The Raiden Shogun pondered for a moment, then was the first to retract her Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto form. Seeing this, Yuto also retracted his Susanoo, and with Lumine, returned to the ground.
"That strike just now has made me acknowledge your strength. Tell me your name."
"Uchiha Mikage. This is my friend, Lumine."
"Uchiha... Mikage? I thought you were a descendant of the Tengu clan. Upon closer inspection, you're merely human? How unbelievable!" Raiden Ei showed a hint of disappointment.
"Tengu? Are you referring to the Crow Tengu Warrior that my Susanoo manifested?"
"Susanoo? A good name indeed. Never mind that, why do you obstruct me from confiscating Visions? Is your foolish bravery to protect those people, or is it... that seeing me was your true intention?"
"Heh, no rush. Let's sit and talk, shall we?" The space before Yuto's eyes began to twist. The next moment, a stone table and four stone chairs appeared within the Plane of Euthymia. Most importantly, the stone table was laden with an abundance of sweet desserts, causing Raiden Ei's lips to twitch involuntarily.
"Oh my, little one, you've prepared so many things. However, why is there no fried tofu?" Yae Miko was the first to take a seat, complaining to Yuto with a melancholic expression.
Raiden Ei looked at the familiar tri-color dango, taiyaki, and the identically bottled Milk on the stone table, and suddenly thought, "Was it you who secretly sent those investigation reports and desserts to the Tenshukaku?"
"Oh? You knew? I thought all those things were embezzled by that puppet, the Raiden Shogun. I didn't expect you to have personally tasted them. Please, have a seat."
"Hmph! When I created her, I didn't consider such useless functions. She only needed to represent me in guarding Inazuma and becoming a nation of eternity." With that, Raiden Ei put away her naginata and was the second to sit. Yuto followed closely, and Lumine took the last seat.
"So, you tacitly approved the issuance and enforcement of the Vision Hunt Decree, stripping people of their wishes? A nation that has lost its wishes, lost its changes, and merely exists, is nothing more than an empty shell. In that case, what does it matter if it's destroyed?"
"Impudent! Retract your presumptuous words! An eternity that remains Unyielding for thousands of generations, this is the promise I give to my subjects."
"Heh heh, Ei, but what your subjects need is not your promise; what they want is your gaze."
"Gaze? Visions? Human lifespans are merely a hundred years. Visions are dispensable to them. The more they excessively pursue these, the more they will lose. Having experienced everything, I chose to guide them towards the correct eternity."
"Pfft! Hahahahaha!" Yuto, who was beside them, couldn't help but burst into laughter at this explanation.
"What are you laughing at?" Raiden Ei's voice suddenly turned cold, and the Eye of the Maleficent Thunder behind her reopened.
"My apologies, my apologies. I thought that after my professional training, no matter how funny something was, I wouldn't laugh, unless I couldn't help it."
"Are you mocking my understanding of eternity?"
"If you were the first Electro Archon of Inazuma, and had been so from ancient times until now, I would respect you more. But you were inseparable from your sister for thousands of years, yet you failed to inherit your sister's will, and even walked a path opposite to hers. Are you truly blood sisters?"
The naginata in Raiden Ei's hand instantly materialized, and she directly swung a strike towards Yuto. Strangely, that strike passed directly through Yuto's head, completely without substance.
Yuto still said, grinning, "What? Are you angry out of shame?"
"Silence! You can slander me, but you cannot slander my sister!"
Yuto directly took out a stack of organized documents from his embrace, flung them at Raiden Ei, and sneered, "Take a look. See what the Raiden Shogun, who inherited the concept of eternity, has done these past few hundred years."
Raiden Ei looked at the documents in her hand and suddenly remembered the two investigation reports she had seen before. A feeling of fear of facing them arose in her heart. This was very abnormal; she was the Electro Archon, one of The Seven, yet she was afraid of a small stack of documents.
Indeed, from the moment she opened the first page of the documents, Raiden Ei's expression darkened. This was an investigation report on various aspects of Inazuma, including its economy, politics, military, culture, and people's livelihood.
The text was overly cumbersome, giving Raiden Ei a headache, but each report had a trend curve graph, and without exception, they were all declining. Turning to the back, there was even evidence of the Tenryou Commission and Kanjou Commission, whom she trusted most, colluding with the Fatui, which made Raiden Ei grit her teeth in anger.
Just at this moment, Yuto, who loved to stir up trouble, added fuel to the fire.
"Oh my, during the reign of the first Electro Archon, Raiden Makoto, Inazuma's military strength, technological level, economic strength, and people's living standards were among the top three of The Seven Nations. Yet, after being ruled by the Raiden Shogun for several hundred years, it has directly become the most backward among The Seven Nations. What could be the reason for this?
Such a backward country, if it weren't for the Raiden Shogun still propping it up, Inazuma would probably have been annexed by the other six nations long ago. Yet, it still boasts about wanting to become an eternal nation.
The most ridiculous thing is that, with such a god to protect Inazuma, less than half of Inazuma's subjects actually believe in the Electro Archon, and this proportion has been continuously decreasing in recent years. Are these people wishing for Inazuma to perish sooner?"
"Enough!" Raiden Ei let out a roar, and lightning flashed around her. The entire Plane of Euthymia instantly became incredibly oppressive, making it difficult to breathe. However, this feeling only lasted for a few seconds. The next moment, Raiden Ei felt like a deflated balloon, and sat on the stone chair with a dejected expression.
Yae Miko, seeing her friend in such a state, also restrained the smile on her face. She picked up a dango and personally fed it to Raiden Ei. Raiden Ei numbly accepted Yae Miko's feeding. After chewing a few times, she suddenly realized something amiss, and looked at Yuto with a hint of overwhelming shame.
"I knew I wasn't as good as Makoto, but I didn't expect the difference to be this great. The foundation Makoto left after thousands of years of governance has been squandered to this extent by that puppet! I... I... this... why is this happening?"
"It's very simple. Although both you and Raiden Makoto uphold the concept of eternity, your understanding of eternity and Makoto's understanding of eternity are completely different.
Your understanding of eternity is a static eternity. Simply put, stopping time is your understanding of eternity, isn't it? The absence of change is an important part of eternity.
Therefore, by issuing the Sakoku Decree to prevent Inazuma's communication with the outside world, and issuing the Vision Hunt Decree to make people lose the motivation to pursue their wishes, Inazuma, without external interference or internal conflicts, would be able to achieve the goal of eternity, right?
But your sister, Raiden Makoto's understanding of eternity was completely different. She believed that eternity is the driving force for people to realize their wishes. When old wishes are fulfilled, new wishes always replace them, constantly repeating such operations to achieve a dynamic eternity, using development to drive eternity.
It was precisely because of this governance philosophy that Inazuma prospered, flourished, and produced many talents, with its politics, economy, and culture reaching their peak. Unfortunately, the war in Khaenri'ah five hundred years ago caused Makoto to perish, and the talents she left behind were also lost during the black calamity, leaving you with only a naive and ignorant little fox, a hand warmer."
Pfft! Cough, cough, cough. The pink-haired fox, who was sitting nearby eating desserts, was innocently caught in the crossfire and almost choked to death. She quickly reached for the bottle of Milk on the stone table, but found that she couldn't move it no matter how hard she tried. Upon closer inspection, she realized that Raiden Ei's hand had, at some point, tightly gripped the bottle of Milk, preventing her from taking it.
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