night.
A two-story building on the east side of the town of Trifas was temporarily requisitioned as a base for the Salvation Team.
In the living room on the first floor, Mash pouring water for everyone using a kettle.
A person is sitting at the dining table, which is located in the center of the living room.
That person's presence was so strong that anyone who stepped into the living room would be drawn to her the very first second.
A head of extremely dazzling and brilliant blonde hair.
Her hair was so long it almost touched the ground, the ends shimmering with a pale pink glow, and under the indoor lights it shimmered with a jewel-like luster.
Her eyes were pure crimson, her gaze cold and indifferent, devoid of any of the liveliness typical of a human girl.
A royal court dress in white and blue.
He sat on an ordinary wooden dining chair, his posture so elegant that it was as if he were sitting on a throne.
Atalanta stopped in her tracks the moment she pushed open the living room door.
Their ears suddenly perked up.
She didn't know this person.
But her instincts told her that the blonde woman in front of her was extremely dangerous.
"Who are you?"
Atalanta lowered her voice, leaned forward slightly, and shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet.
The blonde woman turned her gaze away.
His crimson eyes swept over her for a moment, then looked away, as if confirming that she was just an insignificant passerby.
Arcueid.
"The agent of Gaia, the will of the planet."
Atalanta's pupils contracted slightly.
Planetary will.
She turned to look at Ritsuka Fujimaru.
Ritsuka Fujimaru put down the intelligence she had just compiled.
"This person appeared this afternoon."
"Her appearance was unusual; it wasn't Spiritron Transfer or Servant summoning."
"It was Earth's planetary core that opened a passage directly into this dream world, sending her in."
Atalanta processed this information.
She glanced at Arcueid one more time.
The other person was looking at the other people in the living room with an indifferent gaze.
"All right."
Atalanta walked to the center of the living room and found a chair to sit down.
"I'm back. I saw Mukuro Hoshimiya this afternoon."
The atmosphere in the living room changed immediately.
All eyes were on her.
"Tell me," Ritsuka Fujimaru, sitting up straight.
Atalanta organized her thoughts.
"I bumped into her this afternoon while escorting the children home from school. She was running very fast, as if she had been frightened by something."
"Later I went to see her and confirmed her situation."
We talked about things related to the dream world and the real Earth.
"She told me she already had a solution."
Everyone's expression turned serious.
"What method?" Merlin asked.
"Materialize the dream world."
Atalanta uttered these words.
There was a two-second silence in the living room.
"Materialization?" Mash put down the kettle in her hand.
It means exactly what it says.
Atalanta continued.
" Mukuro Hoshimiya told me that she already has the ability to do that."
"To transform the current dream world directly from the spiritual realm into physical reality, covering up the withered old Earth."
"The new Earth will be more habitable for humans than the old Earth, and it will be almost identical to the current dream world."
"When everyone wakes up, they will find themselves in a real world, exactly the same as the one they saw in their dream."
"Once we succeed, this place will no longer be just a dream."
"But it is the real world."
The atmosphere in the living room began to become complicated.
Someone's eyes lit up.
Someone frowned.
"This..."
Amakusa Shirou Tokisada leaned forward slightly from the sofa, his eyes brightening.
Ritsuka Fujimaru had seen that kind of light once before.
That look only appears in his eyes when he talks about the concept of "happiness for all mankind".
"That is indeed one approach."
Amakusa Shirou's voice carried an barely suppressed excitement.
"A perfect world. A new Earth where all humanity can live happily."
"No pain, no war, no sacrifice of any kind is needed."
Semiramis didn't speak, but her gaze softened when she looked at Amakusa Shirou.
Atalanta's ears twitched slightly, but her expression remained calm.
She herself also favored this option.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have chosen to only say this one thing.
"No."
A voice came from beside the dining table.
Cold and angry.
Everyone turned to look at the source of the sound.
Arcueid.
The blonde woman's previously indifferent expression had completely vanished.
A Wrath that seemed to distort the very air burned within his crimson eyes.
She stood up.
The hem of the gown slipped off the chair and spread across the floor, the gold trim gleaming dazzlingly in response to the wearer's emotional state.
What are you talking about?
"To separate humanity from its original Earth?"
"To cover up a real planet with an artificial dream?"
Her voice rose.
Do you even know what you're saying?
"The Earth is not your toy."
"Earth is a life form that has lived for 4.6 billion years. It is the sum of all life that has ever existed on this planet. It is the body of Gaia itself."
"You want humans to move into a fake shell?"
"Do you want the real Earth to be abandoned, replaced, and forgotten like this?"
Her voice was almost a roar.
The walls of the living room were shaking. The water glasses on the table were trembling.
The entire building swayed slightly in response to her Wrath.
"I..."
Her long, golden hair fluttered in the still air.
The space around the body began to distort.
That's planetary-level power.
The Marble Phantasm.
Then.
The power, on the verge of exploding, suddenly froze.
It's like someone pulling the spark plugs off an engine before it's ready to ignite.
Arcueid frowned.
She sensed it.
The rules of this dream world are suppressing her power.
This is Belphegor's home turf. All external forces are greatly weakened by the fundamental rules of the dream world.
The power she can currently wield is less than one-tenth of what it has in the real world.
What Wrath her even more was...
She couldn't even manage to rush out and fight to the death to find the demon's true form.
Because the barriers of the dream world will bounce her back.
Because here, she is merely a Projection weakened to the point of near-uselessness.
"Ughhhhh!"
Arcueid slammed his fist into the wall next to him.
The concrete wall is cracked.
All she can do now is rage impotently.
The atmosphere in the living room became extremely tense.
Ritsuka Fujimaru stood there, unsure of who to comfort first.
A satisfied smile appeared on Amakusa Shirou's face.
Atalanta lowered her head and remained silent.
" Atalanta."
A voice broke the deadlock.
Karna.
He had opened his eyes at some point and was looking at Atalanta from beside the stair railing.
What you just said was not a lie.
"But what are you deliberately hiding?"
That could be very important information.
Atalanta's body stiffened.
The ears suddenly flattened.
Karna straightened up.
What exactly are you hiding from us?
Everyone else's eyes turned to look.
Ritsuka Fujimaru noticed Atalanta's unnatural expression.
Mash noticed it too.
Merlin's rose-red eyes narrowed.
Even the smile on Amakusa Shirou's face faded slightly.