Illusory Glass stood within the mental space. Behind her loomed a human-sized cocoon woven from Spirit Threads.

That was her sister, Illusionary Mist.

Across from her, a hazy, unwilling figure knelt on the ground. It was the soul of the black-robed woman who had attacked her earlier.

She had been kneeling before the frozen clock for quite some time.

Previously:

At some unknown point in the past, Illusory Glass had been attacked by this black-robed woman. The woman had wanted to seize Illusory Glass’s body and control the time magic.

Illusory Glass, meanwhile, had returned to the Time Temple. She tried to turn the rusted hands at the center of the temple, hoping to reverse time and return to the past.

But the black-robed woman’s soul had interfered, preventing the Time Temple from operating normally. Illusory Glass’s soul could only confront the woman’s soul within the temple.

After countless cycles, Illusory Glass’s soul was far from weak. But the black-robed woman’s soul was even stronger.

Illusory Glass had been forced back again and again.

Then her elder sister, Illusionary Mist, joined the battle.

For a time, the situation became delicate.

Illusory Glass’s side was still at a disadvantage, but they had barely managed to reach an even match.

Not long ago, the Time Temple had been affected by an unknown force. The black-robed woman nearby had thrown caution to the wind and turned the hands before the temple.

Illusory Glass had originally thought the Time Temple wouldn’t respond.

But the temple had answered the nearly frenzied black-robed woman.

As the current master of the Time Temple, Illusory Glass had sensed that time had been reversed.

But the reversal was incomplete.

It seemed to have affected only one region of the world—and only by half an hour.

After that reversal, the black-robed woman had knelt before the clock inside the Time Temple.

She became as rigid as a piece of wood.

No matter what Illusory Glass did, she showed no reaction. Even the wounds inflicted upon her left no marks.

More precisely, the time belonging to her soul seemed to have been fixed at that moment forever.

Illusory Glass had wanted to leave the Time Temple, but she discovered that it was still operating.

Perhaps it was because of the black-robed woman.

Perhaps it was because of the cocoon formed from Illusionary Mist behind her.

Either way, the Time Temple had trapped her soul inside.

Illusory Glass paced through the temple, staring at the hollow space in the center of the hands.

If she completed the temple, perhaps she would gain full authority over it. Then she would no longer have to suffer this imprisonment.

“Actually, this is fine. I’ve already accomplished the purpose of my cycles.”

She had returned to the past countless times, turning back the flow of time with bloodstained hands.

She had saved Moon Owl’s life.

Along the way, she had also met her own elder sister.

She was already satisfied.

“Everything was worth it.”

Illusory Glass stood before the Time Temple. Her fingertips gently brushed against the temple, its surface covered in the marks of passing years.

If possible, she still wanted to go outside and see her family.

If possible, she wanted to take Illusionary Mist’s soul out of this space and recreate her body.

Thinking about it carefully, she could still do better.

What she had accomplished seemed far from enough.

But now, all the anchors connecting her to the past had been severed. She could no longer return.

This seemed to be the limit of what she could do.

While Illusory Glass was lost in thought inside the Time Temple, Moon Owl arrived beside her hospital bed with the unknown Eye Orb.

She looked at the silver-haired girl lying on the bed. At eleven years old, the girl was only slightly shorter than Night Frost.

Illusory Glass’s eyes were filled with complicated emotions.

She was only eleven, yet she had already become a Magic Maiden.

After the war against the Abyss of [Insect] ended, Illusory Glass had thrown herself directly into Moon Owl’s arms that night.

At last, a spark of life had appeared in those usually cold eyes.

There had been delight.

Excitement.

The joy of finally achieving her goal.

Illusory Glass hadn’t said a word. But Moon Owl knew that, during the time Moon Owl could never know about, Illusory Glass had suffered too much.

By the time Moon Owl came back to herself, Illusory Glass was already asleep.

She slept so peacefully.

When the black-robed woman invaded the Twelfth District, Moon Owl hadn’t been able to protect Illusory Glass.

Although Moon Owl had entered [Chapter Three], she had still been no match for the black-robed woman.

Illusory Glass had fallen into a coma because of the woman’s mental power. To this day, she showed no sign of waking.

But thanks to Zhao Qingsnow and the others, Moon Owl had obtained quite a few books related to mental power.

She had also acquired the Eye Orb in her hand, which was connected to time.

Moon Owl had a feeling that, with these things, she could awaken the sleeping princess before her.

Spirit Threads spread from Moon Owl’s mental form and slowly touched Illusory Glass’s brow.

Moon Owl’s soul began to sink.

Then, amid the darkness, she opened her eyes once more.

Illusory Glass’s soul wasn’t inside her body.

She possessed only a mind. Inside, she was completely hollow.

“Her soul isn’t here… The books say that the soul is the root of the mind. If the soul disappears, the mind should eventually fade as well. But Illusory Glass’s mind is still relatively strong.”

“That means her mind hasn’t vanished. It’s simply somewhere else.”

Moon Owl withdrew her mental power.

For now, she had no way to approach this from the mental or spiritual side.

So she took the Eye Orb out of its box.

From the moment Moon Owl had entered the hospital room, the Eye Orb inside the box had seemed barely able to contain itself.

It appeared to have sensed something. It wanted to break free from the box in Moon Owl’s palm.

