LED

Shin heard a clang as he felt his feet hit the floor, as if he had appeared in the Velvet Room in mid-air. He looked around himself curiously, inspecting the new surroundings.

The floor and the walls were made out of metal, and the windows were bolted. From the looks of it, it seemed to be the inside of some sort of ship. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything to be seen out the windows, almost like they were surrounded by thick fog.

The teen saw a single door leading to another room from this one, but as he stepped forward to open it, he heard a voice behind him.

"Well, this is a surprise."

Shin quickly spun around to face whoever was it that spoke, and he could see Philemon in his masked glory.

"A rather interesting outcome. I hadn't anticipated that you'd confront the impostor so soon. Do you think that was a wise move?" asked the being.

"That damn cup is way too lazy. He'd rather push some people into action and see what comes out of it, than trying to deal with me directly." said Shin, shrugging.

"Indeed. And his hypocrisy is something I've only seen in Nyarlathotep before." added Philemon, shaking his head in amusement.

"As expected of the worst of humanity." Shin shook his head. "But anyways, Yaldabaoth is going to keep playing along with this game of his. Doing otherwise would practically mean he's afraid of me, and his poor heart can't take that."

Philemon nodded in agreement, before saying.

"Regardless of Yaldabaoth's future plans, I have to say that this is the closest the Velvet Room ever got to the Sea of Souls. And it is a nice zeppelin."

"This thing's a zeppelin?" exclaimed Shin.

Philemon didn't reply, and simply chose to gesture for Shin to follow him. The masked being led the teen through the door he intended to open earlier. The two immediately found themselves on an observation deck of sorts, with the clouds below them looking like a endless and white sea.

What surprised Shin even more at this point, was when he saw a Pixie flying after the airship. It looked at him and waved, and the teen absentmindedly waved back.

"You see, the Sea of Souls is just up there." said Philemon, pointing up.

Hundreds of meters... nay, a few kilometers above them, were some things that looked like stars, but Shin knew better.

"Those are the souls of those who aren't living anymore, as sparsely spread as the stars in the universe. And much like the potential of the Fool, the size of this place is infinite."

Shin had to hold in a shocked yelp when he saw Mara spearing through the clouds, standing at full mast, all the while firmly holding two Legions on its sides.

"This place is full of Personas, even the ones you haven't acquired yet. Unlike how the Velvet Room under Yaldabaoth's control functioned, this one allows you to access more than one version of the same Persona, so feel free to amass as many versions as you want."

At that point, out of the clouds rose the gigantic figure of Satanael, who was almost as tall as the zeppelin was long.

"Trickster, I witnessed how you stood up against that fake god, despite your lack of power. I await for the day when I will lend you my strength to execute that faker."

"Believe me when I say, I want to do that more than you do." said Shin.

"Hm, we will see about that..." said Satanael, before descending and disappearing from view.

The teen turned to face Philemon, who stayed quiet throughout that exchange.

"So, anything else that might be useful to know? Like the winning numbers for the lottery or something." joked Shin.

"Perhaps the Moirae sisters would happen to know something like that." said Philemon, rubbing his chin.

"Wait, are you for real right now?"

"But for now, I will leave you. Farewell."

"Goddamn, Philemon."

-

Confidants:

0. Yaldabaoth (The Fool) - Rank 3

I. Morgana (The Magician) - Rank 3

1. Takuto Maruki (The Councillor) - Rank 1

II. Makoto Niijima (The Priestess) - Rank 3

IV. Yusuke Kitagawa (The Emperor) - Rank 3

Odd man - Rank 1

V. Sojiro Sakura (The Hierophant) - Rank 3

VI. Ann Takamaki (The Lovers) - Rank 7

VII. Ryuji Sakamoto (The Chariot) - Rank 7

VIII. Goro Akechi (The Justice) - Rank 1

IX. Futaba Sakura (The Hermit) - Rank 3

X. Maemi Maeda (The Fortune) - Rank 1

XI. Caroline & Justine (The Strength) - Rank 10

XIII. Tae Takemi (The Death) - Rank 5

Reaper - Rank 1

XIV. Sadayo Kawakami (The Temperance) - Rank 5

XVIII. Saki Yoshiko (The Moon) - Rank 3

XIX. Sho Minazuki (The Sun) - Rank 2

Toranosuke Yoshida - Rank 1

XX. Sae Niijima (The Judgement) - Rank 2

Shiho Suzui (The Hope) - Rank 8

Marie (The Aeon) - Rank 1