Tree of Knowledge (Persona 5 Strikers)

The Tree of Knowledge, known as the Tree of Life and Wisdom in Japan, is a Jail in Persona 5 Strikers.
==Appearances==
*Persona 5 Strikers
==Profile==
A product of EMMA merging the Metaverse with the real world. After Kuon Ichinose promises to atone for her misdeeds by assisting the party to stop EMMA with their collaborated persuasion and the group surfaces back to the real world from the Jail of the Abyss, more and more people begin to flock near Tokyo Tower in a crazed and soulless fashion, their eyes lacking any energy in them (much like how the Monarch's followers are described as) and they were constantly staring on the EMMA application on their phone screens. A short while later, all of Tokyo goes into a blackout and the only beacon of light sprouts from the Tokyo Tower, overlaying it with a tree-like structure.
While the structure's full body was not seen, it consists of a series of tree roots eroding and breaking through a deserted Tokyo Tower. After this dungeon was unlocked, for the rest of the game, the party will be in their Metaverse outfits, Morgana will assume his Metaverse form and Sophia will appear physically, even when inside the camping van. The background music will also be overridden by the dungeon's BGM, unless when entering Sophia's Shop, the Velvet Room or another Jail. Time will also stop advancing until the final boss encounter was defeated, and the only places where the party may visit is the Tree itself and other Jails.
When the party was planning an infiltration point to the complex, they noticed that queues of people staring blankly towards their phone screens were marching towards the Tokyo Tower's elevator and being sucked into the elevators in a uniform and robotic fashion. Makoto tries to tell them that something is wrong, but the public were completely mesmerized by EMMA and outright ignore the Phantom Thieves presence. Yusuke attempts to enter the elevator as well only to no avail, since the elevator is sealed tight. The party decides to infiltrate from a corridor on the complex's ground floor.
The party eventually reaches the top of the tree, where the Ark of the Covenant/awakened EMMA resides. She was reluctant to fight, instead telling the party to hear the voice of the suffering masses and traps them in an infinite path of fog. The only way to escape this screen is to repeatedly try to walk sideways-backwards until the scene fades to white; walking alongside the path will cause the protagonist to get stuck in an infinite loop. Once the party escapes, the Ark has vanished, leaving a pink desire fog. Unlike previous Monarchs, the desires are considered granted and do not belong to EMMA herself. While a calling card has to be sent to EMMA, she was observing all of the party's movements and she was taught how a Calling Card functions, indicating that the cards must be sent in another way. Ann formulates a plan where the calling cards are not sent to her, but sent to the public via her servers. The Phantom Thieves can now finally access the gate to EMMA's server room and initiate a hacking battle so they can gain access to it.
After accessing the room (devoid of the scenery distortions compared to the outside area), Futaba has trouble hacking into the EMMA servers because of its restorative programming, only for Ichinose to come in herself and lend Futaba a hand. According to Ichinose, she was able to intrude without issues because the Shadows ignore her presence for being EMMA's accomplice. With cooperation from the two computer geniuses, EMMA's interface was hijacked with a Calling Card, with the crowd near Tokyo Tower affected. The desire gems take form and the party ascends above to confront the mechanical abomination.
Upon boarding the Elevator, Lavenza summons the protagonist into the Velvet Room and explains the upcoming opponent being a false god that people blindly put their trust in and tells him that just like a few times before, similar events have happened in the past, and will inevitably happen in the future no matter what. When the protagonist resolves to defeat the false deity to save the public once again, his inmate outfit becomes his Phantom Thief clothing and the cell's door break. Lavenza bids the protagonist farewell, and the elevator arrives to the top floor where the final confrontation commences.
Returning to the top area once again, the Ark extends a series of arms, revealing a white, avian and godly creature within it. The creature introduces itself as the Demiurge and claims that humanity's answer to happiness is for it to think and make decisions for them. Upon being rebuked, it attacks them. It proves to be a formidable foe for the party, and it continues to convince the party to accept its ideology, to no avail. Realizing it must exterminate them, the Demiurge assumes its second form by breaking off its mask and releasing the energy contained within the cage, turning it into a hideous-looking, insectoid creature in white, but also with red tendons sticking out from it and lacking a head, with a pair of white wings on top of it instead. This form auto regenerates itself, although after two attempts, Futaba realizes that there are ten energy sources behind it that are healing it, prompting the party to split into three groups to destroy the energy sources and the Demiurge herself. The protagonist must confront the Demiurge and cannot be assigned to any other party. The energy sources come in 2 groups of 5 and are named after the different circles of the Sefirot, each with their own properties. Once all 2 groups are defeated and the Demiurge destroyed, the party unleashes a 10-man All-out Attack to finish the mechanical monstrosity off, with it lamenting being unable to guide humanity at the end. (Secretly, she comments that Sophia's decision was right.)
