A new chapter after quite some time, hope I didn't leave you guys waiting for too long. Finals started at my university so I had to take some time to prepare for those. Also having to reread OT9 and 10 for this chapter was something that took some time so I hope you guys enjoy the product.
Kamijou Touma1: Misaka hasn't realized any feelings yet for anyone, so maybe Ren could swoop in and take her for his own. A problem is that there is a four-year gap between them and that might throw Ren off.
trjz: You're welcome, I try my hardest.
Blankow: Misaka might, but we will have to see. Ren is really strong right now, and I like giving him the respect he deserves, but I don't want him to be the end all be all level of power.
Phantom Thief of Hearts: Gemstone is public knowledge, but if Ren was one he could've just simply stated it. Ren will have his hands full on the first two days, that's for sure.
craytherlay: Ren's Bonds wouldn't be negated in the sense that they are internal and linked to his spiritual side. IB can't negate life force and the correlation between that and Ren's life force cannot be destroyed. Ren may or may not get a harem, it depends on who he meets first. Another thing, NT 9 is a bit of time away so Touma has yet to develop that more untrusting side of himself. Finally, as explained in the last chapter, Ren doesn't delve into religion which is why he didn't ask Touma about God's blessings.
Deityvail: Ren will be the only Persona-user, but indeed, who is Fortune?
Jinzo: Ren is a universal threat, the strongest person he has fought is Misaka, who at best can destroy a town. Ren will get knocked down a peg later in the story.
Call me Trinita: I apologize for trying my hardest to make a Self-Insert character have a believable personality.
M2R: Maybe not, we'll have to see. Ren is cocky, he let the bat hit him to send a message. I wanted to have an eventful day to show just how much pressure Ren will be under in Academy City. Secrecy is still key though.
HelixPenn: I am very glad you help me with my story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5 Royal or Toaru Majutsu no Index.
The familiar velvet colored room began to materialize in front of Ren's eyes. He was lying down on the bed of his jail cell and was wearing his pajamas. Standing up, he saw his two guides, Igor and Lavenza. He walked towards them as he always did and stopped when Igor spoke up.
"Hello, Trickster," the old man greeted. "Welcome back to the Velvet Room."
"Hello Igor," Ren responded, he then turned to the doll-like girl. "Hello to you too, Lavenza."
"Welcome back, my Trickster," Lavenza greeted back with a small smile.
The boy was looking around to see if there were any changes to the Velvet Room as he grew curious as to why he was summoned. Had something changed within him, or was something else beginning to form in this world?
"May I ask why I was summoned here?" asked Ren.
"We wanted to let you know of the new Bonds you have formed," Igor said. "Although you technically are unable to form new Social Links, that does not mean you stop growing in power by interacting with others."
"Wait," the Trickster started. "Does that mean-"
Igor gave a small chuckle, which happened to cut Ren off.
"Yes, you will be able to gain more power and more Personas."
Igor had stolen the words right of Ren's mouth. Lavenza opened the Persona Compendium and began to skim through it until closing it. After she was done, she looked at the black-haired boy.
"Due to the new Bonds you are forming, you will be able to fuse brand new Personas that may be stronger than the current ones you have now."
Ren looked a bit excited from hearing that news. Fusing Personas was something that he had done very frequently but, during the infiltration of Maruki's Palace, he didn't really bother fusing as many new Personas.
"I would also like to bestow you a gift, Trickster," Igor said. "Considering I never gave you one myself, this gift will be the first and the last one I will give you."
Ren winced at those words. The 'gifts' he was given during most of his time as a Phantom Thief were given to him by Yaldabaoth who was impersonating Igor. Ren pushed the hesitation as he knew this was the real Igor.
"What gift would that be?" Ren questioned.
Ren wondered if it would be something like the third eye ability he was given. He would really take anything that would make him stronger. He didn't really desire to be the strongest but the more power he had the more people he could help.
"The gift I bestow upon you is Heightened Sensation." Igor said, snapping his fingers.
Ren felt something in him that was different when Igor snapped his fingers. It wasn't anything mind-blowing or uncomfortable, but it definitely felt different. Not a second after the thought, his sight and hearing felt significantly better, but he wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Did you just improve my eyesight?" the Trickster questioned.
