"Everything... connects now."

Amid countless clamoring sounds, Muen stiffly tugged at the corners of his mouth bit by bit.

But whether it was laughter or tears, neither could take shape on that face. Right now, he could not make any expression at all.

Countless thoughts were flowing through his mind. So many of his previous doubts were fully explained in this moment, but this answer was not beautiful in the slightest. It even made a person feel... despair.

He raised his head.

The rain had stopped.

Beneath the dim sky, only a cold, dry wind blew over, scraping painfully against his skin.

Points of firelight rose in the distance.

Then, as if an entire plain had been set alight, they swiftly spread through the city districts.

Wails, terror, anger... those faint, distinct voices, yet voices still enough to tear at a person’s soul, rang out amid the flames.

From far away, to close at hand.

The gorgeous Ritual Hall had nearly been destroyed completely.

The pitch-black dagger fell to the ground, no longer carrying any of its previous sanctity. The deep darkness on its blade seemed as if it could devour even Holy Light.

And not far away, Archbishop Ision, the foundation stone of Saint Blancfazesiya Cathedral, had collapsed miserably to the ground. The black dagger had torn through the defense of a Crowned One, torn through his flesh, and left a fatal blow on his body.

The Witch of Repentance seemed to have anticipated this scene long ago and was giggling softly.

The young nun Fubeka was using Holy Light in vain while weeping and angrily cursing Muen as a sinner...

"It connects..."

Everything, all of it, was so familiar.

Perhaps the scene was different. Perhaps the place he stood was different. Perhaps the actors standing on the stage were different.

But Muen still recognized this place at a glance.

The [true royal capital].

The [true royal capital] Muen had wanted to save, yet which had hidden behind the curtain, difficult to track down.

The [true royal capital] that was gradually walking into destruction.

There was no need to break any false image. No need to defeat some Salvation Society supporter. At this very moment, it appeared before Muen’s eyes, and even the scent of ash permeating the air was so familiar.

But where was there any [true royal capital]?

Or rather, it had always been the [true royal capital].

And the so-called [false royal capital] that Muen had always wanted to break was nothing more than the result of a deliberate inducement and the loss of key information.

Starting from the moment this Saint Blancfazesiya, with its city gates thrown wide open, appeared before everyone.

Then came the "strange" living conditions of the residents after he entered the city. Even though the imperial army had already reached the city, they seemed completely unaware of it. Although the war had already affected many people, the residents in this city still lived as usual, without any real sense that the city was about to be besieged.

Next was the intelligence he had bitterly collected here, and the anomalies he had traced one by one.

People who suddenly disappeared.

The corpses that suddenly appeared, their faces filled with anger, as if they had been fighting against someone.

And after the rain stopped, the [true royal capital] he accidentally stumbled into.

Looking at the city gradually being destroyed in flames, then thinking of the sins the Salvation Society had committed before, it was hard not to infer that everything they had done was to cover reality with falsehood, buying themselves time to completely swallow this vast city.

But there had never been falsehood covering reality.

There was only reality.

"What a completely unexpected trick..."

Muen once again clenched the newspaper that had already been half-burned.

The front page of the newspaper was full of praise for this country’s king, and all kinds of lengthy, flashy, useless writing.

It looked like nothing more than an ordinary, normal newspaper.

But only when he thought of that place would he notice that something extremely important had actually been erased from the paper.

The date.

Yes, the date.

Whether it was this first newspaper, or the two newspapers he had obtained later, none of them had any date on them.

And not only the newspapers. During this time, Muen had experienced so much in this city and investigated so many things, yet no matter what intelligence, what information, or even what person it was... not one had mentioned the word date.

The date.

A small date. An ordinary date. Something that looked important, but in reality was only a point of reference, something that would not have any effect on a city’s daily life...

The date.

But it was precisely because he had lost that point of reference that Muen had made a complete error in judgment.

And it was only now that he finally realized...

The place he was in was not some [false royal capital].

It was...

The past.

The past from several days ago.

"Very impressive, isn’t it?"

The Witch of Repentance was also looking at the firelight in the distance, her expression intoxicated, as if that disaster was the mellowest wine to her.

Worth savoring carefully.

"With only a tiny little method, they could confuse everyone. Compared to truly manufacturing an enormous illusion, merely erasing a little important information through large-scale suggestion is much more cost-effective."

The Witch of Repentance turned back and smiled.

"What do you think, Mr. Muen Campbell from the future several days later? At this point in time... according to the date inside the city, the imperial army should have just reached the gates. Funny, isn’t it? Clearly, outside the city, you had hundreds of thousands of imperial troops, as well as a large number of elites from the Church, yet you never dared to act rashly. Because in your eyes, an imperial capital with its gates wide open at such a crucial moment was absolutely abnormal. With your caution, the more abnormal it was, the more you needed to understand its condition."

