Armin nodded his head. "You are right. The reason Shirone was invited to the Kazura Castle is because he has the power of an archangel."
"I knew it!" Amy exclaimed. "Those bad guys! They weren't just trying to find their son."
Reina didn't know anything about heaven, so she didn't understand everything the two were saying. But she decided to stay quiet for now. She thought she could ask questions and learn the missing parts after she heard the whole story.
Suddenly, Amy raised her hand like she was in class. "Wait a minute. But why did they try to kill Shirone? If Shirone dies, wouldn't his Ataraxia power disappear, too?"
Armin closed his mouth for a moment. It was a sharp question. But he had already decided he shouldn't lie to them if he wanted their help. So, he decided to tell the truth.
"There is a reason for that," Armin began. "I think it was Arius's idea to kill Shirone. At first, he probably didn't want to go that far. He must have tried to sneak into Shirone's mind and make a copy of the Ataraxia power. But he failed."
"Why did he fail?" Amy asked. "Is it hard to copy?"
"There could be many reasons," Armin said. "But in my opinion, Ataraxia is not a power that a normal human can handle. If you force it into your mind, you could go crazy. So, the original owner placed it in a very, very deep part of Shirone's mind."
"What do you mean by a deep part?" asked Reina.
Armin held up one finger. "Let's call it Stage 1. It's in the deepest part of your mind that controls your instincts. If a power is planted there in the instinct realm, you would naturally accept it, even if it seems strange, as if you had it all along."
Amy nodded. She was finally starting to understand how all the pieces fit together.
Armin continued. "That deep instinct place is a safe space for you, but it is a terrible and dangerous place for others to visit. However, with Arius's great skills, he might be able to sneak into that deep place for a little while. Besides, it seems like he already tried. We know this because he put a mental door there."
"But the robbery still failed?" said Amy.
"That's what I think," Armin replied. "The power is probably protected by a lock that humans can't open. Or, it might be hidden inside a capsule that even Shirone himself can't see. That's why Arius decided to kill Shirone. The reason you can't just barge into the deep instinct mind is that your brain's defenses get stronger the deeper you go. If those unconscious defenses are triggered, even the best mind-divers could get trapped and never escape."
"Now I get it," Amy said, her voice shaking a little. "So, they cut Shirone's head… to break those defenses?"
"Exactly," Armin said sadly. "A person's deepest unconscious mind is connected to their body. So, when his throat was cut, his mind's defenses were shaken and weakened. Arius used that moment of weakness to attack."
Amy bit her lip, thinking hard. There was still one thing she didn't understand.
"Wait, something still seems wrong," she said. "Even if Arius gets to Stage 1 after breaking the defenses, what can he do there? If it's a power humans can't handle, he can't use it even if he copies it, right? He can't plant it in his own instincts like Shirone did."
Armin felt a chill. This was the part of the story that was a huge secret. He didn't want to tell them, but he knew he had to. He couldn't save Shirone without their help. They needed to understand this dangerous world.
"What you are about to hear is a top secret," Armin said, his voice very serious. "In every country, this is the most classified information. I shouldn't be telling you this, but I will."
The two women nodded, understanding the gravity of his words.
"The human mind…" Armin said slowly, "can be turned into a thing."
Amy blinked. At first, the words didn't make sense. It sounded too simple. But as she thought about it, she realized how crazy and amazing it was.
"So… a thought becomes a real object?" she asked, amazed.
Instead of answering right away, Armin asked his own question. "Have you ever heard the word 'Dremo'?"
Reina shook her head no. Amy also said she hadn't heard of it.
"Dremo is a multi-dimensional world made of thoughts," Armin explained. "Your brain uses energy to think. So, some people wonder, is a thought a kind of energy? Or is it something that energy helps create? Whatever it is, that thinking has to go somewhere. It escapes into a space called a dream."
"That sounds like the law of conservation of mass," Reina said. "Nothing is truly created or destroyed, it just changes form."
"You're right," said Armin. "Dremo is a special space you can only enter under certain conditions while you are dreaming. It's a giant imaginary place where all thoughts gather. So, here is the great idea: if thoughts can escape into Dremo, then the thoughts inside Dremo can also be brought back into the real world."
Amy looked completely bewildered. "Has anyone actually been to Dremo?"
"Of course!" Armin said. "Many people have. They go in through their dreams, and then they use a rule called 'equivalent exchange' to sneak things out. But it's not easy to bring out an idea unless you want it very, very badly. Anyway, this is how Arius steals thoughts."
"Wait," Amy said, her eyes growing wide as she started to understand. "That means the things from Dremo already exist as objects. So, that 'thing' you mentioned is… No way!"
Armin gave a bitter smile. "That's right. We call it an 'Objet'."
Amy finally understood why Armin had been so secretive. This was proof that thoughts weren't just empty energy—they could become real things.
"An Objet is literally a human mind that has been turned into a material thing," Armin said. "So, an Objet's power comes from a very personal and strong desire. Of course, that's not strange on its own. The only big problem is when you find out that it's all real."
Reina spoke up. "I've heard of Objets. A wizard I know told me they are objects that break the rules of the universe. But now that I've heard your explanation, it seems even they didn't get the story quite right."
