Reincarnated in a Shounen Manga - Chapter 231: Swimming in Time

Learning that the rules I once considered absolute were being broken like this left a sinking pit in my stomach. The silver-haired man was the number one suspect behind these anomalies, and there was a strong chance that he might be my future self. After all, for someone of his power, he should have appeared in the manga, implying that he was created by me, even if he wasn’t my future self.

Despite having called him dumb before, it seemed like he had somehow achieved what he wanted to change. The Strength Exorcist had no reason to lie about what he witnessed.

The only inconsistency between me and the silver-haired man being my future self was our goals and appearances. The latter could be easily explained as I was fused with Carpy, and I wasn’t sure what a human and dragon fusion would look like.

The idea that someone had changed the past still felt strange to even contemplate. Yet, an uncomfortable feeling nagged at me, an instinct honed through my years as an exorcist. Something just felt wrong, and felt too convenient of an assumption.

Either that, or I was being paranoid because everything seemed to fall into place too easily. In my profession, things rarely went so smoothly.

And then there was the puzzling retreat of the Gardens of Babylon. With their formidable number of Ultimate Class creatures, they shouldn’t have backed down even from a dragon. I needed to reevaluate my perspective. Was I underestimating the silver-haired man’s power? If he was truly as powerful as a Dragon King, then even the Gardens of Babylon would hesitate to confront him, unless they had already created their own God.

Excitement surged within me at the prospect of reaching such strength. But how far into the future was this power? Gardens of Babylon wouldn’t allow encounters with someone from more than three months ahead.

Something crucial was eluding me, and a couple of pieces just weren’t adding up. If I had indeed reached the level of a Dragon King, then why would my future self want to alter the past when that kind of power could be attained?

All along, my goal had been to become strong enough to prevent future tragedies and save humanity from destruction. The might of a Dragon King fulfilled that ambition.

A lot of things simply didn’t make sense!

Suddenly, a hand rested on my shoulder, jolting me out of my thoughts. It was Agon, wearing a concerned expression. “You alright? You look tired.”

I tried to lighten the mood with a jest, “You know how to read the mood? Are you sure you aren’t an imposter?”

However, his narrowed eyes made it clear he wasn’t going to let me dismiss this so easily. My gaze drifted to Agon’s chest, where the seal containing Yamata No Orochi should be.

The only Dragon King I knew of was the Dragon King of Twisted Time, who wielded power comparable to Yamata No Orochi, who had cast a barrier around the whole continent.

Since Yamata No Orochi served as Agon’s power source, it was safe to assume that it ranked among the strongest demons out there, perhaps just below the big bad boss. Dealing with a Dragon King was no trivial matter.

However, my thoughts shifted, and I pushed aside such concerns. Worrying about everything now seemed pointless.

“We could attempt an escape using one of my flying mirrors,” Sei suggested. “At least until we are beyond the borders of this forsaken island.”

“No,” I immediately rejected Sei’s idea. His plan would only lead us into more danger.

The group had tried something similar in the original story, but the unique environment here forcibly summoned a dangerous entity from Sei’s mirror. That could escalate into an even worse situation, as the Dream Lords might take notice. Unlike us, they weren’t affected or confused by the island’s power.

“Then what do you propose we do?” Sei inquired.

That was precisely what I was trying to figure out.

My mind played out countless scenarios, but none of them felt right. “The best option I can think of is to use the time rules to our advantage and wait for the fishermen to come and take their boat.”

They all knew of the fishermen who had inevitably revealed the existence of this island, and in our timeline, those fishermen were still alive.

“Sounds like we’ll just be waiting for something to happen,” sighed the Strength Exorcist.

“Still better than nothing,” I countered. “If any of you have better ideas, please feel free to share.”

“No, I don’t have any. But just waiting for something to happen isn’t my style,” the Strength Exorcist shrugged.

“What is your style then? To be a punching bag for anyone with a half-decent special ability?” I retorted.

“What did you say?!” The Strength Exorcist glared at me.

Feeling exhausted, I was no longer in the mood for games. These high ranking exorcists always acted like their way was the only way forward.

