Chapter 46: Reward After Clearing The Dungeon
When Asagiri said that, Asuna and Kotoko exchanged a look, both wearing the same expression.
Disbelief.
Be his Persona?
What was that even supposed to mean?
Before either of them could ask, Asagiri's phone buzzed in his pocket. He didn't even need to check the screen. He could already guess what notification had arrived.
"Come with big brother…?" The blond little girl hugged the teddy bear gently, her smile sweet and bright. Then she nodded hard enough that her hair bounced. "Okay. I want to go with big brother."
The instant she said it, her eyes turned a brilliant golden yellow, the same color Asagiri's eyes became whenever he summoned a Persona.
A heartbeat later, her body dissolved into a ray of light.
The light condensed, spinning slowly, into a semi transparent card. It drifted down like a feather and settled into Asagiri's palm.
[Persona: Alice]
[Alice: A pure Anomaly born from the fusion of strange and deathly aura within a certain hotel]
[Strength: Mental Strength]
[Weakness: Lacks independent combat ability]
[Alice's Exclusive Skill: Die For Me]
[Die For Me: When you summon Alice, you may consume a large amount of Mental Strength to unleash a curse attribute attack centered on you, targeting all entities within ten meters except yourself. If any target fails the Mental Strength check and does not possess immunity to curse type attacks, they will die immediately]
[Note: The range and effect of this skill will increase as your Mental Strength grows]
[Corresponding Tarot Card: Death (Upright)]
Unlike Human Asura, Alice had no combat ability of her own. As a Persona, she carried only one skill.
A single skill that forced every target in range to face a Mental Strength check.
Fail it, and if you lacked immunity to curse type attacks…
Instant death.
Asuna stared at the ethereal card, the Death Tarot pattern sinking into Asagiri's palm as if it were being absorbed by his skin. Her lips parted slightly.
"Y you you…" She sounded like her brain had tripped over itself. "You turned that little girl into your Persona? You can actually do that?"
"What little girl?" Asagiri waved a hand, calm as ever. "Don't talk nonsense."
He spoke like he was correcting a minor misunderstanding.
"She was never a human child to begin with. She was a pure Anomaly born inside this hotel, created by concentrated strangeness and death. She doesn't belong to the Banshees, and she isn't any living creature."
He shrugged.
"If you insist on defining her, call her a pure curse. Of course I can make her a Persona. Otherwise, why would I have three Persona slots?"
"Huh…"
Asuna frowned slightly, then hesitated before voicing the thought that hit her next.
"Then in the future… if we run into a difficult enemy, you can just turn them into a Persona too. Wouldn't that make you invincible?"
"It's not that simple." Asagiri shook his head and explained patiently.
"Anything can become a Persona under my control, but there's a prerequisite. The target has to obey me completely, mentally."
He held up a finger, as if listing points in a lecture.
"There are different kinds of obedience. Extreme fear works. Absolute worship works. Or like Alice, full favorability works."
His voice stayed even.
"But that condition has to be met."
Asuna exhaled quietly, half impressed, half exhausted.
"So the passive effect of the special profession Diplomat isn't just compatible with you. It's basically perfect synergy with your exclusive talent, Persona…"
Then she let out a breath, as if a heavy weight had finally slid off her shoulders.
"Still, there's probably nothing valuable left in this Dungeon now. So do we leave early, or…"
Her eyes drifted toward the glass entrance doors, beyond which the night looked thick and bottomless.
"Do we go outside and explore this world?"
"No. Not this time."
Asagiri shook his head, gaze fixed on the darkness beyond the glass.
"The objective here is to survive for twelve hours, but there's no rule saying you can't leave the hotel grounds. That could mean the system assumes that anyone who can escape the hotel can obviously survive twelve hours, so it doesn't bother restricting it."
He paused, then his tone sharpened slightly.
"But I think the more likely reason is simpler. The outside world is too dangerous. If Players leave this hotel, they will die."
"Mm." Asuna nodded without hesitation. "I trust your judgment."
Then she turned to Kotoko, hesitating briefly before asking what she'd been holding back.
"Nicro… about teaming up, I need to confirm what you want."
"I know." Kotoko cut in with a smile, as if she'd been waiting for it.
"You want to know whether I'm only joining you inside Dungeons, or if I want to be the kind of teammate who can act together in the real world, discuss plans, talk about future development, and actually be trusted."
Kotoko's smile widened.
"I choose the second option. Let's exchange email addresses. There's no signal right now, but once we're back, you can email me."
Asuna's shoulders loosened.
"Okay." She returned the smile. "Then we'll contact each other after we return."
To Asuna, teammates who only cooperated inside a Dungeon were still strangers.
If they were going to keep surviving, they needed something stronger than temporary alliances. Even if they couldn't meet every day, they needed to be able to talk in the real world, plan, and advance or retreat together.
Only then did trust mean anything.
...
A thick red mist rolled in.
In the blink of an eye, Asagiri and Asuna were back in the real world, inside his home in Shibuya, Tokyo. The eye icon app on his phone immediately displayed a completion notification.
[Congratulations, Player Utsunomiya Asagiri, you have cleared this Dungeon]
[In this Dungeon, your special bonus actions were: deciphering the truth behind the Dungeon's strange events, leading the operation to eliminate the source of Anomaly, successfully eliminating the source of anomaly, and successfully subduing the strongest existence in this Dungeon: Alice]
[Dungeon Completion Rating: S+]
[Congratulations, you have received completion rewards: Equipment "Cursed Vampiric Rope Dart", Special Profession Diplomat Exclusive Equipment "Ever changing Mask", Skill "King's Gambit", Item "Hourglass of Reversal"]
[Due to your exceptionally active performance in this Dungeon, your Player level has been upgraded from "Official" to "Advanced", and additional APP permissions have been unlocked]
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