ren Amamiya's hand with interest.
"This is the Phantom Thieves' calling card. I haven't been able to send calling cards to the Palace rulers whose hearts were stolen due to various reasons before. But since the target this time is myself, I have plenty of time to add some sense of ritual."
Sending a calling card to the target of a change of heart wasn't absolutely necessary. As long as the Palace ruler in the cognitive world felt a sense of crisis regarding the safety of their Treasure, the Treasure, which existed in an ethereal form within the Palace, would materialize and could be stolen into the real world by the Phantom Thieves.
Theoretically, Ren Amamiya didn't need to go through the trouble of making a calling card to infiltrate his own Palace and retrieve the Treasure. However, in pursuit of the ritualistic sense of being a Phantom Thief, he still took the time to write a calling card for himself.
While explaining to Raiden Mei, Ren Amamiya slowly flipped the calling card over, revealing the front of the card with the message written on it.
"Is this… a calling card made by piecing together letters cut out from newspapers? To avoid your identity being revealed from your handwriting, you could have just printed it using a computer font. This method of cutting up newspapers and pasting each letter one by one feels… a bit too old-fashioned."
Bronya stood on tiptoe. When her gaze fell on the red and black calling card in Ren Amamiya's hand, a subtle look flickered in her silver-gray eyes.
As a world-class hacker, Bronya initially wanted to sharply criticize this time-consuming and laborious method of concealing handwriting as being far behind the times.
However, considering the feelings of her "employer," Ren Amamiya, Bronya paused before giving a very tactful comment.
With Bronya's hacker mindset, she felt that if it was necessary to send a calling card to the target of a change of heart, she could simply hack into electronic devices around the target, or even control all the electronic devices in the entire city, publicizing the target's crimes and announcing the grand opening of the Phantom Thieves' change of heart operation to the public.
Hacking into a city's electronic devices and forcing residents to watch the Phantom Thieves' calling card message was far easier for Bronya than cutting up newspapers and pasting letters one by one.
Moreover, this hacker-style calling card method would clearly be more effective in gaining the social recognition that Ren Amamiya hoped to achieve with the Phantom Thieves Channel website.
Of course, since the target of the change of heart this time was Ren Amamiya himself, this hacker-style method of publicizing crimes definitely couldn't be used.
Just as Bronya was thinking about how to get Ren Amamiya to approve her calling card proposal next time, Raiden Mei's breathing noticeably quickened beside Ren Amamiya. Her amethyst eyes were fixed on the calling card in Ren Amamiya's hand, practically sparkling.
"No, no, Bronya, you don't understand. It has to be this newspaper collage style! If it were printed with a computer font, it wouldn't have that historical weight, that sense of reality and mystery! As expected of Ren. If any criminal who has committed a crime were to receive such a calling card, their heart would surely be greatly shaken, forcing them to feel strong vigilance, spending their days in anxiety and fear!!"
Raiden Mei, who always maintained a gentle and tranquil demeanor like a Yamato Nadeshiko, now, upon seeing the calling card Ren Amamiya presented, couldn't help but reveal an excited smile on her delicate face. The excitement and joy overflowing within her made Mei speak at a noticeably faster pace.
Seeing the usually calm and composed Raiden Mei now completely captivated by Ren Amamiya's calling card, her fair face even flushed with excitement, a bead of sweat quietly appeared on Bronya's forehead… She now realized that the always gentle and demure Big Sister Mei actually had a hidden chuunibyou attribute!
Raiden Mei was clearly immersed in the overall design style of the Phantom Thieves' calling card, not paying attention to the content itself.
So, Bronya discreetly shifted her gaze, softly reading aloud the message pieced together from newspaper clippings on the calling card.
"Cloaked in dark feathers woven from arrogance, armored in thorns that ward off the world's warmth, Mr. Ren Amamiya, who has committed the sin of pride, your distorted desire to treat the entire world as your playground shall be stolen by us, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts—Sincerely, Joker, the Phantom Thief…"
After listening to Bronya read the contents of the calling card, the blush on Raiden Mei's face deepened, and she seemed even more excited and entranced.
Meanwhile, Bronya, who remained calm, felt a surge of surprise in her eyes. She couldn't help but lift her head slightly, looking at Ren Amamiya, whose expression was calm and natural.
Putting aside the flowery and extremely chuunibyou phrasing, which had completely ignited Big Sister Mei's hidden chuunibyou soul, Ren Amamiya didn't actually need to create a calling card for himself. He could directly enter his Palace and retrieve the Treasure. Yet, he still carefully crafted the wording of the calling card and presented it to her and Big Sister Mei.
This action clearly showed that Ren Amamiya was listing his own "sins" to them, and he also intended to open his heart, actively inviting them to enter his own personal mental space, to show them the true landscape of the heart of the person known as Ren Amamiya.
Bronya had noticed something unusual about Ren Amamiya a long time ago. It was as if an invisible film separated him from the world. Although close at hand, he seemed isolated from the world.
Bronya had initially thought it was because the urgency of saving the world was constantly chasing Ren Amamiya, leaving him no time to breathe.
However, that invisible, hazy film had silently vanished last night after Ren Amamiya returned from Mementos, like a bursting bubble, giving Bronya the feeling of truly connecting with Ren Amamiya for the first time.
As a member of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Bronya had already learned from Raiden Mei about everything that happened in the Herrscher of the Void's Palace last night—Ren Amamiya had completed his awakening of heart, and this transformation of his heart had caused his Persona to sublimate into a second-awakened state.
Now, although Ren Amamiya still maintained a calm and collected appearance, Bronya could feel a strong sense of trust and closeness from him.
"Get ready, Bronya, Mei… We're leaving."
Retracting the calling card and silently adjusting his mental state, Ren Amamiya reminded his two companions.
Then, he decisively pressed the button on his phone screen. As red ripples spread through the surrounding space, the figures of the three quietly vanished from their spot.
MetaNav App, activated!!