Chapter 1 – Silent Stranger
After their difficult battle with Izanami, Souji and his friends decided to return to their homes. It was almost midnight when they got out of Junes.
As they were leaving, Souji looks back at Junes for one last time since tomorrow is his departure. Gazing at the radiating full moon above Junes, he glances at the rooftop to see their "secret headquarters" one last time, although in the darkness of the night, it looked somehow different yet it was still the same, he thought.
He felt nostalgic to see the full moon since he hasn't seen it for a while due to the strange fog that has been occurring for the past year. They all departed afterwards.
After finally being separated with everyone, Souji receives an unexpected text message. It reads, "Come to the Velvet Room immediately". The sender is unknown but Souji guessed it was probably Margaret who sent this message.
Fortunately, he was at the Central Shopping District when he received the text message. It was about a minute until midnight when he came in front of the door to the Velvet Room. Somehow, Souji felt like there was something strange about the door, like it was different for some reason. He decided to ignore this strange feeling of his and opened the door.
A bright light emerges as soon as he opens the door to the Velvet Room. The light was blinding his sight but he continued onward until he got inside.
"I've been expecting you", Souji heard a familiar voice, it was faint but he could still make out what it was saying.
"Why did you call me out here?" asked Souji to whoever was calling him. A dark figure then emerges before him as his vision gets clearer.
The blinding light soon passes and Souji can now see who was in front of him. It was young man who was wearing a school uniform but it wasn't a Yasogami uniform. He looked like about the same age as Souji. The young man showed no expression, his eyes can't be seen due to the hair covering almost half of his face. A dark mysterious aura surrounds him.
As Souji gets a clearer vision, he soon realizes he was not in the Velvet Room but a whole different place. The whole area was covered with white light. It was empty and you can't see any edges. The horizon looked like it will never end. Only their own shadows could be seen on the floor.
As Souji turns back his attention to the young man, Souji noticed that he was a holding gun point on his head.
"What are you doing!?" shouted Souji, being dismayed by the young man's actions.
The young man's lips started moving but there was no sound coming out. As Souji looked closer, he begins to distinguish what the young man was saying. Souji was surprised knowing full well what the young man said, the word that he's been hearing for the past year, "Per-so -na".
The sound of the trigger echoes through the vastness of the room followed by the sound of shattered glass. Then four Personas appeared in front of the young man. The four Personas started gathering around Souji. In front of him was Thanatos, on his left was Orpheus, on his right was Orpheus Telos and behind him was Messiah.
"Another Persona-user!?" said Souji as the Personas gathered around him. "But how can he summon so many personas at the same time!?" he felt somewhat nervous. "This guy is… dangerous"
The four personas vanish and Souji began to calm down a bit but still confused from what was happening.
"Who are you?" asked Souji.
The young man's lips started moving his lips but again it was silent.
"His name is Minato Arisato".
Souji hears the familiar voice from before but he could not tell who it was. He looked around but there was no one there. Only he and the mysterious person could be found.
"Now is the time to summon your true potential" echoed the voice.
"Wh-who are you!?" cried Souji, feeling a bit annoyed.
"I am thou, and thou art I." whispered Minato in a faint voice but somehow Souji heard it.
Souji quickly returned his attention to Minato as he heard this. He thought of what his predicament could be. Everything was all too confusing. It was like what had happened a year ago in Inaba where he first sought the case.
"Beyond the beaten path lie the absolute end" continued Minato, "It matters not who you are… Death awaits you"
"Death…?"
Souji felt dumbfounded.
Minato again triggers the gun and a huge shadow started to appear behind him. Its face looked like a mask and its whole body was covered in black feathers. Its wings stretched as the eye can see and it carried an extremely long sword.
"My God! Can a persona get that big!?" starting to panic, he told himself to calm down.
"Now's the time to reveal your true potential" continued the unknown voice from before, "To defeat him, you have to strike him once."
"Once? Why?"
"He has surpassed all limitations. To even get near him would be a difficult task"
"So he's that powerful… What if I refuse to fight?"
"Then you will die…"