Ayane also had regrets she wanted to amend, even though she knew those were events that had already occurred. But if one day she couldn't bear that kind of pressure, she might use such power to go back in time and change some things.
"Then what if you still fail after going back?"
"Keep returning to the timeline without failure, and if failure occurs again, keep altering the timeline. Repeat this cycle endlessly. If met with resistance from your past self, you might even kill her..."
Following Ruri's line of thought, Ayane felt a chill down her spine, her actions of eating pancakes completely froze.
She hadn't considered this scenario at all.
Only then did she understand how terrifying and intimidating the time-traveling power of the Dragon Vein truly was.
Compared to this, resurrecting the dead, something that defies natural laws, seemed insignificant.
"Then is Hakushi..."
Ayane's voice trembled slightly.
"Perhaps it's also out of fear of becoming someone like that, which is why he intentionally sealed those memories."
This was Ruri's belief.
Otherwise, Hakushi wouldn't have asked the live slug to come to the Land of Demons, document the past, and pass down the true history to humanity collectively.
"Whether it's the predetermined future history or the past history that has already occurred, those are events that have happened, real and existent history. If at that time, he exploited the Dragon Vein's time-traveling power for personal gain, he would become the person he once despised and scorned most."
Ayane fell silent.
Thinking about Hakushi's plan in the Land of Demons, although she couldn't grasp all of it yet, she knew it was definitely going to be an earth-shattering change overturning prior knowledge.
Setting up such a massive plan, until reaching the end, nobody can guarantee its success.
If it fails, one couldn't resist using the Dragon Vein's power to return to the time before the failure.
Then encountering past beliefs unchanged, a life-and-death struggle would be inevitable.
Might even fall into a despairing cycle of repeated failure and repetition; becoming such an abominable figure you'd despise would be better off not knowing anything from the beginning.
"Honestly, I somewhat regret backing up those memories regarding the future."
Ruri sighed, perhaps this was the real feeling of ignorance equating bliss.
"Having done them, I don't plan to erase those memories."
Ayane felt a bit moody.
"But maybe he's already predicted this."
Ruri suddenly said.
"Eh? What do you mean?"
Ayane paused.
"Playing pretend is one of his fortes."
Ruri didn't elaborate much but instead inspected the Dragon Vein device's seal, and the vivid Three-Tomoe Sharingan appeared.
"Release!"
The seal pattern on the ground was immediately covered by a new spell, overlaying the original Sealing Technique.
"This composition of the Sealing Technique is..."
After reading, Ruri paused for a moment before continuing:
"Truly, his handiwork leaves no room for error."
Ayane also came over to examine the top-layer seal pattern, showing an astonished expression.
She hadn't expected Hakushi's sealing of the Dragon Vein to employ this kind of Sealing Technique.
This meant that all Ruri's speculations earlier were likely correct.
◎
Roran's minister An Lushan was exposed for secretly abducting people from Roran and constructing a puppet weapon factory beneath the city.
Queen Roran, though unwilling to believe the scene before her, saw those kidnapped to the underground weapon factory were indeed the civilians who had mysteriously vanished earlier from Roran.
Each was emaciated and raggedly dressed, after An Lushan disappeared, the puppet soldiers lost control and malfunctioned, allowing them to escape the underground factory and report An Lushan's crimes.
Upon investigation, Queen Roran had to accept that the once loyal minister An Lushan was a criminal harboring nefarious intentions towards Roran.
On that day, Queen Roran ordered a kingdom-wide search for An Lushan, demanding his capture to account for the citizens.
After assigning the task to the soldiers, Queen Roran proceeded alone to the silent chamber housing the Dragon Vein, carefully inspecting the seals there.
According to the abducted civilians' statements, An Lushan had exploited her trust, freely using the Dragon Vein's Chakra to manufacture vast quantities of puppet soldiers, intending to control Roran, perhaps even initiate war externally, dragging Roran into oblivion.
Just imagining this, made Queen Roran fearfully tremble.
After inspecting for a while in the silent chamber, Queen Roran discovered that the Dragon Vein's sealing device was intact and planned to further investigate the Dragon Vein's status.
"!?"
The queen's face showed surprise.
Deeper connection to the Dragon Vein Core was unreachable.
It was known that each generation's queen of Roran possessed special power to connect with the Dragon Vein, reaching its core, the crucial source of power forming the Dragon Vein.
Suddenly, the seal spell on the ground lit up, startling Queen Roran into stepping back.
On top of the original seal spell, a new spell immediately overlapped, connecting with the Dragon Vein in the same way.
"This is... An Lushan, that fellow!"
Queen Roran's first thought was of An Lushan, still at large, aiming to monopolize the Dragon Vein's power, set up new Sealing Techniques here, greatly weakening her connection with the Dragon Vein.