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"Susanoo's fine, but for me it's kind of redundant."
After her fight with Uchiha Madara, Rose had picked up a lot of ideas, including a way to simulate chakra structure using her own rules.
How did she manage it?
Please. A god whose baseline power is at the zhao level would get annoyed if she couldn't simulate the degraded energy used by some little kid whose combat power didn't even reach a thousand. That would be like a college student failing an elementary school final exam. You'd really start to wonder how they'd lived so many years.
"Chakra's yin-yang attributes are actually quite similar to the laws of the God of Destruction and the Kaioshin," she mused.
Of course, it was similar only after many, many levels of degradation.
Rose waved a hand and dispelled the towering, complete-form Susanoo that had been covering her body for a kilometer in height.
She floated down to the ground.
"It's not that I didn't gain anything. It's better than nothing," Rose said to herself, feeling a little comforted.
The chat group actually proved useful.
She slipped her consciousness into the chat.
"Huh?"
Rose's face showed surprise.
Two new members had joined?
"APTX4869 Researcher."
"Abyss Princess."
Seeing the avatars, images flickered in Rose's mind. She had lived in this world for twenty years, and since becoming a god her memory was even clearer.
"Interesting. So it's them."
The APTX4869 researcher was the tea-haired little girl from that detective anime with the kid detectives. Her original name was Miyano Shiho. After being shrunk she went by Ai Haibara.
The other… was the Traveler from Genshin, the globe-trotting adventurer of Teyvat.
"The nicknames don't match. Wait — Abyss Princess? Could it be…" Rose wondered.
Meanwhile, in Teyvat.
"How can a chat group that connects countless worlds exist here?" the blonde girl in a white dress asked, her innocent face showing Lumine-style confusion.
Systems, chat groups, things like that, aren't they just fictional? Crossing countless worlds gave you an appreciation for the so-called "golden touches" that show up in novels.
"I detect no immediate hostility," the girl murmured.
She sank her awareness into the chat and began scanning messages. Her pupils narrowed as if focusing; the expression on her face made her look a little naïve and wide-eyed.
At that moment, an Abyss Mage appeared behind her. It knelt slowly, speaking with respectful formality.
"Your Highness, regarding the plan for the Eastern Wind Dragon, we have encountered an obstacle we cannot resolve and require your judgment."
The girl pulled her awareness out of the chat. The naive look vanished. Her face went calm, cold light flickering in her gaze as she glanced at the Abyss Mage behind her. "Is it the Anemo Archon? Does he intend to re-crown that dragon?"
"No, not him. That unreliable god might interfere halfway through. We have contingency plans. The thing blocking our plan is your blood relative…" the Abyss Mage stammered.
The words had hardly left its mouth when the girl's eyes widened.
Scenes of time spent with Aether, and even battles with the upholders of celestial law flashed through her mind.
She blurred into motion, a shadow streaking toward where the Abyss Mage had indicated.
The ruins of the Wind Dragon.
The Traveler Aether fought fiercely with hilichurls.
"Brother…."
Lumine stood on the highest cliff, hands on her knees, bent slightly forward as she looked down at a familiar figure below.
After a long pause she took her gaze away. She had no intention of meeting her brother now.
She turned and walked toward a nearby Ruin Guard.
"Let's meet again after I finish traveling the seven nations, brother. We will meet again someday, but not yet…."
Standing in the giant palm of the Ruin Guard, Lumine replayed the memory of joining that chat group a short while ago.
"Maybe there's another, better choice for us."
"This strange unexpected thing might give me some new insights."
"When this is settled, brother, we'll go together and look for a new home."
…
Detective Conan world.
The tea-haired little girl had just shuffled aside the classmate she'd walked to school with.
With the kid detective's puzzled face watching, the little girl darted around the corner.
Her current name was Ai Haibara, but the name wasn't the point. What mattered was that a voice had suddenly spoken in her head.
"Do you want to truly live? Then join us."
"Yes or No."
Ai Haibara, unsure what was happening and planning to ask the nearby detective about it, heard the voice again.
"Ding! Because you were idle for a while, the system defaults to joining the chat group."
Ai blinked. "???"
Her head buzzed as weird information poured into her mind. Memories that weren't originally hers were etched in, becoming clearer and clearer.
The scientist Miyano Shiho, now Ai Haibara, understood that this bizarre imprint couldn't be produced by current technology.
She found an excuse to get away from Conan and slipped to a quiet spot to examine the information.
The more she combed through it the more unbelievable it all seemed.
Magic? Monsters? Chakra?
This had to be a joke, right?
But she knew it wasn't.
"You okay, Ai?" Conan's voice made her jump. He had appeared at her side with a puzzled look.
"Do you believe in magic?" Ai asked, almost at random.
Conan's eyes widened. "What? No way. I'm a materialist. We should trust science. Magic can't exist."
Ai had expected that response. Conan had run off panicked earlier because he thought Ai had been acting strange. Now she saw the same boy who had returned, relieved and curious.
"Conan, do you think APTX4869 is scientific?" Ai asked.
Conan froze. "Um… well, that is technology."
He could not deny the result. A hundred-kilo high schooler reduced to a tiny elementary schooler and surviving with no aftereffects defied the law of conservation of energy.
"The initial research behind APTX4869 was actually an attempt at an elixir of immortality," Ai continued.
"How could such a thing exist…" Conan tried to refute her, but the fact of his own shrinking made him think maybe, in a way, it was an odd kind of immortality. He could not argue.
"Are you okay?" Ai smoothed her bangs. "You've been weird since earlier."
Conan tried to dodge the subject. If his drug truly had effects like that, he could never dig into the Black Organization. He instinctively knew such groups ran deep and dark.
"I'm not feeling well today. You go to school, I'll go home," Ai said, giving him her back as she walked away.
"Hey!" Conan glanced at his watch and, worried now about being late, curiosity lost to the immediacy of school. He went on.
Once Conan had gone, Ai leaned against a tree and exhaled.
"Detective, I just told you something huge," she murmured.
There are many operatives in the organization besides Vermouth. Their reach extends nearly everywhere.
She shook off the messy thoughts and sank her awareness into the chat group. From the group administrator she had just seen a message that made her pulse race.
Even if it meant bargaining with devils, she wanted to try.
[APTX4869 Researcher: "@Uchiha Madara, the ability to resurrect life. Is what you just said true?"]
Ai's body trembled. She could feel her heart pounding.
Resurrection. My sister…
[Uchiha Madara: "After the chat group levels up, that feature becomes available."]
As an admin, Uchiha Madara knew a lot about the group's permissions, including the resurrection function, which naturally interested someone like him.
Group owner Rose was offline, so as admin Madara had taken on the welcome duty. He also spun the usual grand promises.
A man who had once been a clan elder. Spinning dreams came naturally to him.
The newcomer who called themself "APTX4869 Researcher" bit the bait easily.
While the dutiful Madara handled the new member, the white-haired, fish-mocking group owner quietly logged on.
She didn't interrupt. She lurked silently, maybe blowing out a bubble or two now and then.
"As expected, a tsundere like Uchiha Madara will speak up for himself once you know how to flatter him," she thought.
"....."