Chapter Text
April 22nd
“ All done?” Nyarlathotep asked as Ren stepped back from his desk. Ren nodded. He felt new power within himself. In the last timeline, Arsene wasn’t a persona he’d used all too much. Arsene was him, of course, but they’d parted ways during Kamoshida’s palace at Yaldabaoth’s request, fused with the pixie he first met. It had returned to his side when he was escaping Sae’s palace alone, resonating with his own resolve and becoming stronger before fading away again. This time, there was no long nosed man showing him how to gain more power. Just a smug man with a black eye and a cane telling him to do what his heart desired. Ren decided to keep Arsene with him this time. Everyone else's Personas also started off weaker but gained more strength as their own wills became tempered. Ren wondered if Arsene would be the same. “ Very good. Are you prepared to face her yet then?”
“ I have all the stuff I need. New weapons, empowered personas, strong allies. But mentally… Mentally I’m not quite there yet.” He sighed. “ I don’t want to have to fight Ann. But I will if it means saving her.”
“ Good. You have to be driven for this. I imagine this wasn’t just a punishment from the God of Control.”
“ What do you mean?”
“ Oh, we all work in completely different ways.” Nyarlathotep said, waving his hand. “ I empowered a bunch of normal people and pretended to be a long dead fascist leader wearing sunglasses and a big coat. Izanami gave three people the ability to enter the other world just to see what they’d do. Pandora trapped everyone in a computer which now I think about it was very box shaped back then. Hmm. Funny.”
“ Do gods mess with humanity often?”
“ Eh.” He shrugged. “ Depends on the world. Some are a lot more eager than others. You're lucky this one is just bothered by perception and cognition. The beings that live between mind and matter, dreams and reality. Heh heh heh.”
“ And the Personas I was able to summon in the last timeline?”
“ As I said. Perception. What? did Philemon’s people not explain it to you?”
“ Not really. Caroline and Justine were more focused on my rehabilitation and Igor… I don’t know if he actually existed.”
“ He does.” The Crawling Chaos confirmed. “ Well, I guess I’ll have to do that now won’t I? As you know, Personas are a manifestation of a person’s ego. Their willpower. Their determination. That sort of thing. They change depending on that person. They can grow stronger if a will is hardened, as you’ve seen with your friends, but they can also change entirely to match someone’s mental state. For example, if driven by negative emotions then someone's persona will appear and act differently then if someone is driven by positive ones. If someone who lacks the will or ability to fight back suddenly gains the determination to strike their enemy personally instead of sitting back supporting others, say like that sister of yours, their persona will gain that ability. Your Arsene is unique to you so as you grow stronger, so will it.”
“ Hmm. I wonder if that’s why Yaldabaoth was so eager for me to fuse it away as soon as possible.”
“ Very likely. It didn’t want you to understand your true potential because it would have made it easier for you to stand against it.”
“ What about Shadows then?
“ Shadows are different. If someone doesn’t have the will to form a persona then they form a shadow instead. It represents their truest self, both their desires and hopes and dreams as well as their insecurities and worst aspects. If one was to meet their shadow, face themselves and accept it, they can awaken to their own persona. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Accepting one's worst aspects is never an easy feat for a race as vain as humanity. Rejecting your own shadow however causes it to go manic as you are essentially rejecting your own heart so it’s just better for the person and the shadow to never meet one another.”
“ But that’s not all they are though.” Ren noted. “The masses we fight seem different from the ones we fight in Mementos or the Palace Rulers. Akechi and I can even recruit them and use them as if they were our own personas.”
“ Correct.” Nyarlathotep nodded. “ That’s the main power of the Wild Card you see. It’s a power a few have but only one with a connection to the Sea of Souls, usually Philemon but sometimes others, can awaken within someone. You have the power to tap into the sea of souls in ways other people cannot because of your unique psyche. Essentially, it means you’ve mastered the art of becoming something that you’re not. A human trait is changing who you appear to be to others but a Wild Card does it flawlessly. It doesn’t mean you don’t have a true self. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have Arsene. But it does mean you can essentially become something entirely different and no-one would ever realise your acting.”
“ I don’t do that.”
“ Don’t you? The Phantom Thief? The good student? The hero?” Ren huffed. “ It’s not a bad thing, you know. It’s the source of your strength. You’re reliable. You can make friends easily. Connections that can weave together into bonds and that is the strength that the Velvet Room was able to use to make you stronger than you could be alone. I can’t do that, of course. My connection to the Sea of Souls is far different. But anyway, as I was saying, the minor shadows that you fight and can recruit as your own masks aren’t the personas of other people. They’re more like… perception. Perception is a good word.”
“ Perceptions of myths and legends?”
“ Ah, so you caught on. Yes. Humanity has certain views on how things should be. These lesser shadows are a general perception on certain beings from mythology, folklore and the like. They’re connected to the sea of souls itself rather than specific individuals. Ingrained in the minds of the populace. Because of that, a wild card is able to adopt these servants of humanity as their own power.”
“ But other people with strong wills can also affect them because of that. That’s why they get wrapped up in the Palaces.”
“ Indeed they do. Because they are subjects created from humanity, they are affected by humanity. This can be in the form of a Palace owner, someone with a strong cognition, which then subsumes the shadows and turns them into slaves of the Palace. Knights, butlers, security guards. You’ve seen what they can become. However, they can also become enthralled by gods like myself and Yaldabaoth. This can affect them much more violently. They lose their forms as they are overridden by another power and can be molded into whatever they are needed for though a Wild Card can still bring them back to normal and use them though it means undoing the power of a god and that can lead to some unexpected suprises. Izanami did this willingly. Nyx on instinct. I could have but chose not to. Perceptions of myths change constantly though so I doubt any of the shadows you find will be the same as the ones of my time. That’s just how things are.”
“ Right.” Ren said slowly. He wasn’t going to lie and say that he understood it all but it was nice to have some answers that Igor and his attendants never gave him the last go around. He wondered if the real Igor would have told these things. “ Thanks. That was pretty interesting.”
“ Well, you humans have a saying. Knowledge is power. While Philemon and his people enjoy the mystique of it all, I prefer my followers to have all the answers they need.”
“ And not a thought more?” Nyaralthotep chuckled.
“ Oh, you were wasted on Philemon. It’s people like you that make me want to play another game of my own. Perhaps one day but right now. We have a thorn to deal with. And with that, I wish you luck in your endeavours. May you save your friend and spite the god of control.” The man bowed to him and Ren smiled before turning around and leaving. Nyarlathotep was a complete enigma. Ren decided to trust him though. Unlike Igor, he never pretended to be something he wasn’t. He was open about what he wanted and that he was in this for himself but as long as their goals aligned, he would be there to help him out. After last time, he preferred that honesty, as blunt as it was. It made it easier for Ren to trust him. That was enough for now.