With everything reverting to normal, the destruction of Tokyo Tower was reverted as if it never happened and the crowd nearby vanishes, being replaced by normal passerby. With the threat removed, the party heads back to Leblanc for celebrations.
Upon reloading the cleared save file after the credits, the player will return here (in a state prior to defeating the final boss encounter) and several new quests will be unlocked.
==Treasure==
Treasure 	Type 	Location
Mechanical Heart	Sophia weapon	Treasure chest - Base of the Great Tree
Nocturnal Flash 	Skill Card 	Treasure chest - Path of Yearning
HP Incense 	Item 	Treasure chest - Path of Surrender
Balm of Life 	Item 	Lock Lv 3 Treasure chest - Path of Surrender
==Gear==
Updated gear once the Tree of Knowledge becomes available.
<tabber>
Melee Weapon=
Weapon 	User 	Attack	Effect 	Location
Ruyi Jingu Bang S	Ryuji 	276 	+Auto-Tarukaja	Complete request, "Junk Collection, Part 8"
Mechanical Heart 	Sophia 	268 	+30 SP 	Treasure chest - Base of the Great Tree
Gram 	Zenkichi	306 	En +5 	Defeat the Throbbing King of Desire in the request "The Writhing Nightmare Rises"
|-|
Accessory=
Accessory 	Effect 	Location
Hachiman Belt	+Reduce Phys dmg (med)	Defeat Heavenly Punisher Dire Shadow in Path of Yearning
Spirit Choker	+50 SP 	Combat drop in Tree of Knowledge
</tabber>
== Enemies ==
=== Normal Enemies ===
Shadow 	Lv	Arcana 	Affinity	Affinity	Affinity	Affinity	Affinity	Affinity	Affinity	Affinity	Affinity	Affinity	Affinity
Shadow 	Lv	Arcana 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Bomber 	54	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	
Hound 	55	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	
Yatagarasu 	58	Sun 	- 	Wk 	- 	- 	- 	Str 	- 	- 	Nul 	Wk 	
Forneus 	60	Hierophant	- 	- 	- 	Nul 	Wk 	- 	Dr 	- 	- 	- 	
Dominion 	62	Justice 	- 	Wk 	- 	- 	Wk 	- 	- 	Dr 	Nul 	Str 	
Kali 	64	Empress 	- 	- 	Nul 	Wk 	- 	- 	Nul 	- 	- 	Str 	
Sacrifical Offering	64	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	Wk 	
=== Treasure Demon ===
* Sacrifical Offering
=== Minibosses ===
* The Blackened Fury and Merciless Inquisitor
* Shadow of God
=== Bosses ===
*False God Demiurge
** Keter, Chokhmah, Binah, Chesed, Gevurah (Kether summons Lock Keepers)
** Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malkhut (Malkuth summons Soldiers)
===Bonus boss===
* Shadow of God (Clear the game; required to be defeated in order to unlock its fusion)
* Heavenly Punisher (Dire Shadow)
==Gallery==
File:Tree of Knowledge.jpg|Tree of Knowledge
File:Tree of Knowledge entrance.jpg|Tree of Knowledge entrance
==Trivia==
* Big Bang Burger and Ore No Beko can be seen in the scenery around this Jail. However, they cannot be visited and are merely props, and are fully destroyed by the Tree overlaying Tokyo Tower.
* Upon entering this Jail, Morgana would tell the party that this reminds him of a "situation half a year ago" where "the Metaverse has corroded with the real world," or 7 months before, implying that this game is actually a sequel of Persona 5 Royal, as a similar situation occurred in January of the same year, with Eden being the motif of both. This only occurs in the Japanese and Chinese scripts; in the English version, Morgana states that the Metaverse corrosions occurred "last year."
* Once this Jail has been reached, the party will be in their Metaverse outfits/forms within the camping van, and the default overworld BGM will become the same theme as the dungeon itself. The party members inside the van will also appear to have a tired look, while Sophia is huddling up into a ball, much like the introduction of the Sapporo Jail.
* This Jail is based on the , also commonly known as the Tree of Life in Kabbalistic lore, which allows mortals to ascend and become to god. (As opposed to traditional christian beliefs that no mortal may become equal to or surpass god) This ties to how the EMMA-Demiurge was no "God" (or Shadow) unlike the Holy Grail named after the same mythical entity, but an AI who has ascended into godhood.
** It is also based on the (also commonly known as the "Tree of Wisdom"), a tree from the Garden of Eden that God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruits of, only for the serpent to tempt them to eat the fruit, making God drive the two out of Eden. In Gnostic Christianity where Sophia was present, the serpent was considered a positive figure to guide humanity out of ignorance, symbolizing the Phantom Thieves guiding humanity out of the Demiurge's paradise thrice.
Category:Persona 5 Strikers Locations
Category:Final Dungeon