William

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	William Berens 2
Alias(es)	William Y. Behrens; The Gestalt One; Moon Lord; The First Completer 615 623 882
Species/Race	Human; later an Old Day Diseased of the Silver Circle, eventually becoming an entity beyond conventional disaster detection 575 1134
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Gentleman Organization; Fear Circus; Theater Department; Smiling Face Club 149 588 820
Occupation/Role	Gentleman; Theater chief and performer; strategist; director of large-scale “performances” 590 604 882
Status	Active; returned after an apparent death and is described as the will of the affliction ruling the Cosmic Domain 1148
First Appearance	Chapter 2 (identified by the name badge on his coat) 2

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Gentleman initiation	27	Receives a portion of the First Gentleman’s skin, beginning his transformation into a Gentleman. 27
First Gentleman candidate	254, 268	Gains candidate privileges allowing extensive structural modification of his skin attire. 254 268
Limit Break	269	Achieves a Limit Break within three months, developing a dangerous aura that initially makes Barry Bessarius’s family fail to recognize him. 269
Face Condensation / Abyss Mask	567	Completes Face Condensation and produces an unusual Abyss mask before undertaking the Pilgrimage Path. 567
Silver Circle / Old Day Diseased	573, 575	Survives 157 bodily self-destructions during Silver Turbidity; his reconstructed body completes his afflictions and he joins the Silver Circle. 573 575
Moon Lord	623	Fully fuses with Moonscar Lorien, wields the Moonlight Greatsword, and reveals his Moon Lord identity during the Zion operation. 623
Abyss Body	683	Expands the Abyss across his entire body, gaining the ability to capture surrounding information and manipulate external objects. 683
Abyssal Stance / Flipping Over	870	Turns his body inside out into an Abyssal humanoid form; this self-developed Abyss Affliction is stated to be unique in the Old World. 870
The First Completer	882	Executes his plan against Art, restores his physical condition, and emerges from the stage under the title “The First Completer — William Berens.” 882
Perfect William	1133, 1134	Unifies William Cells into a perfect human-like structure. Lighthouse Mental Hospital instruments cannot detect him beyond maximum growth potential. 1133 1134

Background

William first entered Yi Chen’s life as the namesake character of The Mirror, a book Yi Chen read at Black Mountain Orphanage when he was four. In the novel, William was an imaginary counterpart who appeared to help its isolated protagonist. Yi Chen subsequently began seeing William during moments of extreme stress and danger. William physically stopped Yi Chen from murdering a roommate, appeared repeatedly during Yi Chen’s childhood, and encouraged him to continue fighting when he was cornered at age ten. 1139

As an adult, Yi Chen encountered William again while near death in the Abyss. William revealed his true form and offered Yi Chen escape through his Brain Hole; Yi Chen accepted by placing his head inside it. 1139

By the time he entered the Gentleman Organization, he was operating under the name William Berens. He received the First Gentleman’s skin, became Professor Chamberson’s student, achieved a Limit Break, and was selected as a candidate for First Gentleman. 27 149 254 269

Appearance

William’s appearance changes substantially according to his active form, attire, and afflictions. His forms retain a notably human silhouette even after his later transformations. 575 1133

• In his Moon Lord form, he has half-silver, half-black hair, a crescent-shaped Moon Horn, black eyeballs with a new-moon pupil in one eye and a full-moon pupil in the other, and a bottomless circular opening in his abdomen. 621
• His Gentleman’s attire is treated as an extension of his skin and personal expression rather than ordinary clothing. 480
• His Abyssal Stance inverts his body into a pitch-black humanoid form covered by Abyssal Black Roundworms; his Gentleman’s attire remains worn over it. 870
• Perfect William outwardly resembles a flawless human, but his eyes are replaced by counter-clockwise rotating, gear-like spindle cores. 1133
• In his perfected state, William Cells can directly express clothing from his body; he has used them to form black tight pants without external fabric. 1134

Personality

William is self-reliant, ambitious, and intensely curious about power, knowledge, and the structures governing worlds. He openly admits that he never placed faith in gods, instead believing in himself. 567 580

He is also an exacting strategist who frames conflicts as performances, plans around multiple outcomes, and is willing to take severe personal risks for long-term objectives. His scheme against Art was calculated to restore his body, secure coveted qualification, and remove a major evil at once. 604 882

His conduct becomes increasingly difficult for allies to interpret after his involvement with the Storybook and Art. William admits that he would betray even trusted allies if necessary to reach his goal, though Yi Chen later maintains that William can still be trusted “at this stage” and has not yet been corrupted by evil. 856 1066

Abilities & Skills

Abyss Affliction

William possesses an Abyss-based power system developed through the Tenth Abyss, his Gestalt nature, and his understanding of flesh.

• Abyss Body spreads the Abyss across his full body, allowing him to gather environmental information and manipulate objects in his surroundings. 683
• Flipping Over turns his physical structure inside out into Abyssal Stance; it is described as an ability unique to William in the Old World. 870
• His Abyssal form can dissipate powerful impacts through rapid rotation and conceal him within an internal subspace. 870 872
• He can create false Abyssal spaces and relocate the contents of his theater when its outer tent is destroyed. 828 856

Moon Lord and Illusion Arts

Through fusion with Moonscar Lorien, William gains Moon-related authority and powerful Illusion Arts.

• His Dead Sea Moon Illusion Art can disorient powerful Blood People, including Counts at Divine Skin Manor. 623
• His Moon Eyes resist pupil-based illusion techniques and can lock onto targets through obstructing layers of skin. 532 623
• He can partially disassemble his body into starlight, allowing attacks to pass through star-like particles rather than his flesh. 532
• His Moon Lord state enables him to channel the Moonlight Greatsword and send moonlight to rescue and heal Galon. 623

William Cells

William Cells are perfected cancer cells developed through Abyss Inversion, stolen malice, and the Video Tape core.

