"—What?!"
The crimson armored arms floating beside Shadow Mei, after a brief charge, executed a drawing slash.
A vast, violet-red lightning sword strike surged towards Persona Arsene with immense force, only to be completely blocked by Arsene's claws, which served as its blades.
With another exertion of force from its wrists, Arsene shattered Shadow Mei's lightning iaido slash as easily as tearing a thin sheet of paper. It even had enough power remaining to launch a massive crimson-black energy claw strike back at Shadow Mei.
Shadow Mei soared and danced nimbly through the sky. She was just about to unleash a rapid thunderbolt using her lightning authority, intending to dodge Persona Arsene's corrosive giant claw with maximum speed.
However, in the next instant, Shadow Mei's body suddenly stiffened. She felt that nearly a third of the Herrscher Core's authority, which she had almost completely seized, was abruptly snatched away while she was momentarily unprepared.
And in this Palace, there was, of course, only one person qualified to contend with her for control of the Herrscher Core.
"Rai—den—Mei—!!"
Shadow Mei ground out her original self's name through clenched teeth. Under Mei's sudden backstabbing maneuver, she completely missed the optimal moment to dodge Persona Arsene's energy claw strike. She could only brace herself and forcibly receive the ferocious claw attack, which was imbued with a massive amount of corrosive power.
Struck by the corrosive giant claw, Shadow Mei's body shot downwards like a cannonball, crashing into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. She was then buried under layers of falling building debris, forming a tall tower of rubble.
Persona Arsene beat its pair of massive, ink-black falcon wings, descending from the sky with a powerful gust of wind.
Ren released his grip on Arsene's ankles and leaped lightly from mid-air, landing steadily on the ground in front of Raiden Mei and Dream Projection Hare with a slight crouch.
"Mei-senpai, did you awaken your Persona power? No, wait... is this an incomplete awakening? How rare!"
As a qualified Persona user, when Ren observed Mei's current appearance, his gaze naturally fell first on the black mask worn askew on her exquisite face.
The black mask was ferociously styled, like a skeletal demon, with sharp, slender, pitch-black demonic horns that were exceptionally eye-catching.
Although it was a stark contrast to the gentle, water-like Raiden Mei Ren knew, considering examples like the "Fist of the End Century" Makoto Niijima, such a complete divergence between outward appearance and inner true self wasn't surprising at all.
Shadow Mei had not yet been defeated and subdued, so Mei's currently awakened power was naturally incomplete. This was clearly evident from the state of her phantom thief attire.
The outfit Mei currently wore was still mostly her Chiba Academy sailor uniform. Only a few parts were covered by a black, gauze-like underlayer, with angular black armor pieces equipped over it.
Ren had only ever seen one other person awaken Persona power in an incomplete state: Kasumi Yoshizawa.
Come to think of it, my dear Mei-senpai has the qualities of a 'passerby heroine' [meta-reference to a common trope]!
RUMBLE—RUMBLE—RUMBLE—!!
Just as Ren was carefully examining Mei's semi-awakened attire, thick bolts of purple lightning suddenly rained down from the cloud-covered sky above Chiba Academy.
The target of those terrifying thunderbolts was the giant tower of rubble where Shadow Mei lay buried.
The descending purple lightning and the vast lightning erupting from the base of the rubble tower converged, and in a mere breath, the massive amount of building debris was disintegrated into atomic particles and vanished.
As the piled-up building debris was dissipated by the power of thunder, Shadow Mei's figure, dressed like a crimson demonic warrior, reappeared before Ren and Mei.
Shadow Mei stood slightly hunched over. Her black and white under-suit was tattered and torn from Ren's assault, revealing glimpses of the girl's tender skin beneath.
Completely suppressed by Ren, who was now using his full power, Shadow Mei was covered in wounds, panting heavily from the severe depletion of her strength.
The usually cold and arrogant Shadow Mei could no longer hide her battered and wretched state.
"To silently usurp so much of my authority... well done, Rai. Den. Mei!"
Shadow Mei raised a hand to wipe the dust from her exquisite face. Her expression twisted slightly as she glared daggers at Raiden Mei, who stood beside Ren.
Compared to Ren, who had utterly defeated her in direct combat, what angered Shadow Mei the most was Raiden Mei, who had suddenly backstabbed her at a critical moment—Mei, whose mental defenses she thought she had completely shattered, leaving her broken and dispirited.
"I am no longer the weak Raiden Mei who only relied on others! I have found partners who will support me no matter what... From now on, I will fight for myself, and I will also dedicate my strength to my partners, accomplishing everything within my power!"
Mei slowly raised her hand to her chest, feeling the intense emotions welling within. She gently turned her head to meet Ren's gaze beside her, her beautiful amethyst eyes shining with firm determination.
Mei had countless times feared Ren abandoning her after learning her true self, leaving her to curl up alone in despair.
Therefore, when Shadow Mei, in front of Ren, meticulously dissected and exposed all her ugly, dirty inner thoughts to the person she cared about most, Mei's psychological defenses instantly crumbled completely.
With her mental guard down, Shadow Mei had seized all of Mei's power, instantly maturing into her complete form.
But after her true self was laid bare before Ren, after all her dark thoughts were voiced by Shadow Mei and personally revealed to him...
Ren showed no intention of abandoning her, nor did he show any anger towards her dark thoughts. He simply accepted and comforted her.
The thing she feared most had happened, yet events hadn't steered towards the most dreadful future she had envisioned.
Having truly seen Ren's reaction and received comfort from both him and Hare, Mei had made her resolve. She stood up again, possessing the determination to overcome her past self and transcend this current trial.
