"Hrk!"

Viva was immediately knocked unconscious, and Lana reached out and caught her before she could fall to the ground! Lana threw Viva over her shoulder, and if Viva were awake, she would’ve been unbelievably embarrassed by the way her gown rose up and exposed her white underwear right in Percy’s face!

"When she wakes up, tell her to go clean the storage room."

Percy ignored Viva’s plain underwear as he spoke to Lana calmly, and Lana saluted obediently before she carried Viva out of the room. Once they were gone, Percy let out a calm sigh and finally turned to face Rita. Rita had been waiting patiently for Percy to explain what he had been talking about, and Rita spoke up with a hard look on her face.

"You can just tell it to me straight, baby. You don’t need to sugarcoat anything. I just want to know what’s going on."

Rita easily noticed that Percy was trying to think of how to phrase his next words, and Rita decided it was best for her to just hear the straight truth! Percy hummed, and he finally nodded as he accepted Rita’s words. Percy reached into the man’s shirt, and he pulled out a pendant hanging on a chain. The pendant was a golden semicircle with intricate symbols carved into the shiny surface and a jagged line going down the straight edge to show that it had been broken off from a larger circle. Once Rita saw that pendant, her eyes widened in shock!

"That pendant. Isn’t that the one I threw away?"

Rita’s voice was filled with disbelief as she looked at the pendant. Rita clearly remembered getting rid of this pendant after Percy rescued her from the dungeon, so how in the world was it here? But Rita was even more shocked when Percy shook his head.

"No, this isn’t the one you threw away. It’s the second half of the whole medallion."

Rita turned to Percy quickly, and she asked him what in the world was going on here. Percy spoke up and began to explain properly.

"I looked through his magic essence, and I noticed that there was an anomaly in there. Usually, a person’s mana reacts with the mana of the world in a linear sequence. The world recognizes each person and supplies them with mana, and we supply the world with our mana in return. But when I looked at his mana, it was strange because the world didn’t recognize him. Or at least, the world didn’t recognize the current him, almost like the world was confused about what to do with him. There are only two reasons why something like this could happen. The first reason is if someone manipulates their mana with dark magic and falls out of favour with the world, and the second reason is if the person we’re seeing in front of us already exists somewhere else in this time."

Rita narrowed her eyes, and it took a few seconds for her to fully digest everything that Percy had just said. Rita was smart, but she wasn’t a genius like Percy, so it was a little difficult for her to wrap her mind around Percy’s explanation. A few seconds later, she asked a question.

"Are you trying to say the world isn’t giving him any mana because the world is already giving mana to another him that exists in this time? But... if that’s true, then that means..."

Rita stopped here while looking at Percy expectantly since she didn’t want to make a mistake, and Percy gave the simplest explanation for what could possibly be going on.

"This man isn’t from this time. He is either from the future or from the past. And from the magic frequency I can feel from him, it’s more than likely that he is from the future."

"But time travel is True Magic. How can he do that?"

Rita asked this with a confused look as she tried to fully understand what was going on. The True Magics were certain magical spells that were regarded as the apex of all forms of magic. Reality-bending, space-warping, and time travel were just three of the many forms of True Magic in existence, and the only people who should be capable of wielding True Magic were the mages who had reached the Tenth Realm of magic, Sagehood.

But Rita was sure that this man was not a sage, so he should not be able to wield True Magic!

Percy nodded at Rita’s deduction, and he said.

"It’s true that only a Sage should be able to cast True Magic, but don’t forget that there are artefacts that can replicate the power of Sages. If someone wields one of those artefacts, they can perform True Magic as well."

Rita’s eyes widened, and she immediately turned to look at the pendant around the man’s neck before she asked a shocking question.

"That pendant. Does it allow people to travel through time?"

Percy frowned for a moment before he nodded.

"Yes, it’s something like that. I know you wanted to throw the medallion away, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, and I kept it for research. I found out that it’s called the Chronos Medallion. Its origin is unknown, but it’s most likely from a world outside of Time. The medallion exists in two halves. The key and the lock. What this man is wearing right now is the lock, and what you had when I rescued you was the key. I don’t know what the Key’s function is exactly, but I know that anyone wielding the lock will gain the ability to travel across time."

Rita couldn’t believe that Percy actually kept the pendant that she asked ihm ot throw away, but Rita knew that she shouldn’t be surprised by this. Percy was a magic researcher first and foremost, so it was obvious that he would be curious about what the medallion could do. Rita didn’t even bother bringing up that issue, and instead, she asked Percy if they should take the pendant away from the man. Leaving such a dangerous artefact in the possession of a vampire could cause problems in the future. But Percy shook his head.

"Remember that he isn’t a Sage. The only reason he can remain in this time is because he is wielding that artefact. If we take it from him, he’ll be thrown back to his time immediately. I have a few questions I want to ask him, so he can’t leave yet."

Rita let out a breath to try and calm herself, and she didn’t know why she suddenly glanced towards her dead sister lying on the bed at the side. If what Percy was saying was true, then what did that mean for her sister?

"I-If they’re from another time, then is my sister alive or not?"

Percy frowned in thought.

"Since they are from the future, this body is also only dead in the future. Your sister should still be alive in this time."

Relief!

Rita didn’t know why she suddenly felt an intense surge of relief flowing through her body at that moment! Was Rita happy that her sister was alive? Is that it? No, it couldn’t be true! Rita hated her sister! Rita hated her so much that she would gladly leave her to die without batting an eye! Then what was this feeling in Rita’s heart!? Why was she so happy to hear that her sister might still be alive!?

Rita grit her teeth angrily as she tried to understand what this feeling in her heart was, and her eyes widened suddenly!

’Oh, is that it!? Yes, that has to be it!’

Rita suddenly came to a realisation about why she didn’t want her sister to die just yet! This death was too simple! Rita hated the thought that the same sister who had tormented her for so long would die such a simple death! Rita hated the idea that she would never get to look at her family and make them pay for abandoning her and her mother! That was why she was so relieved! Rita didn’t want anyone else tormenting her family! Rita wanted to do it herself!

"Are you okay?"

"!"