The Clock Tower's Queen, the Marshal of Sorcery—Loreleia, traveling through time from ten years in the future. Such an incredible thing... well, she often traveled through time herself, so it wasn't that unbelievable, but still—

"What in the world is going on?" Lin Luo looked at the girl before him, utterly unable to comprehend the situation.

"What do you want to ask?" Loreleia countered.

"Uh, well..." Lin Luo started to speak, but then he caught the fierce, imposing gaze of Kurohime. After a half-second of hesitation, he forced the words out against his better judgment, "Perhaps we should discuss Altrouge first."

"Hmph, that little vampire..." Completely ignoring Kurohime's angry stare, a feat only she could pull off in the entire Nasuverse, Loreleia pursed her lips and said reluctantly, "Fine. After all, I was entrusted with a task. Since it has already failed, I have no reason to target her anymore."

"All the secrets about this little vampire were told to me by you, ten years from now..."

From Loreleia's words, Lin Luo finally understood that his future self knew a great deal about Kurohime—or rather, her secrets—and he had shared every single one of those secrets with Loreleia. Kurohime was a Dead Apostle, and Loreleia was a magus who hated Dead Apostles the most; they were mortal enemies, both wishing the other dead. Yet, he had apparently given Loreleia all of Kurohime's weaknesses. Hearing this, Lin Luo felt profoundly ashamed, as in Loreleia's account, he sounded like the very Judas who betrayed God.

Though Lin Luo desperately wanted to ask why he knew Kurohime's secrets and why he told them to Loreleia, the latter offered no explanation on that front.

"Hmph, I think you're just spouting nonsense," Kurohime sneered coldly.

"Oh? Then let me tell you a few things," Loreleia drawled, a sneer playing on her lips as she held up a single finger. "You have a period of weakness; that's no longer a secret, nothing worth mentioning. So... First, as a hybrid of a True Ancestor and a Dead Apostle, your peak strength is at the full moon. However, because you possess another unique constitution, your true strongest state is not the full moon, but when your feet are planted on the 'Earth's Core,' connected to Gaia."

Kurohime's face drained of color, her heart seized with shock: She knew. She actually knew.

Before she could react, Loreleia raised her second finger. "Second, also due to your unique constitution, even without connecting to the 'Earth's Core,' you are constantly receiving energy from the earth, granting you unparalleled bursts of power and inexhaustible strength. Therefore... if all the acupoints on the soles of your feet that absorb energy are sealed, or if your connection to the ground is severed, your power can be reduced by at least seventy percent."

As she spoke, she glanced with a knowing smirk toward the feet encased in Kurohime's long skirt.

"You..." This time, Kurohime was more than just shocked; she retreated several rapid steps backward, watching Loreleia with intense, wary vigilance.

Seeing this reaction, Lin Luo knew Loreleia was telling the truth.

"Princess Hime," At that moment, the Black and White Knights and the White Beast rushed forward to shield Kurohime, their gazes instantly hostile toward Loreleia, poised for an attack... This was no trivial matter; the source of her power and the method to cut it off had been learned by the enemy—a potentially fatal threat.

"Third, and this is your most important secret, a secret known only to you..."

As Loreleia raised her third finger, Kurohime instinctively froze. The first two were already her greatest secrets; how could there be a third, one only she knew? Did she even possess such a critical secret?

Even she felt a flicker of curiosity and asked instinctively, "What is it?"

Loreleia smiled mysteriously, then stated calmly, "You are a White Tiger."

"..."

An instant of dead silence fell, as if a fierce winter wind had swept through, freezing the very air.

"..." Lin Luo nearly choked on his laughter, clapping a hand over his mouth to suppress the urge, tears welling in his eyes. Kurohime was a White Tiger! This, this was simply... Thinking of this, he suddenly felt two burning gazes lock onto him. Following those looks, he saw Kurohime grinding her teeth, her expression a mixture of resentment and fury, as if she wished to tear him limb from limb.

Why is she angry at me? It wasn't me... Less than half a second later, Lin Luo snapped back to reality, cold sweat beading on his brow. Loreleia said all of Kurohime's secrets were told to her by him. Did that mean the fact that Kurohime was a White Tiger was also something he revealed?

"Um, Loreleia, you... you aren't going to tell me I told you that one too?" Lin Luo asked, his voice trembling.

Loreleia gave him a sharp glare and replied matter-of-factly, "Don't be dense. Do you think I would go and examine a vampire's private areas?"

