— — — — — —
At the same time...
When Kalki opened his eyes, he found himself in a traditional Japanese courtyard, lying on tatami mats inside a room.
With his keen senses, he immediately turned his head to the right. There was a kneeling desk there.
Behind it sat a man with messy short brown hair, black-framed glasses, and a kimono. He was quietly carving a piece of wood.
On the wall behind the desk hung a huge character: "Five."
"A fabricated spirit body?"
With a glance, Kalki saw straight through the man's true nature.
A fake spiritual form condensed from a peculiar kind of energy in the air.
This sort of technique was common among machinists and puppeteers in the North Area, often used to give weapons a brief spark of intelligence... But something this lifelike, indistinguishable from a real person, was something Kalki had never seen before.
"So… he even reached this level in soul-related techniques?"
Frowning slightly, Kalki began surveying his surroundings.
"The energy filling the air… is this the unique energy here?"
"Hmm... And as expected, that indiscriminate suppression barrier from before is gone. Looks like Ryo didn't want to restrict himself as well."
Inside Little Garden, even Demon Lord–level forced games were bound by a degree of fairness.
If Ryo wanted to suppress everyone else's strength inside the game field, he would have to give something up in return to maintain balance.
A game where enemies were crushed down to five-digit levels while the host stayed comfortably at four digits without paying any price would never be recognized by the Little Garden core system.
Of course, that only applied inside a game. In the real Little Garden, it was a different story entirely.
That was precisely why Kalki and the others had chosen to enter the Gift Game in the first place. Since escape was already impossible, fighting Ryo in reality while being restricted, against an unrestricted Ryo, was suicide. A game world was far better.
In the barrier earlier, their power had been forced below the five-digit level. Facing a four-digit Ryo under those conditions was basically asking to die. But inside a Gift Game, especially Ryo's debut as a leader, things were different.
Non–Demon Lord Gift Games were usually set up for profit. Their purpose was to showcase the power of "Gifts" and attract commissions, not to slaughter participants outright.
Which meant that, generally speaking, there was always a safe way to withdraw.
Kalki reached out and pulled a Gift Game contract from the void. In the section marked "Game Suspension," he saw exactly what he was hoping for.
{Participants who believe the game cannot be cleared may choose to forfeit by paying one gold coin. Alternatively, by paying one thousand gold coins, they may enter the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts to study the basic Shinigami system.}
"As expected, there's a safe withdrawal option."
"That means Ryo's Gift Game is a standard inheritance-type game. He can't stack too many personal advantages inside it. And this fabricated world is operating under the normal Gift Game rules."
"In that case, a forced withdrawal Gift should still work."
With that conclusion, Kalki took out a pitch-black key etched with intricate patterns.
This was a tool-type Gift specially crafted by Ouroboros, designed to forcibly withdraw someone's Gift Game.
As long as the game wasn't a Last Embryo challenge, this key could force an exit.
Gripping the key, Kalki aimed it at the air and made a motion as if opening a door.
At that moment, an aged voice filled with mockery sounded by his ear. "If I were you, I wouldn't choose such a suicidal way to withdraw."
Kalki froze for a split second, then said in a low voice, "Mr. Mystery. Have you noticed something?"
"Heh. Looks like your brain still works."
Mr. Mystery chuckled dryly before speaking with pointed meaning, "Take a closer look. How many participants are really in this Gift Game field?"
At his words, Kalki quietly released his spiritual perception, scanning the surroundings for the unique fluctuations of spirit ranks.
This wasn't difficult for him. As long as they weren't four-digit entities capable of fully controlling their spirit rank, he could sense them easily.
Because of Ryo's recent notoriety, there were many five-digit participants this time. But the real bulk of the numbers came from the six- and seven-digit powerless followers they brought along.
Many communities had brought large numbers of "volunteers," hoping to crack Arcadia's inheritance system. There was no shortage of groups like that, which meant weak participants should have been everywhere.
