Victoria lowered her head.
Her fingers trembled uncontrollably.
Even after seeing William again, even after finding the one person she had wished to see during her darkest moments, she could not find the courage to continue.
Because what she was about to say would not merely reveal what happened.
It would destroy what remained of her brother.
William remained silent.
His eyes never left her.
He had stood before powers capable of destroying galaxies.
He had listened to the truth behind existence itself.
Yet at this moment—
he was more afraid than he had ever been.
Not of an enemy.
Not of death.
But of words.
Simple words that could take away everything he had spent his life protecting.
"Victoria..."
His voice was barely a whisper.
"You don't have to—"
"No."
She interrupted him.
Her answer was weak.
But firm.
For a moment, she looked exactly like the little sister who always stood beside him.
The one who refused to surrender, no matter how terrible the situation became.
"I have to tell you."
A long silence followed.
Then—
she started.
"After your attack on the Crimson Shadow Sect..."
William's eyes moved slightly.
The memories returned.
His hatred.
His rage.
The moment he lost control and unleashed a disaster that killed countless disciples, including the Third Elder's daughter.
Victoria continued.
"After the violent reaction that happened to you... after you disappeared..."
Her voice broke.
"Everyone believed you died."
William closed his eyes.
Of course they did.
At that time, even he himself did not know whether he would survive.
"Kaite believed it too."
There was no hatred in her voice when she said his name.
Only exhaustion.
"He searched for you."
"Again and again."
"He wanted confirmation."
"But he never found any trace of you."
William's hands slowly tightened.
He already knew where this was going.
"After that..."
"Kate and the Third Elder decided that your family would pay the price."
The room became colder.
The air itself felt heavy.
"Not only because you killed the Third Elder's daughter."
"Not only because you destroyed many of the younger disciples of the Crimson Shadow Sect."
"They wanted to erase every trace connected to you."
William lowered his head.
His hair covered his eyes.
He said nothing.
Victoria continued, her tears returning.
"Our sect noticed their movements."
"The First Sect Master understood their intentions."
"So I gathered the disciples who were willing to follow me."
A faint smile appeared on her face.
A smile filled with pain.
"They all knew the enemy was stronger."
"They all knew they might die."
"But not a single one stepped back."
"Because they remembered what your family had done for me ."
"Because they knew what you had suffered."
"They wanted to protect your home."
William's lips trembled.
His family.
Even after everything...
they were still loved.
But that only made the coming truth more painful.
"We reached the entrance of the village."
"The battle started there."
Her eyes lost focus.
As if she was seeing the scene once again.
"Fire covered the sky."
"Blood painted the earth."
"The screams of disciples echoed everywhere."
"I watched my friends fall one after another."
Her breathing became unstable.
"I fought Kate myself."
"He was stronger than me."
"Much stronger."
"I knew that."
"But I couldn't retreat."
Her voice became louder.
"Because behind me was your home."
"Behind me were your parents."
"Behind me was the place where you finally learned what it meant to have a family."
Her tears fell endlessly.
"But we lost."
Those three words contained more pain than a thousand screams.
"Kate and the Third Elder defeated us."
"They captured me."
"They captured the surviving disciples."
"They chained us and forced us to watch."
William's body froze.
A terrible silence spread.
A silence that frightened even Victoria.
Because she could feel it.
Something inside him had stopped moving.
"They went to your house."
No reaction.
Not a single movement.
"Your father stood before them."
For the first time—
William's breathing stopped.
A memory appeared in his mind.
His father teaching him how to work.
His father sitting with him during peaceful nights.
His father saying that no matter what happened, this house would always be his refuge.
Victoria's voice shook.
"He knew he couldn't win."
"He knew the difference in strength."
"But he didn't move."
She looked at William.
"He stood in front of the door."
"He stood between them and your mother."
The image was clear.
A simple man.
A man without cosmic powers.
Without abilities capable of changing reality.
Facing monsters who could destroy entire armies.
Yet he did not step aside.
"He fought."
"He resisted."
"He screamed that he would never allow anyone to touch his family."
William's nails entered his palms.
Blood fell from his hands.
But he felt nothing.
"Then..."
Victoria could not continue.
The word remained trapped in her throat.
William's voice finally came out.
Cold.
Empty.
"What happened?"
She looked away.
She did not want to see his face.
But she answered.
"They killed him."
Silence.
No anger.
No explosion.
Nothing.
That was what terrified her the most.
Because she knew William.
She knew the storm hidden inside him.
And the quieter he became—
the more frightening the disaster that would follow.
"When they entered the house..."
Victoria whispered.
"Your mother saw your father's body."
"She couldn't bear it."
"She lost consciousness immediately."
William's mind broke.
The image of his mother smiling.
Preparing food.
Her waiting for him every time he visited.
Her asking him whether he was eating enough.
Worrying about him despite all his strength.
That woman—
was lying helpless before his enemies.
"The Third Elder raised his sword."
"He wanted to finish it."
Victoria started crying again.
"I begged him to stop."
"I screamed."
"I told him she had done nothing."
"I told him she wasn't part of your actions."
"But he didn't care."
William's body began shaking.
The connections around the prison started appearing and disappearing.
Reality itself felt his emotions.
"Just before his sword reached her..."
Victoria continued.
"The First Sect Master appeared."
A small light entered the darkness of the story.
"She protected your mother."
"She fought them."
"Alone."
"Against Kate and the Third Elder."
Hope appeared in William's eyes for a brief second.
A tiny hope.
But Victoria's next words destroyed it.
"She was strong."
"She managed to hold them back."
"She managed to free the remaining villagers and the surviving disciples."
"She gave everyone a chance to escape."
Her tears fell faster.
"She made sure your family and the people of the village would receive proper burials."
William's heart stopped.
The hope disappeared.
Slowly.
Painfully.
"She buried them with her own hands."
"She prayed for them."
"She told them that their son would return one day."
Victoria looked at her brother.
Her eyes were filled with guilt.
"I couldn't save them, William."
"I couldn't protect our father."
"I couldn't protect our mother."
"I couldn't even stay beside them until the end."
She fell to her knees.
"I'm sorry."
"Please hate me ."
For a long time—
William did not answer.
Not because he was angry with her.
Not because he blamed her.
But because the world inside him had shattered.
All the power he had gained.
All the laws he had understood.
All the truths he had learned.
All the beings who acknowledged him.
None of them were enough to bring back the two people who had given him a home.
The boy who once wished for nothing more than a family had reached the peak of existence.
And he had lost the very reason he climbed.
His eyes remained empty.
Not because he felt nothing.
But because his pain had become too great to be expressed.
Then slowly—
he stepped forward.
He knelt before his sister.
And wrapped his arms around her.
Victoria froze.
She expected anger.
She expected blame.
She expected hatred.
Instead, she heard a broken voice.
"No..."
William whispered.
His own tears finally fell.
"It was never your fault."
"You protected them."
"You fought for them."
"You suffered because of me."
His embrace tightened.
"The one who failed..."
For the first time in his life, the man who had shaken the universe admitted the truth he feared most.
"...was me."
And somewhere deep within the endless connections that made up his existence—
something began to crack.
Not his power.
Not his body.
But the last restraint holding back the grief of a being who could alter the universe itself.