"Who are you people? This is Schicksal's Oceania Branch base! If you cause trouble here, the Valkyries stationed at this base won't let you get away with it!!"
As the wheelchair drew closer, Ren Amamiya got a clear look at the strange Shadow girl.
Her outer hair was a deep, frosty green, while her inner hair was a vibrant, life-like teal. The girl had beautiful teal eyes, but they were filled with unease. Her sickly pale, delicate face tried its best to look fierce, but her body, unable to even stand and forced to rely on a wheelchair for mobility, betrayed her blustering nature.
The wheelchair girl's Shadow was like a raccoon cub trying to intimidate an adult with its flailing paws. Ren felt no threat whatsoever. In fact, he thought she was kind of cute.
Watching Ren, controlling the Persona Magatsu-Izanagi, mow down one row after another of the Oceania Branch's Valkyrie Shadows—now lying scattered on the ground in pieces—Wendy's face paled even further.
It wasn't just because of Ren's and his team's overwhelming power, but also because the scene was so brutally horrifying.
Although Wendy had been a powerful A-rank Valkyrie with the potential to be promoted to S-rank back when she was healthy, she had always only dealt with Honkai beasts. She had never witnessed such a hellishly cruel and terrifying scene.
Compared to the carnage in the base corridor, everything Wendy had seen during Honkai outbreaks felt like child's play.
Of course, the most important point was that Wendy had not only lost her former strength, but also her basic ability to move. Facing these mysterious individuals who had invaded the Oceania Branch, Wendy deeply felt her own powerlessness. She could do nothing but watch.
"We are the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, here to take the Treasure in this Palace... Miss Wheelchair, you must have some clue about the Treasure in this Palace, right?"
Ren didn't hide his intentions or purpose. After all, the Treasure was a special item that only materialized when the Palace Ruler felt a sense of alert. While a Herrscher's Palace might be slightly different, this was still a good habit to have.
"Don't worry. As long as you give us a lead on the Palace Treasure, we Phantom Thieves won't do anything to you."
As Ren said these words to the wheelchair girl, he felt a strange sense of unease himself, like he had become some kind of evil villain.
"Oh, are you worried about the corpses of these Shadow soldiers on the ground? They are a little different from the Shadows outside. This is the first time I've seen Shadow soldiers this realistic... The feeling of eliminating them is as terrible as actually killing someone. But don't worry too much. They'll disappear soon."
Ren noticed Wendy's gaze frequently drifting to the corpses of the Valkyrie Shadows on the ground. Her pale, helpless expression clearly showed that she was frightened by them.
Honestly, it was the first time Ren had encountered such realistic Shadow soldiers. Although his mental fortitude was such that even eliminating highly realistic Shadows wouldn't make him flinch, he couldn't deny that he felt a bit uneasy during the process.
It wasn't just Ren. Bronya, who had grown up among corpses since she was a child assassin, could maintain her composure. But for Raiden Mei and Seele, even knowing they were eliminating Shadows, they couldn't remain as indifferent as they usually were when dealing with ordinary Shadows.
The high degree of realism of these Valkyrie Shadow soldiers was caused by the wheelchair girl, the Palace Ruler herself. Yet, Ren had to come over and comfort the wheelchair girl who was frightened by the Shadow corpses.
As soon as Ren finished speaking, as if to prove the correctness of his words, the horribly mangled corpses of the Valkyrie Shadows on the base floor turned into wisps of dark red smoke and dissipated, revealing a pristine clean surface.
"Wh-what did you do to everyone's bodies? Why didn't they even leave corpses behind?!"
However, seeing the normal disappearing process after the Shadow soldiers died, Wendy looked even more terrified, as if Ren had not only harmed the Valkyries in the base but had also completely destroyed and erased any trace of their existence.
"...That reaction... Could it be that you're the Palace Ruler's real self in the real world?"
The green-haired girl huddled in her wheelchair, trembling. Since her appearance, she hadn't engaged in any meaningful communication and seemed completely out of the loop.
Based on similar experiences in the past, Ren quickly concluded that the wheelchair girl he was facing was most likely the Palace Ruler's real self, who had no knowledge of the existence of the Palace.
"The Palace Ruler's real self in the real world? I don't understand what you mean. Please leave quickly. This is Schicksal's Oceania Branch base. The ones you encountered were just a patrol unit. There are even stronger Valkyries in this base."
Although she couldn't understand what was happening, Wendy knew at least what she could do right now. So she mustered her courage and verbally tried to drive away Ren and the others, the mysterious invaders who called themselves Phantom Thieves.
"The task of soothing her can be left to Bronya. She has plenty of experience in that area."
Just as Ren frowned, pondering how to explain things to the wheelchair girl, Bronya, dressed in her silver-blue pleated-skirt Phantom Thief outfit, slowly approached. She volunteered to take on the job of taking care of the wheelchair girl.
"We can talk as we go. This young woman is right. There are multiple Shadow reactions approaching our location. If we don't leave quickly, we'll soon face another wave of Shadow attacks."
Bronya stood in front of Wendy, looking at the green-haired girl huddled in her wheelchair with a hunched, small frame and an expression of fear and anxiety on her delicate face. Bronya's silver-gray eyes were filled with tenderness and reassurance.
