An emergency disaster response team was established in the Exilion Empire.

The unidentifiable situation that occurred in Leathervelk had long since reached many people's ears.

From Leathervelk to Theon, the entire metropolis with a total population of over 500,000 was engulfed in golden powder and fell into silence.

First Princess Eileen immediately gathered people and summoned capable individuals from across the country.

The nobles and corporations, who were usually sluggish in such matters, responded quickly.

Since most children from good families were attending Theon, they couldn't sit still as parents, so they dispatched the first delegation to Leathervelk, but they never returned.

"This is serious."

Luther Wardot frowned as he looked at the distant view of Leathervelk.

Originally, Leathervelk was an industrially developed area with factory chimneys and white steam emerging from everywhere.

Even when seen from afar, the sight couldn't be called particularly good, but compared to the current scene, those times seemed better.

Now golden powder covered the entire city.

It looked like sand from the southern desert, or as if finely ground gold had been scattered everywhere.

A sight that would be believable even if sunset-tinged clouds had descended directly to the ground.

While it might seem dreamlike and beautiful from some perspectives, such appreciation wouldn't come once you roughly heard what happened inside.

The first delegation went in there and communication was cut off.

After that, they tried to send a second delegation, but after seeing those watching nearby immediately fall asleep, they had no choice but to pull people back.

"It's slowly but surely expanding its range."

First Princess Eileen, standing beside Luther, said while staring at the city.

Her eyes were more complex than ever before.

"Are you worried about Third Princess Erendir?"

"Hmph. Why would I care about that insufficient one?"

"Well, it can't be helped then."

"...Well, I do feel somewhat sorry. This isn't her own fault but purely close to a disaster."

"For a disaster, it's hard to shake the perception that someone caused it."

Luther and Eileen could tell that the golden cloud did not occur naturally.

If anything, it had to be seen as similar to the black storm that occurred in the capital previously.

That meant demons might be involved in this incident as well.

"It's quiet now, but the range is gradually increasing. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before the entire empire is covered."

"Will it just be the empire? Neighboring countries won't be safe either."

They tried various attempts to remove the golden cloud, but it was useless.

It wouldn't disappear with reagents, artifacts, or magic.

Rather, the moment someone tried to approach closely to attempt something, the golden cloud put that person to sleep as well.

"It doesn't kill, but puts them in a sleep they can't wake from. So when is the expert coming?"

"Your Highness."

At that moment, Eileen's sword Pasius rushed over hurriedly.

"They've arrived."

No one asked who had arrived but Eileen and Luther immediately moved.

The two arrived at the response team command room, and there they could meet an old woman who had arrived first and was waiting.

"It's an honor to meet the rumored Master of the Dream School."

Eileen greeted the old woman with courtesy.

Though she was someone who never bowed her head to anyone, the old woman before her was someone worthy of such treatment.

The Master of the Dream School, Clara Cowen, returned the greeting while making wrinkles around her eyes.

"Yes. I too am honored to meet the future of the empire. However, now is not the time to exchange such introductions."

"Yes. Then let's begin right away."

"Children, come in."

As Clara tapped her staff, the Dream School mages waiting outside came rushing in.

"Huh, what's all this?"

"Oh my. So many distinguished people."

"I'm tired, can I take a nap here?"

People entered while each made their own comments.

They were unrestrained people compared to the prestige of the Dream School.

"So what are your plans?"

Luther asked the Dream School mages.

Since this disaster had put people to sleep, only the Dream School could solve it.

Facing such Luther, only Zantman stepped forward as representative and spoke.

"We will enter the Dreamland."

Though Zantman had been playing tricks on Julia, he was different at this moment.

His eyes were glowing ominously.

"Since the root of this situation lies deep in the Dreamland, we must go there and remove the source of the cause."

* * *

"It's truly a spectacular sight."

At the edge of a cliff overlooking distant Leathervelk, Zero Order let out words of admiration while looking at the city completely covered in golden clouds.

Franz, standing beside him, said nothing.

However, Franz's gaze toward those clouds wasn't very good.

"Oh dear, I was a bit short-sighted. I'm sorry about that."

"That's not true. I was just frustrated by my own incompetence."

"Don't worry too much. It's not your fault that the situation turned out like this. Who could have known that Nirva would take possession of Gregorium's body?"

That day when Zero Order and Franz kidnapped Gregorium they sent Gregorium to the Dreamland after subduing him.

The goal was to check if Nirva, who had been sleeping deep in the Dreamland for a long time, had awakened.

They thought that Nirva, who looked down on humans, would somehow interfere with Gregorium.

For instance, making him never wake from sleep.

Given Nirva's personality, there was no way he would just let a human go.

It should have been a simple matter of just watching whether Gregorium woke up or not but the timing of his awakening was somewhat ambiguous.

"I should have noticed something there too."

Zero Order shook his head.

Nirva had cunningly used the human who entered his domain in reverse.

He deliberately took control of Gregorium's inner self and used him to carry out his plans.

That day, the awakened Gregorium was no longer Gregorium, Nirva was wearing him as a shell.

To think they didn't suspect that and just let it pass.

"I've really gotten rusty."

"It couldn't be helped. Who could have known that demon would act like that?"

"Right? So you shouldn't blame yourself too much either."

"..."

At Franz's silence, Zero Order gave a bitter smile.

"You're strict only with yourself. Is that why you left the school and joined hands with me?"

Franz remained silent.

