Joseph stumbles back, clutching his wound. He knows he can't go anywhere in this magical realm.
Fear. The sensation is overwhelming, cold, and absolute. It is not just the fear of dying; it is the sheer terror of oblivion. His screams in his mind, "I am losing everything. My home, my life, Johan, Jennifer. This is how it ends? Alone, covered in pain, drowning in a dimension I never thought to enter."
Theo gives another swift, horizontal slash. The blade carves a burning line across Joseph's chest. His other arm is also cut out. Joseph collapses instantly, kneeling on the cold, shimmering surface of the water.
"Please, leave me, leave me," Joseph begs, his voice is desperate."I don't want them to cry for me. If I die, I can't see their smile anymore."
Theo looks down at the defeated Joseph, his tone cruel. "Who will cry for you? You maniac."
In a few minutes, Theo gives multiple brutal attacks on Joseph. His wounds bleed freely, and his almost dead body sinks into the water. He closes his eyes, accepting the inevitable. His body submerges, sinking into an infinite, crushing depth of water. One single word repeats in his mind, an endless loop of regret:
"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry."
From the consuming darkness, a voice echoes, gentle but firm, cutting through his despair. "Joseph, why are you apologising? This is my redemption. Not yours. Live in the paradise that you belong to."
Joseph's eyes snap open. A younger man, his mirror image but taller and radiating formidable power, stands before him. This figure wears striking blue armour, and the glowing symbol of the Lord pulsates on his breastplate. Look the same as he saw in his dreams.
Suddenly, the water around them turns from blue to a thick, suffocating black liquid.
A wave of savage satisfaction hits Theo, who watches Joseph sink. "Master Riddle, I take your revenge. I kill the—"
Before he can finish the word, Theo feels a chilling pull from beneath. He looks down. The black water is surging around him, rising. He is suddenly yanked down, sinking into the dark abyss.
Theo is disoriented. He is no longer in the endless sea but standing in an archive of pure energy—Joseph's memories. The black void forces him to witness the past.
The scene resolves: a 6-year-old Joseph was playing hide and seek. He ran toward a sprawling tree. "Sister Jennifer, I know that you are on the tree."
Jennifer's voice came from the top branches. "Who told you that? Okay, okay, I am on the tree. But guess which branch am I?"
Young Joseph was studying in his room. Suddenly, he looked up at the garden from his second-floor room window. "Oi! Don't climb so high up in the tree. If you or Joseph gets injured, nobody will be worse than me." Johan warns them from below.
Jennifer climbs down, landing lightly. "Why is he always so rude, like an old man?" she mutters with a pout.
Little Joseph smiles, innocent and pure. "Brother always cares about us."
Jennifer smiles back, gently cupping his cheeks in her hand. Suddenly, her expression shifts to sadness, and she asks him a profound question: "Joseph, if you have a choice to go with Johan or me. Who will you choose?"
"I would rather go with my mother," Joseph replies with a wide, childish smile.
Theo is utterly confused, his hatred momentarily displaced by bewilderment. "What is that? I was supposed lords have no birth or childhood."
The void surges, and the scene shifts two years later.
Johan, Joseph, and Jennifer stand together. Their mother, Lina, was sketching them. Lina, 41-year-old, but she still looked like a 25-year-old. The sketch was so fine that it seemed like she was capturing her children's images on paper.
"Mother, you can buy a camera to take a photo of us. This can be a time-saving method," Johan suggests, ever the pragmatist.
"Oh! The camera, the device that paints the scenario quickly on paper," Lina replies to him.
"Johan, mother just wants to spend some time with us. She will go far away soon," Jennifer says.
"Yeah, yeah, but Joseph may be tired," Johan argues gently.
"Johan, Jennifer, you can go to sleep now, but I need some time to draw Joseph," Lina dismisses them with a soft smile.
Johan and Jennifer reluctantly depart. Joseph sits patiently on a stool.
Lina's eyes were twinkling as she saw their picture.
"Mother, you told me that I have another brother. What does he look like? Is he like me, you, or father?" young Joseph asks his mother, Lina.
"He looks so kind, brave, beautiful, and he cares for everybody; he is truly a hero," Lina replies simply.
This is the last Joseph talk with his mother.
The memories abruptly stop. Theo stands alone in the void, staggering backwards, consumed by regret.
"How? He is the son of Mother Lina," Theo whispers, shaken to his core. "I listened to his thoughts; he is clearly the Knowledge Lord. But he is a child of the Bennets. What is the means?" The revelation cracks the foundation of his belief.
"Do I kill an innocent?" Theo whispers, regret washing over him, stunned by the true nature of Joseph's memories.
Suddenly, the true Lord of the Knowledge World steps out from the swirling black void. His face looks the same as Joseph's. He moves with immediate purpose, stopping directly in front of the stunned disciple, and then kneels in submission.
"The boy you killed is Joseph Bennet, the son of Lina. I am the Lord whom you are finding. Who killed Riddle?"
The Lord reaches out, seizing the hilt of Theo's water-sword, which still rests in Theo's hand. With brutal, calculated force, he drives the weapon deep into his own abdomen.
At that exact moment, Joseph materialises in the void beside them. His body is a ruin—blood still rains from his wounded hand and chest, yet he is miraculously whole, suspended between life and death.
As the Lord bleeds, his blood is not falling to the black ground, but drawing itself toward Joseph. The blood coalesces into the red symbol of the Lord, which briefly hovers over Joseph's chest. The symbol is then absorbed entirely into Joseph's body. Instantly, his severed hands reform, and the deep, deadly cuts across his chest and ear. Leaving his skin flawless.
Theo takes his sword from the Lord's abdomen. "I guess pain is just a punishment for you, but this regression is your suffering," Theo says in a lingering rage.
The Lord smiles, a look of profound peace settling on his face. "I guess I deserve that."
With the exchange complete, the dimension violently shatters. The black void explodes into a billion pieces.
Theo and Joseph crash back into reality. They are instantly returned to the school library. Joseph stands still for some moment, but soon he becomes unconscious.
"I am sorry. Revenge is a blinding force; it can cloud the judgment of even the wisest individuals." Theo is talking to Joseph's unconscious body.