Hou awoke, slowly he peeled his eyes open.
He flailed his arms, "Where's Hamar?!" He could sense the connection, or the lack of one.
Zhou Tian stood nearby standing with a uncharacteristic solemnity, "I believe Sir Hamar has....died." he wanted to continue his grandeur but knew it wasn't the time.
Hou grapsed his heart, 'My consciousness is healed...', he looked up and questioned the figures.
"How is my consciousness healed to this extent?" Even while talking, he was unconsciously flicking his attention past Zhou Tian where a body lay.
The figures cautiously answered, "We are not human, we have a special racial ability to pass on our consciousness' power." They answered in unison.
"Then help him!"
"We are afraid that he is already gone, medicine would do nothing to a dead man."
Hou grapsed one of the figures with his hand in anger, "You–" he realised his aggression and pushed them away, "It isn't medicine, it isn't something mortal, we surpass logic, help him."
He stared within their eyes, passing over each of the individual figures, "please..."
One of the figures stepped forward, "I will try, but he's already gone; nothing will change this. It appears his consciousness was completely shattered."
They walked over to Hamar's cold lifeless body and pressed their almost-illusory hand on it, then he saw their form pulsate.
Nothing.
After a few moments they stopped and released their hand, "See, it's too lat–"
Hou shot forward and grasped that figure by their wrist, he pushed it back into Hamar. With determination he told them, "Continue."
They hesitated for a moment but complied, they could have died as Hamar has proven; they did not see the other two figures that were sent to deal with him. They should believe in Hou.
Hou watching he'd the lifeless corpse pump with the energy from the figure's consciousness...after some moments he closed his own eyes and focused on that broken connection.
He started to circulate Causality, effectively he had double now with Hamar not using any. He pumped the Causality into his senses, trying to re-form that connection.
"The connection is alive, the connection is alive, the connection is alive." He murmured into the power, praying for it to work, pleading with the Causality.
That's when he felt it, the connection it wasn't broken!?
Broken wasn't the right word, more accurately it was shattered. Not into nothing but into a massive amount of tiny fragments. Of course nothing would be destroyed, the consciousness was simply deconstructed.
"Stop!" Hou breathed heavily, trying to maintain attention on the senses, Hamar's remaining consciousness fragments were faint.
Hou held out his hands and using Causality infused mental energy he started to bring Hamar's largest fragments together, he was the lone god of this world now he could detect where they were. Some had already left, that was okay he just needed enough.
Push!
He pushed them all into Hamar's body, then held them in.
"NOW, SEND IT IN!" He shouted to the figure, it responded quickly.
The power was pumped I to the body and the multiple fragments started to pulsate in rhythm. They began moving together, then eventually forming a coherent piece.
Hamar coughed and opened his eye weakly, "H-hou?"
"I did it...you're alive..." Hou fell a little limp, he won.
"I won't survive." Hamar days bluntly, "My consciousness is too harmed, I feel as soon as I do being healed the fragments will explode apart..."
"No, it's fine. I'll find a way, I can do it. I always find a way, look I got the figures on our side! I did it....I did it..." He forced a smile.
"Bring me a sword." Hamar had one final wish.
Hou nodded and used the power of godhood in this world, instantly transiting Hou's sword which had fallen back to him.
He tried to heal his fingers around it, "a bit of help?"
Hou helped him grasp the sword, "Thinking about the sword to the end huh" Hou said through his tears.
"Throughout my whole life....I had one purpose, it manifested in different ways but it all came down to this...I love Swordsmanship. Give the sword to William, he's the best left... If he's still alive"
"He is." Hou could feel two distinct parts of his Causality out of this world, Mo Huai and William.
"I'm just going to impart my will into the sword. Not my thinking, not my memories, not yet my skill, just my will for the sword. I hope it can help...goodbye."
Hou continued to hold his hands together, practically holding the sword for him, "Goodbye, my friend. I won't forget it, any of it. And I'll make sure to text everything now, I can do it, I always will."
"Don't think like that, you don't have the responsibility to do all this, you're doing it out of your own good will... Just do your best, for that is enough."
With that the figure let go of their healing, their own consciousness in danger. Hamar imparted his will for the sword into his own sword, gifting it to his disciples William.
Hou held his body a few moments, then he let go. The body fell to the ground with a plop, a sack of meat for the wolves.
"Where's the boy?" Hou turned around to the watching figures and Zhou Tian.
"He should be back where we were – actually he's there." Zhou Tian pointed behind Hou.
The sky rippled like water and from it a boy shot out of it, "My condolences. But it is not time to grieve, we have to plan for the Devourer of Worlds. I said we can defeat it, but that plan is vague."
"How vague?" Hou asked.
"The plan is to get multiple world to work together.... The issue being connecting the worlds. You'll find now that your world had fully formed, it'll be hard to get out of it now."
"So what do we do?" Everything said in unison this time.
"You have me. As *they* should know...I'm a bit special in that I can freely travel the Sea of Worlds. I'll be the bridge by which the works come together and be the ants who take down a tree."