Pufferfish: You Dare Invade My Territory and Bully My Bella?!

(Volume V: Devil, Death, and the World Reversed)

"Persona—Come out, Jack Frost!!"

Facing the torrent of frigid breath spewing down from the white demonic dragon, Ren tightened his grip on the Jizo Mitama katana. A burst of faint blue flame erupted above him, and the figure of Persona Jack Frost, resembling a small snowman, materialized behind Ren.

Even confronted by the immense icy tide unleashed by the terrifying white dragon, Jack Frost maintained its usual mischievous, unfazed demeanor.

"Hee-hoooooo~" Jack Frost chirped playfully, drawing out the sound. It braced its blue-gloved hands forward. A violent freezing wind erupted from its palms, surging upwards to meet the dragon's frigid breath, resulting in a stalemate.

Two distinct yet equally powerful frost forces clashed violently. Ice chunks as large as meteorites rained down continuously from the sky. However, thanks to Jack Frost's counterforce, the massive ice blocks didn't crash down onto Ren, Mei, or the others.

"ROOOOAAAAARRRR——!!!!"

Seeing the seemingly harmless, mascot-like Jack Frost able to contend equally with it, the white dragon Benares roared even more furiously. As Benares's anger surged, its deep blue draconic body, hidden beneath the white skeletal armor, began to subtly take on a scorching, magma-like crimson hue.

"Joker, that dragon Shadow's color changed?!" Hare exclaimed.

In just an instant, Benares, circling high above, transformed its deep blue body into a boiling deep red. Watched by the astonished Mei on the ground, Benares didn't just change color; its elemental affinity shifted as well.

Ceasing its icy breath attack against Jack Frost, the now crimson demonic dragon Benares took another deep breath. Scalding, dry heat emanated from its mouth and nostrils, the thick white vapor strikingly visible in the frigid snowfield environment.

When Benares opened its maw again to unleash its draconic roar upon Ren and the others below, what erupted this time wasn't a freezing blizzard, but a devastating fiery tornado that seemed capable of incinerating the heavens and destroying the earth!!

"This Shadow... wields both fire and ice skills? An elite-type, indeed!" Ren raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised as the crimson dragon Benares switched tactics, launching a fiery tornado attack against Persona Jack Frost.

In a contest of ice, Jack Frost could hold its own against Benares, locked in a stalemate. However, once Benares changed its element from Frost to Fire, Persona Jack Frost, now facing an elemental disadvantage, showed visible panic. The icy blasts it shot towards Benares were instantly melted into streams of hot water and scalding steam by the intense heat.

Just as Jack Frost squeezed its eyes shut, bracing for the impact of the fiery tornado that perfectly countered it, Ren, its summoner, swiftly recalled it to his heart.

"Persona—Come, Higokumaru!!"

With a gust of cold wind, Jack Frost vanished. Five points of crimson fire ignited silently in the void. Five white fox tails tipped with eerie foxfire swayed gently. A colossal white spirit fox slowly opened its ruby-clear eyes. Cherry blossom petals drifted from the void, carried by the cold wind towards the far reaches of the snowfield's sky.

Benares could choose attacks to counter its enemy's element. Naturally, Ren could switch Personas mid-battle based on Benares's elemental attacks. This was the way of the Wild Card!

Persona Higokumaru, appearing on the battlefield as a white spirit fox, showed no hesitation or fear when facing the crimson dragon's overwhelming fiery tornado. Instead, it treated the terrifying wave of fire, capable of boiling seas, as nothing, its four white paws treading on the air itself.

With pinkish foxfire burning beneath its paws, Persona Higokumaru charged majestically towards the crimson dragon Benares in the sky! Bursting through the hellish tornado of breath, Higokumaru wasn't entirely unscathed; its white-pink fur showed slight charring and curling, but overall, it was unharmed.

The white spirit fox successfully reached Benares. Just as Benares stopped its fire breath, attempting to flap its crimson wings and retreat, Higokumaru spun its body and attacked.

Engulfed in fiercely burning pink foxfire, Higokumaru slammed into Benares's head like a high-speed flaming chariot. The impact forced the dragon's massive jaws shut with a sickening snap. Benares let out a piercing shriek, its entire body lurching sideways from the violent collision.

"I'll help too—Persona! Kurikara!!"

Watching Persona Higokumaru relentlessly attacking Benares in the sky, Raiden Mei stepped forward. She threw the black oni mask from her face, once again summoning her Persona, Kurikara.

Under Mei's command, the crimson demonic dragon Kurikara—possessing a similarly massive body and even resembling Benares in form—beat its huge wings and ferociously joined the fray between Higokumaru and Benares.

With Kurikara entering the battle, crimson lightning combined with pink foxfire, relentlessly bombarding Benares's huge red body. Benares's pained cries grew louder and more frequent. Even the white exoskeleton covering its body began showing signs of damage, white armor fragments continuously falling from the sky.