This confirmed Moon Owl’s guess.

The thing really was connected to Illusory Glass.

But before that, she certainly had to take precautions.

Moon Owl placed a spatial anchor on the Eye Orb. If anything went wrong, she could tear open a spatial rift and retrieve it.

Once everything was prepared, Moon Owl released the Eye Orb.

Like a wild dog breaking free of its leash, it shot from the box in Moon Owl’s palm toward Illusory Glass lying on the bed.

The Eye Orb finally stopped above Illusory Glass’s Magic Stone.

Then it slowly blurred and sank into the stone.

“It’s inside the Magic Stone?!”

Moon Owl picked up Illusory Glass’s Magic Stone. Through space, she could clearly see the interior.

“There’s a space inside the Magic Stone?!”

This was a major discovery.

The Eye Orb swam through the space within the stone. No one knew how much time passed.

At last, a speck of white appeared before Moon Owl’s eyes.

It seemed to be the only thing in this void.

It was a massive, pure-white temple.

Against the surrounding darkness, it was painfully conspicuous.

The Eye Orb floated above the temple’s enormous roof, as if gazing up at it.

Then it plunged downward and landed in the center of the empty temple.

Illusory Glass jumped at the sudden appearance of the Eye Orb.

She had been thinking about how to escape when a charred Eye Orb fell from the sky and landed in front of her.

She reached out to touch it.

The Eye Orb suddenly expanded by a full circle, startling her again.

“Wait. That size…”

Illusory Glass stared at the bloodshot Eye Orb.

She carefully picked it up and compared it with the empty hole at the center of the three hands.

The sizes were nearly identical.

She stepped forward, walking around the black-robed woman’s soul. The woman remained kneeling on the ground like a statue.

Illusory Glass stood before the hands of the Time Temple.

Then she slowly pushed the Eye Orb into the hole.

As the Eye Orb slipped into the hollow center, the entire temple began to tremble violently.

Endless Mana surged from the surrounding darkness into the Eye Orb at the center of the hands.

Then, with the Eye Orb as its core, it spread across the entire temple.

Milky-white light rose from the cracked floor.

The cracks covering the Time Temple slowly healed.

Two pristine white pillars rose on either side of the ruined temple.

The phantom of a clock spread across the darkness outside.

A layer of silver light covered the hands.

The rust gradually peeled away, revealing beautiful black patterns beneath.

Upon closer inspection, the patterns on the three hands were all slightly different.

The motionless hands began to move forward.

Tick.

Tock.

The sound echoed throughout the space.

The black-robed woman’s soul, which had been frozen in place, seemed to regain the ability to move as the hands turned.

She slowly rose to her feet, a chain formed from mental power clenched in her hand.

She looked down at her hands and felt the mental power inside her gradually dissipating.

She knew she didn’t have much time left.

Her true body had already died. This fragment of mental power was merely a rootless weed.

Unless she found a new vessel within the next few hours, she would vanish.

But wasn’t there an excellent vessel right before her?

As long as she killed Illusory Glass, the completed Time Temple would belong to her as well.

She was just about to attack when the golden bell atop the Time Temple rang.

Everything that did not belong to the temple was expelled by a tremendous surge of Mana.

The black-robed woman’s soul was thrown out of the temple inside the Magic Stone, along with the chain she had just hurled.

Even Illusionary Mist’s cocoon was cast out.

Only Illusory Glass remained behind.

“The Time Temple… is complete?”

Illusory Glass stood before the enormous Eye Orb.

Several golden numbers were engraved within it.

“Are these the number of cycles I’ve gone through?”

She gently touched the numbers with her finger.

The sights and thoughts from that cycle appeared within a radiant screen at the center of the temple.

Moreover, through the Eye Orb, she could see the threads of time and know what would happen in the near future.

But Illusory Glass’s ability was limited.

One day was her maximum range.

There were also several minor changes.

She could now set as many anchors as necessary, without worrying about reaching a limit.

Most importantly, once she broke through [Chapter Three], she could bring other people back through time!

She only needed to establish anchors for both people beforehand.

It was an extremely powerful ability.

If used properly, it could achieve astonishing results.

But Illusory Glass had no time to celebrate.

Illusionary Mist’s spiritual cocoon had been thrown outside the space. Without a body, Illusionary Mist’s soul would eventually dissipate.

She had to get out quickly.

Who knew what that dying black-robed woman would do if no one protected Illusionary Mist’s cocoon?

Moon Owl’s spatial passage had been forcibly severed.

She had no idea what had happened inside the temple.

That force rejected her spatial Mana, leaving her with no choice but to watch and wait.

“There’s a mental presence…”

Ever since she had learned how to use mental power on a basic level, Moon Owl’s perception of minds and souls had improved significantly.

Combined with the mental power of [Chapter Three], she quickly discovered the source of the strange feeling.

A gigantic cocoon floated before her.

In a distant corner, there was a soul whose features were difficult to make out.

It had wrapped itself around a nurse who was tending to the patients nearby.

Clearly, it meant no good.

“So it was you!”

Moon Owl focused her gaze.

The soul clinging to the nurse was none other than the black-robed woman who had attacked her and Illusory Glass.

When old enemies met, their eyes blazed with hatred.

Moon Owl naturally tore her apart a thousand times over.

“Don’t come any closer—!”