"Do not threaten our peace!" a man named Ignite roared.
His giant axe swung down towards Amy's head faster than the eye could follow. In that tiny moment, Amy knew she was going to die.
'Goodbye, Shirone…' she thought.
It was a terrible way to end. But a part of her also thought it was a good ending, because this was all happening inside Shirone's mind. She would sleep forever in the world he created.
"Quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" A wild, furious scream ripped through the air, snapping Amy out of her thoughts.
At the same time, a blur of something black shot in front of her eyes. When she could see again, Ignite had been thrown back ten meters!
Amy felt a huge presence behind her and spun around. She had to tilt her head all the way back to see it. A massive shadow monster, covered in sharp, thorny spikes, loomed over her. It was taller than two men stacked on top of each other. It stood on two legs but was hunched over like a beast, and it stared ahead with pure rage.
This monster was an Egoist, a creature born from Shirone's deepest desires. It wasn't finished changing, though. All the other smaller Egoists in the plaza turned into black smoke and were sucked into the big one. It didn't grow taller, but the spines on its body grew longer and sharper.
"Quaaaaaang!" the Egoist—the Egoist of Anger—screamed.
The huge shadow monster then leaped right over Amy. With the monster no longer blocking her view, she could see Shirone, who was frowning deeply.
'Shirone is… … ?' Amy was confused. Shirone was always so logical and controlled. But this Egoist felt different and more powerful than any she had seen before.
'Did he make this monster to save me?' Amy wondered. Knowing how angry Shirone was at her, she wasn't sure. But her heart still beat with excitement. Because that's how it always was. Whenever Amy was in danger, Shirone was always there to protect her.
The Egoist of Anger was incredibly strong. It had already torn through hundreds of Antithesis soldiers. Even Ignite's men, who had strong weapons, were kicked away with a single blow.
"Shirone! Do you dream of living a petty life until the end!" Ignite yelled, coughing up blood. He grabbed his big axe and charged at the monster. He jumped high into the air, swung the axe back, and then brought it down with all his might onto the Egoist's head. The axe split the monster's head in two!
A smile started to form on Ignite's lips, but the monster didn't make a sound. Through the handle of his axe, Ignite could feel the Egoist was still boiling with anger, ready to explode.
The moment Ignite realized this, the Egoist's sharp claw smashed into his face. Ignite fell to the ground, half his face gone. Then, the monster's leg, as thick as a tree trunk, stomped down on him.
WHOOMPSH! The ground shook violently from the impact.
"Aww! Run, run away!" the remaining Antithesis soldiers screamed in terror, scattering in every direction.
The Egoist screamed again and chased after them, wanting to destroy every last one. Soon, the plaza was empty and clean, with no bodies in sight. Only Shirone and his friends were left.
Amy, who had been seconds from death, sat down on the ground, exhausted. Then, Shirone walked over to her.
Amy's heart pounded. Was he still angry? Had her old friend Shirone come back?
"Shirone, thank you," Amy said, her voice soft. "If it wasn't for you… … ."
"You make me so angry," Shirone said, his voice cold. He stared at the ground, refusing to look her in the eye. "It really pisses me off."
Then, he turned his back on her and walked away without another word.
Even he didn't understand why he had saved Amy. A powerful urge had taken over him right before the axe hit her. The next moment, his anger had exploded, and he couldn't remember anything else.
Amy's head drooped sadly.
Reina, who had been hoping the two would make up, gently patted her shoulder. "Don't be too disappointed, Amy. As long as Shirone saved you, I'm sure all the misunderstandings can be—"
Before Reina could finish, Amy looked up. To Reina's surprise, Amy's face was bright and she even looked a little relieved.
"It's okay," Amy said, forcing a small laugh. "Anyway, Shirone saved me. That means he probably doesn't completely hate me. So it's fine, really. Haha!"
Even though she said that, Reina knew how much Amy was hurting inside. Amy was trying her best to stay strong, all to save Shirone.
"Okay," Reina said with a determined nod. "Let's do our best."
Reina then looked over at Armin. His clothes were soaked with sweat because he had been fighting deep inside the enemy's camp.
"Are the Antithesis all gone now?" Reina asked him.
"Not gone," Armin corrected, catching his breath. "But there won't be any more of them being controlled like puppets. We can't slow down, though. They are basically thoughts inside Shirone's mind that are criticizing him."
