"I may have spoken to your 'That Lord.'" I emerged from my memories and said to Harlan.
The old emperor before me immediately widened his eyes, staring at me with an expression frozen on his face. Harlan finally reacted just as I was about to punch him. "You're saying you've been in contact with 'That Lord'?!"
"More than just contact. Like I said, that 'sleepwalking state' you were in a while ago may have been caused by this." I sighed, suddenly feeling that the man before me was probably the unluckiest person I knew. "Before you invaded the Empire's border—around the time you and your legions suddenly lost your minds—I communicated with someone of unknown origin. I only heard her voice. At first, I thought she came from somewhere else, but only after the information you gave me just now did I realize she was most likely your boss behind the scenes. That voice came across the Void and spoke with me for only a few minutes... perhaps longer. I couldn't sense the flow of time when I entered the Void. That voice said a lot of incomprehensible things, mostly that she was very interested in me. But I remember the last thing she mentioned: to speak with a Void Creature, she had to suffer losses every moment. If the losses she spoke of were you—then everything makes sense."
Harlan did not have much information. He still did not know that the power behind the Fallen Apostle was actually a collective consciousness, so my conclusion seemed somewhat baffling to him. He raised his own question. "How can you be sure that voice was 'That Lord'? Just because of the timing? Or merely because my legions showed signs of having a direct spiritual link to a Void Creature not long ago?"