When Asagiri said that, Asuna and Kotoko exchanged glances, both with expressions of disbelief.
What did he mean by...
Be his Persona?
What does that mean?
Just then, Asagiri's phone suddenly vibrated, he didn't even need to look to guess what the APP's notification was.
"Let me go with big brother...? Okay..."
The blonde little girl took the teddy bear from Asagiri, hugged it gently, a sweet smile appearing on her cute face, and nodded vigorously.
"Okay, I want to go with Big Brother."
The moment the blonde little girl said this, her eyes suddenly turned a bright golden yellow, the same color as Asagiri's eyes when he summoned his Persona.
Immediately after, the little girl's figure turned into a ray of light, which then condensed into a semi-transparent, rotating card, gently landing in Asagiri's palm.
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[Persona: Alice]
[Origin]: A pure Spirit born from the dense accumulation of strangeness and death in a certain haunted Hotel.
[Core Strength]: Mental Strength
[Primary Weakness]: Cannot act independently in combat
[Exclusive Skill – Die For Me]
Upon summoning Alice, consume a significant amount of Mental Strength to unleash a curse-attribute AOE attack centered on yourself.
All entities within 10 meters (excluding self) must pass a Mental Strength check or die instantly unless they possess curse immunity.
※ The range and lethality scale with the user's Mental Strength.
[Associated Tarot Card: Death (Upright)]
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Unlike Human Asura, Alice herself had no combat ability. As a Persona, she only had one skill, which was to perform a Mental Strength check on all targets within a certain range, except for Asagiri himself.
Mental Strength not strong enough to pass the check, and unable to be immune to curse-type attacks?
That's instant death.
Looking at the ethereal card with the Death Tarot card pattern, which gradually merged into Asagiri's palm, Asuna's lips parted slightly, saying in disbelief.
"You, you, you let that little girl...become your Persona? You can actually do something like this?"
"What little girl? Don't talk nonsense here."
Asagiri waved his hand and replied calmly.
"She was originally just a pure spirit born in this Hotel that gathered too much strangeness and death. She doesn't belong to the Banshee, let alone any creature. If you really want to define her, she should be considered a pure curse. Of course, I can let her become a Persona. Otherwise, why would I have three Persona slots?"
"Huh?"
Asuna Yuuki slightly furrowed her brows and said hesitantly.
"Then in the future, if you encounter any difficult enemies, you can just directly take them as your Persona... wouldn't that make you invincible?"
"It's not that simple."
Asagiri shook his head and patiently explained.
"Although any kind of existence can become a Persona driven by me, the prerequisite is that the target must completely obey me mentally. There are many types of obedience. Feeling extreme fear towards me is fine, extremely worshipping me is fine, or like Alice, having full favorability towards me is also fine, but this prerequisite must be met."
"Is that so... It seems the passive effect of the special profession Diplomat is not only very compatible with you but also has perfect compatibility with your exclusive talent Persona..."
Asuna Yuuki first sighed like this, and then let out a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
"But now, there really isn't anything valuable left in this dungeon. Are we leaving early like this, or..."
Asuna Yuuki looked at the darkness outside the Hotel's transparent glass door and slowly spoke.
"Go outside and explore this world?"
"No, not this time."
Asagiri shook his head, also looking directly at the darkness outside, and said thoughtfully.
"The rule for this dungeon is to survive for twelve hours, but there is no restriction on not being able to leave the Hotel area. It's possible the system thinks that people who can escape the Hotel definitely have the ability to survive for twelve hours, so there's no need to add it. But I think the more likely possibility is that the outside world is too dangerous, and if Players leave this Hotel, they will certainly die."
"Mm, I trust your judgment."
Asuna Yuuki first nodded, then looked at Kotoko, hesitated for a moment, and then asked.
"Necro, regarding the team-up, I need to confirm your thoughts..."
"I know what you mean, no need to say more."
Kotoko interrupted with a smile: "You want to confirm whether I only want to be your teammate during the dungeon, or the kind who can act together in the real world, discuss combat plans and future development directions together, and are truly trustworthy teammates, right? I choose the second option. Let's exchange email addresses. Although there's no phone signal now, you can just email me after returning to the real world."
Hearing Kotoko's answer, Asuna Yuuki breathed a sigh of relief and returned the smile.
"Mm, then let's contact each other after returning to the real world."
Compared to teammates who only act together to clear the dungeon, Asuna Yuuki felt it was best to be like her and Asagiri; even if they couldn't see each other every day, they should at least be able to meet in the real world and advance or retreat together. Only then could it be considered a truly trusting relationship.
......
Along with a thick red mist appearing before Asagiri's eyes, he and Asuna Yuuki returned to the real world, to his home in Tokyo, Shibuya, and the APP with the eye icon on his phone also showed the completion notification.
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[Congratulations, Player Asagiri Utsunomiya, you have cleared this dungeon. ]
[In this dungeon, your special bonus actions were: deciphering the truth of the dungeon's strange events, leading the action to eliminate the source of strangeness, successfully eliminating the source of strangeness, and successfully subduing the most powerful strange existence in this dungeon—Alice]
[Dungeon Completion Rating: S+]
Rewards Unlocked:
Equipment: "Cursed Vampiric Rope Dart"
Class-Exclusive: "Ever-changing Mask" (Diplomat only)
Skill: "King's Gambit"
Item: "The Reverse Hourglass"
[Due to your exceptionally active performance in this dungeon, your Player level has been upgraded from "Official" to "Advanced", and more APP permissions have been unlocked]
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