After listening to the Doctor's words, Lumine's expression changed drastically. She intended to question him further, but unexpectedly, the Doctor preempted her, seizing the silver sword's hilt and plunging it into his own body.
"Splash—!"
Scarlet blood flowed from his chest, yet the Doctor maintained a calm smile on his face, his eyes filled with mockery as he looked at Lumine.
"Not to mention anything else, the control over that energy is quite effective, even on his own clones."
"Would anyone really believe I'd be so arrogant as to appear before you in my true form? Though I must admit, it's hard not to feel a pang of regret sacrificing almost all my clones for this plan."
Seeing that this body was about to give out, the Doctor wasted no more words, finally saying:
"Since you gained no useful information from me, I wish your sister good luck~"
With that, the body collapsed backward onto the ground, devoid of any life.
Lumine stood stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted. Clenching her fists, she gritted her teeth and roared.
"Damn bastard..."
Worry wouldn't solve anything. Lumine suppressed her emotions, quickly ran back to where Paimon and the others were, and briefly described her suspicions.
"Trapped in another world?!"
Nahida affirmed Lumine's suspicion.
"Yes, back to the opening of the play. If I'm not mistaken, he must have adjusted the teleportation gate on the twelfth floor, connecting it to the time before Ying entered the Spiral Abyss."
Hearing this, Lumine voiced her doubt.
"If that's the case, then a few days ago, when Ying just entered that Spiral Abyss, she should have seen another version of herself directly."
Nahida nodded.
"In your understanding, that's correct. But it's clear the Doctor also considered this problem. If my guess is right, the time he connected to is likely a time different from this world."
Paimon gasped, covering her mouth.
"Controlling time is already hard enough to comprehend, and now controlling time across different dimensions... Is he that powerful?"
Upon hearing this, Nahida immediately shook her head.
"He is not that powerful. Let alone him, even past Archons couldn't achieve such a feat. As far as I know, there is only one person capable of doing something like this, and that is... the Heavenly Principles..."
"The Heavenly Principles..."
Lumine frowned slightly upon hearing the name but didn't press for more information. Instead, she asked:
"Since he didn't have the ability, how did he manage to do it?"
After listening, Nahida fell silent for a moment before slowly speaking.
"He couldn't do it, but the portal left behind by the Heavenly Principles can."
"To put it metaphorically, this portal is like a Void Nexus. The Doctor alone could never create it. However, if we narrow the scope to just modifying a few programs within the Nexus, it's not difficult for him."
Paimon's eyes widened in surprise.
"Then, Nahida, you should also be able to modify those programs in this portal like him, right?"
"Yes."
Nahida first nodded in affirmation, but then shook her head.
"But that's only possible within the time this portal is open. However, after the recent investigation, I learned from the Doctor that there are only two ways to open this portal."
"The first is for the Heavenly Principles themselves to open it. But clearly, the possibility of this method is zero, as almost no one has seen her, let alone found her location and successfully persuaded her to come and save Ying."
"As for the second, it is to patiently wait for it to accumulate enough energy to open again. However, this process takes a very long time, and there's no definite estimate. It could be one year, ten years, or even a hundred years."