Silence filled the white chamber.
The question William had asked remained hanging in the air.
"What happened to the people there?"
For a moment, neither Andrew nor the silver-haired woman answered.
Not because they feared his reaction.
They had long understood the nature of the man standing before them.
William was no longer the boy who broke under the weight of his memories.
He was someone who had accepted a much crueler truth.
Power always carried consequences.
And a power capable of rewriting existence would carry consequences beyond imagination.
Finally, the woman spoke.
"The majority of the mortals died."
The answer came without hesitation.
Without an attempt to soften the truth.
William closed his eyes.
The words entered his mind.
He pictured the mountain.
The terrified expressions.
The people struggling for air.
The disciples who had nothing to do with his past.
The visitors who had merely come to witness a demonstration.
They had become victims of his rage.
The woman continued.
"Among them..."
She paused briefly.
"The Third Elder's daughter."
William's eyes opened slowly.
"She died?"
The woman nodded.
"She was one of the most talented mortals present."
"She resisted longer than most."
"She continued fighting against the absence of air while many had already lost consciousness."
The woman looked directly into William's eyes.
"Her efforts only caused her body to consume the little oxygen remaining within her faster."
"That accelerated her death."
Silence returned.
No one spoke.
The woman observed him carefully.
Waiting.
Searching for regret.
Pain.
Guilt.
Anything.
But William's expression remained calm.
Not because he was heartless.
Not because he did not understand what had happened.
It was because he had already considered this possibility long ago.
Long before he learned how to manipulate atoms.
Long before he touched the threads of existence.
When Andrew first showed him the destructive side of his power—the ability to erase an existence completely, including the memories of those who loved them—William had understood something.
A being with such power could never pretend innocence.
Every action could reshape lives.
Every mistake could become a disaster.
He slowly opened his eyes.
"I see."
The silver-haired woman raised an eyebrow.
"That is all?"
William looked at her.
"What reaction did you expect?"
"Grief."
"Remorse."
"Self-hatred."
A faint smile appeared on William's face.
"A person who hates himself for every mistake can never carry this kind of power."
The room became silent.
Even Andrew's eyes changed slightly.
William continued.
"I understand that innocent people died because of my actions."
"That will remain a fact."
"I will remember it."
His expression became colder.
"But I will not spend my life drowning in guilt."
His eyes reflected a terrifying determination.
"Because one day I may have to make decisions that affect planets."
"Galaxies."
"Perhaps entire universes."
"If I collapse every time I witness the consequence of my choices, then I do not deserve to possess this power."
The silver-haired woman looked at him for several seconds.
Then—
A small smile appeared.
A genuine one.
For the first time since meeting him.
"Perhaps I underestimated you."
Andrew remained silent.
But internally, he understood.
William had truly changed.
He no longer sought power because he feared weakness.
He understood the responsibility of power.
The following months became quieter.
There were no more reckless experiments.
No more attempts to challenge the laws of the universe.
William spent his time recovering.
The heavenly punishment had damaged him in ways that even Andrew required time to repair.
But recovery was not the only thing he learned.
For the first time, Andrew and the woman revealed information about the place where his fate would be decided.
Andimadoria.
The Neutral Galaxy.
A territory beyond the authority of any single cosmic force.
A place created through an ancient agreement among the highest civilizations of existence.
No empire ruled it.
No supreme being could claim it.
Because the tournament that took place there was considered sacred.
It was where candidates from every corner of reality gathered.
The future rulers.
The future monsters.
The future legends.
Days became weeks.
Weeks became months.
William continued refining his understanding.
Not through greater destruction.
But through restraint.
A lesson he had learned through blood.
The destruction of a connection was easy.
The true challenge was choosing whether it should be destroyed.
Eight months passed.
The final preparations were complete.
The day of the lottery had arrived.
A cosmic platform larger than countless worlds floated within the center of Andimadoria.
Billions of beings watched.
Ancient monsters who had lived for millions of years.
Leaders of unimaginable civilizations.
Masters whose existence alone distorted reality.
And among them—
The candidates.
Thousands of geniuses carrying the hopes of their civilizations.
Each one possessing a special body.
Each one seeking the same dream.
Recognition.
Then—
A pressure descended.
The entire universe seemed to become quiet.
The countless beings who had been discussing and arguing fell silent.
Because someone had appeared.
An old man.
His body looked fragile.
His clothing was simple.
But his aura was overwhelming.
It was not power.
It was Ancient aura .
The authority of someone who had witnessed the birth and death of ages.
Even Andrew's expression became serious.
The old man looked across the endless gathering.
Then he spoke.
His voice reached every corner of the galaxy.
"Welcome..."
" Candidates."