The Myriad Manifestations of Perception and Verse Fusion

18th floor, Purple Castle

The Primordial Tower

Contestant Shadow Origin passed the vial, filled with flowing silvery, smoky liquid, to the King Purple Mist with a solemn expression on his face. He had short black hair, black pearl-like eyes, and a youthful face. He was wearing a tight-fit pair of black suits and pants, with an odd purple geometric configuration emblazoned on the left side of the suit, just over his heart.

The vial floated towards the king and vanished within the churning purple mist. A grunt of acknowledgement entered the viceroy's ears, and his shoulders relaxed.

"The Butcher of the 2nd floor, Master of an ex-priestess from the Temple of the Yellow King, and killer of a restricted Viscount…" Shadow Origin listed out the results of his investigation one by one. "This Blood Demon has done some significant things in only a few months of his arrival, your grace. I couldn't find the method he must have used to assassinate Viscount Purple Spark. Nor the reason for the empire to drop the search for him. But there are subtle clues that point toward him. And…"

The purple mist paused.

Shadow Origin gulped. "And…" he stretched the world as though it would bring the end of time, preventing him from saying the next words. "Temple of the Many Faced God has taken responsibility for the assassinations under the hidden currents," he blurted, taking a step back. "They didn't leave any clue related to their connection with Blood Demon."

An eerie silence choked the soul out of the people present in the Throne Hall.

It was a majestic hall, so humongous that one could fit several Sea Kings in it and still have space left to stuff more. A purple carpet was leading from the absurdly large entrance to the dozens of feet tall high-backed throne, climbing hundreds of steps up the dais. On both sides of the purple carpet, leaving a gap, were purple armored sentries standing with spears in their hands.

Now their armors rattled.

Yet, none complained. Not even the viceroy, Shadow Origin.

A few moments later, the pressure subsided and a majestic voice thundered in the Throne Hall. "It must have started by now," the king commented leisurely. "Bring up the screen."

"As you command, your grace," Shadow Origin bowed, coming to stand by the king's side, sighing in relief inwardly.

The viceroy of the purple castle waved his hand and a giant video screen appeared in front of them, hovering midair. It hadn't come as a shock to him that Blood Demon had accepted all five of the Sponsors' requests. Anything else, and it would have been a disgustingly disappointing decision.

The video screen flickered and Golduck-Kai appeared in their eyes, his brilliant blue appearance getting contrasted by the snow in the background.

Shadow Origin raised an eyebrow. "Genetic mutation?!" he mumbled, looking at the king. "Only a month has passed since the last stage. This doesn't seem to be the reward of a mission, your grace. It is perhaps the reward of getting the top place in the 1st Stage."

With their wealth, it wasn't a surprise that they knew the detailed passing-list of the 1st Stage. Though what rewards individual top-rankers had gotten, the Systems would never reveal such personal information about any Contestant without demanding a price which would have made the answer meaningless itself.

The king didn't comment on Shadow Origin's theories. Such transformations were too common in the Primordial Tower for Golduck-Kai to receive another careful glance.

The mission details had already been shared with the Sponsors, so the audience left the wooden case and the sudden appearance of Tanjiro, a major main-storyline character, unquestioned. They saw Kai fighting, running away, and then getting attacked by the Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka. Then the screen showed the sudden boost in Kai's reflections and him meeting Hashira's slash with his tail.

The tail flew up, slashed cleanly by the sword.

"This sword looks different…" Shadow Origin whispered, narrowing his eyes. But the video screen was bound to follow the Candidate, so he didn't think about it anymore.

They saw Kai hiding in a cave and then recuperating without consuming the HP capsule. "A prudent decision," Shadow Origin nodded. "He should contact a Sponsor now and get the details of the Unique Random World he is in."

From his left, an ancient sigh escaped, echoing in the Throne Hall.

Shadow Origin stupidly looked at the king, waiting for the words to follow the sigh.

"Attributes restrict the Contestants as much as they assist them," the king mumbled to himself, his voice ethereal with a touch of remembrance.

'This?!' Shadow Origin's mind shook. "Your grace," he prodded carefully, taking control of his senses, "isn't it a Saying from the Remote Antiquity?"