Hare slowly clasped her hands before her chest, gently closing her eyes. A deep purple aura emanated from her, and a purple shield formed from dreams enveloped her trim body clad in its white battlesuit.

As Hare settled her main body within the purple dream shield, her dream projection manifested—Armored Hare, clad in futuristic blue-purple armor, her pretty face obscured by a large mask revealing only her pink lips.

Armored Hare gripped her purple javelin tightly. With practiced elegance, she leaned back, arching her flexible waist to build maximum power, then fiercely hurled the javelin. Shaped like a spear, the javelin shot across the sky like a purple meteor. In an instant, it accurately struck Benares's wing, tearing a large hole through the broad crimson membrane.

Benares, though shrieking constantly under the combined assault of Higokumaru and Kurikara, had sounded pained but not weak. However, when one of its wings was pierced by Armored Hare's purple javelin, its roars finally betrayed a distinct note of panic.

Thanks to Benares's enormous size, while Armored Hare's javelin had pierced its wing, the hole wasn't enough to completely rob it of flight. It merely made its movements in the sky slightly uncoordinated. Benares could likely compensate with some effort.

However, Armored Hare's ranged attack undoubtedly struck fear into it. With Higokumaru and Kurikara tying it down in the sky, it wouldn't be difficult for Armored Hare to repeat the attack and pierce its wings again.

One or two hits might be manageable, but if hit too many times, Benares would inevitably lose its ability to fly, plummeting to the ground and into an even more perilous situation.

"Other me, could you please..."

Watching Ren and Mei summon their Personas to bombard Benares from the air, while Hare summoned her dream projection acting as a mobile turret, floating and repositioning to precisely target Benares's wings with purple javelins, Seele felt acutely out of place among her companions. She couldn't summon a Persona to fight like them. She's just human, and humans can't fly.

So, Seele could only hug her blue scythe tighter, silently pleading with her other self within. If the other me would help now, Seele could also be useful to Big Brother Ren...

[I refuse. An enemy like this, mere small fry, isn't worthy of my intervention. Just sit tight in the audience and wait for them to shoot that dragon down.]

Seele's plea reached Dark Seele, but she merely scoffed dismissively. Dark Seele lounged on a soft wooden chair within the Stigmata space, crossing her legs into a more comfortable position, righteously rejecting Seele's request for help.

If the situation became dire, threatening Seele's or Ren's life, Dark Seele would naturally intervene without hesitation. But right now, things were going well. Even without her, Ren and his companions could defeat the Judgment-class Honkai Beast in the sky.

If Dark Seele agreed to help now, wouldn't it make her seem cheap? Like she cared too much about Seele and Ren's safety, jumping in to help even when there was no real danger? That wouldn't do at all!

After mentally reviewing the logic and confirming Ren could definitely handle the Honkai Beast Benares, Dark Seele reaffirmed her decision to remain an observer, ignoring Seele's pleas.

"Okay..." Disappointed by her other self's refusal, Seele lowered her head slightly. If Dark Seele took over, she did have ways to fly and join the battle, helping Ren. But since Dark Seele refused, the flightless Seele could only wait patiently on the safe ground for Ren and the others to bring Benares down, then charge in with her companions to attack.

"Stop!! You despicable intruders! Insignificant human insects!!"

Just as Armored Hare drew back again, about to launch another purple javelin at Benares's wing, aiming to pierce it once more, a clear, girlish voice, filled with fury, rang out from the direction of the black tower.

A purplish-black spatial wormhole instantly opened right in front of Benares's wing, precisely where the javelin was headed. The wormhole swallowed Armored Hare's powerfully thrown projectile whole.

In the next moment, another purplish-black wormhole silently opened in a blind spot behind Ren and the others. Armored Hare's javelin shot through the connected space, hurtling with unstoppable force towards Ren's back—clearly targeting the team leader.

The attacker's logic was sound. If the target were a normal person, this tactic would undoubtedly have been devastatingly effective, severely wounding the enemy leader in one fell swoop. Unfortunately for her, Ren had already received intel from Siegfried about the Herrscher of the Void's fighting style. He knew exactly what she was capable of and was already prepared.

Furthermore, with Yae Sakura acting as his third eye, constantly vigilant, Ren didn't even need to turn around. Using the electromagnetic field generated by his Mighty Thunder Ring, he propelled himself aside with uncanny agility, dodging the lethal purple javelin that shot from his blind spot like a phantom.

"How dare you invade this space! And bully my Bella! You're courting death!!!"

After evading the javelin redirected by the Herrscher's power, Ren slowly turned around to face the Herrscher of the Void, who had flown out from the black tower.

A petite, exquisitely featured girl appeared before him. She had purple hair cascading down to her waist, eyes glowing with a brilliant golden light, and wore a form-fitting purple dress adorned with strange golden patterns along its flowing hem. Her face was contorted in rage.

"You are... the Herrscher of the Void?" Ren asked.