The girl's unadorned state reminded Bronya of Seele in the beginning... Looking closely, the contours of her face really did resemble Seele's somewhat.
The fact that the wheelchair girl couldn't stand and had to rely on a wheelchair to move further resonated with Bronya.
Once upon a time, Bronya had also been a wheelchair girl with limited mobility, until Cocolia found her a leg exoskeleton that allowed her to levitate and move. Only then did Bronya finally escape the confines of her wheelchair.
Everything from the past seemed to overlap at that moment. Bronya gently gripped the handles of the wheelchair, her voice soft and patient as she reassured the green-haired girl.
"It's alright now. Bronya won't hurt you. Bronya is a Phantom Thief, not a heartless robber..."
Faced with such tender kindness, Wendy, who had been imprisoned in the Oceania Branch base for so long as a Gem of Desire container and had long forgotten what it felt like to be treated gently as a human, suddenly felt her eyes well up with tears.
She clenched her mouth tightly, sitting quietly in the wheelchair that Bronya was pushing, without any struggle or resistance, and without shouting to attract the patrolling Valkyries.
"This is where the first Will Seed is located. Instead of waiting for Wendy to tell us, perhaps we can learn more about this Palace by directly examining the memories inside the Will Seed."
Ren and his team weren't just running around aimlessly. With Hare's guidance, they quickly arrived at the location of the first Will Seed, finding it hidden behind a potted plant in a corner.
Although Bronya had managed to open Wendy's mouth by transforming into a kind and understanding older sister during their journey to the first Will Seed, she had only managed to get the girl's name. Any further questions were met with Wendy's tightly pursed lips.
It was clear that Bronya needed more time to break down Wendy's defenses.
Instead of wasting time there, Ren felt it would be faster and more reliable to read the deep memories contained within the Will Seed. After all, a Will Seed's memories didn't lie.
Grasping the first Will Seed he had found behind the flowerpot, Ren closed his eyes and immersed his mind in the memories contained within.
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[I announce that I, Wendy, from this day forward, will join Schicksal and become a member of the Valkyries, to fight for all that is good in the world!!!]
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Reopening his eyes, Ren retreated from the memory carried within the Will Seed.
Ren's judgment had been correct. The green-haired girl in the wheelchair was indeed the Palace Ruler of this Herrscher of Wind's Palace.
As of now, Wendy didn't seem to be trying to deceive Bronya. At the very least, she hadn't given a fake name to appease her.
Glancing once more at Wendy, who was huddled against the back of her wheelchair, her expression still uneasy, a thoughtful glint appeared in Ren's eyes.
In the memory engraved in the first Will Seed, Wendy, who was swearing to join Schicksal and become a Valkyrie, had been radiant, radiating an almost visible aura of optimism and confidence. Compared to her current timid and humble self, they were like two completely different people with a world of difference between them.
As for what exactly had happened to Wendy during that time, given their current level of friendship, she probably wouldn't be willing to reveal that secret.
However, Ren had a few guesses.
In the Will Seed memory, Wendy's legs had been straight and long, and she had looked incredibly healthy, showing no signs of difficulty in movement.
It was clear that she had later encountered an unfortunate event that had made her lose her confidence, forcing her to huddle in a wheelchair like a good-for-nothing.
"Continue searching for the second Will Seed, Hare."
Because the Valkyrie Shadows in the Herrscher of Wind's Palace were too human-like, Ren didn't want to experience that terrible feeling of slaughter again unless absolutely necessary.
So, this time, his method of exploring the Palace was mainly stealth-based, only eliminating witnesses when discovered.
Putting the first Will Seed into his pocket, Ren issued instructions to Hare, who had already scouted out the location of the second Will Seed. The entire team, led by Hare, began moving again in the Herrscher of Wind's Palace.
"Big Sister Bronya, what's a Will Seed? They said it has memories inside it?"
Sitting on the rapidly moving wheelchair, watching the scenery blur by, Wendy recalled Ren's actions. She opened her mouth, and finally, couldn't help but quietly ask Bronya, who was pushing the wheelchair from behind.
Bronya had already explained to Wendy that this wasn't Schicksal's Oceania Branch base in the real world, but the Herrscher of Wind's Palace formed by cognition and impressions.
The Valkyries wandering in the Palace weren't real Valkyries with flesh and blood in the real world, but Shadow soldiers disguised as Valkyries created from imaginary entities.
However, because Ren and his team were mysterious and called themselves Phantom Thieves, Wendy didn't dare to fully trust their words. Even though Bronya gave her a very kind feeling, Wendy was only willing to believe them to a limited extent.
But after observing for so long, Wendy could tell that Ren's goal in infiltrating the Oceania Branch base was the so-called [Will Seeds] and [Treasure].
And that Will Seed, one of the Phantom Thieves' goals, wasn't being stolen from a heavily guarded laboratory, but was being found behind a flowerpot in an inconspicuous corner... This ridiculous situation was gradually making Wendy believe Bronya's claims.
"...Will Seeds are crystallized manifestations of a Palace Ruler's desires, symbolizing the sins they have committed. At the same time, each Will Seed contains the Palace Ruler's most profound memories."
Bronya's pushing movements paused slightly.
After a moment of hesitation, she finally honestly explained the concept of Will Seeds to Wendy, who was sitting in the wheelchair in front of her.
"Ah?"