Verde's words brought every thought in Amber's mind to a halt for a moment—the contents of that sentence were so absurd that she did not know whether she should first express shock or confusion, or start doubting her own hearing. But after a few seconds, she blinked and broke the silence with a startled expression. "What... does that mean?"
"At the 'border,' time does not necessarily flow according to the rules of the real world. Sometimes, it passes incredibly quickly, while at other times, it nearly comes to a standstill. Night Lady governs the rules of the border. She used this disorderly flow of time to imprison an... 'uninvited guest' who had intruded here, preventing that guest from escaping and endangering the reality outside."
"An uninvited guest?" Amber froze for a moment, then immediately understood. "You mean... the 'Tide of Reversal'?"
"Ah, Night Lady did indeed call it that. A pitiful and dangerous creature," Verde sighed. "It suddenly intruded here several centuries ago, but in truth, part of its power had already spread into and contaminated the border at some even more ancient point in time. To stop that contamination, Night Lady built powerful defenses. Later, to trap the monster's main body here as well, She turned the border into a city of disorderly time.
"This proved very effective. At least during the first few centuries, both the monster and the contamination it brought were firmly imprisoned within the ever-shifting currents of time. Only occasionally would the monster break free from the border, but even then, it could not rush outside and could only move toward the Divine Throne—whenever that happened, Night Lady would drive it back into that city.
"This continued until not long ago... I think you know what happened afterward. Night Lady said it was quite a