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[Crossover] Ch 101: Collapsing Parallel Worlds
🕑 Added 2025-06-18 19:57:06 +0000 UTC— — — — — —
Ryo didn't stick around for the full 28-day time limit in the Demon Slayer world.
Instead, on the 23rd day, he quietly said his goodbyes.
With the autumn breeze brushing past him, he gazed at the setting sun, his voice calm and casual as he muttered: "… It's time."
He couldn't afford to stay the full 28 days. If he did, back in Little Garden, Black Rabbit would probably be scared out of her mind.
To avoid that mess, Ryo decided to return on day 23—it gave him more control over the flow of time between worlds.
It also served as a reminder: since time didn't move at a fixed rate, he really needed to warn Black Rabbit ahead of time so she wouldn't cause unnecessary chaos.
Though, let's be honest—most of the chaos would probably come from her trying to find him in the first place.
That thought made Ryo chuckle softly before he began calming his thoughts.
He shifted his focus inward, toward the space between his brows, and soon dove deep into his soul. There, he saw his Soul Core.
It appeared as a pitch-black, octahedral crystal—shaped like a diamond—hovering in the void. At its center burned a flickering golden flame.
Ryo understood what it meant. The outer crystal was his gifts, but the flame within—that was his Divinity.
"Let's begin."
Without wasting time, he sank his consciousness into it, using the Abyss Method taught by Shiroyasha to merge his spiritual force into his core.
In that instant, his vision changed.
The world around him expanded, shifting from flat to three-dimensional. It felt like being launched into the sky, looking down from an airplane.
Soon, his vision passed into space. He saw the distant stars, and then the Earth—blue, glowing, and impossibly close.
And then… light.
A massive beam of light pierced the void and struck straight through the planet.
Ryo flinched instinctively, but before he could react, countless images began flashing through that column of light.
Humans grouped like packs of tigers and leopards, early civilizations farming with blades, ancient scholars weaving myths onto parchment… one image after another unfolded before his eyes.
From the dawn of recorded history to the industrial revolution, to ironclad warships sailing the seas.
And among those vast timelines, the chaos wrought by Kibutsuji Muzan—his thousand-year reign of terror—was nothing more than a ripple, a single wave among countless others, rising and falling with time.
"This is… the history of humanity?" Ryo whispered, a touch of awe in his voice.
It was only now that he began to truly grasp what the gods meant when they spoke of "human history."
It wasn't just a sequence of events—it was something etched deep within the soul of every human being. A legacy passed down through instinct and culture.
A history of civilization. A story of mankind.
Not just records of the past, but the foundation of the present.
Then he saw it—the origin of divine faith itself. A progression from the unknown to the known, birthed from the actions and beliefs of humanity.
Zeus, born from the concept of patriarchy. Yahweh, from the universal belief in a singular god. Taiyi, from humankind's understanding of natural law.
Each action birthed a belief, and those beliefs poured into the pillar of light and vanished into the unknown.
"Is the Central Core of Little Garden absorbing all that?"
That was Ryo's first thought. But then he quickly discarded the idea.
Because at that moment, a floating forum appeared on the right side of his soul's vision.
A notification window was active.
[Absorbing Divine Faith... Absorption complete!]
[To maintain stability within the allied Little Garden Core, faith energy is being distributed at a 9:1 ratio... Now distributing...]
"…Stability, my ass. You're just stabilizing the Core's mood, aren't you?"
Ryo couldn't help but snark at that.
The forum gets 90%, and the Little Garden Core only gets 10%? And the Core still agrees to that cut?
Especially when all the hard work seems to be done by the Core?
As far as Ryo could tell, the Dimensional Forum hadn't lifted a finger—it was just sitting back and reaping the rewards.
Impressive. That's some top-tier capitalist behavior right there.
As he mentally rolled his eyes, the images within the pillar of light began to shift again.
Now, Ryo saw shadows—overlapping reflections of the Earth, layered atop each other like infinite fractals zooming in and out.
"What the hell…?" he muttered.
[Response: The Central Core of Little Garden is using this world as an anchor to collapse parallel timelines.]
"Collapsing parallel worlds?"
Ryo's heart skipped a beat.
"So you're saying… the changes I made here are now being mirrored across all parallel versions of this world?"
[Correct.]
[The events you influenced are now repeating endlessly across parallel versions of World 001. A 'Historical Transition Phase' has begun.]
The moment he read that, Ryo's eyes twitched hard.
Historical Transition Phase.
What he did had actually triggered a phase shift in history?
···············
In other words, A Muzan is now launching an attack on Edo across every parallel universe—and being wiped out by the Demon Slayer Corps in every one of them?
And that cascade of events… would end up affecting the Second Great World War?
Trying not to freak out, Ryo asked cautiously: "What happens next?"
[Prediction: In World 001's affected region, the Second World War may end with Japan undergoing peaceful political reform and becoming the Third World superpower. Probability: 92%.]
Ryo went silent.
Well, damn.
He threw a single stone into the lake… and flipped over the entire war machine.
He didn't even dare ask what might happen further down the timeline—he could already tell that was stepping into forbidden territory.
Instead, he quietly asked:
"What about the gods in Little Garden?"
[Response: Due to the convergence of infinite parallel timelines, observing future outcomes now exceeds our energy reserves.]
Ryo fell silent again.
"They're looking for me, aren't they?" he asked grimly.
[Correct. One of the fully-empowered Domain Gods, Alpha, is currently locking down causal timelines, manipulating time streams, and hunting for the source of the disruption.]
"…Can I hide?"
He was already feeling a headache forming.
Alpha—the woman Shiroyasha calls "boss," the shadow behind Thousand Eyes, the top-level goddess pulling strings behind the scenes.
If she found him, he didn't even want to imagine what would happen next.
[Response: Soul Core cloaking permission updated.]
[Evasion successful. Alpha has now flagged 'Kibutsuji Muzan' as the primary suspect.]
Ryo let out a deep sigh of relief.
Knowing a two-digit powerhouse was on the hunt for you would freak anyone out.
Luckily, for once, the Dimensional Forum didn't screw him over.
The very next second:
[Causality interference detected. Tracing source… Trace complete.]
['Kibutsuji Muzan' has been erased via another 2-digit god. In three seconds, the concept of 'Kibutsuji Muzan' will be removed.]
[Due to current cloaking protocols, please refrain from speaking or writing that name.]
"…"
Ryo just… froze.
So it wasn't just one two-digit going after him… there were multiple.
Wow. He should feel honored, huh?
Even deep within his own Soul Core, he felt cold.
And then—suddenly—the Central Core of Little Garden stirred.
A soft light drifted toward him, entering his Soul Core and offering a flicker of warmth.
A tiny reward from Little Garden itself—quiet, subtle... but very real.
.
.
.