" The ability amplifies all of your senses. Vision, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. This in turn has made your Third Eye stronger," the long-nosed man answered.
His Third Eye was amplified? He didn't really see the need for it to show any more than what he could already see, so what would be the change?
"How does my Third Eye work now?" asked Ren.
Igor looked at Lavenza and motioned his hand in a way to tell her to speak up.
"Your Eye currently lets you see more than meets the eye to objects that come across as mundane. Heightened Sensation now allows you to perceive time as if it was stopped and also lets you view only one of your opponent's weaknesses."
That sounded like quite an upgrade. He had relied heavily on Futaba and Makoto to view weaknesses which only made him rely only on brute force against others. He didn't have a way to test what people were weak without exposing his magic skills or accidentally maiming someone.
"Thank you," the black-haired boy said. "Now, how about those new Personas?"
Ren had always had an admiration of his Personas, which was strange considering they reflected his personality. Nonetheless, Ren was excited to form new Personas.
"Would you like to fuze Zeus?" Lavenza asked.
The god of thunder and the most important Greek god. Considering his newfound relationship with Misaka, it was very fitting he would be able to fuse Zeus as her ability reflected that. The question now is how much power did Zeus hold?
"What Personas do I have to sacrifice?" Ren asked.
"You'd be fusing Thor and Odin," Lavenza replied. "Considering their power, Zeus will hold insurmountable potential."
"Ok, let's do it!"
Lavenza had turned around and the two familiar guillotines began to materialize. The signature of the Velvet Room was on them and the blades seemed sharp enough to cut even diamonds with ease. Behind the guillotines were both Thor and Odin. Lavenza began to cover them with a Velvet rag and wrapped chains around them so that it would stay in place. She placed them in the bascule and began to step back.
"It's time for a rebirth," Igor remarked.
The blades fell down quickly and sliced through the Persona's heads like butter. The 'execution' of Thor and Odin produced two masses of energy that began to merge rapidly. After the masses of energy were fully combined, a massive shadow began to take form and started to transform into a new Persona.
Zeus had appeared, and he was quite the sight to behold. He was muscular, tall, and had a lightning bolt coming out of his right hand extending all the way up to his arm. The right side of his body was white and looked angelic, while the left side was black and looked demonic. Instead of a lightning bolt, his left arm had a large blade sticking out of it and his eye glowed red. The power that Ren felt put a grin on his face.
"You request my aid? Very well mortal, know that the ruler of Olympus is by your side and is your greatest mask!" Zeus bellowed.
After Zeus' mighty introduction he began to turn into the domino mask that Joker donned and shot towards Ren's face. The grin that Ren had was still plastered on his face until Lavenza spoke up again.
"The power you hold is incredibly exceptional, I wish you good luck again."
"The Trickster who saved humanity twice now goes once again. You are truly looking to be the most wonderful guest." Igor announced.
Ren gave both of them a smile as he returned to his cell which happened to also be the exit of the area that existed between dream and reality.
Waking up back in his dorm, Ren saw that it was still pretty early and decided to make himself a coffee and curry again as that was pretty much the only thing that left his stomach satisfied.
Today would be the first day of the Daihasei Festival and Ren would be damned if he missed it.
Ren had woken up awfully early. He didn't really want to go back to sleep as it would probably only ruin his mood later on. He picked up his glasses and put them on while he went over to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast. He put on his apron and decided to make some curry as that was the only thing that could truly satisfy his stomach. It wasn't long until Ren began to hear noises from the room next door.
"What the hell do you mean you're still hungry?! What the- don't bite me!" Ren heard Touma shout from his dorm.
Ren didn't know who Touma's roommate was and imagined it must've been some sort of lazy glutton for the number of shouts he heard. Ren decided he'd kill two birds with one stone by saving Touma from his dastardly misfortune, and giving his roommate the leftover curry he had.
Ren walked to Touma's door and knocked on it a bit loudly to maybe get Touma and his roommate to settle down.
"Coming!" Touma shouted from within the room.
As Touma opened the door to his dorm, Ren saw bite marks on the boy's arm and face which made him actually question Touma's safety at home.
"Oh, hey Amamiya," Touma casually greeted. "What brings you here?"
