"This scent..." Before Shinobu could finish, she slumped limply into her seat.
Obanai's mismatched pupils abruptly contracted, but he lasted less than two seconds before his head drooped.
Rokuya tried to force his eyes open, but he realized this drowsiness did not come from physical exhaustion. It was a form of hypnosis acting directly on his mind. Darkness surged in like a tide, swallowing him in an instant.
At the edge of the dream, in the deepest reaches of Rokuya's subconscious—the place where his Mental Core resided.
An ordinary-looking young man was feeling his way through this strange space, sweat pouring down his head. He was an "intruder" sent by Lower Rank One, Enmu. His task was to find Rokuya's Mental Core and destroy it, leaving Rokuya permanently incapacitated.
"What terrifying pressure... just what is inside this person's subconscious?" The intruder wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and continued feeling his way forward.
At last, he saw light ahead.
"Found it! The Mental Core!" Wild joy spread across the intruder's face, and he rushed toward it.
Yet when he finally saw the Mental Core clearly, he froze in place as though struck by lightning.
It was not an ordinary ball of light, but a sphere tightly encased in exceptionally deep, pure, spectral-blue metal. Across the metal's surface, streaks of silver-blue light flowed and flickered like breaths, radiating a hair-raising aura of destruction.
It was the Magic Dao Armor!
The intruder swallowed and shakily extended his awl, trying to chip a gap in the armor.
Clink!
A crisp metallic clang rang out, numbing the web of the intruder's hand and nearly knocking the awl from his grip. Yet not even a scratch remained on that layer of silver-blue armor.
"W-what the hell is this?!" the intruder cried in despair.