William stood motionless.
Before him stretched an endless web of connections.
A network so vast that even after years of studying the threads of existence, his mind could not grasp its entirety.
Every thread represented a relationship.
A cause and an effect.
An action and a consequence.
Life and death.
Creation and destruction.
Love and hatred.
Time and space.
Matter and energy.
Every concept, every object, every living being, and every event that had ever occurred or would ever occur existed because of these connections.
And yet—
the web before him was broken.
Some threads were severed.
Others were tied to things that should never have been connected.
The bond between life and death had been twisted, causing countless beings to remain trapped between existence and non-existence.
The connection between cause and consequence was damaged, allowing events to occur without reasons and creating paradoxes that consumed entire sections of reality.
The thread between time and change had been reversed in places, making moments repeat endlessly without a future.
Entire regions of the place were infected with mistakes.
The universe before him was a wound.
A terrible, unbearable wound.
The ancient voice returned.
"You possess the ability to cut."
Immediately, millions of threads appeared around William.
Every one of them was a possible solution.
A single movement could erase countless errors.
"Then cut."
William looked at the relations
His expression did not change.
For years, cutting had been his greatest weapon.
He had cut attacks before they reached him.
He had cut the relationship between fire and oxygen.
He had cut the perception of his enemies.
He had even learned to erase the existence of a person by destroying the relationship between their body, their soul, and the memories that connected them to others.
His ability had always given him the power to remove problems.
But...
he did not move.
The voice spoke again.
"Why do you hesitate?"
A single thread descended before him.
It connected a dying world to the instability consuming it.
A simple cut.
That was all it required.
The world would be saved.
William raised his hand.
Then stopped.
His eyes narrowed.
"No."
The entire realm trembled.
The voice became colder.
"No?"
"If you do not sever it, the world will perish."
William continued staring at the thread.
"That is true."
"Then why?"
His answer was immediate.
"Because I do not understand it."
Silence.
For the first time, the ancient realm became completely still.
William continued.
"For years, I believed the greatest expression of my power was the ability to remove whatever I disliked."
His eyes reflected memories.
The laboratory on Earth.
The chains.
The pain.
Kate.
The Crimson Shadow Sect.
The Third Elder.
The countless lives lost when he lost control.
His desire for revenge.
Everything that had shaped him.
"I believed that if something caused suffering, I only needed to erase it."
His voice became quieter.
"But every time I learned more about existence, I realized how arrogant that idea was."
The broken threads around him stopped moving.
"A thread does not exist alone."
He stepped forward.
"If I remove hatred, I may also remove the strength someone gained by overcoming it."
"If I remove death, I may destroy the meaning of life."
"If I remove pain, I may erase the lessons that created wisdom."
The ancient voice questioned him.
"Then you will allow suffering to continue?"
William was silent.
It was a cruel question.
The same question that had haunted him since his first days with Andrew.
If he possessed a power capable of changing reality, did he not have the responsibility to remove every tragedy?
After a long time, he answered.
"I will remove what should be removed."
"Then how will you judge what should be removed?"
The entire web shook violently.
Countless broken threads moved around him.
The trial had reached its true purpose.
The Eternal Body was not testing his power.
It was testing his right to decide the fate of existence.
William closed his eyes.
For the first time in years, he did not rely on his ability.
He relied on understanding.
When he opened his eyes again, there was no anger.
No hatred.
Only clarity.
"A connection is not evil because it brings pain."
"It is evil when it destroys the possibility of growth."
"The purpose of a connection is not to create happiness."
"It is to preserve the harmony of existence."
Slowly, William extended his hand.
But this time—
he did not cut.
He touched the damaged thread.
The information within it entered his mind.
The history of that world.
The reason behind its instability.
The consequences of every possible choice.
Only after understanding everything did he make his decision.
He gently separated a single corrupted connection.
The moment it was removed—
the entire section repaired itself.
The ancient voice remained silent.
Then another broken thread appeared.
And another.
And another.
Millions.
Billions.
An impossible amount.
The voice echoed throughout the realm.
"Very well."
"Show me."
The endless web expanded beyond imagination.
"Show me whether you can carry the responsibility of the one who governs all relationships."
William looked at the infinite disaster before him.
For the first time since entering the trial—
he smiled.
Not because he was confident of victory.
But because he finally understood the true nature of the Eternal Body.
It was not a power of destruction.
It was not a power of creation.
It was not a power to rule the universe.
It was the burden of maintaining the balance between everything that existed.
William stepped into the sea of broken threads.
And the real trial began.