After learning that Firefly was on the run, Stelle was already extremely anxious. Now, seeing Black Swan's expression suddenly become complicated and stiff, the little raccoon's heart filled with even more worry and urgency.
"What happened? What happened now?" Stelle asked Black Swan anxiously.
"Well... that child among you named Nero, he... he...", Black Swan opened her mouth, but stopped herself.
It was the third time today that she had found herself unable to speak.
It was difficult for her to describe to Stelle what she had just seen. Even putting it into the simplest words was hard, because what Nero was doing was simply too unbelievable to anyone familiar with the memory domain.
The memory domain was an extremely unstable space. Even Memokeepers couldn't act recklessly inside it. One careless mistake could send them into the depths of the memory domain, and getting back out would be extremely difficult.
But that child, he actually... actually... was mowing through everything in the memory domain like an unbeatable warrior. He showed no concern whatsoever for the damage he was causing, and was even making the memory domain more chaotic.
Yet because of that strange collapse phenomenon surrounding the boy, the memory domain simply refused to fall into disorder.
No matter how violently it was stirred up, that turbulent state would collapse into stable reality instead of provoking the memory domain and creating whirlpools.
Black Swan had no doubt that without that bizarre collapse phenomenon, Nero would have long since been dragged into the depths of the memory domain and drowned in the sea of memoria.
"What's wrong with him? Hurry up and tell me! You're driving me crazy!" Seeing Black Swan stumbling over her words only made Stelle more anxious.
"He... he..."
Black Swan felt helpless too. It wasn't because she lacked experience, nor because she wasn't composed. Faced with a scene like this, even a Memokeeper with far more seniority than her would be scared out of their wits. Even someone calmer than her would end up speechless after seeing what Nero was doing.
No one from the Garden of Recollection could do any better. Anyone who saw this would react the same way. Even if Fuli Himself came personally, He would probably stand there in a daze for a while.
To put the current situation another way... While the little raccoon and Black Swan were still making a long journey, trying to escape their natural enemy and find a new home fit for survival, the little honey badger had already charged into a pride of lions by himself to seize their territory.
Not only did he take it, he also gave the lions a thorough beating, forcing those powerful and terrifying carnivores to abandon their homeland and look for a new place to live, as far away from the little honey badger as possible...
To a Memokeeper, Nero's reckless disruption of the memory domain was just as unbelievable.
It was practically a fantasy story.
After holding it in for a long time, Black Swan opened her eyes. She finally recovered from her shock, but in the end she could only say to Stelle,
"He's very safe..."
After learning that Nero was safe, so safe that there wasn't the slightest need to worry, Stelle relaxed a little.
Then she focused her attention on Firefly.
Black Swan acted quickly. Besides Firefly, she had also sensed the presence of Something Unto Death.
The situation was urgent. She began using one of a Memokeeper's special methods, collecting traces of Firefly's lingering thoughts from the memory domain to ensure that the passage she opened next would accurately lead to Firefly's location.
The next moment, as Black Swan activated her power, Stelle noticed the light and shadows before her begin to blur and twist. In the blink of an eye, they transformed into a passageway.
The three of them wasted no time and immediately followed it.
At the end of the passage was an elevator. After stepping inside, darkness engulfed Stelle's vision. She felt something thick and fluid spread over her, rising from her feet to her neck before flowing over the top of her head.
Countless lingering thoughts left behind in the memory domain echoed in her ears. Following Black Swan's instructions, Stelle did her best to pick out the ones that belonged to Firefly.
A short while later, the elevator doors opened.
The three of them stepped outside and found themselves in a corner of the hotel lobby.
It truly was an incredibly convenient ability, but it also carried the risk of disrupting the structure of the memory domain. To preserve its stability, Memokeepers rarely used such a "violent" method to transport people.
But right now...
Nero had already wrecked the structure of the dream beyond recognition anyway. A little more violence didn't matter. Saving people came first. The aura of "death" was very close behind them, so they had to move faster.
After arriving in this corner of the lobby, Black Swan reminded Stelle and Acheron to stay alert. Then the three of them headed toward the center.
Very soon, they spotted a figure there.
Perhaps because she had heard something, the girl turned around warily. But after recognizing who had come, the tension on her face eased, quickly changing into a gentle smile.
Stelle was delighted to see Firefly as well. She ran over, planning to ask how the treatment had gone, whether her body had recovered, and of course, why she had appeared here in the first place.
At that very moment, a dim starry sky spread above everyone's heads.
Something Unto Death, which Nero had previously slapped away, emerged from it and charged forward at tremendous speed.
The massive monster rushed past Black Swan, Acheron, and Stelle, grabbed Firefly, and hurled her high into the air.
Its front-facing face seemed... perhaps... maybe... swollen.
But normally, a Memory Zone Meme wasn't supposed to have something like a "swollen face."
After throwing Firefly into the air, Something Unto Death swung its blade-like floating wings and stabbed toward her.
Almost at the same time, something happened in the dream hotel's lobby that had already happened once before.
Even the main participants hadn't changed.
The instant Something Unto Death attacked, the dream hotel's lobby suddenly shook violently. With a deafening crash, the memoria structure making up the floor shattered, and a gigantic purple Tyrannosaurus burst upward.
Then, in the very next second, the fragments blasted out by the shattered floor froze motionless in midair as though time itself had stopped.
The boy cheered in a clear voice, "We're here!"
Immediately afterward, the head of the Shell of Faded Fury slammed into Something Unto Death's stomach, interrupting its attack and sending it flying.
The Shell of Faded Fury then landed steadily on the ground.
At that same instant, Stelle accelerated, rushing forward to catch the falling Firefly.
At this moment, Firefly, Acheron, and Black Swan all wore expressions of varying degrees of stunned disbelief.
Not far away, Something Unto Death staggered back to its feet, letting out a string of blurred syllables that no one could understand. Judging from the short, forceful sounds and its highly aggressive tone, it was probably cursing up a storm.
The moment it saw Nero, it was probably thinking, 'Why the hell is it you again!'