After a short rest in the quiet plaza, they followed Shirone into the castle. Ignite, who had been there moments before, was now gone.
Shirone led them down to the basement. They walked through a winding, maze-like hallway that had no dead ends. When Shirone opened a storage room door, they found another staircase leading even deeper underground.
Armin grabbed a torch from the first basement and walked down beside Shirone. He stopped the whole group in front of an old, wooden door.
"Listen carefully," Armin said, turning to face everyone. "If we go through this door, we will enter the world of dreams, a place called the REM realm. Before we go in, there are some important rules."
"What kind of rules?" Reina asked.
"The most important rule is about focus. It's a lot like concentration," Armin explained.
"You mean like paying attention?" Amy asked.
"Yes, similar. In the real world, we relax most of the time. But in a dream, everything is focus. It's like you're the main character in a play. You only see what you want to see, and nothing else exists. So, if you lose your focus, you lose yourself. This is called getting caught in a 'reel pin.'"
Armin held up his hand, counting on his fingers.
"There are five main kinds of reel pins. First, a feeling of being rich and powerful when you're not. Second, saying words that don't mean anything. Third, getting stuck doing the same thing over and over. Fourth, watching everything around you like you're not part of the story. Fifth, letting your fears and worries become real."
Amy nodded. It sounded like things that sometimes happened in her own dreams.
"Dreams feel like they have gravity, but they don't," Armin continued. "So, keep checking that your feet are firmly on the ground. If you start to feel like you're floating, your mind will fall forever. And don't say anything you're not sure is true."
"So our conversations have to be focused, like lines in a play script?" Reina clarified.
"Exactly. No mumbling or silly slang. If you lose focus on your words, you'll just repeat nonsense."
"And getting stuck in a loop is about losing focus on where you are?" Amy guessed.
"Yes. Don't look back or run away without thinking. If your focus on the path disappears, you'll just walk in circles. Fourth, if you focus too much on everything around you, you'll forget you're part of the dream and become just a watcher. And finally, don't let yourself feel anxious."
"Because then your fear will happen for real," Reina said, understanding.
Armin nodded.
Amy, thinking it over, had another question. "What happens if one of us gets caught in a reel pin? Like, if I start floating and can't stop mumbling nonsense?"
"If we aren't all caught at the same time, we can help each other," Armin assured her. "If I see you, Miss Amy, starting to float, I'll pull you down. And if someone is mumbling nonsense, I'll give them a slap on the face to snap them out of it."
Amy puffed out her cheeks, almost feeling the slap already.
Reina looked worried. "What if we can't get the person out?"
"Then, at some point, they will find a new focus. But it will be their own dream, not Shirone's dream. They will get trapped in a new dream inside this one."
"A dream within a dream," Reina whispered.
"That's right. That's why the dream world is called a multi-dimensional world. If you get buried too deep, you might never wake up for the rest of your life."
Everyone who heard Armin's explanation felt very nervous.
"Don't worry too much," Armin said, trying to comfort them. "If we just focus on Shirone walking ahead of us and we follow him straight to the exit, we should be fine."
Shirone took a deep breath and grabbed the old doorknob.
"Then… … I will open the door," he said.
Armin nodded, and Shirone slowly pushed the door open.
The faint sound of music reached their ears, and soon, the performance of a full orchestra of court musicians filled the air.
Amy squinted her eyes. This place looked very familiar.
"This is… … ?" she muttered.
Many elegant couples were dancing in a giant, grand hall. It was the royal ballroom in the capital of Kazura, the very same place they had been just a few hours ago.
Armin quickly explained, seeing their confusion. "In the REM area, the world can change in an instant. It's like several different plays being performed on the same stage. Since the background is this grand hall, the exit must be close by."
"That's the exit," Shirone said, pointing to the far side of the ballroom.
Amy suddenly knew why. It was the same door she and Zion had used to leave the Grand Hall. Shirone must have gone through that door to look for her. And then, four months had passed for him inside his own mind.
'It's all because of me,' Amy thought with a bitter smile.
If she hadn't followed Zion, if she had said no to his request, would Shirone be in this terrible situation now?
'Whoa, when I think about it, I really deserve his hatred,' she thought.
