The wagon carrying Armin and his friends raced toward a giant gate. The wheels splashed through rainwater that was as deep as their knees. When the wagon turned onto a bumpy mountain road, it bounced over the rocks, making Amy and Reina hold onto their seats tightly with both hands.
"It looks like we'll be there soon. I'm glad it isn't too far," said Armin.
Amy leaned her head out the window. The sky was covered in dark, black clouds, but she saw a huge pillar of light shining down through them, like a hole had been punched in the sky.
As they passed through the gate, the sound of the pouring rain suddenly stopped. They now found themselves in a sunny, warm meadow.
After they all got out of the wagon, Armin and the group looked back the way they had come. They could see lightning, like static electricity, flashing between the dark clouds and the land. The coachman's face was still hard to see, even in the sunlight. Amy thought that even Shirone seemed like a person who didn't leave a strong impression right now.
They saw Shirone sitting in the meadow on a hillside, looking at the flowers. Since his back was to them, they couldn't see his face, but he was the only person in this mental world.
As he turned his head to watch some butterflies fluttering by, they saw the side of his face, which held a peaceful and beautiful smile.
Reina, who now understood this was a mental world, was amazed. Even though the real world was in a terrible situation, Shirone's spirit was perfectly calm. She felt she understood why he could always make such good decisions during so many dangerous times.
'But… can we even talk to him?' Reina thought, feeling nervous.
This wasn't the real Shirone, but a version of him created by his own mind. Because this version was made of pure emotion, he might react in unexpected ways and hurt their feelings without meaning to.
"Let's go. We have nowhere else to go anyway," Armin said, gently pushing Reina forward toward Shirone.
Sensing someone was there, Shirone turned his head. Reina gulped.
"Huh? Mr. Armin? Sister Reina, you're here too?" Shirone greeted them with a bright, happy expression.
"It has been a long time. How have you been?" Armin asked. He looked at Shirone carefully.
'This is truly amazing,' Armin thought.
This mental version of Shirone looked almost exactly like his usual self. Armin had met the mental versions of many famous people, and they often showed their hidden, disappointing sides. But Shirone was different. His heart was pure, not because he was pretending for others, but because he had truly polished his character since he was young.
"But what are you all doing here?" the mental Shirone asked. He knew this was the spirit world, but he couldn't separate it from reality, like how you sometimes don't know you're in a dream.
Reina whispered to Armin, "Doesn't Shirone know why we're here? We kept giving him hints."
"We can't be sure how much he knows," Armin explained quietly. "This version of him is in charge of everything here, but it doesn't contain his full, conscious will."
"Excuse me…!" they heard Amy say in a strained voice.
When they turned, they saw a huge, two-meter-tall monster called an Egoist. It had four arms, and one of its upper arms had turned into a rope that was wrapped tightly around Amy's neck!
Reina looked around for the coachman, but he was gone.
But why did Shirone's mind create an Egoist? Wasn't he friendly with them?
"Shirone, why is that thing here?" Armin asked urgently.
"It's just… seeing Amy annoys me," Shirone answered simply.
Armin sighed. This was exactly what he was afraid of. In the real world, logic connects causes and effects. But here, in the mind, everything is ruled by the feelings of the moment. This mental Shirone couldn't use logic to control his emotions.
"Shirone, you need to try and control your feelings right now," Armin said firmly. "As you can probably feel, your real self is in great danger. You need our help, and you need Amy's help too."
Armin's words didn't make Shirone understand why he felt that way, but because his life was at stake, the mental Shirone agreed to try. As he pushed his annoyance down, the Egoist faded away and turned into black smoke.
Amy, coughing and rubbing her neck, looked at Shirone with sad eyes. She had been prepared for this, but it still hurt to be treated so harshly.
"What is the reason? Shouldn't you tell me so I can try to fix it?" Amy asked.
But even this Shirone didn't know the reason. Memories about Amy bubbled up in his mind, but since he couldn't put them in order or understand why he felt that way, all he could feel was the raw emotion. Shirone turned away from her and looked at Armin.
"What should we do now?" Shirone asked.
"First, we need to go deep into your mind. To fix this, we have to catch up with the intruder," Armin explained.
"But I don't know the way down," said Shirone.
"Yes, you do," Armin reassured him. "The reason you're so calm is because a part of you knows what's happening. Your logic is just broken, so you can't figure it out. Just think about needing to go down, and tell me the first place that comes to your mind."
Shirone thought deeply for a moment, then pointed toward some mountains in the west.
"It's not exact…" he said.
"That's good enough. Let's go," said Armin. He sat in the coachman's seat since the original driver had disappeared.
After driving for about an hour in the direction Shirone pointed, they arrived at a small village. A heavy rain was falling there, but the moment Shirone entered the village, the weather cleared up as if by magic.
Shirone led the party to a shabby, old stable. He brushed aside a pile of soft straw on the floor, revealing a hidden door leading to a basement.
"Oh, there really is a door!" Reina exclaimed.
"It's more like the door appeared because Shirone believed it would be there," Armin explained. "Remember this feeling, Shirone. At this speed, we should be able to catch up with Arius and Zion."