And yet…
"Fifty-two… only fifty-two people…"
Kalki's pupils shrank, his face filled with shock.
Before the game began, the City had held more than three million people.
Excluding the two million original residents, at least a million participants had poured in from all over because of Arcadia's return.
But within Kalki's perception range, he had found only fifty-two.
And his perception already covered the massive complex he was standing in. From the fabricated souls chatting nearby, he'd learned this place was called Seireitei, the core of Soul Society.
Yet in this so-called core area, there were only fifty-two participants.
"Overlapping space?" Kalki proposed cautiously.
To put it simply, overlapping space was like TV channels.
Channel One and Channel Two broadcast different programs, but they exist inside the same television.
Spatially speaking, both channels occupy the same "location," Arcadia City.
Ryo was likely using this technique to stack countless "channels" on top of the city, distributing the million participants across different layers.
If each layer held a hundred people, that meant at least ten thousand overlapping spaces.
And something on that scale would inevitably cause instability in Little Garden's spatial boundaries.
Realizing that, Kalki blurted out in disbelief, "Isn't he afraid of angering Queen Halloween…?"
The very next second, Kalki realized his mistake.
Ryo really might not care about the Queen at all.
Awkwardly steering away from the topic, Kalki asked again, "Mr. Mystery, are you saying that if I force a withdrawal, I'll trigger a spatial bug and get dragged into spatial turbulence?"
"A turbulence only three-digit beings can survive... then even with my spatial authority, I'd die on the spot..."
As he said this, Kalki broke into a cold sweat.
Spatial turbulence was deadly. Even stars or black holes could only warp space, not tear it apart.
The power to rip space itself was basically the privilege of three-digit beings.
Spatial turbulence was a chaotic zone formed by layers upon layers of space, like a blender for reality itself. Even four-digit beings entering it were doomed. Only four-digit freaks, or authority-holding three-digits, could survive such a place.
At that moment, Mr. Mystery spoke again, his tone oddly incredulous, "Are you… overthinking again?"
Kalki froze, looking confused.
Had he gotten something wrong?
Was spatial turbulence not a three-digit phenomenon? Could a four-digit really survive it?
With a sigh, as if losing patience, Mr. Mystery said, "If the lower layers of Little Garden don't allow three-digit power, then tell me. Would deliberately creating spatial turbulence not count as three-digit power?"
Kalki stiffened.
Mr. Mystery continued, his tone strange. "Overlapping space can cause spatial disorder, yes. But if Ryo Yagami can do it, that means he's keeping the scale below the threshold where true turbulence forms."
"That way, the overlapping spaces remain stable, and the power used stays under the lower-layer limit."
"I was trying to warn you about Ryo's mastery of space, that he's already brushing against the three-digit level in that regard. So why did you jump straight to being dragged into spatial turbulence after withdrawing?"
"I…" Kalki flushed, embarrassed. "I understand. I'll be careful."
"Then put the key away and focus on clearing the Gift Game properly. The moment you use a forced withdrawal, you'll definitely get caught by the chaotic spatial flow and sent straight to wherever Ryo is waiting."
"That's what I wanted to warn you about."
"With Ryo's level of control, if he notices you, he could split all of you across multiple layers of space and attack from beyond the spatial divide."
"When that happens, you'll probably die without ever even seeing his face."
"Kalki, never underestimate someone who specializes in spatial power, especially someone like Ryo Yagami, who excels in both soul and space. The sheer variety of twisted tricks at his disposal will teach you the true meaning of despair."
"Still, there's no need to panic too much. Right now, he has most of his power tied up dealing with Asura."
"Compared to you, that little Asura brat is in far more danger. You still have a chance to get out safely."
After saying that, Mr. Mystery muttered to himself in a puzzled tone. "Strange. To reach this level, one should have a complete and powerful inheritance. Yet the way Ryo uses his power feels unfamiliar to me."
"Could it be that Little Garden still hides a three-digit… or even a two-digit existence I don't know about?"
.
.
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