[Within the dim and deep space, an oppressive red light completely enveloped the area.]
[A massive mechanical device stood tall in the center of this deep space. This materialized, mutated object, shaped like a chalice, possessed both mechanical and biological characteristics. Its dark red and grayish-black metal shell was covered in intricate, wing-like patterns and gear structures. Numerous chains connected the base of the chalice to the surrounding space, and countless crimson vines extended from its open top.]
[And facing this giant mechanical chalice was the Phantom Thieves team, led by Ren Amamiya.]
"What is that? Although it's the first time I've seen it, Seele feels that it's a very, very scary, and also a very bad thing…" Looking at the mutated chalice that appeared on the TV screen, Seele cautiously curled up, subconsciously hiding behind Ren Amamiya due to the impact of the chalice's holy yet depraved image.
Only then did she feel safe enough to refocus on the TV screen.
"…" Mei and Bronya simultaneously glanced at Seele, who was hiding behind Ren Amamiya, after noticing the commotion. But they both remained silent.
Mei's mind was in turmoil due to the recently exposed nine-timing video; she was even beginning to question her own stance.
As for Bronya, her mental shift was quite simple.
Since the idea of "joining in" had taken root, Bronya suddenly felt that the world was so vast. Previously, whenever she saw Seele being closer to Ren Amamiya than to herself, Bronya would feel a pang of jealousy.
However, now, even seeing Seele's intimate actions with Ren Amamiya, Bronya didn't feel any discomfort at all. Instead, she felt a sense of relief. She even wished Seele and Ren Amamiya would do more to strengthen their bond.
"A [prison] that imprisons all of humanity… I see. So this is the moment the world meets its end." Unlike Seele, Hare didn't focus too much on the mutated chalice device itself. She was more focused on the backdrop behind the chalice—the endless prison cells that held all of humanity.
Depriving all humans on Earth of their freedom, even erasing their will to move forward, making all of humanity willingly indulge in their own custom-made, tiny prison cells—as a member of World Serpent in charge of executing the Stigma Project, Hare understood the implications of this scene all too well.
The process of the world's restart always varied, and although some minor details might differ, Hare could be certain that what was shown on the TV screen was the "Stigma Project" of the civilization Ren Amamiya had once experienced.
The Stigma Project had been successfully executed, which meant that the Honkai's trial had reached its final stage.
However, even though that past civilization had successfully launched the Stigma Project, the spiraling cycle of the world's repeated destruction and restarts hadn't ended. The Previous Era and the Current Era had followed.
In other words, the Stigma Project implemented by the past civilization had failed.
["One last strike! Persona—Zao Gongen!!" After a fierce battle, the grayish-black mechanical device in the form of a chalice began to falter before the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Ren Amamiya, their leader, tore off his white bird mask, summoning behind him a wrathful, blue-faced guardian deity wielding a three-pronged vajra. A gigantic fist, the size of a mountain, descended like divine punishment from an enraged god, slamming into the weakening grayish-black chalice.]
["Don't destroy the Holy Grail!!" Along with the cries from the people within the prison cells behind it, the crimson vines extending from the top of the grayish-black chalice glowed with a brilliant scarlet light. The crimson vines, connected to countless cells, transmitted the support and power of the people to the chalice like cables. When the judgment of the divine hand finally descended, the already precarious grayish-black chalice, instead of being completely destroyed, became even more indestructible, returning to its peak state.]
["I am the revered object that grants its wielder all their dreams, the one known as the [Holy Grail]…"]
["Foolish ones, intoxicated by your unwanted [justice]! This is the wish of humanity, collectively fallen into [Sloth]! This radiance is proof of my desired existence. As long as humanity desires it, I shall never perish!"…]
["Slothful and foolish humans, offer all your hearts to me—!!!"]
[Supported by the endless will of the people, the mechanical device known as the Holy Grail shed its grayish-black metallic texture, transforming into a brilliant and shimmering, ornate golden color, becoming a true golden chalice.
The golden chalice, having declared its identity to the Phantom Thieves, emitted a serene blue glow. A violent storm, carrying laser beams, bombarded all the members of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, driving them out of Mementos in a single strike. It then manipulated public cognition, erasing the Phantom Thieves of Hearts from existence in the real world, causing the Phantom Thieves' members to gradually become transparent and vanish completely.]
[In the end, only Ren Amamiya, clad in a prison uniform, awoke from within a cramped and crude prison cell.]
The TV screen in the memory viewing area gradually dimmed. This video of the Phantom Thieves' complete annihilation had finished playing.
A stone skull, emitting a crimson glow, spiraled out from the depths of the TV screen and flew into Ren Amamiya's outstretched hand, merging with the previous blue and emerald Will Seed skulls, forming a bizarre three-faced skull crystal.
"The strongest among your companions, the first to awaken his Persona power; juggling relationships with at least eight women simultaneously; able to reawaken after being erased from public cognition by the will of the Holy Grail; and holding the conviction to save his companions and the world… Indeed, your Palace, Ren, is truly a Palace of [Pride]."
The defeat of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts was already established history, but the bizarre way the Phantom Thieves' members had disappeared still made Bronya's heart pound.
After a long silence, Bronya carefully recalled the three Desire memories she had just seen, reaffirming the nature of Ren Amamiya's "cardinal sin."
"So, this is why Ren's companions disappeared. The erasure performed before the world restarted could actually affect the world after the restart. Could this being calling itself the will of the Holy Grail be…?" Hare stared intently at the Pride crystal in Ren Amamiya's hand, her delicate brows furrowing slightly, clearly having connected the dots.
