Glory Bound's core mechanic: unlocking and re-living a memory from inside, here weaponized as a cure.
The drug's original design was a two-part process — long subliminal conditioning, then a trip that unlocked the learned knowledge. Inside the dungeon, that trip persists as a memory dive: the user is dropped bodily into a memory and lives it. Katia's first dive put her in her favorite memory and hooked her; her second, cut with Tough Love, is meant to force a reckoning instead.
Carl's variant adds Removal Order so that he dives into Shi Maria's memory rather than his own. He must witness her worst memory and then "lock" her inside it — a step with no fixed procedure, manifesting differently every time, which Mordecai can only promise will probably be clear. Success grants Carl control of Carl's Sternum Tattoo and a skill or two; failure leaves him with a furious entity and no second chance.
Perceived by Carl as an event horizon and a rushing precipice, with two dreams closing like a pair of clapping hands.
The mechanic underlying both treatments and the arena where Carl must imprison the spider.