"Miss Amy, don't lose your focus!" Armin warned sharply.
Amy quickly shook her head and took a deep breath, making sure her eyes were clear and alert.
"Yes, I'm ready," she said.
"Then let's go. Shirone, please walk in as straight a line as you can. Try not to bump into anyone," Armin instructed.
Shirone moved carefully. He would stop and wait for dancing couples to pass by instead of walking around them. Taking a detour could make him lose focus and fall into a reel pin.
Amy and Reina kept their eyes locked on the back of Shirone's head. Armin, however, was calmly looking around at everything. He could do this because he had special training for navigating dreams.
'What in the world happened to make this a nightmare?' Armin wondered to himself.
Since the real Shirone was in such a bad state, his dream world was sure to be a scary place. He was tense, expecting that at any moment the people in the ballroom might turn into monsters or start attacking them.
But nothing bad happened as they crossed half of the ballroom. The path behind them had already faded from their focus, so it was safe.
'This is weird. What part of this is a nightmare for Shirone?' Armin thought.
Then, he saw something and his eyes widened in understanding.
'I see, so that's what it is.'
In the very center of the ballroom, a man and a woman were dancing. The woman was beautiful, wearing a rose-red dress. But the man she was with looked very strange. His eyes were bulging, his nose was too flat, and his lips were tiny and puckered. It was a face that couldn't exist in the real world.
'Shirone must have really hated that man,' Armin realized.
If this was the worst of it, then maybe nothing too terrible would happen to the rest of them. But for Shirone, seeing that man must have been his own personal nightmare.
Armin kept looking around and spotted a man serving food near a long table. This man stood out because he was wearing plain clothes that didn't fit the fancy castle at all. He had a red hat, a handsome beard, and he was proudly smoking a pipe in a place where no one was supposed to smoke.
This was Louver, a monster from the dream world who wasn't part of Shirone's mind. He was just an observer.
Louver turned and winked at Armin. But Armin just looked at him coldly and turned away. He wasn't there to make friends with strange dream creatures.
When Shirone finally reached the exit, the path they had walked faded away, and the sound of the music vanished completely.
Was the ball still going on behind them? They were all curious, but no one dared to look back. They had to keep their focus forward.
"We are here," said Armin, pointing at a large door. "Once we open this, we can go down into Shirone's mind."
"Okay," Amy replied, taking a deep, nervous breath. "From this moment on, we are entering Shirone's unconscious mind."
Amy knew that behind this door, she would find Shirone's truest feelings. She was a little scared, but she told herself, 'It doesn't matter. I'm not perfect either. Everyone has feelings they want to hide.'
Shirone stood frozen in front of the door. He didn't want to open it. Going downstairs seemed to make him feel a terrible conflict inside. Finally, he let go of the doorknob and turned to Amy with an unhappy look on his face.
"I really don't think you need to come with me… …" he started to say.
But suddenly, Shirone's eyes rolled back into his head. His whole body shook, like he was having a bad seizure, and he collapsed to the floor!
"Shirone!" Amy cried out, rushing to catch him.
She held him and checked on him. His face was as white as a sheet, and he was breathing so fast and wildly it seemed like he couldn't catch his breath.
"What's happening? What's wrong with him?" Amy asked, her voice full of panic.
Just then, a loud, rumbling vibration shook the Grand Hall. The ceiling began to crack, and huge stones, bigger than a person, started to fall!
"There's no time!" Armin yelled, shoving the door open. "His unconscious mind is collapsing!"
** Back in the real world, at the Kazura Royal Food Storage...**
The sharp steel wire from Xenoger finally sliced through Shirone's veins. Thousands of tiny drops of blood sprayed out, looking like a red mist frozen in slow motion.
The damage to his body in the real world was now hitting his mind like a powerful wave.
**Back to Shirone's Consciousness**
A massive, level 11 rainstorm was flooding the city. Half of it was already underwater! People caught in the fast-moving water were screaming in terror.
In the crowd of people being swept away, the fear took a physical form. A monster called an Egoist, which was born from the negative energy of Neid, appeared!
"Kiaaaaaa!" the Egoist screeched.
It thrashed its limbs, desperately trying to escape the flood. But the water was rising too fast. With one last, desperate scream, it was pulled under the surface and sank.