The proposal was accepted far more quickly than Kate and the Third Elder had hoped.
Mark was the first to step forward.
Not because he hated them.
Not because he sought revenge.
But because he wanted to test the limits of his newly gained understanding.
A blade of pure light formed in his hand.
The arena brightened.
For a brief instant, the sword seemed less like a weapon and more like a fragment of a star.
Then Mark moved.
The strike crossed the battlefield before either prisoner could react.
The protective seals surrounding them activated instantly.
Their bodies were restored.
Mark lowered his sword.
"Hm."
A thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
"The reconstruction is flawless."
Before the two prisoners could even recover from the shock, Kashmir stepped forward.
Shadows spread across the arena.
Entire worlds of darkness unfolded beneath his feet.
Legions emerged.
Not to kill.
Only to demonstrate.
The shadow soldiers surrounded the prisoners from every direction.
Every escape route disappeared.
Every possibility vanished.
Then the entire army attacked simultaneously.
Moments later, the seals restored the prisoners again.
Kashmir nodded in satisfaction.
"My control improved."
Daniel followed next.
Space folded.
Distance vanished.
Entire sections of the battlefield became disconnected from ordinary reality.
The prisoners suddenly found themselves unable to understand where they stood.
Above and below lost meaning.
Direction became meaningless.
Daniel observed the phenomenon calmly.
His comprehension of spacetime had clearly advanced.
When he finished, the seals restored the two once more.
Then came Thiago.
Gravity itself seemed to awaken.
Stars in distant regions trembled.
The battlefield distorted under impossible pressure.
The two prisoners collapsed instantly.
Not because they lacked strength.
But because the difference between them and the finalists had become absurd.
Again the seals restored them.
Again they found themselves standing.
Again another challenger stepped forward.
Hours passed.
Then days.
One by one, the finalists tested their new insights.
Maria manipulated countless energies with astonishing precision.
Sarah demonstrated the terrifying refinement she had gained over annihilation.
Vladimir's flames displayed depths none had witnessed before.
Javier's cuts no longer appeared to target matter alone.
Even Merito occasionally joined, examining the evolution of his own understanding.
The process gradually became less of a punishment and more of a moving lesson for the spectators.
The prisoners were no longer treated as opponents.
They had become measuring tools.
References.
Examples.
Nothing more.
Eventually, most of the spectators departed.
The great tournament had ended.
The champions had been chosen.
The inheritances had found their owners.
Many had already returned to their worlds.
Yet the sessions continued.
Kate and the Third Elder remained.
Again and again.
The seals restoring them each time.
Again and again.
William remained silent throughout all of it.
Watching.
Observing.
Never participating.
That silence disturbed everyone more than anything else.
Several days later, Daniel finally frowned.
He had noticed something strange.
Everyone seemed willing to participate.
Far more willing than simple curiosity would justify.
The spacetime wielder glanced toward William.
Then toward the prisoners.
Then back again.
"What exactly did these two do?"
The question sounded casual.
Almost accidental.
But the atmosphere immediately changed.
William remained silent for several moments.
Long enough for everyone to notice.
Then he answered.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"They murdered my father."
Silence.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
William continued.
"They invaded my village."
"They hunted my family."
"My mother died because of what followed."
The arena became completely still.
Even the stars seemed distant.
No dramatic explanation followed.
No emotional speech.
No anger.
Just facts.
Simple facts.
That somehow felt heavier than any scream.
Daniel froze.
Mark lowered his gaze.
Maria's expression hardened.
Sarah's eyes widened.
Vladimir stopped smiling.
Even Javier remained completely motionless.
For the first time, they understood why William had changed after returning from Earth.
Why the emptiness never left his eyes.
Why Andrew had watched him with concern.
Why every smile William gave seemed incomplete.
The realization struck all of them at once.
The strongest among them.
The winner of countless battles.
The man acknowledged by the Eternal Body itself.
Had returned too late.
No one knew what to say.
Condolences felt inadequate.
Words felt meaningless.
Finally, Vladimir stepped forward and placed a hand on William's shoulder.
"We're sorry."
Others followed.
MARK .
Daniel.
Maria.
Sarah.
Kashmir.
Thiago.
Even Javier.
None of them were particularly good at comforting people.
They were warriors.
Geniuses.
Monsters.
Not healers of broken hearts.
Yet they tried anyway.
Because for the first time since meeting William, they saw not a rival.
Not a champion.
Not an inheritor.
But a son who had lost his family.
After that, nobody mentioned the subject again.
Not because they forgot.
Because they understood.
Some wounds did not need discussion.
Only acknowledgment.
The atmosphere remained quiet for a long time.
Then Vladimir suddenly looked toward Kate and the Third Elder.