• Forward Playback causes the cells to absorb surrounding energy for replication and continued survival. 1135
• Reverse Playback reconstructs his perfect body and applies the flip-over attribute to attacks, including effects that can reach otherwise imperceptible dimensional colors. 1135
• The cells possess “trinity” variability, expressing properties of the Diseased, Heavenly Divinity, or malice according to circumstances. 1133
• William can create clones through perfected cancer-cell division and combine them with Little Grape’s brain cells and the Birth Gate’s reproductive principle. 1131

Storybook and Fear Manipulation

William uses a Storybook connected to the Human Body Collector and other story-based manifestations.

• He can alter text within the Storybook through Abyssal power, although even changing a single character consumes substantial mental power. 765
• He can manifest story elements into reality, including the Human Body Collector and a black-coated woman. 741
• He can extract fear through storytelling, testing the ability on a nurse during a hospital elevator ride. 742
• He views story-based malicious carriers as a possible path toward influencing the birth and fall of entire worlds. 765

Combat and Physical Ability

William combines technical combat training with an unusually adaptive body.

• His physical control increased dramatically after brain tissue integrated throughout his muscles. 262
• He can apply combat rhythm learned from Mr. Rabbit to multiply the force of his strikes, once destroying a target, a swarm of ratmen, and damaging a distant stone wall with one punch. 546
• He is proficient in dual-weapon combat, pairing the Moonlight Greatsword with Deslake. Hand of Darkness against Greed Glid. 625
• He demonstrated sufficient strength to block Glid’s Blood Cross Sword directly despite Glid’s Blood Attire enhancement. 625

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Gentleman’s Attire / Yellow Skin — Skin-based attire central to his identity as a Gentleman; Yellow Skin can suppress and reassign ownerless skins. 480 820
• Deslake. Hand of Darkness — A Death Plague Knight-level weapon that can shift from a hand axe into a black sword in response to William’s state. 463 625
• Moonlight Greatsword — A weapon originally designed for Lorien by Duke Garryson; channels concentrated Moon power and can inflict True Damage. 623
• Bartosh — A dangerous metal weapon wielded alongside Deslake. Hand of Darkness. 532
• Thorned Iron Chain — Absorbed from Glid’s Monastery chain and integrated into William’s Gestalt Body as part of his physical framework. 633 858
• Apostle Skin Pouch — A rare skin item later transformed and incorporated into his clothing, though the resulting load initially caused his skin to rupture. 476 543
• Greed Ring — A blood-recognizing ring that grants access to Greed Glid’s vast treasury. 632
• William’s Magic House — A shapeshifting miniature circus stage used to pre-build and refine performance concepts. 505
• Storybook — A dangerous book containing story-based evil, including the Human Body Collector. 741 765

Relationships

• Yi Chen — His earliest friend and later symbiotic counterpart. William protected Yi Chen from childhood, shared a body and Hall of Thought with him, and eventually separated from him; their bond is repeatedly compared to that of brothers. 1139 734 884
• Lorien — Moonscar and New Moon Origin whose power fuses with William’s. Their relationship includes mutual concern, tactical cooperation, and tension over William’s changing nature. 623 741 835
• Chamberson — William’s teacher in the Gentleman Organization; Chamberson eventually acknowledges that his own perspective is no longer sufficient to assess William’s ability. 149 595
• Regan — Old friend and technological collaborator. William values Regan’s genius and repeatedly coordinates plans and equipment with him. 595 788
• Nash — William’s deputy actor and former adjutant, whose admiration for William borders on obsession. 588 904
• Yellow Skin — Partner in William’s campaign against the Skin Factory and manager of his Gentleman’s attire. 623 626
• Art Kleimer — Initially a tense collaborator and kindred spirit in William’s plans against the Skin Factory; William ultimately orchestrates Art’s death as part of his Final Performance. 820 882
• Lainey — A member of the Sheep Flock who sparred with William and expressed a desire to have children with him in the future. 476

Story Role / Major Arcs

Gentleman Organization

Operating as William Berens, he enters the Gentleman Organization, receives First Gentleman skin, studies under Chamberson, and develops rapidly enough to become a First Gentleman candidate. 27 149 254

Old World and the Fear Circus

After leaving the Sheep Flock with a formed Birth Gate, William joins the Fear Circus and builds the Theater Department with Nash as his deputy actor. He completes Silver Turbidity, becoming an Old Day Diseased of the Silver Circle. 476 588 575

Zion Recapture and War with the Skin Factory

William plans the recapture operation at Zion, fuses his Illusion Arts with Lorien’s Moon power, kills Greed Glid, seals the Passage to the Skin Factory, and sends Glid’s head as a declaration of war to the Seven Marquis. 604 623 626

Abyss and the Final Performance

He develops the Abyss Body and later Abyssal Stance, engineers an alliance and wager involving Emperor Pride and Art, and uses the resulting Final Performance to kill Art, restore his condition, and become the First Completer. 683 834 870 882

Prime Material Plane and the Evil Circle

William conceals his identity in the Prime Material Plane for two years while investigating and engaging with evil. He uses Art’s evil and malice taken from Yi Chen to enter the Evil Circle, develop William Cells, and pursue a perfected form. 889 1135

Perfect William

After revealing his Perfect form, William challenges Ruben at Lighthouse Mental Hospital. His perfected body and reverse/forward playback make him undetectable by the hospital’s established disaster-measuring instruments. 1133 1134

Notable Quotes

“My clothing is my skin; this is how I express myself.” 480

“I would betray even Teacher Zed. And I would betray you too, Yi Chen.” 856

“I only believe in myself.” 567