"Oh, just as I thought." Seeing Acheron nod, Black Swan murmured softly.
"In this dream, he once planned to use the will of the Stellaron, the more than one hundred thousand people of the Oak Family, and the wishes of Penacony's inhabitants to seize the power of Harmony and bring Order back to the world."
"Thinking about it carefully, as the one commanding such a vast Dreamscape, he naturally couldn't exclude himself from it. To become the only star in the sky guiding all living beings, perhaps this really was what he had in mind."
"But now that we know most of what we experienced before was a dream... it seems his plan was put into action much earlier than we imagined. Whether he succeeded in the dream no longer matters. Rather, his failure in the dream was inevitable."
"If, as he confessed himself, he truly hoped to create a paradise where everyone could be happy, then it would be difficult for your experiences in the dream to reach that terrible outcome you wished to avoid."
"Mm, that is indeed the case, but the time when we were drawn into the dream may have been earlier than you think." Acheron confirmed Black Swan's speculation. Then she looked at Stelle.
"Although there are some differences, you may find the scene before you somewhat familiar..."
Stelle nodded.
"Because when we first met, the situation was the same. The only difference was that your Astral Express had just arrived in the Asdana system at that time, while I had already begun trying to leave the dream. But things did not go smoothly."
"You mean all of us had already fallen into this dream the moment we arrived in the Asdana system?" March's expression gradually became frightened.
"It sounds like it..." March said.
"Moreover, this should not be as simple as an ordinary Dreamscape. Making everyone enter the dream silently and without realizing it has already blurred the boundary between reality and dreams..."
Black Swan gave her explanation from the authoritative perspective of a Memokeeper, "The unusually high concentration of memoria in Asdana is perfectly suited for this."
"Using the Stellaron to drive memoria into the material world, merging it with reality, and then mixing in the memories of the Chorus to invoke the power of Order... As time passes, the dream will become indistinguishable from reality to all living beings."
"If there were more time, Asdana's reality could sink completely into memoria, turning this place entirely into a thought palace of Order that could not be observed from a material perspective. It would not be impossible..."
"Then, within this Dream of Ena, in the paradise ruled by Order, everyone could obtain their own perfect dream and live on happily."
Hearing this, Nero's expression became somewhat strange. "Why do I feel like a huge group of people are sleeping under the same blanket..."
Black Swan's expression stiffened. She glanced at Nero.
'Where did this kid get so many strange associations?'
"Um... do we still have a chance to leave the dream?" Stelle looked at the two purple-themed big sisters who seemed to understand the current situation very well.
"Yes," Acheron said. "In fact, I am trying right now. But I don't know whether I can succeed. I have already failed many times."
"As long as there's a chance, that's good. It's much better than just sitting here and waiting for death." A smile appeared on Stelle's face.
"We might as well look for more people with strong wills. This is a huge Dreamscape. The more people who are awake within the dream, the weaker its foundation will be."
Black Swan smiled. "You can leave finding the others to me. For a Memokeeper, the environment here could be described as being like a fish in water."
Acheron nodded. "In any case, we still have a chance to survive. And turning it into reality is indeed a feasible plan. Then... Miss Black Swan, take us to meet those who are just as strong-willed."
Black Swan gave a slight nod and said, "Everyone, please follow me."
Everyone followed Black Swan as they slowly made their way through the hotel in this dream.
Along the way, they saw quite a few people immersed in the Dream of Ena and satisfied with their current situation.
Their eyes were vacant, the corners of their mouths slightly raised, and from time to time they would let out some indistinct murmurs, as if they were immersed in immense joy.
Stelle tried using Clockie tricks to influence these people who had fallen into a state of delirium, but she failed.
Nero also looked at these people, but he did not do anything.
His slap might be enough to wake these people up. After all, if a slap could even wake someone who was pretending to sleep, how much more so for people who were actually asleep?
However, knowing that his current self was merely a memoria construct, Nero felt that waking these people would be completely useless. It would not help everyone escape from the Dream of Ena.
What he needed to do now was wait for an opportunity. Before his true body took action, he needed to protect his companions' minds, so that nothing within the Dream of Ena could affect them.
For example, an excessive mental shock causing brain death or something like that...
In the hotel lobby, everyone encountered the first person whose will was equally unwavering.
The figure of the renowned singer of the Halovian race stood out strikingly in the dim environment, like a lonely angel keeping watch.
"Sister Robin!" Nero happily greeted her.
Robin turned around. Seeing everyone, she smiled. "You're finally here."
"Miss Robin is someone who awakened in the Dream of Ena through her own will." Acheron nodded at Robin, then explained to everyone.
It seemed she had already met Robin before.
"This strong-willed lady also guided us here with her tireless singing..." Black Swan said. "That saved me quite a bit of effort when searching for a path through the dream."
Robin shook her head. "The reason I was able to awaken is the same as yours. In the dream, I experienced something that could never possibly happen in reality..."
Then Robin told everyone about her dream. What the dream showed was the scene from their childhood, when the siblings discovered the little Harmonious Dove.
Sunday in Robin's dream had said this, "This bird is still very weak. If it leaves our care, I'm afraid it won't be able to survive on its own..."
"...Then let's take care of it together until the day it can return to the sky."
"A bird grows wings because it wants to fly. Even if it falls to the ground one day, we shouldn't imprison it in a cage."
"Since birds are born belonging to the sky, we should let it return there. Right?"
Robin knew her brother very well. She knew clearly that Sunday was not such an optimistic and cheerful person, nor would his heart be so decisive...
She described the dream this way, "...The illusion was too sweet, making me realize clearly that it was nothing more than a dream."
In Robin's memory, the person most likely to say those words in the dream should have been this child, Nero.
However, to people like Stelle and March, who understood this child's temperament better, they were completely certain that the bird would be one thousand percent taken by Nero and roasted.
Robin, standing before everyone, shook her head, seemingly intending to forget that sweet but false memory.
Then her expression became firm, and she spoke to everyone, "...Now, this is our last hope. The Dream of Ena is built upon the Harmonious Choir, the embodiment of shared wishes. Only when the wishes of Penacony's inhabitants become one can it manifest."
"Now, it has become unbreakable because of people's desire to remain asleep in the dream. If we want to destroy it, we must make everyone in Penacony want to wake up from the dream."