In the apartment.
"Whew… whew…"
Uchiha Shinji was gasping for breath, his face still showing traces of shock.
Just moments ago, a world had been destroyed before his eyes.
No!
To be more precise, it had been devoured by the Overlord!
"A monster that consumes worlds..."
Just recalling it made him shiver, and a deep worry began to fester in his mind—had he already been contaminated by that creature?
It was almost giving him PTSD.
After a long while, he finally began to calm down.
Removing his mask and taking off his Akatsuki cloak, he realized that at some point, his back had been soaked with sweat.
Standing up, he took another shower and then returned to his bed.
The quiet moonlight streamed through the window, like a thin layer of silver frost, covering the bed.
He lay down, letting the moonlight wash over him.
It was only now, lying in bed, that he truly started to shake off the shock and fear of witnessing a world's destruction. His mind began to clear, and he slowly shifted his thoughts away from the overwhelming dread.
Recalling the last words of the large man, he squinted his eyes.
The Lampbearer from the Demon Slayer world had been repeatedly invading the shinobi world, trying to anchor their world to Shinji's. And now, he understood why—it was because the Demon Slayer world had been targeted by the Overlord.
If that was the case, then everything made sense.
Upon realizing that their world was being targeted, the Lampbearer of Demon Slayer had chosen a path starkly different from the large man.
The large man had gathered the strength of his entire world to fight the Overlord head-on!
But the Lampbearer of Demon Slayer had chosen to anchor to another world.
Shinji couldn't yet determine whether the Lampbearer intended to drag the shinobi world into the fight against the Overlord or had some other plan, like sacrificing the shinobi world to take their place as the Overlord's prey.
But either way, it was undeniable that the Demon Slayer Lampbearer wanted to bring the Overlord's disaster to the shinobi world!
"That bastard!"
Shinji was both frightened and furious.
The Demon Slayer world had already been marked by the Overlord, and now that they had anchored to the Hidden Leaf, it was only a matter of time before the Overlord turned its gaze toward them as well.
The thought of the Hidden Leaf facing the same fate as the Demon Slayer world, being devoured by the Overlord, filled him with despair.
"What am I supposed to do…"
His recently calmed mind started to spiral back into anxiety.
He had seen firsthand the terror of the Overlord. In front of such a being, he was nothing more than an ant. He couldn't even begin to fathom how to fight it.
Suddenly, he remembered the rumor that the large man had mentioned.
In that rumor, a powerful Lampbearer had once defeated an Overlord.
While the large man believed the rumor was false, Shinji thought it might actually be true.
During his interaction with the large man, Shinji had instinctively gathered a lot of information, even if he hadn't been fully conscious of it at the time.
For instance, his gut told him that the large man didn't pose much of a threat to him.
So, when the large man had initiated the conversation, Shinji had remained on guard but didn't reject the interaction.
This indicated that even among Lampbearers from different worlds, their strength could vary greatly.
In the ranks of Lampbearers, Shinji was still a novice, but in terms of combat ability, with his mastery over two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan, he might not lose to even some of the more experienced Lampbearers.
And much of this depended on the differences between worlds.
In some worlds with little or no supernatural elements, a Lampbearer's power would only reach the peak of that particular world.
To grow further, they would likely need to trade with Lampbearers from other worlds.
And the currency for these trades—"Embers"—was not only the source of the Lamp's power but also the final defense for protecting their own world.
Take Shinji's Lamp as an example. The "Embers" in his lamp barely filled one-fifth of its capacity, just a shallow layer.
Thus, he couldn't afford to waste too many embers trading with other Lampbearers.
But the shinobi world was unique. Due to chakra and natural energy, its supernatural limits were much higher than most worlds.
If Shinji could climb to the pinnacle of the shinobi world's power…
He might not be able to defeat the Overlord outright, but at the very least, he could put up a fight!
Because once he reached the level of Bloodline Emcompassing, he would be able to traverse the universe with his physical body and absorb planetary energy—things that Overlords could do.
This was his advantage!
And surely, he wasn't the only Lampbearer in the universe with such a natural advantage. So the rumor of a powerful Lampbearer defeating an Overlord could very well be true.
"I can't give up now. I still have time!"
Shinji slowly regained his resolve.
According to the large man, a world targeted by the Overlord wouldn't be destroyed immediately. As long as the contamination wasn't spread, there might still be a considerable amount of time.
Even if the Lampbearer from Demon Slayer had somehow accelerated the Overlord's approach to the Hidden Leaf…
Shinji still had his Lamp!
There were still embers left in it. Maybe not enough for decades, but surely enough for ten or even twenty years.
That would give him plenty of time to grow stronger.
With renewed determination, Shinji began organizing his thoughts.
Including his own, he now had four pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan in varying conditions. Even if some were unusable, he could still attempt to evolve into an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
If he could fully restore the two half-damaged pairs and the one completely damaged pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, he would have enough to form two pairs of Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
At that point…
By using the power of his Susanoo Tomoshibi, he could fuse the two Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan into one, creating an eye with the ultimate dojutsu.
Even without the chakra of an Ōtsutsuki reincarnation like Indra, such an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan should be enough to open the path to the Rinnegan!
And with the immense yin-release chakra of an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, the risks of grafting White Zetsu cells or even transplanting cells from the First Hokage would be greatly reduced.
From the cases of Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, and Danzo, it was clear that the Sharingan had the ability to balance the First Hokage's cells, likely involving the balance between yin and yang chakra.
The more powerful the yin-release chakra, the greater the chance of surviving the transplantation of the First Hokage's cells.
And once he had the Rinnegan, whether he chose to follow Madara and Obito's path of gathering the tailed beasts and reviving the Ten-Tails, or whether he sought out a different route, the Bloodline Encompassing would no longer be an unattainable goal.
"Bloodline Encompassing..."
Shinji's gaze became resolute.
The large man had chosen to ignore the contamination and rally his world's strength to defend against the Overlord.
The Lampbearer of Demon Slayer had chosen to invade other worlds, dragging them down in an attempt to escape the Overlord.
But Shinji would walk his own path!
He would save his world his way.