Ludger silently looked at the dead Lucid.
Lucid, whose life had ended, slowly turned into golden dust and scattered away.
It was the sand Nirva had stirred up.
The golden sand rode the wind and drifted far off, disappearing beyond sight.
Since he was born by Nirva, he had merely returned to him.
“Professor! Are you all right?”
Sedina approached, checking Ludger’s condition.
Considering that Ludger usually carried mana recovery potions with him, the power he had just displayed was clearly an overexertion anyone could see.
“I’m fine.”
Yet despite such a battle, Ludger was unscathed.
No headache, no labored breathing. If anything was strange, it was only a faint sense of haze in his head.
It was an unfamiliar sensation born from manifesting all his abilities through vivid imagination.
Even that would soon disappear with a little rest.
“T-to think it really came true just by imagining it.”
“Didn’t you see Seridan make dynamite?”
“Still. The sight you showed us was far too different from that.”
Ludger stroked his chin.
Indeed, when he thought about it, it was.
“You don’t need to worry. In fact, in an environment like this, I can use my original abilities without much backlash. That’s a relief.”
“B-but what about the others?”
Lucid had introduced himself as one of the Five Apostles.
That meant there were still four others equal in strength to him remaining.
Since they had come here chasing powerful auras, it was highly likely battles were erupting elsewhere.
Ludger had fought well, but could the others really do the same?
“What if the seniors of Owens are defeated...?”
“That’s needless worry. Those guys aren’t the type to be taken down so easily.”
“But this is Dreamland.”
“It is because it’s Dreamland that I say so.”
Ludger’s eyes did not waver.
His belief was sincere—that his comrades would not fall.
Seeing his gaze, Sedina let out a faint breath.
“You look as though it’s hard for me to understand.”
“T-that’s...”
“If I had gathered people only for pure talent and ability, Owens would be much larger than it is now.”
“Then there was another reason you chose them?”
“Yes.”
Sedina’s eyes widened at that.
Now that she herself was a member of Owens, she was curious what standard Ludger had used to pick people.
“The eyes.”
“The... eyes?”
Perhaps because it was such an unexpected answer, Sedina unconsciously brushed her own eyelids with her fingers.
“You can tell from a person’s gaze. Whether they have only strength and talent, or if they hold something more.”
“And that ‘something more’ is what?”
“I don’t know either.”
“Eh.”
The anticlimactic answer made Sedina drop her shoulders.
“Disappointed?”
“N-no? Not exactly...”
“I won’t ask you to understand. What I see is something dwelling within those eyes. What that is, no one else can define. Only the person themselves decides that.”
“But,” Ludger continued, breaking the pause,
“Most of those with such eyes possess a spirit stronger than anyone else’s.”
“Then... was that why you chose me, Professor?”
“What do you think?”
When Ludger asked while turning to her, Sedina instinctively averted her eyes.
If she stared into his gaze now, her face would surely flush bright red in embarrassment.
“Sedina. Have you found what you will do, and why you want to do it?”
“That is...”
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“Yes.”
“And for that, are you prepared to do anything?”
“...Yes!”
Strength filled Sedina’s voice.
Ludger gave a faint smile and nodded.
“That’s enough.”
“T-then you mean we don’t need to worry about the seniors?”
“In a sense, yes.”
“But what about the others? Since you’re here, that means all the Seorn students have been caught up in this... and other people could also be in danger.”
“That may be so.”
Even if Nirva’s Apostle had gone after Owens’ members, three still remained.
“If the Dream School Dreamwalkers came in, then one Apostle must have gone to them.”
“And the others?”
“One likely went to where the Headmaster is.”
“Ah.”
Archmage of Lexuror rank, Elisa Willow.
Considering her ability, it was natural an Apostle of Dreams would go to her.
“She’ll be all right, won’t she?”
“She’s a Lexuror-ranked mage. That’s not a level reached simply through abundant mana or cleverness.”
A mage could grow strong by pure output only up to the 5th Circle.
From the 6th Circle, the Lexuror rank, true inner cultivation had to accompany it.
Often called enlightenment, even those with insufficient mana could cast 6th-circle magic if they had achieved it.
In fact, Ludger himself was proof of that.
From what he had seen of Elisa Willow, her strength lay not in mere magical ability.
“And there’s another reason not to worry.”
“What is that?”
“The other teachers are with her.”
If it was Elisa, she would be moving in cooperation with the other instructors.
And just because they were teachers didn’t mean they were weak.
Even while teaching students, they were still Seorn’s faculty.
Individuals whose abilities would be recognized anywhere.
Those who were unremarkable in daily life might even display their true worth most vividly in Dreamland.
Human potential cannot be measured with simple standards.
“T-then what about the last one?”
“That...”
After a brief thought, Ludger gave his answer.
“It must have gone to where Julia is.”
“What?! J-Julia came here too?!”
Sedina flinched in shock at Julia’s name.
“She came all the way here to save you.”
“T-then isn’t that dangerous? Even ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) if it’s Julia, facing an Apostle of Dreams would be too much!”
Ludger agreed with that.
When he had fought Lucid, he had felt it—the Apostles were extremely troublesome enemies.
They possessed the power to manipulate dream-threads, each with unique traits.
If Lucid had displayed the power of ‘Awareness,’ then the others surely had abilities of equal weight.
