Explosions rang in Kai's ears with Akaza's every breath.
He had guessed it. The Lucky Intuitions had warned him. The Ad Infinitum had almost shaped the imagination into reality.
Akaza, one of the few Storyline Characters he had come to respect after reviving in the Primordial Tower, had accomplished the unthinkable — had achieved the unachievable — all by himself.
A Breathing Style…
Akaza had not only pulled himself out of death while being constantly restricted by Muzan's commands, but he had also broken the chains that had shackled his existence, limiting him to a demon.
How?
Kai did not know.
Even the combined might of all his Abilities couldn't decrypt how Akaza had done so.
And that's why Kai had no choice but to come here, to the Verse Fusion, risking everything.
Because this was an opportunity that presented itself once in a lifetime.
Because this was an opportunity he hadn't schemed to bring to reality.
Because this was an opportunity that had nothing to do with him.
Akaza.
It was all him.
The Storyline Character of the Verse Fusion Bubble's singular timeline had shaped this opportunity all by himself — for himself!
By now, Kai had a solid knowledge of how the fusion of concepts between the Demon Slayer and Bleach Bubbles worked when it came to the Demon Slayers walking on the path of Shinigami.
However, even now, when it came to the demons of this world, all he had were intuitions and possibilities.
If the Hashiras represented the Gotei 13 in the Verse Fusion, then the Moons could be nothing but the Arrancars.
But even with the first sentence, things became too complex.
The journey of a Demon Slayer rising to the level of a Hashira was well-structured.
One started with a Breathing Style before acquiring the Nichirin Sword, officially becoming a Demon Slayer.
Upon wielding this sword for the very first time, based on a Demon Slayer's mastery over their Breathing Style, it forcefully drew out their Spiritual Power before changing color depending on the nature of their Spiritual Pressure.
This entire process had been replicated and studied so many times that it had a name of its own.
Spiritual Awakening!
It was this Awakening that triggered the Zanpakuto to take form inside a Demon Slayer's Inner World.
With further training, the Demon Slayer needed to learn the true name of their Zanpakuto, along with the Release Call to activate the Initial Release — Shikai!
The next process was the most deadly and resulted in the deaths of many Demon Slayers aiming to become Hashiras.
It was to awaken Demon Slayer Marks on their bodies.
These Marks could not be manifested through training alone, but also required a do-or-die resolve in many life-threatening circumstances.
A successful resonance between these Marks then evolved the Zanpakuto, letting the Demon Slayer access the Final Release — Bankai!
However, if the resonance failed to result in a Demon Slayer achieving Bankai, then… only death awaited them on the other side as they fell victim to the Curse of the Marks.
Difficult, almost unachievable, but… simple.
If Kai had to wrap the entire process in one sentence, then it would be — the road to Hashira in the Verse Fusion was complete.
It was as if, while coming into being, some laws of the Demon Slayer Bubble and Bleach Bubble had fused perfectly, while the others…
In contrast to the Hashiras' simple path, things already deviated on the other side, given that there was no concept of souls becoming Hollows in the Verse Fusion.
Using Lucky Intuitions and Ad Infinitum, Kai had come up with a crude theory.
In the Bleach Bubble, the Hollows were divided into many levels — Demi-Hollows, Huge Hollows, and Menos.
The strongest of them, Menos, were further divided into Gillians, Adjuchas, and Vasto Lordes — the strongest of all.
And when a Hollow lost its characteristic mask, it was called an Arrancar.
In the Bleach Bubble, it was Sousuke Aizen who could create full Arrancars from Menos-level Hollows using the Hogyoku.
Kai believed that, in the Verse Fusion Bubble, Muzan himself was the Hogyoku!
Every time he created a Demon, it was equivalent to him creating a Hollow.
Moreover, by controlling the amount of blood he used, he could push this Hollow into the realm of Menos.
The Lower Moons might be nothing but Arrancars if they had been created by removing masks from Gillian- or Adjuchas-level Hollows.
The Upper Moons were definitely in the realm of Arrancars, who were born out of Vasto Lordes.
Even here, things diverged as only the Upper Moons assumed their Arrancar-like forms, and that, too, only when they used Resurreccion.
Then there was an Arrancar's hole — a symbol of them losing their hearts — which could be attributed to the lost humanity and memories in the demons' case.
And, sure, the Upper Moons' drastic transformations after Resurreccion could be explained by the fact that, in the Bleach Bubble, Arrancars merely reverted to their true Hollow-forms by using the same ability.
But then what about the demons created by the Lower and Upper Moons?
If Muzan was the Hogyoku in the Verse Fusion, then did it mean that ALL the demons, from the lowly ones to the Upper Moons, were the Hogyoku as well?
There was a gap — a huge gap — in the entire Demons-Hollows side of things, Kai had realized.
It was as if the fusion of concepts had been incomplete, to begin with.
It was as if the laws defining the rules of formation of Demons, their paths to the Upper Moons, and their further growth weren't completed.
And that…
That meant the Demons of Kai's Verse Fusion held more uncertainty than the Demon Slayers. So much uncertainty, in fact, that they wouldn't even need his hand to experience changes.
That was one of the reasons Kai had wanted to eliminate all the Demons in this world, letting the Demon Slayers thrive because their growth was something he could control.
From a grand perspective, the Demon Slayers held more value to him.
It was just…
Kai had never thought that it would be Akaza who would be taking this step first.
That it would be Akaza who would prove his theories by creating a Breathing Style of his own, becoming something that was neither Arrancar-like Upper Moon nor Captain-like Hashira, but something more.
Much, much more…
A Storyline Character with a Mystery of his own…
A Storyline Character on his way to rise above the timeline's restrictions!