It was incredibly frustrating.

“Despite the danger we’ve faced and how you’ve been overpowered and barely survived twice by Ultimate Class demons, you still cling to your beliefs without even attempting to develop a special ability,” I stated matter-of-factly.

Someone with his power should have manifested a special ability, or at least unintentionally triggered one. But he stubbornly hindered its manifestation.

It was pure stubbornness, nothing more.

Suddenly, just as we were about to start arguing on the shore, we both halted and turned toward the forest. My breath caught as a silver-haired man stood there, his crimson gaze silently observing us.

Initially, he said nothing, but then he pointed in a certain direction within the forest.

What was he up to? By providing us with directions, he was directly interfering with the past, which should have cost him a significant amount of Ord. However, he seemed entirely unfazed!

I took a deep breath and sensed my Ord; it was below 30% of my usual amount. Despite my typically monstrous Ord reserves and the fact that my special ability didn’t consume much energy, today had been especially tiring, and it felt like the day had been dragging on forever.

As far as I knew, maybe it had been. After all, the day and night cycle varied across the island, and in some places, it seemed like time itself was lagging.

I looked at the silver-haired guy once again, and I couldn’t deny that he intimidated me. But I wasn’t going to follow someone’s words blindly. Instead of succumbing to fear, I clenched my teeth and took control of my emotions, mustering the courage to approach him.

Even as I got within arm’s length of the man, he remained silent, so I decided to ask, “What are you doing here? Did something happen in the future that would make you want to intervene with the past?”

As soon as I asked that, my Ord bottomed out in an instant. It had been a while since I was on the brink of Ord exhaustion. This was going to take me out of commission for a while.

My body slumped forward, but what bothered me more than my impending state of unconsciousness was that the man hadn’t answered me at all.

However, as I was slumping closer, I got a better look at the man’s crimson eyes. Though it was harder than usual to see due to the eye color, there was no doubt that there was no emotion behind those eyes. They were hollow, just like when I was using my special ability. It was a look I had seen countless times and wouldn’t mistake for something else.

The man extended his hand and touched my shoulder, stopping my descent and preventing me from slumping face-first into the ground.

At that moment, something foreign yet familiar entered me, just as the fusion between me and Carpy was about to end.

Transferring Ord between different people was difficult, even when twins or clones were involved. Ord was unique to each individual, and since I was fused with Carpy, even special abilities that could transfer Ord between humans wouldn’t be able to restore mine, as demonic Ord fought off normal ones.

Yet this foreign Ord entered me, similar to the Ord Carpy and I used when we were fused. The only difference was in its quality and quantity, but it was essentially the same Ord.

{Perfect Me}

I activated my special ability and ensured that this new Ord wouldn’t just spill out. For the first time in a while, Perfect Me found something it could work perfectly well with, as the Ord control possessed by the silver-haired man was impeccable.

This unquestionably proved that the red-eyed man was my future self. I took a step forward, preventing myself from falling, and met the man’s gaze. If he truly was my future self, there were certain things he couldn’t have changed.

I didn’t say anything, but I stood confidently before the silver-haired man and smiled. After all, even if he was using Perfect Me, there was a five-minute limit, and that limitation will remain despite how much stronger I would become.

Regardless of whether he was my future self or not, I wasn’t about to blindly follow someone without knowing where he was leading me. One thing was clear: if this person had good decision-making skills, he wouldn’t have to alter the past.

The five minutes passed agonizingly slowly, and my heartbeat continued to increase the longer I stood there. Even if he attempted to control my blood, I knew the weakness of that technique. The victim had to concentrate a little bit of Ord into their blood more than was naturally present, and there was no way I would allow him to manipulate my blood.

However, despite the seconds ticking by, nothing happened. Had he somehow broken the laws of his Ord ability? No, that was practically impossible!

I can only use Perfect Me for 5 minutes in a week!—That was an unbreakable rule I had established when manifesting my special ability with my then-minuscule power.

He had changed the past and broken the rules of special abilities. It felt like this man defied everything I knew about the absolute rules of the world.

It was as if the world itself bent to his will.