"I'm sure they didn't," Armin agreed. "Very, very few people know about Dremo. Probably only kings and special government departments. An Objet might seem like it's ignoring the laws of nature, but if we accept that thoughts are a type of matter, then it's not really breaking the rules. We just still have a lot to learn about how Dremo and our reality affect each other."
"Like that story,
"Oh, you know about that?" Armin asked, surprised.
Reina blushed and shook her head. "No, not really. I just know the name. I was a performer at a royal family gathering once, and my ears are very good, so I overheard people talking about it. Sorry, I just said the name I knew…"
Armin smiled to let her know it was okay and told them the story of
"Did that really happen?" she asked, scared.
"The case is real," Armin confirmed. "But people disagree on whether the family head went crazy or if it was a strange event that balanced the dimensions. What is clear is that something impossible happened, and in the end, an Objet was left behind. Maybe someone in that family contacted Dremo. I can't tell you the conditions for going to Dremo, but sometimes, people can get in just by accident."
Amy was very curious about those conditions, but she thought it would be rude to ask for more big secrets.
"Anyway, the connection between Dremo and reality is something humans can't predict," Armin said. "So, going to Dremo is considered a very serious crime in every country. The diving magic itself isn't bad—it's used by doctors to help people who are sick in the mind. But you need a special license. Arius is abusing that magic. That's why he's called a 'grave robber,' not a 'diver.' He is being hunted all over the world as a Double S-class criminal because of this."
Reina looked very tired. "In a way… we have to deal with some truly powerful and scary people."
Armin admitted that it wasn't easy. "To be honest, if he didn't commit crimes, Arius would be known as a brilliant genius. Diving is a job that requires a huge amount of intelligence."
Amy decided to put all the pieces together. "Let me sort this out. Arius is trying to steal Ataraxia. He planned to hurt Shirone to break his mental defenses and is now going into Stage 1. From there, he will steal Ataraxia and go to Dremo. Then he will bring it back into the real world as an Objet. If that happens…?"
Just imagining it gave Amy goosebumps. This was also the real reason Armin had come here and used his magic to stop time.
"You are right," Armin said grimly. "Ataraxia would become an Objet. The archangel's power would become a tool that anyone could use. This is a very, very serious problem."
Faced with this scary reality, the two women fell silent. They were lost in their own worried thoughts.
Being trapped in a stopped time field doesn't mean your thoughts stop.
Shirone's thoughts, his feelings, and what he saw were all moving incredibly fast. But the world around him, and the actions happening to him, were moving incredibly slow.
That is why Shirone was still feeling a wild, panicked impulse. And that feeling was growing stronger and stronger in the slow flow of time.
At the same time, the sharp steel wire from his enemy, Xenoger, was slowly, slowly digging into Shirone's neck. It was filled with powerful energy, but its movement was like thick syrup.
The sound of his skin breaking spread slowly through the air. Even slower than that… the special mark on Shirone's neck began to be stained with drops of his own blood.
Flash!
For one instant, the world outside the window turned bright gold.
Rumble! Bang! Kwa-Kwa-Kwak!
A sound of thunder, loud enough to shake the heavens and the earth, roared through the world.
Amy looked out the window with a terrified expression. It was a storm more radical than any she had ever heard in real life.
She thought she was too old to be scared of thunder, but this roar was so mighty that a deep, human fear gripped her heart.
"It's really amazing," she whispered. "It sounds like the thunder is crashing right in front of us."
Armin also looked outside. "The fear of death, rising from Shirone's unconscious mind, is now coming to the surface. But this is actually pretty good. If an average person were in this situation, their mind would be in total chaos. It's only because it's Shirone that he is enduring it."
Amy smiled a sad smile. Earlier, Armin had scolded her, but now he was praising Shirone. She thought about how good it would feel for Shirone to be recognized by such a great wizard. It made her sad that Shirone wasn't here to hear it.
'Well,' she thought, 'all of this scary weather is happening because of what's happening to Shirone right now.'
Armin didn't want them to get too sentimental. He brought them back to the danger. "Even now, Sein is strangling Shirone. It will get worse and worse, and Shirone's mind will start to collapse from the bottom up. The result of that collapse is what you see happening to Stage 11 outside this window. In the end, this creates the perfect conditions for Arius to dive into the deep sea of Shirone's mind."
Amy quickly focused. "Is there a way? A way to save Shirone?"
Stopping Arius and Sein wasn't enough. If the time field was released now, Shirone would die immediately from his wounds.
"Right now, there is only one way," Armin said. "We must also travel through the dream area and dig down into the depths of his mind. It's already too late to fix anything in the real world. But if we can plant a helpful idea deep in his unconscious mind, it might be possible to save him."
Everything that happens in Shirone's consciousness becomes real for him. So, Armin's plan was to plant a way for Shirone to save himself, right into the deepest part of his mind before the crisis happened.
"Like Ataraxia, are you going to plant magic?" asked Reina.
Armin scratched his head, looking a little frustrated. "That is the hard part. I actually don't know how Shirone came to possess that magic in the first place. It must be something unique to the archangel. But we are just humans. However, if we go deep enough, we might be able to engrave something simpler, like a set of instructions for what to do."