"Lin Luo, go die!"

The moment those words left her mouth, never mind how terrible or morally bankrupt Lin Luo felt his future self was, Kurohime lunged at him with claws extended. However, she was forced to stop mid-leap.

The Black and White Knights each grabbed one of her arms. "Princess Hime, you are losing control."

Though she calmed slightly under the persuasion of the Knights, her vermillion eyes never left Lin Luo for a second... Lin Luo instinctively ducked behind Loreleia, only then managing to find a sliver of security.

Loreleia was entirely unbothered by the commotion. She sighed, looking deeply disappointed, and said, "That's all there is to this little vampire. I had hoped to use this opportunity to eliminate her, but it seems some things truly cannot be changed."

"What do you mean?" Lin Luo and Kurohime asked in unison, staring at her.

"Didn't I just say? I came here from ten years in the future at someone's request. Traversing time back to the past is inherently dangerous. Setting aside the unpredictability of temporal turbulence, the mere appearance of two beings from different timelines can cause unpredictable butterfly effects. Because of this, for the more than half a month I’ve been in this world, I haven't even visited my own family, nor have I revealed my identity to anyone. Given these constraints, the client promised me one concession: the ability to perform one act that changes the future."

"And that act was dealing with Altrouge? Then why didn't you do it yourself?" Lin Luo couldn't help asking. Logically, since Loreleia knew Kurohime's secrets, killing a weakened Kurohime should have been easy for someone of her power; why all this trouble?

"There are reasons for that, naturally."

Loreleia made no secret of it. From her explanation, everyone learned: her client, the very person who sent her back ten years, had agreed that she could act against Kurohime, but she could not do it personally. That was why she cooperated with the Church, hoping to use their hands to eliminate Kurohime, and she only had one chance. If the first attempt failed, she would be barred from opposing Kurohime in any way... Clearly, Loreleia had ultimately failed.

"Why did you go to such lengths to try and eliminate me?" Kurohime asked darkly, frowning. There were other vampires in the world; why single her out? It felt deeply unfair.

"Hmph," Loreleia snorted coldly, apparently unwilling to discuss the topic.

After hearing her explanation, Lin Luo had a different question: What kind of person could compel the formidable Marshal of Sorcery to obey so readily, and even possess the ability to send her ten years into the past? Was it perhaps the materialized form of the legendary First Magic?

However, Loreleia did not mention this either. Instead, she took out a jade pendant from her person and handed it to Lin Luo.

"What is this?" Lin Luo immediately asked.

"Give this jade pendant to the next world. That is what the client wanted me to do... While I cannot tell you the specific reasons, it will become useful once you arrive in the next world."

"What did you say?" Lin Luo’s expression instantly changed. "How do you know about that?"

"Of course, what I know..." Loreleia said proudly, but her voice suddenly cut off halfway through.

"Lorelei..."

"Don't touch me!" Loreleia suddenly roared. An incredibly potent power erupted from her body; the massive shockwave threw Lin Luo, as well as Kurohime and the Knights, back over ten meters.

Then, before their astonished eyes, a black hole nearly ten meters in diameter materialized directly above Loreleia. At the center of the vortex, a giant pointer was spinning rapidly...

"A Temporal Vortex? You damned woman, you set me up!" It was unclear who she was cursing, but Loreleia was now incandescent with rage, her beautiful face contorting with fury.

Lin Luo, Kurohime, and the others, thrown back over ten meters, stared at the black hole in stunned silence.

"A Temporal Vortex... This is nothing short of a miracle!" Even the usually taciturn and composed Black Knight was moved. He could feel the terrifying, heavy force emanating from the vortex; this was absolutely beyond human capability. If magic was a miracle, what confronted them now could only be a divine act.

Loreleia, trapped directly beneath the Temporal Vortex, resisted with all her might, yet she could not stop the inexorable pull toward the vortex. Even one as powerful as she was, facing this divine phenomenon, was as fragile as an ant.

"Lin Luo, one last warning: in the next world... be careful, be extremely careful! If you die, I will not let you off!" She seemed to utter this through gritted teeth before finally relinquishing her struggle, allowing herself to be sucked into the temporal rift, roaring, "Damn it, damn it, damn it! Go back, you bitch, you set me up! I swear, one day I will beat you until you kneel and beg for mercy... Argh, damn it!"

As the last word faded, her entire form was swallowed by the Temporal Vortex. The black hole vanished completely, leaving the assembled group staring blankly at each other.