Kai sat next to Shinobu's bed with a blue-black, bruised face, his forehead supporting large, comical bumps.
On the bed, the Insect Hashira slept softly after beating the shit out of him.
Kai couldn't fault her, though.
Nor could he do anything about her strange, lengthened pregnancy.
He especially couldn't do anything about it because he was the one keeping the child within her womb.
The Verse Fusion Bubble drew its powers from Kai's existence.
For now, it had only one timeline, which was neither a Pillar nor a Mirror nor a Key.
There was literally no concept of a Bubble having infinite timelines for this Verse Fusion.
That meant what was true for the Bubble was true for the timeline as well.
That, in turn, meant whatever happened in this timeline could dictate the fate of the entire Bubble.
That also meant the singular Timeline in this Bubble, who had been born out of Nothing, stood the chance to obtain the greatest benefits… as long as She could take care of one thing —
Removing Kai from the picture without harming the Bubble.
Verse Fusion Timeline's own existence was tethered to Kai's, so She couldn't kill him, either.
However, if She could somehow graft the laws that made him so important to the Bubble upon someone else, then She could exert Her influence on the entire Bubble through that person.
But this person couldn't be random.
It must be someone who was inherently connected with Kai, ignoring the boundaries of Bubbles and the Multiverse at large.
The child Shinobu carried in her womb!
If She could steal the child, tether the Verse Fusion Bubble to it, and then let Muzan consume the said child, then…
One Bubble.
One Pillar Timeline.
One Bubble Entity… working under the Pillar Timeline.
It was a magnificent scheme that She had cooked up, Kai believed.
And the most beautiful fact about this scheme was that he couldn't do anything about it.
Well, he could, per se, done one thing.
Kill the child.
And that's what the Ad Infinitum and Lucky Intuitions had been working upon for the last few hours.
Ultimately, they had concluded that he couldn't.
There was a reason that he had chosen to bring his child… his true child… into the Verse Fusion.
Kai had grand plans.
Those plans needed him outside, in the Multiverse.
He couldn't just stay in his haven and scheme against fate.
For that, he needed to go out, vie for opportunities, and conquer.
In that case, he would need someone to manage the Verse Fusion Bubble — especially when it reached completion — while not being restricted to the label of a Storyline Character.
That's where the child came into the picture.
Kai wasn't a product of this Bubble.
Once he killed all the Demons, all he would need to accomplish was to make sure that his child became the most powerful person in this Bubble. Then, he could relinquish his authority related to the Verse Fusion and graft it upon the child. Such a power would allow the child to surpass the restrictions, becoming a Pillar Existence above the timeline.
So, in a way, both Kai and the Verse Fusion Timeline wanted the same thing.
It was just that in the Kai's case, the child was fated to rule, while in Timeline's case…
Kai's hand reached for the bridge of his nose as he resumed his contemplative posture once again, finding himself in one of the greatest conundrums of his life.
Things were going fine… if not tracing the best route possible.
Mang Jian had already ensured that Timeline-backed Muzan wouldn't come for the child anytime soon, postponing the War between Demon Slayers and Demons by a substantial amount of time.
In that time, Kai would have completed his Main Mission while bringing Karmic Dissolution to the Harry Potter Timeline, officially making it a Pillar.
The moment that happened, he could go ahead and fuse Her with his Verse Fusion, along with the Fate Timeline, who had already risen to the status of Mirror, and others, bringing the Verse Fusion to completion and turning it into a complete Bubble.
None knew about this plan, other than Kai, Death, and the Harry Potter Timeline.
The Dumbledore-less fools from a Pillar timeline, preparing for a War in the Harry Potter Bubble, were puppets, half their strings controlled by Death, half by Kai and the Timeline.
Even the Order of Immortal Lotus, which was on the verge of abandoning Darcie's Timeline, thinking that it would corrupt the entire Bubble by becoming the eighth Pillar, was also only that — a bunch of Imperishable Fools.
It was all going well… well, if Kai ignored the matter of the Inquisition, Herpo the Foul, Knull, and a few other Deep Ones and Timelines who were directly or indirectly scheming against him.
But, even in his wildest dreams, he had never imagined the greatest threat to his plans would originate not from his enemies, but from his past — a past that he had so admired living through.
Akaza.
The demon whom Kai had killed, fair and square, somehow ended up becoming the strongest Character in the timeline… within moments.
It wasn't like Kai hadn't heard of fusion with a Zanpakuto, either.
In the Bleach Bubble, the Prime Character — Ichigo Kurosaki — had done something similar, fusing with his Zanpakuto.
Later, though, after using Mugetsu on Aizen, he had lost all his Shinigami Powers.
Was Akaza… Shura Yukihanabi… going to lose his demon or demon slayer-related powers as well?
Kai didn't believe so.
And, as long as Akaza existed, he would continue to grow stronger, making it impossible for the child in Shinobu's womb… for Kai's legacy... to inherit the Verse Fusion Bubble.
"Why didn't you use that Room Skill of yours?"
Kai opened his eyes and found Shinobu staring at him with a concerned gaze.
He sighed. "Akaza and I… Sigh…" He shook his head. "It wasn't that kind of fight. I…"
Before Kai could explain more, a deep RUMBLE rocked everything…
… giving the impression that the entire planet would cease to exist in the next moment!