Time was no longer shy before Shade, revealing all its secrets to him. The river of time became whole in Shade's eyes, and the bridge connecting the Fifth Epoch to the present point in time finally revealed itself.
He wanted to stand, but the weakness, bleeding from all seven orifices, and splitting headache nearly made Shade collapse. Fortunately, Doctor caught him in time.
"I'm fine."
Looking dazed, Shade held his head with his left hand and handed the relic in his right to Doctor for him to put back in the case. He then braced himself against the wall and struggled to steady himself.
"In other words, after the Fifth Epoch ended came the first Sixth Epoch. Then the time of that Sixth Epoch was destroyed, and everything returned to the beginning of the Sixth Epoch, with time flowing into the second Sixth Epoch. Afterward, the time of the second Sixth Epoch was also completely destroyed. Everything returned to the beginning of the Sixth Epoch and entered the third Sixth Epoch..."
If Shade had not already reached the fifth ring, and if his soul and body had not grown stronger after so many adventures, he suspected that the instant he learned the truth just now, his head would have exploded like a watermelon.
The Past World Epoch had already repeated six times, and the era the Outlander arrived in was the seventh cycle of the Sixth Epoch. At the end of the adventure in Thousand Tree Forest, the Old God Radiance Doorway had hinted that this was not the Sixth Epoch in the true sense. That had been an exceptionally precise description.
The true Sixth Epoch had long since passed, yet this was still the Sixth Epoch. Strictly speaking, this was indeed not the Sixth Epoch, but the answer given