"Yes, you're right. The essence of the Holy Grail is the collective unconsciousness of all humanity, and also one of the forms of the evil god Yaldabaoth." Putting away the Pride Will Seed crystal, Ren Amamiya nodded at Hare, confirming her guess.
Wrath, Sloth, Envy, Despair, and his own Pride—Ren Amamiya had now collected five of the cardinal sins, only two away from completing the seven.
The seven sins combined should become a "Sinful Shell" capable of piercing through a false god.
However, the difficulty of this "stitched-world" instance was clearly higher than that of a normal world. To be safe, Ren Amamiya decided to collect all the cardinal sins lost to history, ensuring that the "Sinful Shell" was strengthened to its absolute limit.
"I see. So, if you want to retrieve your companions, erased by the evil god, from history, you must possess power equal to the evil god… I don't need to worry too much about this. After all, Ren, you've already chosen the right path with your own will." Hare nodded knowingly.
As she had expected, to completely erase the existence of someone from the previous civilization, even in the next generation, only the power of time wielded by the Herrscher of the Finality could achieve that.
And one of the ultimate goals of Kevin, the Master of World Serpent, who was attempting to implement the Stigma Project in the current civilization, was to steal the power of the Herrscher of the Finality.
This clearly corresponded to the history of the civilization Ren Amamiya had experienced.
Hare had specifically researched information related to the Herrscher of the Finality during this time and knew the nature of the Herrscher of the Finality, similar to the concept of "one is all, and all is one."
It could be said that thirteen Herrschers were born in a civilization, or it could be said that only one Herrscher was born—that sole Herrscher being the Herrscher of the Finality.
Before the Herrscher of the Finality awakened, all the Herrscher Cores born in a civilization were essentially just projections of the Cocoon of Finality in the current time, merely a part of the Herrscher of the Finality's power.
Conversely, if one were to gather all the Herrscher authorities before the Finality within oneself, it would also be an effective way to obtain the power of the Finality.
As Ren Amamiya's first companion in the current civilization, Hare had witnessed his rapid growth. She saw Ren Amamiya obtain the Seed of Power gifted by the Herrscher of Thunder, saw him gain the recognition of Sirin, the Herrscher of the Void, and also witnessed Veliona, the Stigmata Will of Death and arguably a strong candidate for the Herrscher of Death in the current civilization, form a contract with Ren Amamiya.
Coupled with the power of Higokumaru and the Key of Erosion, Jizo Mitama, Ren Amamiya currently possessed the equivalent of 3.5 Herrschers' authority.
As long as he continued to progress like this, Ren Amamiya had a good chance of collecting all the Herrscher powers and stealing the authority of the Herrscher of the Finality.
"Of course. After all, this is a second chance. I won't make the same mistakes as before." Ren Amamiya fully understood Hare's sentiments.
After his rehabilitation methods received heartfelt approval from Hare, his guiding companion, even the current Ren Amamiya couldn't help but smile slightly.
The battle against the evil god Yaldabaoth was essentially a battle for the direction of the public's will.
If the public's will was manipulated by Yaldabaoth, the Holy Grail could continuously draw power from the imprisoned humans. With the entire Earth's population as its energy source, Yaldabaoth would be almost invincible in a direct confrontation.
However, if Ren Amamiya guided the public's will towards himself, with the support of all humanity, he would be able to contend with the false god, even capable of killing Yaldabaoth with a single blow from his ultimate skill, the "Sinful Shell."
Although the false god, as a collective unconsciousness of humanity, inherently possessed the authority to modify public cognition, even capable of resetting Ren Amamiya's public recognition gained through the Phan-site to zero, establishing the Phan-site and striving for public recognition wasn't a meaningless act.
The vaster and more deeply rooted the public recognition, the more power it would take for the false god to modify it, and the easier it would be for it to be rekindled by Ren Amamiya's call, even surging back stronger due to the false god's erasure, feeding back greater power to Ren Amamiya, the Phantom Thief of Hearts.
"Although Seele didn't quite understand what's going on, Ren-Nii-Chan is still amazing!!" Seele felt lost and confused by the conversation between Hare and Ren Amamiya.
However, not understanding the true meaning of their words didn't prevent Seele from seeing Hare's praise for Ren Amamiya and the confident smile on Ren Amamiya's face.
So, Seele couldn't help but clap for Ren Amamiya, genuine admiration shining in her beautiful, ocean-blue eyes.
"…All three Will Seeds have been collected, Ren. Let's go take a look at other places." Raiden Mei gently rubbed her forehead. The information overload from the three Desire memories was a bit too much for her. She didn't want to see any more past memories contained in the other TV screens and just wanted to take some time to sort out her complicated feelings.
"Mei-Nee, I think the memory represented by the third video is clearly Ren's last memory before the world restarted. Do you think so?" As they left the memory viewing area, Bronya, walking silently beside Raiden Mei, suddenly asked.
"That's right. Why do you ask, Bronya?" The third Desire memory occurred later than the first two; this was obvious. A puzzled expression appeared on Raiden Mei's face. She didn't understand why Bronya would suddenly ask such a simple and straightforward question.
"It's good that Mei-Nee also thinks so. Then, Mei-Nee, have you ever considered why Ren, who eight-timed on Valentine's Day and ended up capsizing, could fight alongside the female members of his team without any awkwardness in the last video? Several of the women in the team were personally involved in the Valentine's Day incident."
Faced with the shocking detail ruthlessly pointed out by Bronya, Raiden Mei froze as if struck by lightning.