"Damn that Vill-V, she won't reveal even a shred of information about that visitor to me!!"
In the low-temperature lab bathed in an eerie green light, Mobius aborted yet another failed experiment due to a lapse in concentration. She frowned in annoyance, even letting out an irritated "tch," and ground her teeth at the thought of Vill-V for the umpteenth time.
At this moment, Dr. Mobius's mind was consumed by an intense curiosity and thirst for knowledge about Ren Amamiya, and nothing else.
As for her fellow Flame-Chasers—Kalpas, who was defeated by Ren, and Sakura, who offered herself to him—Mobius couldn't care less about their fates.
It wasn't that she had no feelings for her comrades of fifty thousand years.
It was just that the Flame-Chasers living in the Elysian Realm were all, in essence, data constructs. As long as the Elysian Realm itself was not destroyed, their data could be recreated countless times, no matter how many times it was deleted.
The moment Ren Amamiya left the Elysian Realm, Vill-V had already adjusted the database and recreated the backups for both Kalpas and Sakura.
Sakura had acted of her own free will, so there was nothing to worry about. As for Kalpas, he was still alive and kicking. If he wanted revenge, he could very well go and settle the score with Ren himself.
With their core backup data intact, Kalpas being "killed" once by Ren was, in Mobius's eyes, no different from him tripping and falling on the road—just another piece of material for her to mock him with.
However…
"Backups, huh? Data backups of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers... Heh, can a new individual created by restoring a data backup truly be considered the same person?"
A rare, cold smile appeared on Mobius's face.
Though a mad scientist with no taboos, Mobius clearly still possessed a sense of ethics that differed from the usual villainous mad scientist trope.
But as a continuation of that cruel civilization's end, Mobius really had no other choice.
"No, I still have other choices! No matter how much the others are willing to debase themselves, I will become a true life form, the one and only, true Mobius!!"
Mobius pressed a hand to her forehead, her green-and-pink serpentine pupils trembling violently from her turbulent thoughts. A twisted, crazed expression appeared on her delicate, cute face.
The thought that the Elysian Realm's data was still recording and copying her own data at this very moment, and that it had the ability to recreate several identical Mobius-es at the same time, made her chest feel so tight she could hardly breathe.
She wished she could obtain a real body immediately, then completely delete all information about "Mobius" from the Elysian Realm's database, and finally escape this cage that had imprisoned her for fifty thousand years.
"If it's him, he should be able to grant my wish..."
The mysterious figure of Ren Amamiya appeared in Mobius's mind once again. She had reviewed all the records of his appearances in the Elysian Realm and knew that he possessed the Key of Corrosion, Jizo Mitama—a weapon the Previous Era had failed to complete even by its end.
With the power of the Key of Corrosion, and her as a willing inside agent, it would be child's play for Mobius to destroy the stored information about "Mobius" in the database. Once that was done, she would be the one and only, true Mobius!!
Furthermore, Mobius had a very strong premonition. She intuitively felt that Ren Amamiya, with his immense power, mysterious methods, and his role as an unknown variable injected into the unchanging Elysian Realm, would surely be able to fulfill her wish of obtaining a real body, allowing her to break free from the shackles of the Elysian Realm and walk the real world once more.
That was why Mobius so desperately craved any information about him.
Unfortunately, Vill-V completely avoided her. Kalpas was even more clueless than she was. As for Sakura...
Although the Sakura that Vill-V had recreated was the one from the moment she made contact with Ren and was about to offer herself as his power, and she seemed to have learned some special information from her contact with the Key of Corrosion, no matter how much Mobius questioned her, that blockhead would just remain silent, refusing to answer with even a single word.
After trying everything, Mobius had hit a wall everywhere she turned. In the end, the only thing she knew for sure was the mysterious masked man's codename.
"The Phantom Thief... Joker!!"
The words, spoken like a dream and filled with intense obsession, escaped Mobius's hoarse throat. Her pink-and-green serpentine eyes stared blankly ahead, her agitated mind once again uncontrollably churning with various complex ideas on how to obtain information about Ren Amamiya, or even how to meet him in person.
Until the very next moment.
BOOM—!!!
The locked door of the lab let out a deafening groan as it was blasted off its hinges by a massive force from outside, crashing into a row of lab tables before embedding itself deep into the wall.
As if a fantasy had become reality, Mobius instinctively turned her numb gaze towards the laboratory entrance. Before she could even frown or feel a surge of anger, the black figure standing at the entrance shot into her vision like a bolt of lightning, causing her pupils to constrict violently.
"So you already detected my infiltration? As expected of Vill-V's designated target. You're certainly different from the other test subjects."
Dressed in a black trench coat-style phantom thief outfit and a strange, white, half-coverage mask shaped like a bird, Ren Amamiya tugged at the red gloves on his hands. He looked at the figure of Mobius sitting in the shadows of the lab and couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
This lab was highly sealed, with the main door being the only proper entrance. Before Ren, who was lurking outside, could even try to find an alternative entry point like a ventilation duct, he had keenly heard the girlish voice from inside, muttering his codename through gritted teeth.