When Shirone heard the names Arius and Zion, his face twisted into a fierce, angry scowl.
Armin looked around in shock. The expression was gone now, but for a moment, he had felt a powerful, dangerous presence.
'What was that? What just happened?' Armin thought.
He realized he needed to change his plan. This mental Shirone might look calm on the surface, but there was clearly much more happening underneath.
Deep in Shirone's Mind: Level 8
Arius was pushing deeper into Shirone's mind, gathering information on his own. The place he was now exploring was a disgusting landfill where the smell was so bad it was hard to even breathe.
Zion held a handkerchief over his mouth as the foul smell blew in the wind.
'What in the world is this smell? It doesn't even smell like a normal dead body,' he thought. The horrible smell was actually the form of a deep fear that Shirone felt.
Arius, who was already used to such things, ignored the stench. He grabbed a man who was passing by and asked, "Where is the nearest library?"
The man, who was covering his own nose, just pointed in a direction and hurried away.
Arius headed where the man pointed. When he entered the library, the awful smell disappeared and it became easy to breathe again.
Zion shook out his handkerchief and threw it on the ground, thinking it was ruined. He looked around the library and said, "This is the library?"
Arius ignored Zion and focused on looking at the books. The books were sorted, but the titles on the covers were wiggly and messy, like earthworms, so it was impossible to tell what they were about.
However, a few books in one corner had clear titles. These were books about Shirone's major subject: photonics.
Arius walked along the bookshelves, looking only at the covers. Then he pulled out a book called 'God Particles.' He took the book and hit the wall with it.
A glowing rectangle appeared on the wall. Then, the wall vanished into the air, revealing a staircase leading down.
"I've been curious," Zion said. "How do you find things like that?"
"I trace the flow of energy that is connected to Shirone's unconscious mind," Arius explained. "Every object here has a meaning. It requires study. You could say you need an excellent understanding of how minds work."
"Right," Zion said, already losing interest. As always, he thought complicated jobs should be left to the experts. He just wanted to find the thing called Ataraxia and get out of this place as fast as possible.
When they opened the door to the 7th level, a large plaza spread out before them. Here, there was no heavy rain, no bone-chilling cold, and no rotting stench.
Zion felt relieved and adjusted the leather strap of his weapon, Armand, on his waist.
"Now this is a place worth being in," Zion said.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, a man fell from the sky and landed right in front of them! The man fell face down and died instantly.
When they looked around, they saw people climbing onto the roofs of every building. People who had given up on life were jumping off, one after another. In a window, they could see a woman hanging herself from a chair.
"What in the world is this?" Zion asked, disgusted.
Arius, who was watching from behind Zion, spoke up. "Level 7 is the last layer before entering the deepest part of the mind. It is a very strong layer. these mental copies of people are showing what happens when someone has a complete nervous breakdown."
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!" two sisters screamed as they fell from the fourth floor. Their screams were full of terror.
Zion frowned. He didn't care about the sisters dying, and the bloody corpses didn't bother him. He just wished they would die quietly without all the noise.
"Let's go quickly. This floor is annoying," Zion demanded.
"No. We will stay here for a while," Arius said. "If the real Shirone's mental self finds us now, it will be a big problem. This chaos will slow him down and let us get to the depths much faster than he can."
"Hmph. So, what do we do?" Zion asked.
Arius pointed toward a castle on the other side of the city. "Here, you will meet the Master of Consciousness. He is Shirone's 'super ego'—the part of his mind that criticizes himself. We divers call it the Antithesis."
"Antithesis?" Zion repeated.
"It is a being that exists to judge and criticize Shirone. It is very strong, almost as strong as an Egoist, but it should be weaker now because Shirone is facing death. Fighting it will slow Shirone down and buy us time."
Arius then turned and started walking north. The people in this plaza were so on edge that they might attack if someone just bumped into them, so they had to be very careful.
The place they arrived at was a castle, but it was so small it looked like a toy compared to a real one. Still, it had a cute look to it. Seven red towers rose over the wall, and guards stood at the entrance behind a tiny moat that was more like a creek.
As Arius and Zion walked under the archway, the guards crossed their spears, blocking the entrance.
"Stop! Who are you?" one guard demanded.
"We are here to meet the ruler of this place," Arius announced.
"Ignite is on sick leave. Go away," the guard replied.
Arius gave a meaningful smile. The ruler of this area often took the name of the person of the opposite sex who left the strongest impression. And Ignite was the name of a powerful fire magic spell.
"That is precisely why we are here," Arius said smoothly. "We have a medicine that can cure his illness."
The guards looked at each other, confused. After a moment, one guard went into the castle. He returned a short time later and allowed Arius and Zion to enter.
Inside, the castle was not glamorous. It looked more like an army barracks on the front lines. The soldiers were very tense, but under Ignite's control, they were still doing their jobs.
At the end of a great hall, covered with a red carpet, sat Ignite. He was resting his chin on his hand. He was nearly two meters tall and had a handsome face with a striking brown beard.