"My Lord!"

Alpha immediately turned toward Liora and saluted respectfully, the astonishment in her eyes just as clear as it had been in the Divine Emperor’s.

Thankfully, she quickly recovered from the instinctive shock.

In her opinion, her Lord had always been nearly omnipotent.

What was so difficult about her being able to approach her silently? If everything, it should have been so.

Still, Alpha couldn’t help but be curious, especially when she noticed some subtle changes in Liora’s state. Combined with everything else...

"My Lord... have you advanced?" she asked hesitantly.

Everything, including their previous conversations, pointed toward this.

But given the short amount of time that had passed since Liora’s last advancement—only a few days, in fact—Alpha found it somewhat difficult to accept.

Was it really possible to make such rapid progress?

In response to Alpha’s doubts, Liora merely nodded her head.

"My Devil stage has indeed advanced. After so long, I’ve finally reached the Ancient Devil stage," she said, exhaling softly.

It had been a long time since her advancement to the Archdevil stage. Each of its substages could be considered a different stage.

As such, the time and difficulty she faced had far surpassed any of the previous stages.

Her words caused Alpha’s eyes to light up with excitement.

She knew very well what Liora reaching the Ancient Devil stage represented.

If Archdevils were powerful beings capable of roaming the Origin Sea freely, then Ancient Devils were true apex powerhouses.

Unless creatures of a similar nature to the Princes and Princesses of the Demon World appeared, they would remain the rulers of the Origin Sea under normal circumstances.

The leap in both status and strength from an Archdevil to an Ancient Devil could hardly be imagined.

Yet just as Alpha was about to ask further questions, both about Liora’s state and their future, Liora suddenly raised her hand to interrupt her.

The eyes looking at her narrowed.

Liora’s gaze grew piercing, as though she could see into Alpha’s deepest secrets.

Despite the relationship between them, Alpha instinctively felt somewhat uncomfortable.

She felt as though she was standing naked in front of her.

Especially when she recalled that, she couldn’t help but flinch.

Unfortunately, Liora did not seem to care about her discomfort.

She continued staring at her, an intrigued expression flashing across her face.

"Interesting..." she muttered.

"Is this what caused your recent changes? I’ve been wondering what led to them. I never expected it would actually be something like this..."

Alpha held a secret.

That was something Liora had discovered during Alpha’s latest advancement, when she integrated with the Mechanical Law.

Still, although curious, she had not tried to look into whatever Alpha was hiding back then. She had left it up to fate.

It was only now, when she looked at Alpha and everything about her became clear at a glance, that she finally realized the truth.

A foreign soul was residing deep within Alpha’s soul space.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been impossible.

Entering another person’s soul space briefly would already cause great damage. The difference in essence would directly cause the space to riot.

Permanently residing in it was even more impossible.

The soul space would instinctively sense the discord between the soul and the space itself, causing it to do anything in its power to expel the intruder, going as far as self-destructing.

Yet the soul in Alpha’s soul space seemed to face no such issue, as though it had achieved the impossible.

The reason was simple.

Liora took a closer look at the soul.

Brown hair. Amber eyes. Delicate, beautiful facial features.

Even the attire was familiar. A common maid costume.

All in all, the soul looked exactly like Alpha!

If one had to point out a difference, it was that she was slightly more mature.

At the same time, her body was slightly illusory, as though she shouldn’t have existed.

The discovery made Liora raise her eyebrows.

But as she sensed a very familiar power entangled with the soul, she felt that everything made sense.

It was the power of time.

And from this clue, Liora could piece together everything.

She waved her hand.

Immediately, a tiny gap opened in the soul space, swallowing the illusory soul in a single time.

Then, time reverted, repairing the cracks in the soul space.

Everything remained the same—except that the soul had unknowingly vanished.

In exchange, that same soul had appeared in reality, resting on top of Liora’s palm.

Throughout the entire process, Alpha had no time to react, much less fight back.

One moment, she heard Liora’s words. The next, the soul had been removed from her soul space and transferred to reality.

Upon looking at the nearly identical figure in her hand, her eyes couldn’t help but widen.

"My Lord, this..." she tried to speak, though she found it difficult to find the right words.

Liora shook her head.

"Don’t worry. I understand," she said, her gaze fixed on the foreign soul.

"I’m quite curious, however..."

"How long has this soul been in your soul space?"

"More importantly..."

"How did your future self arrive in the present time point?"

These words made both Alpha and the illusory soul’s expressions change.

The latter panicked. It looked at Alpha and opened its mouth, clearly wanting to say something.

Unfortunately, it had no chance to do so.

Liora took action.

With a gentle flick of her fingers, a stream of light fired out of her fingertips.

Upon landing on the soul, it caused its mind to grow groggy.

Its panicked expression gradually disappeared until its eyes became blank.

Finally, it fell into slumber.

Only Liora and Alpha remained standing.

Seeing the soul collapse in front of her, Alpha was both relieved and nervous.

Even so, upon recalling Liora’s earlier words, she gritted her teeth and responded.

"My Lord, this..." She paused briefly before sighing.

"Everything started when we first arrived in this world..."

Soon, Alpha’s solemn voice was the only thing echoing throughout the Divine Emperor’s Kingdom of God.