"But that was not abnormal. It was..."

Saint Blancfazesiya from the past, several days ago.

For this city at this point in time, the imperial spearhead had not yet approached the Kingdom’s heartland, so Saint Blancfazesiya, as the royal capital, naturally had no need to be on guard.

What the imperial army faced was indeed a completely undefended city.

As long as Celicia had been a little more ruthless, or if she had truly been a tyrant who completely disregarded the Kingdom’s people inside the city and directly attacked Saint Blancfazesiya...

Then every plan of the Salvation Society would have been useless.

Unfortunately, she had not.

An abnormality that was not an abnormality. An empty city that was not an empty city. It had truly held back the imperial army and the Church’s elites for several full days.

"Heh. A little trick?"

Muen stiffly tugged at the corners of his mouth. "This terrifying power to twist the timeline can also be called a little trick?"

"True. Calling it a little trick is indeed a bit too modest. But compared with perfectly reproducing a royal capital illusion exactly identical to reality, this method is still much simpler. After all, as long as something is an illusion, it will certainly have flaws. But reality... will absolutely have no flaws."

The Witch of Repentance propped up her smooth chin, admiring Archbishop Ision as he lay miserably on the ground and that flowing crimson holy blood as if she were admiring a work of art.

"See? There was even an unexpected harvest."

"How exactly did you do this?"

Muen clenched his fist sharply, his nails digging into his palm. The severe pain it brought finally allowed him to temporarily break free from those sharp thoughts. "Is this some kind of Ancient Magic too?"

When it came to time, Muen immediately thought of the Eternal Clock—that artificial authority which that old little girl had spent her entire life’s effort creating.

He had once believed that in this world, only the Eternal Clock, only that old little girl or he himself, could manipulate time... This was also one of the reasons why, despite searching for clues in the city for so long, he had never thought in this direction.

But clearly, that thought was far too arrogant.

The Salvation Society had done it as well. Through some unknown method, they had forcibly transferred the Saint Blancfazesiya of the [past] into the [present].

"Hm, Ancient Magic... probably. You could say you got half of it right. It’s just that within this, there was also a tiny bit of help from another power. But that is not something I should tell you."

The Witch of Repentance clapped her hands as if announcing the end of intermission.

"Now then, let us leave that aside for the moment. At such a beautiful time, let everyone enjoy this enchanting end together."

"End?"

Muen’s body tensed again.

"Oh my. It looks like you still haven’t fully understood."

The Witch of Repentance’s teasing gaze swept over Muen. In her eyes, Muen naturally had no secrets, including that hand which had already put away the newspaper and was secretly gripping Elizabeth’s hilt behind his back.

"What a stubborn child. No wonder you were able to make it this far."

"I simply don’t want to admit defeat this early. Although the current situation is indeed the result of me taking the wrong path myself, blindly wallowing in failure is not my style."

Fubeka’s furious curses still filled his ears, but Muen did not want to refute anything.

Because she was right.

The current him was a sinner.

"Oh my, you don’t still think you have a chance to turn this around now, do you?" The teasing in the Witch of Repentance’s eyes grew even richer.

"Do you still not understand what the word end means?"

"Anyone can say dramatic nonsense, but unfortunately, I already graduated from that phase."

Muen ignored the Witch of Repentance’s words and directly activated time deceleration, rapidly thinking through what he should do next.

First, Saint Blancfazesiya was already in the middle of being destroyed, but it had not yet completely entered destruction. Judging from the range of the flames, only several districts had been affected.

Everything was exactly the same as what he had seen when he had entered the [true royal capital] before. This could not be called a dead end at all.

Through this method, the Salvation Society had used his hand to bring down Archbishop Ision, but they had also completely exposed themselves before the imperial army and the Church.

Although on the Church’s side...

The anger of being toyed with and betrayed flashed through the depths of Muen’s eyes, then was quickly suppressed.

The matter of the traitor could be dealt with later. At least on the Church’s side, he still had people he could fully trust. Therefore, the first thing he needed to do now was escape from the Witch of Repentance, whom he absolutely could not defeat, and then go...

"Muen Campbell, have you forgotten something again?"

The Witch of Repentance curled her lips, simply allowing Muen to think of countermeasures as she smiled without quite smiling.

"You know this is the [past], don’t you?"

"I don’t need you to remind me of that a second time."

"Still don’t understand?"

The Witch of Repentance spread her arms.

"Since this place is only the [past], then what about the [present]?"