“We need to hurry and save Julia...!”
“There’s no need to be impatient. By Julia’s side, there’s someone reliable.”
“Reliable...?”
Ludger recalled Selina.
In Dreamland, Julia Plumehart was indeed the best guide.
But in actual combat, the one who could display the greatest strength was, without doubt, Selina.
How could a Spiritist be the strongest here when spirits could not even be summoned in Dreamland?
‘Because by her side exists something that is not a spirit.’
Not a relationship bound by the laws of nature.
But a bond formed from the very soul itself, unbreakable and inseparable.
As long as that existence was with her,
Not even Dreamland—save for Nirva himself—could touch Selina.
* * *
[......What is this.]
On Mirage’s face, shrouded in darkness, red pupils flared upward.
His gaze would not leave the black mass that had appeared beside Selina.
[A spirit? For a being of nature to appear in Dreamland?]
No. Was that even truly a spirit?
Mirage could not help but wonder so.
And with reason—for that black creature had devoured every thread of “dream” Mirage had created.
The red chains binding Selina no longer existed.
Because the dark spirit, Esmeralda, had eaten them all.
[An utterly incomprehensible sight.]
Even now it was the same.
Esmeralda scattered darkness everywhere, devouring all the red chains that bound the students.
“T-this is...”
Freed at last, Julia trailed off as she saw Esmeralda’s darkness.
To summon a spirit in Dreamland was astounding in itself, but the power she displayed surpassed imagination.
[Hmm.]
Mirage narrowed his eyes and snapped his fingers.
At once, red energy rose, forming massive figures.
Unlike Mirage, these had broad shoulders, large bodies, dressed in glowing red suits.
Their mannequin-like faces, devoid of features, only heightened the eeriness.
[Let’s test a little.]
With a flick of Mirage’s finger, the red suits moved.
Surprisingly fast for their bulk, they surrounded Selina from all sides and attacked in unison.
In that moment, Esmeralda moved.
──!!!
Darkness spread like ink spilling across paper.
The spreading shadow writhed like tentacles, spinning like a top.
The red suits rushing Selina collapsed the instant they touched it.
Some barely dodged, but wherever a tentacle brushed, flesh was gouged out as if carved by a sharp blade.
As though an invisible beast had taken a huge bite.
The battered suits staggered back, but Esmeralda had no intention of letting them go.
The tenacious tentacles of shadow relentlessly hunted them down, swallowing them whole.
“E-Esmeralda?”
Selina was stunned by Esmeralda’s power.
She already knew this one surpassed normal spirits—appearing on her own unlike the others who no longer answered calls.
But she had never imagined this level of strength.
Even more shocking was what happened after Esmeralda devoured the red suits.
Once just a black fluff, her form grew larger.
Like spilling folded silk all at once, darkness cascaded like a waterfall, hanging in midair like a curtain.
From that black veil something emerged.
It was a human face.
Or rather, a mask shaped like one.
A woman with long black straight hair down to her waist stepped from the curtain, her black dress fluttering lightly.
[Remarkable. Did you grow stronger by devouring my dream-threads?]
Esmeralda gave no reply.
She merely turned her head to check that her master Selina was safe.
“Esmeralda, is that you?”
Selina could hardly believe that the tiny, cute dark spirit had transformed like this.
And yet the form was not unfamiliar.
If she had an older sister, perhaps she would feel like this.
From deep within her soul surged such warmth that Selina unconsciously let tears fall.
“Wh-what?”
Selina herself did not know why she cried.
That tears could suddenly flow like this was only astonishing.
Esmeralda reached out and gently wiped her tears with a fingertip.
Even her tears were erased by the all-consuming darkness.
From that tender touch, Selina felt Esmeralda’s emotions.
─No matter what happens, I will protect you.
Wearing a pitch-black mask without any pattern or hole, Esmeralda fixed her gaze on Mirage.
At the same time, her shadow-like hair began to ripple.
Seeing this, Mirage snapped his fingers again.
Red dream-threads swirled and formed.
Expanding rapidly like stacked blocks, they became massive beasts.
Countless monsters over ten meters tall bared their fangs at Esmeralda.
[Forget capture—only by killing everything here will I be at ease.]
At his command, the beasts charged.
Compared to their ferocity, Esmeralda’s presence seemed faint.
Yet she stood unmoving, watching them come.
Just before the leading tiger reached her—
Esmeralda raised her hand.
Darkness swallowed it whole.
The massive crimson tiger did not even put up resistance.
Where the shadow passed, nothing remained.
Yet even after witnessing that, the beasts did not halt.
If one direction failed, they would attack from all sides at once.
A giant red hawk slashed with its talons at the back of Esmeralda’s head.
She did not turn. Instead, her hair rippled as if greeting the wind.
Her hair extended in all directions.
Wherever the beasts touched it, they were devoured instantly.
None of Mirage’s creations could even graze her.
They were consumed by her darkness before they could.
Esmeralda pointed a finger at Mirage.
Beneath the hem of her long black dress, darkness spread wide like a pool.
The darkness writhed, then regurgitated what it had swallowed earlier—
The beasts, but now in pure black forms.
[...Well.]
For the first time, Mirage’s face betrayed unease.
[I thought Lucid a fool for being defeated, but perhaps it was I who chose the wrong opponent.]