Zero Order hadn't expected an answer either. Still, he couldn't help but complain.

"Such is my fate. One of my arms is too self-critical, and the other one wishes for my death. It makes me feel like my body isn't even my own."

"...I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry. What's important now is how we solve Nirva's scheme."

The golden clouds covering all of Leathervelk might look beautiful on the surface, but their effects were not.

"Nirva's dream powder. I never thought I'd see it again in my lifetime."

The demon Nirva, an apostle of dreams, and simultaneously a being shunned even among the apostles.

"Powder that makes you fall into eternal sleep just by touching it. Magic and mental barriers are useless because that's an 'authority'."

Eternal sleep was ultimately no different from death.

That's why Nirva was called an apostle of death as well as an apostle of dreams.

Moreover, while the apostles usually had a common goal after 'that day,' Nirva's direction was completely different.

The goal was the same, but the method of achieving it was different, you could say.

He could kill even fellow apostles without hesitation if it was for his own purposes, that's why he was also the target Zero Order was most wary of.

Still, they thought it would be fine since he was sleeping deep in the Dreamland, but to think he would wake up again.

"It's quite ironic that while he makes others fall into eternal sleep, he himself doesn't."

But this was also a foreseen causality.

That's why Zero Order wasn't surprised by this situation.

"What will you do?"

"I can't stop you when the goal of your lifetime has appeared before your eyes."

Franz nodded with a hardened face.

What was the reason he left the Dream School and joined hands with Zero Order?

It was revenge against the culprit who drove his precious father mad.

And now that culprit has completely awakened from sleep and is stretching.

Even now watching from afar, his fists clenched involuntarily.

"But you know? You won't last long."

"I know."

"I'll be honest. You absolutely cannot defeat Nirva as you are now."

Franz couldn't refute those harsh words.

There was nothing wrong with what Zero Order said but knowing that, Franz still wanted to fight because if not now, there would be no chance.

"So if you're going to do it, do it properly."

"What do you mean by properly...?"

"To win, throw away all pride."

Zero Order turned to look at Franz.

The moment he met that gaze, Franz felt something indescribable.

The founder of the Black Dawn Society, a man whose true identity is still shrouded in mystery, a strong one who overwhelms everything around just by existing, but now was somehow different.

Zero Order's gaze looking at Franz wasn't as an absolute being.

Rather, it was one that fully understood and empathized with his position, at the same time, a gaze of sympathy and concern.

"Don't forget. If it can't be done with your power alone, borrow the power of others. Don't hesitate to ask for help and bow your head. You want to win, right? Then kneel as much as needed. Like you did to me."

"But there's no one like that."

"There is."

Zero Order spoke with conviction.

"You'll know when you go in. Because right now, in that dream, there's someone who can give you the greatest help."

* * *

Rudger opened his eyes.

Opening closed eyes is the act of waking from sleep but this wasn't reality.

Is opening eyes in a dream world waking from sleep or falling into a new sleep?

Thinking it was quite a strange contemplation even to himself, Rudger lifted his head to look up at the sky.

In the middle layer of the Dreamland the sky was clear enough to remind one of the bright daylight outside.

If the upper layer of the Dreamland was night, the middle layer was the opposite.

Though there was no sun, the blue sky was full of light.

-Kukvakwakwa!

An earsplitting sound rang and Rudger gazed at the endless waterfalls pouring from the sky.

The waterfalls were falling from black holes pierced throughout the blue sky.

Perhaps one of those was the passage through which he came down from the upper layer.

'The middle layer feels very different from the upper layer.'

Rudger looked around.

This was an island. Moreover, a large island floating in the sky and outside the island were countless other islands.

Their positions and shapes were all different, some islands were deserts, some tropical rainforests, some were massive lakes in themselves along with countless waterfalls pouring between them.

The middle layer of the Dreamland was such a world.

'The people, are they scattered?'

Though they entered almost simultaneously, no people were visible around.

The number of islands visible to the eye alone was over a hundred.

Thinking of everything beyond that, the scale would be beyond imagination.

'Finding people in a place like this might be quite difficult.'

Suddenly he recalled what Julia had said.

That from the middle layer, a proper guide was needed.

Rudger felt he could understand why.

'But it's easy to know where to go.'

Rudger stood at the edge of the island and looked down.

Below too were countless islands, and waterfalls were pouring between those islands.

He doesn't know what lies even further below.

If this is the middle layer, to go to the deeper parts of the Dreamland, going down there would be right.

Rudger thought so and jumped off the cliff edge.

Some might call it crazy, but Rudger's action was natural.

At the sensation of falling from high altitude, Rudger immediately tried to unfold flight magic.

'Hmm?'

Magical power isn't operating as well as expected.

The formula he had implemented became blurry and scattered like broken thread.

This sensation existed in the upper layer too, but the middle layer was much worse.

'They said from the middle layer, it becomes a world where the unconscious grows stronger.'

For mages who draw formulas with their brain and reason, the intervention of the unconscious was a tremendous obstacle.

Even so, this didn't apply to Rudger.

Reconnecting the broken magical power, he quickly restored the formula.

There was some resistance, but the magic unfolded without problems.

Rudger carefully observed other islands while gliding down slowly.

After descending for who knows how long he saw light flashing with tumultuous roaring from one island.

Following that, the waves created by magical power could be felt on his skin.

"Found them."

There were survivors there.

Rudger set his direction and flew that way.