It seemed as if both Ren and Touma completely ignored their words from last night about calling themselves by their given name.
"Well," Ren started. "I heard screaming and was worried that your life might be in danger."
"Oh, no nothing like that," Touma waved off, putting his left hand behind his head. "Just a small scuffle in the morning."
"Touma!" a feminine voice called out. "Who's here?"
Touma opened the door further which revealed the person behind the voice Ren grew curious about. It was a girl that seemed two to three years younger than Ren. She was petite and had big green eyes, she also wore a white nuns habit with gold outlines. The habit also had clothing pins on them which looked like they held up the entire outfit. She definitely didn't look Japanese, but Ren couldn't really place where the girl was from. Ren was surprised that the roommate was a small girl and not a huge gluttonous male.
"Oh, good morning. Who are you?" Index asked.
"I'm Ren Amamiya, nice to meet you." the Trickster introduced himself and quickly bowed.
"This is Index," Touma informed. "She's my roommate. Due to, eh... circumstances."
Touma hesitated and looked away with the last part. It was a little suspicious but since he trusted Kamijou he didn't question further.
"Well ok," Ren continued. "I overheard from the shouting that you were hungry. If you'd like I still have leftover breakfast."
The girl's eyes seemed to light up and a huge smile was put on her face. Ren was shocked at how his offer of food made the girl's mood brighten so much. It made her immediately run towards him.
"Really!" Index exclaimed. "Where is it?!"
Ren was beginning to understand why Touma had gotten so much food last night and why he was so relieved to find it in good shape. Ren didn't want to question why the girl bit him every time she was upset. It's better to leave some things unknown after all.
"I live next door, I don't know if you like it but I hope you enjoy what I made."
"As long as I can eat it anything is fine!" Index announced with passion.
The silver-haired girl began to walk into the next room while Ren turned around to look at Touma.
"Thank you!" Touma thanked the Trickster while getting emotional.
Ren thought that tears were forming in the boy's eyes but dismissed it as he didn't want to keep Index waiting. Both boys began to walk to Ren's dorm and saw that Index was sitting on a chair with a fork already in hand.
Ren put his bag down and went to the stove where he left some spare curry and rice. He served a plate for Index and she instantly started to consume the food.
"OH MY! This is the most unique curry I have ever eaten! You might even be a professional chef!" The little nun noted.
Ren smiled at those words. He thought he could never achieve Sojiro level of cooking, but to be praised by someone felt really good.
"Don't you two have to compete in some sort of festival today?" Index asked.
"Yeah we do, so we should probably head out really soon," Ren replied.
It was around eight o'clock in the morning which meant they had about two hours to be at the opening ceremony.
"I think so too," Touma agreed. "Index you have your phone, right? Don't forget to use it if you need anything. Make sure to head to the meeting point on time."
After the exchange, Index went back to Touma's dorm and both the frizzy-haired boy and the spiky-haired boy went off to their school.
After arriving at school, both the boys went their separate way to talk with friends. They decided to meet up in front of the school to head to the opening ceremony together after they were finished with their own business. Ren wanted to talk to Fukiyose as she seemed pretty excited for the Daihasei and he wanted to let her know that he would be motivated for the entire week.
Ren struggled to find her and asked around to see if anyone had seen her. Every person he asked answered with a resounding 'no'. Ren thought it best to let it be for now and hoped for an opportunity to meet later on in the day.
Deciding to head towards the class, Ren spotted Himegami and wanted to know how she was doing. She had noticed him too and both started to walk towards each other.
"Hey," Ren smiled. "How have you been?"
"I'm doing well," Himegami replied with her usual stoic expression. "I'm just worried that Fukiyose might be overworking herself on the Festival Committee."
"Well, I can't wait to tell her how good the Festival turned out."
"It hasn't even started. How would you know if it's good or not?"
Ren pushed up his glasses, "I just have a feeling it will."
"You're a strange person. But for Fukiyose's sake, I hope you're right."
Ren noticed that Himegami cared a lot for Fukiyose. The relationship between two best friends is something that Ren had developed a great respect for. Ryuji was definitely a hot-headed guy, but he would always come through every time he was needed. Morgana was also way too stuck up for a cat, but he too was also there for everyone. Ren believed he would be dead a hundred times over if it wasn't for his friends. Seeing other people cherish something that others might take for granted really resonated with Ren.