His expression changed.
"Actually..."
A dangerous smile appeared.
"I think I want another round."
Daniel slowly cracked his knuckles.
Mark summoned his sword once more.
Kashmir's shadows expanded.
Even Maria looked toward the prisoners with noticeably less restraint than before.
The two prisoners immediately felt their hearts sink.
For the first time since arriving here...
they realized that learning the truth had not made the finalists calmer.
It had accomplished the exact opposite.
And as new powers, new techniques, and new understandings began appearing across the battlefield—
William remained seated in silence.
Watching the stars.
Feeling neither satisfaction nor victory.
Because no matter how many battles were fought...
no matter how many punishments were delivered...
nothing in the universe could change the simple fact that the people he wanted to see most...
He would never seeing them again.
As the days passed, the greatest change was not in their bodies.
It was in their eyes.
Kate and the Third Elder had once been figures feared throughout the Black Cloud Sects.
Their names alone had been enough to intimidate disciples and force entire factions into submission.
That confidence was gone.
Not destroyed in a single moment.
Eroded.
Little by little.
Day after day.
Every restoring in their bodies couldn't return what they were losing internally
At first, Kate continued resisting.
He glared at every participant.
He cursed them.
Threatened them.
Promised revenge.
Promised that one day he would escape.
One day he would recover.
One day he would make them regret everything.
The others ignored him.
That indifference proved more painful than any defeat.
Because enemies were respected.
Rivals were acknowledged.
But kaite
Kaite had become neither.
He had become an object.
A target.
A measurement tool.
Something brought out whenever someone wished to test a new technique.
Nothing more.
Slowly, his threats became less frequent.
Then disappeared altogether.
Eventually, he stopped speaking unless directly addressed.
The realization that nobody feared him anymore began eating away at him.
Not because he regretted his actions.
Kate was not that kind of person.
He still believed strength justified everything.
The problem was far simpler.
For the first time in his life...
he was no longer strong.
The Third Elder suffered even more.
His entire identity had been built upon authority.
Status.
Reputation.
Power.
For centuries, people had lowered their heads when he entered a room.
Now even the weakest spectators looked at him without fear.
The contrast slowly shattered his pride.
The old man began aging visibly.
Not physically.
The seals prevented that.
But spiritually.
His posture changed.
His voice lost its certainty.
Even his gaze no longer carried the arrogance it once possessed.
He frequently stared into the distance for hours.
Watching the stars.
Watching the champions.
Watching the people who had surpassed him completely.
And every observation forced him to accept the same truth.
His era was over.
The physical consequences were equally apparent.
Even though they restored their bodies, the memory of pain never disappeared.
Their instincts adapted.
Whenever Mark drew his sword, both men instinctively tensed.
Whenever Kashmir's shadows spread, their breathing accelerated.
Whenever Daniel manipulated space, they immediately searched for escape routes despite knowing none existed.
Whenever Vladimir's flames appeared, they unconsciously stepped backward.
The reactions became automatic.
Their bodies remembered.
Even when their minds tried not to.
The worst part, however, was William.
Not because he attacked them.
He rarely did.
Not because he insulted them.
He never bothered.
Not because he threatened them.
He had no reason to.
The worst part was that he simply watched.
The same silent gaze.
The same empty eyes.
Day after day.
Neither hatred nor satisfaction could be found within them.
And that terrified both prisoners.
Because hatred could be understood.
Hatred meant they still mattered.
But William no longer looked at them like enemies.
Nor like murderers
To him, they had become remnants of a completed chapter.
And somehow that realization felt heavier than any punishment.
One evening, after another exhausting session, the Third Elder finally spoke.
His voice was unusually weak.
"Why doesn't he kill us?"
Kate remained silent.
The old man laughed bitterly.
"Every day I expect him to finish it."
No answer came.
After a while, the elder continued.
"He lost everything."
"He should hate us."
Still silence.
Eventually Kate answered.
His voice was hoarse.
"He does."
The Third Elder frowned.
"Then why—"
Kate slowly looked toward the distant figure of William sitting alone among the stars.
Watching nothing.
Thinking about things neither of them could understand.
And for the first time since his capture, Kate answered honestly.
"Because we're no longer important enough."
The words struck harder than he expected.
The Third Elder froze.
Neither man spoke again.
Because deep down...
they knew he was right.
William's grief had become far larger than them.
His loss had surpassed revenge itself.
And that was the final humiliation.
Not that they had been defeated.
Not that they had lost everything.
But that the man whose life they had shattered no longer considered them worthy of his hatred.
Far away, William remained seated beneath the endless stars.
Surrounded by companions.
Surrounded by power.
Surrounded by victory.
Yet completely alone.
And no punishment in existence could change that.