"Was that why you forcibly sent her into the depths of the Memory Zone at Dreamville?"
"Yes." Dahlia calmly admitted it, her pupils reflecting the dark crimson hues around them.
"This... this space formed from Gofemwood's Edicts and Primal Memoria was where the Dream Master wanted her to ultimately arrive."
"And he wanted her to believe that she had 'mastered' certain key information through her own efforts, so that at the most critical moment, guided by that knowledge, she would make the wrong judgment he had designed."
Black Swan frowned deeply, her lips pressed into a thin line. "So what exactly had the Dream Master spent all that time meticulously planning?"
As soon as she spoke, as though in answer to her question, a low, immense, soul-quaking wave of terror came from the deepest part of the scarlet space, accompanied by the buzzing hum of countless insect wings beating at once.
"It no longer matters." Dahlia gently shook her head, her long black hair swaying as an air of indifferent resignation settled over her face.
"We missed the best chance to stop him. No, perhaps there had never been any chance to stop him from the very beginning."
The composed smile on Aventurine's face finally vanished. His gaze sharpened as he realized the gravity of the situation.
"...Even if we found him now and ground him to ashes?"
"From the very beginning, he had never existed anywhere you could understand." Dahlia explained calmly.
"Ever since he attempted to completely merge his will with the entire Penacony dream, he had begun gradually transforming his existence into four most fundamental [Primordial Edicts]."
She slightly raised her head and looked above the crowd.
In the shadowed canopy formed by interwoven dark crimson branches, a blue-violet crow with inhuman red light flickering in its