[293] 6. A Massive Secret (2)
Armin nodded.
"That's right. Shirone was invited to Kazra Castle because he possesses the power of an archangel."
"So that's it. Damn them! They weren't just trying to find their son."
Rena didn't know about heaven, so she couldn't fully follow the two of them, but she kept quiet for now. It wouldn't be too late to fill in the gaps after hearing the whole story.
Amy suddenly raised her hand.
"Wait. Why were they trying to kill Shirone? If Shirone dies, wouldn't the Ataraxia disappear too?"
Armin closed his mouth. Sharp question. He had decided, from the moment he accepted their help, that he wouldn't lie, so he answered honestly.
"There's a reason. The plan to kill Shirone probably came from Arius. I don't think he originally intended to go that far. He likely planned to infiltrate Shirone's mind and copy the Ataraxia. But he failed."
"Why? Is copying it difficult?"
"There are many variables, but I think Ataraxia isn't something a human can handle. If you forcibly attach it to some point in consciousness, it can drive you mad. So the original owner appears to have engraved it very deep."
"How deep?"
Armin raised a finger.
"Stage One: it would be in the primordial consciousness that governs instinct. If you plant something in the realm of instinct, even the most bizarre concepts are accepted as if they'd always been there."
Amy nodded. It finally clicked.
Armin went on.
"Instinct is a safe place for the self but a terrible place for outsiders. With Arius's skill, he could probably dive into the primordial consciousness briefly. And he seems to have tried—there's a door set in place, after all."
"And still he failed to tomb-rob it?"
"That's the only conclusion. It's likely protected by a cipher no human can break, or engraved in a capsule even Shirone can't perceive. That's why Arius decided to kill him. The deeper you go into the primordial, the stronger the defensive instincts become. Once the unconscious security mechanisms trigger, even the greatest diver would be trapped and drown."
"Now I see. So that's why they went for Shirone's neck…"
"Exactly. The human unconscious takes root deep in the body. If the neck is severed, the unconscious's defensive systems collapse. Arius was counting on that chance."
Amy bit her lip and fell into thought. One thing still didn't add up.
"Um, something still doesn't make sense. Even if Arius collapses the unconscious and reaches Stage One, what can he do there? If it's an ability humans can't handle, even if he copies it he couldn't use it, right? There's no way to engrave it into instinct like Shirone has."
Armin had expected this question. From here on, the matter was something he had hoped not to disclose.
'I didn't want to reveal this if I could help it…'
But without their help Shirone couldn't be saved. To raise their chances even a little, they needed to understand this world.
"What you're about to hear is classified at the highest security level in any nation. Of course, there are secrets within secrets, but I will tell you."
The two women nodded. They couldn't promise to keep silent simply because they understood what Armin meant by his last sentence.
"A human mind… can be turned into an object."
Amy blinked. At first it didn't register, and compared to what she had expected it felt anticlimactic.
Gradually, though, as Armin's words sank in, she realized how absurd—and how dangerous—what he was saying was.
"So the mind becomes a thing?"
Armin delayed a direct answer and asked an odd question.
"Have you ever heard of Drimo?"
Rena shook her head first, and Amy followed.
Armin continued as if it were obvious.
"Drimo is a multidimensional mental world. The human brain uses energy to think. So are thoughts energy? Some say energy merely powers the brain and thought is another concept—a product of that energy. Those products must be released somewhere. That place is the dream space."
"Like the law of conservation of mass," Amy said.
"Exactly. Drimo is a space you can enter when certain conditions are met in a dream. It's a complex of imagination where all thoughts converge. From that comes a startling hypothesis: if thoughts can flow out into Drimo, then conversely you can bring thoughts from Drimo into reality."
Amy asked, dazed.
"Are there actually people who have gone to Drimo?"
"Why not? No—there are countless people. They enter through dreams and cleverly use the rule of equivalent exchange to smuggle things out. But concepts lacking powerful desire are hard to smuggle. In any case, Arius digs up thoughts that way."
"Wait. That means objects that crossed over from Drimo already exist. So those are—"
Amy's eyes widened as realization hit.
"You mean the things are—"
Arius gave a bitter smile.
"Yes. We call them Objets."
Amy understood why Armin had warned them. This was evidence that shattered the old hypothesis that thought is merely energy.
"Literally, an Objet is a human mind materialized. So an Objet's abilities are rooted in intensely personal desires. Within thought it's perfectly natural. The problem arises when it manifests in reality."
Rena spoke up.
"I already know about Objets. A mage acquaintance said they violate the laws of the universe. But from what I'm hearing now, even they didn't fully understand."