"I'll see you at the Daihasei then."
"Ok, goodbye Amamiya," Himegami replied as she politely finished the conversation.
Ren stopped by one of the restrooms to change into his 'battle gear' which consisted of a white t-shirt with blue outlines on the collar and the sleeve, blue shorts, and white running shoes. He kept his glasses on as to appear less menacing, as his build somewhat showed through the shirt. Over the course of the year back in Tokyo, Ren had gone from quite a skinny boy to a very slim muscular build.
Ren put his school outfit in his bag and went to his class to leave the bag there and headed for the front of the school. Before going out the doors, Ren saw Touma with Tsuchimikado. It looked like they were in an argument. The two classmates were about sixty meters away. Ren decided this might be a good opportunity to test 'Heightened Sensation' on something that was probably very trivial. He focused his senses and everything around him was amplified.
"Of course maids are better Kami-yan!" Tsuchimikado yelled.
'Okay, time to turn it off,' Ren thought.
Ren did find himself internally laughing though. It reminded him of Operation Maidwatch with Ryuji and Mishima which could have ended incredibly badly. Ren walked out of the doors and began to head to where Touma and Tsuchimikado were. The time on his phone read nine o'clock which meant that they had around twenty minutes to get to the opening ceremony.
"Hey," Ren called out to both the boys. "You guys ready to go?"
"Yes," Tsuchimikado answered. "But answer me this first Amami-yan, maids are better than the older sister trope right?"
'Amami-yan? Who the hell is that?' Ren thought.
Ren activated his time dilation Third Eye as he really needed to answer this question carefully. Sae and Makoto Niijima really fit the bill for the older sister type. Ms. Kawakami on the other hand did give a hell of a massage in her maid outfit. The choice was rather difficult, but Ren locked in his answer.
"I personally think maids are top-tier."
"Aww, come on!" Touma shouted with a displeased look.
After listening to the opening speech by two Level 5's, one of them having quite a developed body, Ren and Touma met up with Index at ten-thirty o'clock and were getting ready to start their first event.
"Touma! I'm hungry!"
"What? You ate two meals two hours ago!" Touma retorted. "You're practically slapping Amamiya in the face when he had the kindness to give you something to eat!"
"It's fine," Ren said. "All the smells from the food stalls are getting to me too."
"See! Ren gets it!"
Considering her now known, European look, Ren understood why Index called him by his given name even though they had only really had one conversation.
"You're going to have to wait Index, Amamiya and I have to go to our first event."
Both Ren and Touma walked to the meeting place for their school. When they arrived they saw their class all laying down in defeat. They all looked like they were about to die.
"What is wrong with everyone?!" Touma shouted.
Ren and Touma were surprised at how bad everyone looked. Fukiyose had approached and began to lightly harass him to the point where Touma had to back up which led to him blocking a water hose which led to a large spray of water.
Noticing Fukiyose with a wet shirt and miraculously not being beaten to a pulp, Ren and Touma overheard Komoe being demeaned for the failure that was her class. Touma had given the entire class a pep talk which seemed to have everyone fired up. The pole topple event would be the first one they had and with new determination, the class decided to try their hardest to ensure Komoe would not be talked down upon again.
Mikoto arrived at the student section of the audience and with it, she saw Touma's class preparing for the event. They were going up against a strong opposing school and looked like they were warriors prepared for war. It was at this moment Mikoto realized that maybe she should have taken Touma's offer for a penalty seriously.
"Why the hell is he using his charisma for something like this? Wait, that can't be, Amamiya? They're in the same class?" Mikoto thought out loud.
"Hey, Short Hair," Index cut in. "You're here to support Touma aren't you?"
Misaka was so shocked and engrossed in the class's appearance that she didn't really hear what Index said.
The screams and dust made the event hard to watch, but in the end, Touma and Ren's school pulled off the victory which made Mikoto worry quite a bit.
The next event would be the ball rolling event, so Ren and the rest of the class decided to use their time to rest up as much as they could.
