"Thanks," William didn't get what he was talking about, nor did he care about any reward for now. Then he returned to focus on what was going on around.
The spirit masters didn't lose their focus as the dark spirit masters expected. Instead of getting panicked and running in amock and chaos like was expected, they found a firm ground in the middle of all that and started to even orchestrate a counterattack.
The dark spirit masters might look courageous and strong, but William knew better than anyone what kind of cowards they were.
They were like bullies, loved to gang up over weaklings, and would fear and coward away from any direct confrontations with equally strong foes, or even enemies who weren't that far off from their powers.
They would give their enemies the impression of being overly confident and strong. But deep down their hearts and spirits, they'd tremble in fear and doubt, thinking about retreat all the time instead of pushing forward for victory.