Armin agreed.
"That's likely. Very few people—even among the upper echelons or royalty—know about Drimo. Outside the king, it's probably restricted to a dedicated bureau. An Objet seems to defy causality, but if you accept the idea that thought is a kind of matter, it doesn't literally break the laws of the universe. Still, much about the interaction between reality and Drimo remains unknown."
"Like the 'Final Cry of the Jaeger Household,'" Rena said.
"Oh? You know of it?"
Rena blushed and shook her head.
"No. I only knew the name. I once performed at a royal gathering and have keen hearing, so I picked up a lot. Sorry—just something I remembered."
Armin smiled and told an anecdote about the "Final Cry of the Jaeger Household." Amy listened, fascinated, and shuddered at the ending.
"Did that actually happen?"
"It was a real incident. Whether it was the lord's psychosis or a phenomenon restoring dimensional balance is debated. The clear fact is they experienced something impossible and an Objet remained. Maybe someone in that household contacted Drimo. I can't reveal the conditions to reach Drimo, but accidental entry isn't entirely impossible."
Amy wanted to ask about those conditions but held back, sensing it would be impolite to pry.
"In any case, the relationship between Drimo and reality is beyond human prediction. That's why approaching Drimo is treated as a major crime everywhere. Dive magic itself isn't inherently evil—it's used to treat mental illness and requires a formal diver license. But Arius abuses it. That's why he's called a tomb-robber rather than a diver. Approaching Drimo is taboo everywhere. That's why Arius is hunted worldwide as a Double-S-class criminal."
Rena went pale.
"In a way… we're up against someone extraordinary."
Armin admitted it wouldn't be easy.
"If he hadn't committed crimes, he'd still be an exceptionally brilliant mind. Diving requires enormous intellectual ability."
Amy summarized what she'd heard so far.
"Let me put it together. Arius is after the Ataraxia. He planned murder to collapse Shirone's unconscious and is heading for Stage One. From there he'll steal the Ataraxia and go to Drimo, then smuggle it back into reality. If that happens—"
The thought made Amy's skin crawl. That was exactly why Armin had come here, even binding Keira with stop magic.
"That's right. Ataraxia would become an Objet. The archangel's power would become a tool anyone could use. This is extremely serious."
"..."
The two women fell silent, facing a reality they didn't want to accept.
@
Being trapped in a time field doesn't mean becoming a fool.
The acceleration of thought, the acceleration of emotion, the acceleration of perception—those remained; only the pace at which events unfolded had slowed.
So Shirone was still impulsive, and in the slow flow of time that impulse only intensified.
Likewise, Zenoger's force-strand drove its powerful energy into Shirone's neck within the slowed time.
The sound of flesh splitting spread slowly, and even more slowly… the fissure on Shirone's neck darkened with blood.
@
Flash!
For an instant, the view outside the window turned gold.
Rumble! Boom! Crash!
Thunder shook the world with a roar that seemed to tear heaven and earth apart.
Amy stared out the window, terrified. It was a violent natural phenomenon the like of which was rare even in the waking world.
She thought she was too old to fear thunder, but the cataclysmic blast gripped her with a primordial fear.
"This is incredible. It feels like thunder struck right in front of us."
Armin peered outside and said, "The fear of death that's perceived in the unconscious has risen to the surface. But for now, this is relatively mild. If a normal person were in this state, it would already be carnage. Only someone like Shirone can endure it."
Amy gave a rueful smile. Unlike herself, who had been scolded earlier, Armin acknowledged Shirone.
What must it feel like to be recognized by such a great mage? That Shirone wasn't here made her sad.
'Well—this is all Shirone's doing…'
Armin checked himself against sentimentality.
"The force-strand is still tightening around Shirone's neck. It will get worse, and the collapse will begin from below. You can see its effects in the current state of Stage Eleven. Ultimately, the minimum conditions for Arius to dive into the depths will be met."
Amy snapped back to reality.
"Is there no way? Any way to save Shirone?"
Stopping Arius and Zion wouldn't be enough. If the time field broke, Shirone would die immediately.
"For now there's only one method. We must also enter the REM domain and dive down to the depths. It's already too late to undo what's happened in reality. But if we can implant something in the depths of his mind, it might work."
Everything happening in Shirone's consciousness would immediately become his. The plan was to pre-implant a response in the unconscious for this life-or-death crisis.
"Like planting magic in him, like the Ataraxia?"
Armin scratched his head.
"That's impossible. I don't even know how Shirone came to possess that magic. It must have been something unique to an archangel. We can't do that. But simple behavioral directives could be engraved if we penetrate deep enough."