I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

It wasn't Beatrice, but someone else... who might have been the student council president of the Arius branch campus.

She looked mature and gentle, sitting at her desk dreaming about the future, sometimes flipping through a book, sometimes looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought.

As if she heard Azuko say, "Even if the world sinks to the bottom of the sea, we should still record the shape of the waves at the last moment...? That's quite philosophical."

As if guided by fate, Azuko walked over and tried to make contact with the other party—however, the mirage-like light and shadow vanished instantly as Azuko "got the thing".

When she came to her senses, she had already grabbed the [treasure] in her hand.

[The badge of the student council president of the Arius branch campus].

The metal badge lay quietly in his palm, seemingly etched with stories... but now no one knows them.

The moment the girl held the badge in her hand, she felt a warmth emanating from this cold object that inexplicably brought tears to her eyes.

It seems that someone once carefully maintained it, intending to convey the gentleness she left on it in some way.

Even after being "distorted" for perhaps several years... the 'special gentleness' that remains on it is still so faintly visible.

The girl pressed the badge close to her heart, and the 'phantom image of the student council' seemed to reappear before her eyes—

For a fleeting moment, Yajinzi felt as if she were facing a mature, blurry figure up close.

Is she smiling?

She seemed to be saying something... Was she asking about the current state of Arius Academy?

Because the figure was so blurry, it was as if she had already done her best to exist—Ajinko knew nothing about any of her details.

The scorched earth and sparks continued to clash against each other, and the translucent figure reflected in the firelight, perhaps that of the former student council president of the Arius branch, smiled exceptionally gently.

But in an instant, her gentle figure was obscured and disappeared by the falling stone pillars of the hall.

"Seniors, because we have taken the treasure, this hall is about to collapse. We need to leave here quickly—stay with me!"

AI girl Sophia's energetic and lively voice, tinged with a hint of tension, snapped Ajinko out of her daze.

Akiko took one last look at the still gradually burning Rose Palace in the Mist City, then turned and followed Sophia and her three companions.

The thorns of despair have been burned.

Chapter Thirty-Eight Beatrice, your crimes are heinous!

Meanwhile, beneath the Eden dome.

"I am you... Faust!"

The phantom of the opera gentleman unfolded a folding fan in front of Hifumi, barely blocking Beatrice's increasingly fierce offensive.

The blonde girl looked up at the God of Lies, who was already tens of meters tall and still expanding, and her golden eyes gradually filled with pressure.

Faced with a colossal object tens of meters tall, everyone, including themselves, their companions, and their respective Personas, seemed incredibly small in comparison.

It's almost like Don Quixote overestimating himself by challenging a windmill.

The difference in size created a strong sense of oppression... but the blonde girl did not back down.

Because both she and the other three members of the tutoring department knew very well that this was a battle they absolutely could not lose.

Beatrice chuckled maliciously, and then, with a wave of her hand, Amamiya and his group immediately felt the "world" around them gradually become transparent—

The scene abruptly changed; it was no longer the harmonious Garden of Eden, but the campus of the Holy Trinity District.

The current Beatrice has seized a portion of the power of [color] and is eroding the real world with her own palace world.

It can be said that she is now almost a "god" who can do whatever she wants.

However, for now, she can only do this within the scope of her own temple, and... she cannot interfere with Amamiya and her group, who are [Persona Users].

Therefore, this "god" should now be labeled with "false" or "half".

After several rounds of exchange, Beatrice seemed to have 'grown up'. She clapped her hands as if watching a comedian: 'Your performance was indeed unexpected... but will your actions truly be accepted?'

As she lightly traced a line with her fingertips, the golden dome of Eden peeled away like melting beeswax, revealing the splendor of Trinity College.

At this moment, she had merged the temple with reality, infinitely approaching the state of a god who could do as she pleased.

"It's time for the curtain to fall, little mice."

Beatrice stopped her attack. "You want to tear everyone's beautiful dreams apart with your own hands? Look—" she said, languidly, resting her chin on her hand.

Accompanied by Beatrice's seductive voice, Amamiya, Akira, and the four girls from the cram school all seemed to hear the overwhelming protests from the Trinity Self-Government District.

Countless students from the Justice Committee, the Tea Party, the Sisters' Guild, and the Order of the Holy Rescue stood around...

They stood nearby, their shadowy figures constantly unleashing negative energy upon Amamiya and his group.

Please give me back my happiness!

How can I survive without the filter of lies?

Stop! This is our Garden of Eden!

'...'

Countless whispers condensed into a sharp, razor-sharp blade, yet vanished the moment they touched Hanako's fingertips on the Tarot.

【Hope】The tarot card was burning with a raging, dark blue flame, which Hanako resolutely crushed.

"A lie can be a signpost in the search for the truth, but it can never be a building block in the construction of a 'false paradise of happiness'."

"Psona! Bluebird - Three Feathers Patrol the Sky!"

"Three Feathers Soaring Through the Sky: Blessed Attribute - Attacks all targets / Three instances of moderate damage, always critical hits on weak targets"

A bluebird, shrouded in auspicious clouds, flapped its wings and sang a long song, its feathers transforming into countless beams of light that shot out in all directions.

If there's no way to reach Pengshan, then let's go and explore diligently.

Why be obsessed with a lie that is out of reach?

Beatrice's enormous body was instantly torn open by spiderweb-like cracks, and blood gushed out.

"interesting……"

Beatrice seemed quite "satisfied," licking her wound and laughing mockingly: "What if it's like this?"