It was obvious he had been discovered. The smooth, unobstructed infiltration might have been the result of this "Mobius" deliberately letting him through, waiting for him to come to her.
Therefore, upon hearing his codename being chanted through clenched teeth from within the lab, Ren had unhesitatingly kicked open the locked door and appeared openly before his target.
"So you're Mobius. You look a little different from what I expected..."
He sized up the green-haired girl sitting in the shadows, confirming her identity.
On his way here, Ren had already received some intel about Mobius from the little pink fairy. He just hadn't expected "Dr. Mobius" to look so young and petite. It wouldn't be wrong to call her a loli.
Looking at Mobius's surprisingly youthful form and face, Ren couldn't help but think of the other two doctors he had met. Beautiful girl doctors really are a staple of the gaming world, aren't they?
"Phantom Thief Joker. I was just thinking about how to find you, and you've delivered yourself to my doorstep?"
A strange light flickered in Mobius's pink-and-green eyes. She subconsciously extended her nimble, pink tongue and licked her lips like a viper. An ecstatic, delighted grin uncontrollably spread across her face.
The target she had dreamed of meeting had now appeared right before her. How could Mobius, who had been so frustrated and fruitless in her search, not feel excited, even euphoric?
Just the sight of Ren made Mobius's mind tingle with excitement, as if the realization of her dream was within reach.
"You were looking for me? Why?"
Hearing Mobius's slightly joyful and excited words, Ren raised an eyebrow slightly and asked noncommittally.
"I mean you no harm. Even if you caused some irreversible damage to the Elysian Realm, it's all the same to me... I just want to cooperate with you. I want you to cooperate with me on some small, harmless, ordinary experiments."
A bewitching smile that didn't match her appearance bloomed on Mobius's face. Her voice was like a deadly poison laced with honey, both incredibly alluring and extremely dangerous.
"Experiments? What kind of experiments are you planning for me to cooperate on?"
Contrary to his expectation of an immediate battle, the target, Mobius, was surprisingly showing a willingness to communicate. Although her tone and expression were a bit unusual, Ren didn't mind exchanging a few more words with her.
If he could, through conversation, directly induce Mobius to hand over the last Will Seed of Sin, or even persuade her to become his Persona, that would naturally be the best outcome.
Of course, if Mobius tried to trick him into some kind of human experiment on her operating table, Ren would not hesitate to resort to the most primitive and classic method: give her a good thrashing first, then proceed with the thievery.
"Don't be so defensive, Big Brother. I really mean no harm. I would never hurt you. I just want your help. Help me, okay, Big Brother..."
"In this world, only you can help me. I hope, Big Brother, that you can use your weapon, that Jizo Mitama, to... huh?!"
Mobius clasped her hands in front of her chest and looked up at Ren with an innocent expression, exuding a pitiable and lovable cuteness, like a harmless little girl who matched her appearance, her voice somewhat affectedly sweet.
However, just as Mobius was about to reveal her plan to Ren, a small head peeking out from behind him completely captured her attention, causing the words she was about to say to be caught in her throat, replaced by a soft "hmph."
"You're—Ely...?!"
Mobius's eyes widened. She was about to instinctively call out Elysia's name.
Elysia was an absolutely crucial core existence in the Elysian Realm. Although Mobius only planned to use the Key of Corrosion to destroy the data about herself, it was still an act of damaging the Elysian Realm's database, a malicious act that Elysia would never agree to.
Therefore, when the ELF created by Elysia appeared before her along with Ren, Mobius, who already had a guilty conscience and had almost revealed her entire plan, instantly panicked. Her pink-and-green serpentine pupils began to flicker guiltily.
"—That's right! I am the cute and beautiful fairy, the righteous Miss Pink Fairy Ely!!"
Under Elysia's control, the little pink fairy with white wings placed her hands on her hips in a proud and righteous pose.
She spoke loudly, trying to drown out Mobius's voice, and successfully interrupted her from finishing her sentence. In the end, Mobius had only managed to subconsciously call out the two syllables, "Ely."
"Fairy Ely? You didn't call yourself that before."
A slightly questioning voice came from further behind. Mobius, whose gaze had been fixed on Ren, only now noticed that there was another person behind him.
Looking at Raiden Mei, who was frowning slightly at Fairy Ely, a hint of surprise flashed in Mobius's eyes.
"Well, that was our first meeting, after all. Although Lord Joker saved my life, it's a matter of a beautiful maiden's modesty not to introduce herself before the gentleman has introduced himself~~~~"
Fairy Ely twirled a small finger matter-of-factly and chattered away while floating in mid-air.
"Besides, when Lord Joker first met me, he subconsciously called me 'Fairy Ely.' In that situation, if I had just straightforwardly said my name was Fairy Ely, wouldn't that have made me seem like a suspicious person who makes up a fake name on the spot?"