The mist roiled as the king chuckled. "It is," he agreed. "What do you know about it?"

Shadow Origin straightened his spine. "In the Tale of the Two Brothers," the viceroy began, reciting from memory, "the younger brother with the blessing of Kekkei Genkai, Byakugan, descended from the 16th floor and restricted himself to the life of the lower floors. Despite this, in only a few centuries, the younger brother made a name for himself, getting the singular title of Scholar King from the Emperor. It turned out the younger brother was a stupendous genius in understanding the System, Stats, and the Multiverse. For many centuries, the Byakugan-user traveled across the Multiverse, figuring out the hidden meanings behind it."

Shadow Origin paused, looking thoughtful as he saw Kai in a meditative posture.

"Continue…" the king commanded.

Shadow Origin jolted. "The theories summarized by the younger brother are mentioned in the tale," he continued, sweating. "He said that Multiverse holds infinite Random Worlds and Timelines together using glue. This glue keeps the Random Worlds and their Timelines in check, and acts as the most primeval source of energy and shared essence among them. Without it, the entire Multiverse would fall apart, and even Chaos and Order would not be able to salvage the situation."

"And this glue is…" the king intoned.

"Perception." Shadow Origin answered, his eyes observing Kai with a meaningful gaze. "According to him, Perception has the property of being Omnipresent. It is everywhere and in everything. Being Omnipresent, it is naturally present in the different Random Worlds, even in those that share no laws between them. Whether sharing laws or not, Perception manifests itself in all the Random Worlds in one form or another. The younger brother listed out a thousand such forms, and named it - The Myriad Manifestations of Perception."

"You are right," the king said, his voice slow and mighty. "The tale says nothing about the ranking of these forms, but with the passing of ages, Contestants have confirmed that there are differences in these manifestations, and the higher the rank, the more powerful a manifestation is. What interests us kings the most is the theory mentioned under this list."

Shadow Origin's eyes glinted with realization. "The Hypothesis of Restricted Stats…" he recalled, his breathing quickening with every next word (-was there any truth to this hypothesis, he thought inwardly-). "The younger brother said that the Characters within the Random World possess all the Attributes that of a Contestant, but are not digitized. And thus, they have the access to these Manifestations at the cost of the fact that they can't direct their powers in a particular direction. In contrast to the Characters, the Contestants' Stats provide them the means of redirecting this source of power using Attributes, but being digitized, they must tap into these Attributes one by one at specific gaps to access the Manifestations."

"Hmm," the king hummed in agreement. "And these specific gaps are…"

The word was already on the tip of Shadow Origin's tongue. "Thresholds!"

'But what does this have to do with Blood Demon?' Shadow Origin couldn't help but think that he was missing something. 'According to the Hypothesis of Restricted Stats, Perception's manifestations can only be accessed by the Contestants after crossing a particular threshold. Manifestations above 100 rank are the most easily accessible, right after resurrection. The ones from 51 to 100 are only accessible after the 1st Threshold, marked by 20 or above points in each Active Attribute. 11 to 50 ranked Manifestations are accessible only after the 2nd Threshold, marked by 50 or above points in each Active Attribute. And the ones ranked from 1 to 10 are thought to be accessible only after the 3rd Threshold, marked by 100 or above points in each Active Attribute. But the top 10 Manifestations are unique and have baffled researchers for ages.'

"Hahaha!"

The sudden laugh took Shadow Origin by surprise. He confoundedly stared at the purple mist, which seemed to laugh along with the king.

"It has everything to do with the Blood Demon and his current situation," the king said, still laughing, and almost reading the viceroy's doubts. "Have you forgotten the condition of being a King?"

Shadow's Origin trembled. Yes! How could he forget that? It was he who had remarked it last time. "To be a King," he mumbled, more to himself and less to the king, "one must have access to at least one of the top-10 ranked Manifestations. As Perception is the glue holding the Multiverse together, one must use a Perception's Manifestation as a glue too, combining Extremities of at least two different Random Worlds."

