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Chapter 256 - chapter 56

William, undergoing his tribulation under the power of Hamar's 'river of time' move, stood in the centre of a blizzard.

His aura became cold and rejecting, it trapped him within a crystalline ice shell. He held out his sword but it had already broke. As he stood with his eyes closed, his sword wobbled as if unsure of its form.

Inside his mind, he continued to experience That life. As he acclimated to the body he was 'possessing' in that experience, he recalled the past memories.

He found that those bodies below him were 'his' friends, his family, those 'he' cared about...or perhaps just those he knew. He did not care for some, or even most.

He began to understand the emotions of his host, he knew those people. But he had a unique thought process that discarded emotions as simple passing fleeting gusts of Wind.

William winced at this realisation but ultimately through his experience of their life will all of it's intricacies, he soon came to a deeper understanding.

Back to the 'present' of that experience William 'he' looked down at his torso.

Letting go of his hand, he sucked in and observed his injuries,

"It seems I won't last much longer..." The boy smiled despite the pain and despite the knowledge that he knew, he could not simply survive this injury.

He had killed his entire town, he did not want to. But...

"This damn curse!" He shouted out into the winds. The cold, unforgiving snowstorm continued to blow with not heard for the human screaming.

The boy looked into the sky before falling down into the packed snow and expelling a cough of blood. While he slowly succumbed to his injuries he started to speak out loud, "You."

William, for a moment, got scared and thought that he was talking to himself but instead William heard another voice.

It came from within the boy, within 'himself'. It spoke with a cold and unforgiving tone like the snow storm that was slowly consuming all that came it's way.

"Don't ask me to save you, once you die...well, then I'd be free kekeke" the boy involuntarily raised his hand and slapped himself on his rosy cheeks.

The boy spat onto his own hand, "At least for me to die to disgrace my body! At least tell me this...why?"

The boy did not care about what had happened, well he did but he recognised that nothing would change and suppressed all emotions.

He looked blindly into the sky, but within his own mind he looked deep into the person inside of him. Not William, William had become the boy, no...he was looking at that person who had caused all this.

William had not yet gained all of the boy's memories; perhaps even the boy did not remember it all. He became curious and paid attention deeply.

The voice laughed heartedly and the boy coughed up more blood, staining the snow with a deep black with hints of crimson.

The blood boiled instantly and vanished into the air, the voice spoke, "Why not? You've gained some of my feelings, have you not?"

"Life is full of those emotions. Pain and happiness, they intermingle and create what a normal person may call a 'fulfilling life'."

"But I am not a normal person. I am strong, I am powerful, I am...I'm dead. I was killed and only by trickery could I live on within you, a talentless child. No!"

"Less than talentless! I had initially thought to raise you before taking over! But your talent is less than a blade of grass, and your mortal life was even worse!"

"No parents, no money, not a thing!" The voice quietened, "...I have emotions and with my power, why not take a small amount of effort and take a little bit of revenge on you. And remove all those with some worth, take it for my own!"

The boy started to fade, his consciousness was fleeting and in his final moments of life he asked, "Worth... What is that? All I see now is a waste, you didn't take their worth, you just wasted it all."

William furrowed his metaphorical brows trying to understand the understand between these two, and as he was beginning to understand the voice answered.

William could sense that the boy had already passed away, yet still William remained. He heard the response of the man now taking over the boy's body.

"Do you know the world? I do. I know the world, and I know it isn't a machine. The world is more like a person, a person with a plant it prunes and takes care off."

"It does not matter whether the plant wishes for one thing; the Gardner does not pay heed. It prunes and nourishes. When potential is taken away, does it disappear?"

"No! It is recycled by the world and why would it not be given to me! I am the carnivorous plant eating the fly! Why would the worth of the village not come to me!?"

William scoffed, he came to understand the man's reasoning. But he did not agree...

"Ignorance, to think you would understand the world. The world is cold, the works is unforgiving. It does not take bias and it tastes all beings the same..."

William felt something within him shift and crack, "The world would prune the plant that kills the fly. For the world takes care of all including the fly!"

***

Hou felt the tribulation strengthen to it's climax as multiple elements and a myriad of laws all covered above his magic circle.

He dropped to one knee on the ground, "William!"

Hou panted heavily and felt his head become lightheaded. He sighed, "I'm out of both royal energy and aura very soon..."

He looked up, beside him William was frozen in an ice crystal. For a moment, Hou looked deeply as he thought of any possible way to survive...and more importantly to him save these people too.

At that very moment, he heard a crack. Snap! Pop! The ice crystal surrounding William shattered and the person inside opened his eyes!

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