Voidfire from the Destruction Timeline, or Destruction Voidfire for short, had given Seiji a pa.s.sword. As long as Seiji told this pa.s.sword to New Voidfire, the Voidfire from the New Timeline, it was highly likely that he could convince New Voidfire to change his actions and avoid the Destruction Timeline fate for the city.

However, there was a serious problem with this.

Seiji didn't know what Destruction Voidfire's pa.s.sword meant.

If this pa.s.sword somehow let New Voidfire learn that Seiji possessed the ability to travel back into the past, the consequences would be disastrous.

Even if New Voidfire didn't act on this information immediately, it was highly likely that he might do something with this information in the future, perhaps leaking this information to other members of the Messengers. This would probably end up causing something terrible and unexpected.

Seiji didn't want to have to worry about this every day. He wanted even less to be forced to load far back into the past back to before this point if this became a big problem in the future. And, if his ability was leaked, he might not even get a chance to load in the worst case scenario.

That was why Seiji preferred to contact New Voidfire through Kamitani instead of using Voidfire's pa.s.sword and cell phone number. Seiji would try and convince New Voidfire by saying that he had a prophecy about the future.

Compared to the ability to go back in time, a highly accurate prophecy would be less risky.

Still, this also had its dangers. A truly working prophecy ability would forever be highly valuable. It was just that the spiritual society seriously doubted the veracity of all prophecies, which was why this would be much safer. Not to mention, Seiji could make up all sorts of excuses, such as by saying that it was difficult to activate this type of prophecy magic, that there was a great cost, a particularly long cooldown… etc., etc.

While this was less risky for himself, it caused the current problem that Seiji was facing—New Voidfire's distrust.

It seemed quite difficult to convince New Voidfire to change his actions based only on a prophecy.

Or, another way of saying it was that it would be very difficult to change Voidfire's suspicions, so Seiji had trouble continuing down this path.

In that case, he would either have to say the pa.s.sword right now, or load to the Destruction Timeline to talk to Destruction Voidfire again in an effort to obtain more information.

Seiji felt like loading back to that time would be a good idea. Still, how could he get Destruction Voidfire to tell him more specific information? There was also the problem of how long they could talk for.

Would he be able to obtain more time if he went and contacted Destruction Voidfire earlier in the Destruction Timeline?

Seiji figured that this was unlikely. If he contacted Destruction Voidfire faster, this would only attract the Sakura Catastrophe G.o.ddess's attention faster as well. In the end, the time to talk wouldn't be increased.

In that case, the issue was how to swiftly convince Destruction Voidfire to give Seiji more information in a short amount of time.

…The critical point was still the pa.s.sword!

Seiji managed to come up with a conclusion after organizing his thoughts.

He didn't need to tell the pa.s.sword to New Voidfire. Instead, he could tell the pa.s.sword to Destruction Voidfire!

Having Destruction Voidfire hear the pa.s.sword would likely be the fastest way to obtain his trust. After all, he was the one who told Seiji about the pa.s.sword… And even if it didn't work, there would be no harm in trying, since Seiji had already decided to give up on the Destruction Timeline. No matter what the pa.s.sword meant, Seiji wouldn't have to worry about any potential future consequences.

Seiji made up his mind.

"Indeed, I don't know the specific connection between your actions and the destruction that I saw," Seiji admitted after his long period of silence. "Even if you stop your attack on Soul Society, it might be true that the destruction won't be avoided. I probably thought of things too simply and naively… So, just do as you like, Voidfire-san."

Seiji then pretended to be disappointed as he started to leave.

"Wait a moment." Voidfire stopped him. "That's all…? Are you willing to leave things like this, Seiji Haruta?"

Seiji stopped walking away.

"What else can I do even if I'm unwilling? I believed too much in my own prophecy, so I tried to change the future like an idiot… All I can do is to notify you of the potential danger, Voidfire-san."

"You can do far more," Voidfire stated. "Your power should be much stronger."