"That's a good look in your eyes. Try calling out your Persona. Mei-senpai, in your current state, you should be able to summon your own Persona now."
Ren sensed the power of conviction in Mei's eyes. He nodded approvingly and then offered her advice.
Normally, only after defeating one's own Shadow can a Persona be transformed from it.
But Mei's situation was clearly more special; she had awakened an incomplete Persona power while her Shadow still existed.
Although it was an incomplete awakening, since she had awakened, Mei naturally possessed Persona power.
It was just that until Shadow Mei was completely defeated, the power of Mei's incompletely awakened Persona would be much weaker than a normal Persona.
Since Mei now had the ability to fight, Ren naturally wouldn't just let her watch from the sidelines. Defeating the Shadow in one's own heart was such a significant event; of course, Mei herself had to participate.
Even if Mei's incompletely awakened Persona power was weak, it didn't matter. With Ren's strength, he was fully confident he could protect Mei and her nascent Persona.
"I understand! Come forth, my Persona!!"
Mei raised her slender white hand, taking off the black demonic mask worn askew on her forehead. Emulating Ren's actions, which replayed constantly in her mind, she abruptly threw the black demonic mask forward.
As she hurled the black demonic mask towards Shadow Mei, Mei slowly closed her eyes.
Through the spring water she had drawn from the sea of power, she could clearly sense something dormant within this Palace rapidly being born and awakening. And that powerful entity belonged entirely to her, capable of obeying her every command.
Evidently, this was what Ren referred to as her Persona, belonging to Raiden Mei.
The black demonic mask Mei threw spun through the air. Dazzling lightning bolts suddenly shot down from the dark clouds blanketing the Palace sky, striking the black mask with perfect accuracy, causing it to dissipate into black-purple lightning snakes in mid-air.
Mei, her eyes still closed, raised her slender hand straight up. And where her fingertips pointed, in the sky shrouded by dense dark clouds, an astonishingly imposing, giant black-purple cocoon of light materialized.
The black-purple cocoon pulsed gently, accelerating like Mei's own passionately beating heart, the two achieving perfect synchronization.
"You actually stole my retainers?! Damn you!!"
Shadow Mei's face contorted in an ugly frown.
Like water draining from a unplugged swimming pool, her power continuously flowed towards Mei.
Shadow Mei's power was constantly being weakened. Even the control authority over her yet-to-be-born Honkai Beast retainers was being usurped by Mei.
"The time of awakening is at hand—Kurikara!!!"
Mei snapped her eyes open. As she called out the name, the giant black-purple cocoon in the sky suddenly released a massive torrent of crimson lightning from within. The red thunder tore the giant cocoon completely apart.
A ferocious demonic dragon with a majestic, deep-red body of immense size soared out from the giant cocoon. The deep-red demonic dragon coiled imperiously in the airspace directly above Mei, its pair of magnificent deep-red dragon wings spread high, casting a terrifying shadow on the ground below.
The crimson-black demonic dragon named Kurikara was wreathed in deep-red lightning, its entire being exuding an extremely powerful and ferocious aura. It opened its blood-red maw and let out a deafening dragon's roar. Lightning and airflow surged together, causing Mei's black-purple hair on the ground below to sway in the wind.
"Kurikara... so this is Mei-senpai's Persona? Although it's not a complete awakening, it's much stronger than I expected."
Gazing at the crimson-black demonic dragon coiling in the sky, exuding an imposing aura, Ren raised an eyebrow in slight surprise.
Though not as strong as a fully awakened Persona, even in its incomplete awakened state, Mei's Kurikara possessed considerable strength.
"As expected of Joker! You even anticipated this? Miss Mei is also very outstanding, successfully overcoming her own Shadow and seizing the power of Persona for herself!"
Hare used her information-reading ability on Kurikara in the sky. After gauging Kurikara's current strength level, she couldn't help but raise her slender hands and clap lightly, offering heartfelt praise to Ren and Mei.
Engaging in a tug-of-war for Herrscher authority with Shadow Mei, a Herrscher personality, was undoubtedly very difficult and would require a significant amount of time.
Rather than slowly trying to wrench the rope from Shadow Mei's grasp, it was better to directly use the usurped Herrscher authority to nurture a powerful Companion Honkai Beast within the Palace, dramatically increasing their advantage in one fell swoop.
Hare had previously been stuck in the mindset that Shadow Mei had to be defeated before a Persona could be obtained. Ren's brilliant move of directing Mei to preemptively nurture a Companion Honkai Beast instantly filled Hare with immense admiration.
The fact that Mei successfully overcame the shadow in her heart and, using the usurped Herrscher authority, summoned the Herrscher of Thunder's Companion Honkai Beast as she wished, also made Hare feel very gratified.
As the Herrscher of Thunder's Companion Honkai Beast, Kurikara, while not possessing Herrscher-level combat power, was still a Judgment-class Honkai Beast, capable of providing extremely significant assistance in battle.
Especially since Ren's side already had a firm grasp on victory, this made their position even more secure.
"So this is my Persona, Kurikara... It looks so cool! I've finally become a Persona user like Ren-kun!"
Gazing up at the immensely colossal crimson-black dragon above, Mei's face flushed with excitement. She clenched her fists, her heart filled with the joy and tangible reality of finally being able to stand by Ren's side and walk the same path as him.
"Let's resume the fight, Ren-kun!"
"This time, let me join the battle too, and defeat the Shadow in my heart together!"
"Roar, Kurikara!!!"