As Beatrice slightly raised her index finger and then pressed it down, a jet-black thorn burst forth from the ground and entangled the nearest student council member.

The girl, entangled in dark thorns, rapidly withered away under the horrified gazes of the crowd.

"Stop... Juliet!"

Crystal and her Persona, Juliet, clashed and slashed down, moonlight and poisonous mist intertwining to create a deadly duet.

"Elegy for Shattered Moon!"

"Shattered Moon Elegy: A single-target super-large blessing + curse combo attack, with a medium chance of instant death; if the target has elemental resistance, it is converted into three universal elemental super-large damage attacks."

"It's no use." Beatrice let the attack bloom into blood on her mangled body, then casually pointed at another student.

Black thorns sprouted from the soil, and with a light flick of her fingertips, another student was transformed into nourishment.

Without exception... the students she had turned into nourishment had a strange, blissful smile frozen on their lips—they looked like fanatical believers who were about to sacrifice themselves to God.

If they still retained their ability to speak, Amamiya had no doubt that they would say things like "We can finally return to the gods," which sounded like incoherent and would only send chills down their spines.

The girls in the cram school began to breathe erratically. Akira gritted her teeth, but for a moment she couldn't think of a way to stop Beatrice.

"Do not waver."

Amamiya stepped forward and, in the moment when Akira's face was filled with horror and she was momentarily stunned, helped her block Beatrice's whip attack.

"In the end... the current reality has been overwritten by Beatrice with her own 'world of perception'... the world we live in is not the real 'real world'—if we can defeat Beatrice and destroy her perception, then these students won't have to die."

"I see……"

After letting out a long sigh, Jing frowned again: "Even if we don't need to worry about the students dying... there are too many students here for [Beateritch] to recover from. But our stamina is limited... if we keep fighting, she will eventually wear us down."

"So... this is also the most pressing issue we need to address right now."

"What we need to dispel is not just the fog of lies, but also... humanity's primal desire for a false Eden."

"The yearning for a better life is ingrained in the instincts of every intelligent being—we must find a way to make these..."

As Amamiya spoke, a scene that could be described as bloody and even absurd continued to unfold.

Beatrice continued to flash in the Trinity Campus Square, each flash taking the lives of a large number of Trinity students.

With each life she absorbs, her already bloated body grows even larger, and the aura surrounding her intensifies.

The vast majority of Trinity students maintained happy and serene smiles, willingly surrendering themselves to the embrace of 'God,' being completely absorbed and transformed into the power to increase Beatrice's strength and help her recover from her injuries.

Amamiya sighed: "...We need to find a way to stop these students who are 'willing to die' from yearning for the Garden of Eden."

Upon hearing this, Hifumi gripped the cane-sword in her hand tightly. [Five Acts of Tragedy] - Only at this moment did she understand.

This operation to "destroy the false Eden" turned out to be more than just a matter for us.

"Hifumi, you'll have to make the choice about the next 'policy' yourself..."

"There are two options at the moment—one is to keep fighting regardless until Beatrice runs out of [sacrifices] before we can finally defeat her."

"Secondly, we need to find a way... to eliminate their desires."

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Despair Forged from Lies

A fog of lies shrouds every corner of Holy Trinity.

The vast majority of students fell into the "bewitching lies" exerted by Beatrice.

However, among the vast majority of students, there are also a small number who are clear-headed.

Beneath the stained-glass windows of the church, a nun with cat ears, shivering from the cold, tiptoed to touch the frost-covered window frames.

The frost-covered windows reflected the twisting, writhing black thorns on the street.

The girl looked with concern at the scene that came into view, a scene that seemed to overturn reality to her—her most familiar classmates were now lined up like puppets, heading towards the dark thorns directed by the bloated monster (Beateritch).

Then... while maintaining a happy smile, it was swallowed up.

"Sensei..."

The girl huddled in the shadows of the confessional, her voice trembling slightly along with the candlelight.

"Sakura-senpai and the others... have been bewitched..."

"What...what should I do..."

The girl clutched the nun's holy book in her arms... The book, which used to bring her peace, now offered her not even the slightest sense of security.

When she caught a glimpse of the girls from the cram school, who were barely visible in the ice storm, the girl froze slightly, and the book in her hand fell to the ground with a "thud".

"Is that person...Sensei? And the people next to him...are those four from the tutoring department?"

After carefully confirming that she wasn't mistaken, Mary was even more surprised—what had she seen?

In the dead of winter... Sensei, along with four girls from the cram school, is fighting... a monster that looks so bloated it's hard to describe...?

After her initial surprise, the girl quickly calmed down.

Sensei... Are the tutors in the cram school fighting for us...?

What can I do to help...?

The girl who tried to step onto the street immediately shrank back because of the chilling "Fimbulwinter" outside the church.

Impossible... If I go out, I'm afraid I won't even be able to help anyone; I'll just freeze to death.

It seems that all I can do is pray...

Mary picked up the books that had fallen to her feet, put them down quietly, and then clasped her hands together in a prayerful gesture.

Unbeknownst to the girl, along with her 'sincere hope,' wisps of blue flames drifted off from her body.

……

At the headquarters of the Justice Commission, the heating pipes were emitting a dying sigh.

Ichika placed her palm on the floor-to-ceiling window covered in ice crystals, watching another group of members walk into the blizzard with empty eyes.

"The scene outside... has become a complete mess..."

Watching her members melt away like moths to a flame in Beatrice's swollen body, Ichika felt helpless, but there was nothing she could do.