Afternoon Town in the nightmare.
When every light in the Floating City came on, Abner jumped. He nearly recalled the Gear Book.
He worried that the change would draw the dangerous creatures in Afternoon Town and bring them down on him.
But he soon noticed that nothing in the town had stirred. The monsters in the darkness seemed oblivious to the Floating City's dazzling lights.
"The ritual protecting the Floating City... I could tell from the images the Gear Book showed me that it's an enlarged version of Ivens's Concealment Barrier.
"That Secret Art barrier must be drawing on the dense power of darkness the Goddess left in town. It's plunged the Floating City into a deeper nightmare than this nightmare version of Afternoon Town, which is why the monsters can't see it.
"'My' nightmare is deeper than yours, so from your perspective, 'I' am concealed. Unless you fall into a deeper nightmare too, you can't affect 'me'... Considering Misty Town in the Nation of the Evernight and the church in Kabbas, East Chester County, that's probably how it works.
"And I can see the city and notice its changes because the barrier created with divine power by this Black Gemstone the Goddess bestowed on me works on the same principle as the Floating City's barrier. In other words, we're in the same layer of the nightmare.
"Which means the barrier around the Floating City might as well not exist for me. We're at the same depth and equally concealed."
After a moment's thought, Abner understood, and realization dawned on his face.
By then, he had followed the stairs to where Afternoon Town's middle level connected to the Floating City's platform.
Having come this far, Abner did not hesitate. He stepped through the visible barrier.
As he had expected, it