'That's right, immediately after I finish talking to you, I'm going to jump back into a future timeline to obtain more information from your future self, and then come back here to talk to you again,' Seiji thought to himself.

Seiji didn't want to use his save and load ability right in front of Voidfire. Maybe he was being overly cautious, but Seiji felt it would be safer to say goodbye and leave first.

However, Voidfire seemed to have a different idea.

"What do you want to from me, Voidfire-san?" Seiji asked Voidfire the same question that Voidfire started out with.

"You can help me. We can act together," Voidfire said raspily.

Now this was a truly incredible suggestion!

"I don't wish to become enemies with Soul Society." Seiji rejected this proposal.

"You believe that their plan is wrong. Yet, you don't want to stop them from making this mistake?"

"I would if I could. However, I don't have the power to fight against Soul Society."

"You will if you come along with me," Voidfire insisted.

Seiji fell silent for a moment before replying, "This is only our first meeting, Voidfire-san. You said that you were happy to meet me, and you even told me your real name. I'm grateful for that. However, this doesn't mean that I'll instantly trust you, just like how you can't completely trust me."

"Even if we can't completely trust each other, cooperation is still possible." Voidfire continued insisting.

"Yes, I also realize that it's possible to cooperate without complete trust. But, even cooperation requires both parties to know a decent amount about each other. That's not the case with us." Seiji turned around and looked at Voidfire again. "Kamitani told me that you were really strong. I also agree now that I've met you. You're indeed strong enough to attack Soul Society all by yourself. So, why does someone like you want to recruit someone like me that you've only met for the first time? All I've done is tell you about a shallow prophecy that I have which says your attack will be a mistake. Although you seem to like me, you don't really need me to join your side, do you?"

Voidfire fell silent this time for a while.

"Because… I think that perhaps you might be able to become my companion," Voidfire spoke in a low voice.

"Hmm?"

"Seiji Haruta, I don't have a single companion. Not even one. Nor have I ever met a single person that I've ever wanted to become my companion."

"…You're a high-ranked member of the Messengers."

"So what?"

"Don't you treat the Messengers as your companions?" Seiji furrowed his eyebrows.

"I don't. They aren't my companions at all. They're only using me, and I'm using them in turn. That's just how my relations.h.i.+p with the Messengers is."

"Since you don't agree with the Messengers, then why don't you leave them?"

"Because I have nowhere else to go," Voidfire stated raspily. "I have nowhere to go, nowhere I should go, and nowhere that I want to go. The Messengers use me, and I use the Messengers. There's nothing else apart from that. I don't need anything else. I thought that this was fine... until I met you. When I met you, I felt for the first time that maybe even I can have a companion. Perhaps you'll become my companion, or perhaps you won't. It's only a possibility. But, it's exactly this possibility that makes me want to invite you to join my side."

'That's all it is.' Seiji felt like he could hear Voidfire saying this.

He felt that Voidfire was telling the complete truth here.

Voidfire didn't need his a.s.sistance in attacking Soul Society. His invitation was simply because he had gotten interested in Seiji. However, even this interest was apparently incredibly rare. His interest also seemed to include a certain type of need.

A subtle yet concrete and mysterious need.

Seiji sensed all of these emotions coming from Voidfire. Suddenly, Seiji felt like he understood why Dousei As.h.i.+ya had chosen the code name Voidfire.

Fire obviously represented the magic that he was most skilled at. And Void… that represented his foundational essence.

Voidfire—Dousei As.h.i.+ya—was incredibly strong, but he lacked a soul, or at least he lacked a soul like the one normal people would have.

Seiji felt that this was all incredibly subtle as he thought about Voidfire's words and notorious family history.

"Because I'm not human… I'm not human, yet I'm like a human, or maybe I should say that I'm human yet inhuman. Is that why you want me to become your companion?"

Something flashed in Voidfire's eyes as he nodded rapidly.

"Yes. I want the you who's like this, Seiji Haruta."