_Chapter Begins_
"I'm really back to this?"
William was no longer in the Judgment Realm—but he wasn't in Hell either… at least, he didn't think so.
To his surprise and annoyance, he found himself once again in a state of nonexistence, just like when he had first arrived in the Judgment Realm.
"...No."
It took him a while to realize that what he was experiencing now wasn't quite the same as before.
"No… this is very different."
William had no physical body—just like last time. But now, he had his thoughts.
He could think, imagine, and feel emotions.
Which meant that whatever was happening to him this time… wasn't the same.
"Then… what is this?"
He had expected to be taken to Hell immediately after judgment, but apparently, he was wrong.
"Wait a second…"
William tried to let out a deep sigh—but since he had no body, and therefore no lungs, it ended up being a mental sigh instead.
"I'm… being judged right now?"
He knew that the realm of darkness he'd been in before was meant to judge people based on their morality and send them to either Hell or Heaven.
But what he didn't know was how that process actually worked.
He wasn't foolish enough to think that judgment would simply happen while he sat in darkness doing nothing.
"So I'm about to be judged?"
He tried to scoff—well, at least he thought he did.
"By who exactly am I going to be judged?!"
The answer seemed obvious—it would probably be God who judged his soul.
"Actually… is the answer that clear?"
The answer was only obvious if one took humanity's faith as absolute truth.
Of course, William wasn't the type to do that.
Back when he had spoken with Adam, the entity had said that the cults called him "The Angel of Salvation." Yet, right after that, Adam claimed he was neither an angel nor a bringer of salvation.
So, if cults that dedicated their entire existence to studying cosmic beings were wrong about him—
—then what were the chances that humanity's imagination of God was right?
Very low, to say the least.
William tried to sigh again—and, again, failed.
"I can't trust mundane logic, so I have no base to build my theories on… I'll have to gather information little by little and build my understanding from scratch."
To uncover the truths of how the cosmos worked without even having baseline knowledge would be… difficult. Maybe even impossible.
"Huh. The more I think about it, the more I realize Adam was right about everything…"
Adam had told William it was "funny how little knowledge you have about what's happening around you."
And now, William realized that statement was true—not just for him, but for all of humanity.
Adam had also told him that, to survive Hell, he would need to gather as much knowledge as possible—and fast.
Once again, William realized that was probably true as well.
"Gods, am I stupid?"
He felt like laughing, but couldn't—for obvious reasons.
"That guy is literally Death in human skin. Of course what he said would be correct."
As William occupied himself with these thoughts, something finally changed.
Up to this point, he was "seeing" things.
Well… not exactly.
He could think, which meant he could imagine.
So, what he was seeing wasn't reality—it was his own imagination.
He had no idea where he actually was, because he had no body—only a mind. He could only perceive what his imagination created.
For all he knew, he could be in the middle of Hell itself and wouldn't even realize it.
It was as if there was a veil covering reality from his eyes—
and unlike an ordinary veil, this one was impossible to perceive.
So, when something changed inside his imagination, he always knew—because he was the one imagining it.
This time, however… he wasn't.
While thinking about Adam's words, William had been imagining himself sitting on a chair, drinking tea inside his old home—the one he'd been kicked out of by his family.
Of course, he didn't imagine them there. Everything had been peaceful for a while, simply because he didn't desire any change.
But now… something changed.
And he wasn't the one who made it.
A short figure stood just a few meters away from where William was sipping tea.
"…Not again."
It didn't take him long to realize that the figure wasn't human—and it also didn't take long for him to sense that this being was probably on the same level as Adam… or higher.
"Hello, William. My name is Evelion."
William imagined himself lowering his head.
"Please… please don't say it."
The figure smiled brightly.
"And I am a Pillar of the Universe—representing imagination."
The figure bowed slightly.
William imagined lowering his head even further.
"God dammit."
_Chapter Ends_