A warm, gentle white orb of light flew from Kaslana's palm. After circling Ren Amamiya a few times, it merged directly into his chest—now adorned with the purple iris mask, having accepted Kallen's Stigma power.
"This feeling... the sense of being near my limit is completely gone! As expected of a being similar in form to that Evil God, she can also increase the capacity of the Wild Card!"
Ren, wearing the purple iris mask, gently closed his eyes, feeling the dual changes in his body and soul. A look of excitement spread across his face.
With the infusion of Kaslana's power, the feeling of restriction that had intensified after accepting Kallen's Persona finally vanished completely. The space within his heart felt vast and open, like an ocean, ready to accommodate many more Personas.
In the Persona 5 game, the protagonist's Persona slots were expanded by the Evil God disguised as Igor.
Since Kaslana and the Evil God were both collective consciousnesses, it was logical that Kaslana could also help Ren open up new Persona slots and increase his Wild Card capacity.
"At your current level, you cannot yet bear too much of my power. If you reach your limit again in the future, simply seek me out once more."
Looking at Ren, whose lips curled upwards with joy, Kaslana's expression remained utterly calm. She reminded him coolly.
From Kaslana's perspective, the reason Ren was nearing his limit was simple.
While summoning Stigma Archetypes directly as Personas for combat was convenient and powerful, most of the Stigma power that should have supplied the body was diverted, leaving only a small portion for minor physical enhancement.
Opening a channel to the Stigma space, maintaining a Persona's combat form, even just bearing the existence of Personas—all incurred a burden.
Even with his own awakened Stigma and the reinforcement from Yae Sakura's Stigma power, Ren's body, which hadn't been specifically strengthened, still struggled to bear the weight of more than three Personas.
During the process of Ren accepting Kallen as his Persona, Kaslana had simultaneously granted him a portion of the Kaslana Stigma's power.
While fulfilling the promise to awaken Kallen's ice-attribute powers, she had also specifically bolstered Ren's physical strength, drastically increasing his body's capacity to accommodate and bear more Personas.
"Thank you for your help, Kaslana... Oh, right! Kaslana, since you know where the Velvet Room is, can you observe its condition? Even just the state of its sealed exterior?"
Ren raised his hand and removed the purple iris mask from his face, expressing his sincere gratitude to Kaslana.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he asked if Kaslana could observe the Velvet Room's situation from here.
"I can only observe the real world through the eyes of currently existing Kaslana descendants. If no Kaslana is present within the Velvet Room [Elysian Realm], I cannot peer inside... What is the purpose of your question?"
Kaslana answered Ren's question truthfully first, then frowned slightly, a look of confusion appearing in her ice-blue eyes.
"You can't? Ah, never mind then... Although I'm not sure when, Mona could escape from the sealed Velvet Room at any time. If I could detect it, I could rendezvous with Mona immediately."
"But since even you, Kaslana, can't monitor the Velvet Room, I guess I'll just have to rely on luck and try searching for Mona in Mementos."
Ren only knew the outcome: Morgana was created by Igor, tasked with guiding the true Trickster, and then released from the Velvet Room.
But when Morgana actually broke out from the depths of Mementos [The Velvet Room entrance within Mementos], Ren had no idea.
Perhaps Morgana hadn't even been created yet, or maybe he was already wandering somewhere in Mementos with amnesia. In short, finding his cat companion would rely purely on luck.
If worst came to worst, Ren figured he'd just have to stake out Kamoshida's Castle of Lust and wait, hoping to catch his cat [literally 'guarding the stump, waiting for the cat', a twist on a Chinese idiom '守株待兔' - guarding the stump, waiting for the rabbit, meaning waiting idly for luck].
"'Mona'? Escaping from the 'Velvet Room'?"
Hearing Ren's words, Kaslana frowned slightly. She subconsciously assumed "Mona" was one of Ren's friends who had ventured into the Elysian Realm, gotten into trouble, and was planning a swift escape.
Not all of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers were gentle and kind. That "Infinity," Mobius, for instance, was arguably the most terrifying and dangerous among them. It wouldn't be beneath Mobius to target and scheme against a successor entering the Elysian Realm.
"'Mona' is its codename as a phantom thief. It looks kinda human, but mostly like a cat. It's a Persona user, like me, and good at making various infiltration tools used by phantom thieves. A very reliable partner."
Ren began describing Morgana to Kaslana. As he described, Kaslana's frown slowly smoothed out.
Phantom thief... means a righteous thief, right? Pardofelis seemed to have been a righteous thief for a while back in her hometown, the Sundown Street.
And she's very skilled at collecting various strange materials and items. Crafting ingenious tools from collected materials is one of Pardofelis's specialties.
After undergoing the MANTIS surgery, Pardofelis gained feline traits, growing cat ears and a tail, becoming both cat-like and human-like.
When recording the memory data in the Elysian Realm, Pardofelis's data uniquely malfunctioned, splitting off and multiplying into a cat named Can from her own data.
In a sense, that cat named Can is Pardofelis herself, a hidden part of her inner self.
The Pardofelis memory construct in the Elysian Realm seems to use that cat, Can, as a means of attack, somewhat similar to how Ren commands his Personas in battle.
Theoretically, memory constructs couldn't leave the Elysian Realm. But if the Previous Era Flame-Chasers wanted to leave, Kaslana believed fifteen thousand years was enough time for them to figure out a way.
Especially Pardofelis, the escape expert among the Thirteen Flame-Chasers. Kaslana wouldn't even be too surprised if Pardo simply opened a door in the Elysian Realm and walked out.
What did surprise Kaslana slightly was that, okay, the still-living "Evil God" Kevin knowing things was one thing, but how could Ren be so familiar with Previous Era Flame-Chasers who only existed as records in the Elysian Realm?
"Let's set aside the matter of 'Mona' for now. Besides the requests you've already made, I can also provide some powerful opponents for your 'rehabilitation,' allowing you to hone yourself to an even stronger state through combat."
Kaslana quickly composed her internal surprise. Looking at Ren before her, she spoke proactively in her usual flat tone.
"Having acquired Kallen's Persona, your strength has increased once more. Would you like to try challenging an enemy within this Stigma space now?... For the initial battle, I won't immediately put the strongest opponent before you. And this time, you may challenge together with your partner."
"No problem. Even though I just finished a fight, I feel great right now."
Ren slowly clenched and unclenched his fists, readily accepting Kaslana's invitation.
After receiving Kallen's Stigma power, Ren felt all his fatigue vanish, replaced by a seemingly endless wellspring of energy surging from deep within him.
Having an immediate battle to test and unleash his current power was something he couldn't ask for more.
After receiving Ren's confirmation...
Kaslana's figure gradually faded away amidst a sudden flurry of wind and snow.
Appearing in her place...
Was a middle-aged man who looked rather scruffy, with stubble on his chin he hadn't quite shaved clean. He had the Kaslana family's signature white hair and blue eyes, held a black pistol in each hand, and wore a deep blue coat.
"Very well... Can you defeat this man?"