"Good," the king praised. "That is correct indeed. Take the Golden King as an example. Like Blood Demon, he had also accessed a manifestation under the 1st Threshold; Color of Observation, ranked 5th on The Myriad Manifestations of Perception. Later, he combined one extremity of the One Piece Random World, the Gomu Gomu no Mi Devil Fruit, with another extremity of the Naruto World, sealing the Nine-Tailed Fox within him. Huh! Ingenious, isn't it?"

Shadow Origin felt like a child being educated by a sage. He knew that in a single Random World, there were many extremities. But even with his status, finding these details about another king would have been a horrendous task. Yet here he was, lectured by a king himself. He couldn't help but wonder which two extremities His Grace, the Purple King, must have combined. But as soon as his mind wandered in that direction, Shadow Origin chastised himself.

'Blasphemy!' He roared in his mind. 'You fool! You will die a horrific death by having these idiotic thoughts.'

Shadow Origin wasn't a Contestant who had gained his position by asking questions he shouldn't have asked. Not to mention, the topic at hand was still hot.

"I get it now," the viceroy said, choosing his words meticulously. "With Blood Demon capable of using Color of Observation, the Systems must have selected a Unique Random World, keeping the said Manifestation in its analyzation. And upon considering his Items, the mysteries surrounding him related to the assassination and the two temples, the previous stage's rewards, and his Abilities and Worth, the grade of his mission must be at least C or even C+. Yet, he doesn't have the Stats to complement his oddities. You said wonderfully, your grace. Attributes restrict the Contestants as much as they assist them."

Shadow Origin closed his eyes, digesting the entire knowledge instantly.

The king said nothing, then.

After two days, they saw Blood Demon leaving the cave, and then fighting with two other characters.

The snapping of fingers and the use of Magic made Shadow Origin frown. "Wandless Magic…" he said. "How unrefined…" However, he knew that by using this, Blood Demon had masterfully closed the gap between the discrepancy between his stats. But for how long? The question made him shake his head.

Then they saw Kai's absurd action of helping the Insect Hashira, the words he said, and then taking care of her for the next three days.

The king chortled, to the viceroy's surprise.

"What is it, your grace?" Shadow Origin asked humbly. "Please enlighten me."

"He is an adulterer," the king replied passively.

'Adulterer?' Shadow Origin repeated. 'Oh! Adulterer Title. Hmm, that makes sense. He must have put the Title Status points awarded by the Systems into the Title. Heart Rhythm isn't a Skill for all. Billions of Contestants have died pursuing beauties from the Random Worlds. Tch-Tch!'

Now, the screen played the scene of Kai and the Flame Hashira facing each other.

'Kagutsuchi?!' The viceroy frowned. 'When did the Demon Slayers start naming their swords? Perhaps a Timeline divergence. Yes. That must be it.'

He looked sideways but got no hint from the purple mist.

With every passing moment, Shadow Origin couldn't help but praise Blood Demon's use of Color of Observation and the Wandless Magic in his heart.

'No matter what,' he thought, smiling, as he saw Blood Demon once again discarding his humanity and then going for the final kill. 'This kid got style!'

The moment he saw a flame pillar rushing towards heaven, and the subsequent state of Kai and Rengoku, Shadow Origin folded his arms over his chest. "Haha!" he laughed. "It's over. The fight was worth every Mission Credit." However, just when he had relaxed, seeing Blood Demon going towards the hut, he saw the Flame Hashira getting up.

For years to come the viceroy wouldn't forget how he had stood near the king, stupefied, listening to those abysmal words.

Rengoku Kyojuro's spiritual pressure was almost visible on the screen, burning the very space in Blood Demon's surroundings.

It was then that the Flame Hashira had said those words.

"Ban…Kai!!! …

… Roar! Hi-no-Kagutsuchi!!!"

On his left, the entire throne crumbled to pieces, as the king slowly stood up, the purple mist flapping like a roaring purple fire.

Before he lost consciousness because of the king's outrageous pressure, Shadow Origin only caught a few words.

"Verse Fusion?!!! Impossible!" the king was saying, shocked. "No. How can this be?! This kid… this kid hides an immense secret!!!"