Ren did see Touma go off with Mikoto, even if it was against his will, on a TV screen. He decided to make sure Touma would be back on time for the ball rolling event so he went after him. Ren used 'Heightened Sensation' to see where Touma could be as it now amplified trails of where people went as long as he had kept focus on them. He began to follow the trail until he would eventually find Touma.
Ren had walked for a bit and noticed he was talking to Tsuchimikado and an extremely tall man with red hair and. The red-haired man looked extremely out of place but he seemed acquainted with both of his classmates. Ren noticed all three of the boys were in a serious conversation and Touma showed a concerned look. Ren decided to use 'Heightened Sensation' once more to hear their conversation.
"-get down to business right away. About why the magicians made their way into the city in the first place." Tsuchimikado cut to the point.
'Magicians?' Ren thought. 'Finally, maybe I can get some information on their side of things, but why would Tsuchimikado know about magic if he's an Esper?'
As Ren continued to listen in, he learned about a ploy from two magicians to acquire something called the 'Stab Sword' that had the ability to kill a person who was apparently titled a Saint. He also learned of a group called Necessarius and inferred that Stiyl and Tsuchimikado were both a part of said group. Ren was surprised at how much information he was getting and the danger that was looming over the city.
Ren knew that he shouldn't blow his cover and decided to head back to where his class was. He left Touma and his friends to do what they needed to do as he didn't really want to expose himself yet to the magic side.
Finishing the ball rolling event that ended in A Certain High School's victory, there wouldn't be any other events for some time. Ren decided to just go and explore the rest of the area to see if there was anything that caught his eye. He didn't want to stay still and figured that if anyone was in trouble he would be able to swiftly come in and help them out.
Time really felt like it was moving at a snail's pace. All he could do was wait, but that just made him anxious to do something. He really didn't like just sitting around. He decided to patrol the city as Joker. That way his identity would be kept safe and he would be able to fight as he pleased if any trouble arose.
He went to go find a vacant alleyway and used Heightened Sensation to ensure there was no one spying on him and found that he was in the clear. The blue flames he was so familiar with erupted and in his soul, he felt Zeus active as he felt the power coursing through him. Zeus was immune to electric and wind-based attacks and resisted all the other forms of damage. Ren was confident that he would be able to take care of anyone he came across.
As he used his grapple hook to climb the building, he saw the numerous crowds of people that were in the city and just how alive with activity it looked. He felt bad that a lot of people wouldn't even understand the underlying horrors that were occurring in the city they were in.
Shaking off the thought, Ren began to grapple around multiple buildings searching for any trouble looming in the hidden parts of the city that most people would avoid.
It actually didn't take long at all to find a random girl being beaten to a pulp by three other boys. The girl looked utterly defeated and Joker knew he had to put a stop to the other boys before they ended up killing her.
He dropped down and the delinquents noticed him. They turned their attention to him.
Ren was pissed off beyond belief. He had seen people beaten, wanting to commit suicide, hell, he himself was beaten up when he was being interrogated. Ren leaped off the building and before hitting the ground he let out a shout.
"PERSONA!"
Zeus had come forth and the power he was emanating was suffocating. Hitting the ground, Ren landed perfectly on his feet and gave the three boys a death stare. His hand covered his face as his mask was removed due to Zeus being summoned.
He let out two words that would remove the soul out of the bullies' bodies.
"Ravage them."
Zeus let out a simple Mazio and all the boys suffered a bit as a good number of volts coursed through their body before they passed out. Ren believed it was fair to give them a very small taste of what they did to the girl. Ren also erased their memory as he knew it was irrational of him to summon a Persona for mere delinquents.
Ren saw the outfits the thugs were wearing and noticed how they all had emblems on them. He noticed this back at the mall too but thought nothing of it. The emblems were on their arms and spelled out 'FORMULA'.
'You've got to be kidding me,' thought Ren.
Ren, now looking back to the matter at hand, turned to the girl who lay on the ground. She looked no older than thirteen and was wearing a black and yellow maid outfit. Ren wondered what she did to deserve something like this and how disgusting FORMULA was for even laying a finger on her. Her breathing was beginning to grow shallow. He switched his Persona to Ishtar and put his hand to the girl.
"Don't worry," Joker whispered. "You're going to be ok."
The girl was enveloped in green light and the blood and the bruises began to vanish from her body.
Ren knew the Salvation spell would get the girl back on her feet in no time. It would be as if she was never even hit in the first place. As she was beginning to come to, her eyes fluttered and she opened her mouth.
"Who are you?" the random girl asked, not realizing that he was only speaking to the wind.
Ren kept patrolling the city and had stopped multiple other attacks during his 'protection' hours of the city and his mind kept lingering on the FORMULA group that was back at the mall and now was just picking on some kid. He wished he had more answers, but he couldn't press on as it didn't have anything to do with the important part of the Magic and Science side.
He had been patrolling for a couple of hours and decided to stop his patrol for the day. Ren was surprised that there wasn't nearly as much trouble as he thought there was going to be, but it was a welcome one.
He began to head towards another vacant alley to go back into his normal clothes and something in his gut told him something was off. His Third Eye had gone off, almost like a defense mechanism, that someone would catch him if he stayed there any longer. He retreated from the area and eventually found a spot that was good for him to remain unseen.
'That was really weird, but at least it gave me a warning. It'll definitely be useful." Ren thought.
Walking back and taking a cut towards a small walkway, Ren's 'Heightened Sensation' kicked in once more. A strong copper smell began to burn his nostrils. Ren then realized what the source of the smell was.
Blood.
From how strong the scent was, Ren could tell it was a large amount of blood. Something that no one should be able to survive.
He instantly broke into a sprint to the source.
Ren's eyes grew in horror. On the floor, he saw Himegami in an enormous pool of blood with Komoe, Stiyl, and Touma all around her.
"Fuck!" Touma shouted. "Why would Oriana do this?!"
Touma had a look that could only be described as rage.
"What the hell happened?!" Ren shouted.
"How did you get past my spell?" the over six-foot man named Stiyl asked in confusion.
"There's no time for that!" Ren yelled. "Everyone move!"
Ren knew that by doing this he would expose his abilities, but that didn't matter, he couldn't let Himegami die here. She looked horrible. It was hard to look at her, but Ren was more determined to save her than to be disgusted at the sight he was looking at.
"What do you think you're doing!?" Stiyl questioned.
Ren put his hand on Himegami and cast 'Salvation' on her.
"What!? A magician?" Stiyl exclaimed.
"Look, I'll explain later," Ren informed. "Right now I need you to go stop that son of a bitch who's looking for the Stab Sword."
Ren knew that if he mentioned anything from their 'private' conversations earlier, they would be more determined to put a stop to Oriana.
"You owe me an explanation too," Ren turned to Touma. "But for now I'll stay with Himegami and you need to go, now!"
"Right," Touma replied with determination. "Let's go Stiyl. And Himegami, I promise I'll go see you before the night parade."
Komoe was staring directly at Ren as she noticed the green light was healing all the wounds on Himegami's body.
"Amamiya, how did you-"
"Sorry, but I can't explain it to you," Ren said, casting 'Dormina' on his teacher and Himegami.
Ren was now in a hospital room waiting for Himegami to wake up. He didn't realize how much of his angst came from Himegami being asleep. Komoe had already woken up with her memories of the event gone due to a certain spell. Ren realized that Touma and himself had missed a lot of events, but in the end that didn't really matter. He had been there for hours. Just now the fireworks had already gone off and Touma was still not showing up.
Just as Ren was thinking where Touma could be, there was a knock on the door. Ren opened it, and saw Touma there, covered in bandages.
"Did you get her?" Ren asked.
"I did and I didn't," Touma replied. "But she won't be hurting anyone else."
"Good, that puts me at ease."
"How did you heal Himegami? I thought you could only negate?"
"Now really isn't the time, I'll explain later."
"...I guess you're right. I haven't told you everything too after all."
As both of the boys waited for Himegami to wake up, the first day of the Daihasei Festival was coming to a close. Ren hoped that the next day would be better than how today turned out. However, something told him that something worse was about to happen.
Feel free to leave a review, comments, suggestions, or any ideas you guys have. Don't hesitate to tell me off if you don't like something.
I will do my best to update as much as I can. Please bear with me if I take the time to upload a new chapter.
Once again, thank you to HelixPenn!