Though the attack was a sudden ambush by the Transcendents, they weren't being helplessly overwhelmed.
"I hear weapons clashing from all directions. Fighting's already broken out."
Liana's sharp senses scanned the area. Just the fact that battles had begun was good news.
The enemy had gone for a surprise aerial strike, yet the defenders were responding effectively.
The worst-case scenario would have been hearing only human screams.
"We're heading straight for the palace, right?"
Silverna asked, wiping off the Transcendent's blood from her spear.
Isaac nodded while running.
"Of course."
The Transcendents' attacks often followed similar patterns.
With their limited numbers, the most effective tactic was to cut off the head of the enemy.
And in a massive human society like a kingdom, the "head" was undeniably the royal palace.
"How's the palace holding up?"
"They're in the middle of a fierce battle there too. That's where the loudest fighting is."
"Good…"
Though Commander of the Royal Guard Veros had died, his men were still doing their duty.
The "Royal Guard Swordsmanship" Isaac had recently taught was designed especially for battling Transcendents.
They should be able to hold out for a while.
Of course, if the Primordial Transcendents stepped in, the situation could change drastically.
Even so, Isaac wasn't too worried.
Just as the Transcendents had prepared thoroughly for this ambush,
The palace had also made its best preparations in anticipation of such an attack.
And considering who was awaiting them there, "holding out" wouldn't even begin to describe it.
That's why Isaac and Liana weren't staying at the palace, but rather at Isaac's estate.
He believed that would divide the enemy's focus during a sudden ambush.
That gamble paid off—at least, if freeing Mugan counted as a win.
Or maybe, for the Transcendents, Mugan was simply a troublesome piece they wanted out of the way.
"There they are!"
"Don't let them reach His and Her Highness!"
Just as they were about to move again, more Transcendents leapt down from rooftops to attack.
***
"Haa… Haa…"
Heirad, the knight assigned to guard Clarice, drew his sword once more in the royal gardens.
Not long ago, Liana Helmut had launched her assault—now another fight had broken out inside the palace.
Heirad was troubled but also aware that all of this was leading toward the final act.
"Don't loosen your grip! Grit your teeth and endure!"
He shouted to the Royal Guards forming a shield wall.
Surprisingly, their formation was doing a good job holding back the Transcendents.
Even the Primordial Transcendents, who had assumed they would sweep through with ease, were struggling.
It was due to both their tactics—and one unexpected variable.
"For the glory of Helmut!"
Jonathan.
His aura had now imbued his sword with a thick, dark gleam, full of blood demon power.
While the Royal Guard served as the shield, Jonathan was the blade.
A half-blood—human and Transcendent.
He carried both the power of the Transcendents and the sword of humankind.
He was the future the Transcendents had once dreamed of when they first envisioned half-bloods.
"How ironic."
Yet now, the perfected hybrid stood with the humans.
To the Transcendents, it felt like watching a well-crafted play.
"Hrk…"
Far in the back stood a woman, finely dressed and weeping endlessly.
Her tears seemed incapable of drying, as if crying was all she knew how to do.
"I… hnnng… will fight!"
Through streaming tears, the woman stepped forward.
"Tread over me if you must!"
Still sobbing, she suddenly raised… a spear.
"Hrk!"
As her tears fell upon the shaft of the spear, she advanced.
It was as though she walked atop a rippling pond—
The very ground quivered like waves with each step she took.
"L-Lock your ankles!"
"Brace the ground with your shields!"
The shield wall began to tremble.
But the woman continued her graceful advance.
Her weapon was bizarre—
Instead of a sharp spearhead, it looked like a massive, broad blade had been affixed to the end.
A giant weapon fitting the overwhelming strength of a Transcendent.
She swung the enormous polearm toward the Royal Guard.
KWAANG!
The ones who blocked it were Jonathan and Heirad.
Both knights stopped the enormous crescent blade with their swords—but it was only barely.
"Ghhh—!"
"Kaaaah!"
"Hrk! Ahhh! If the True Ancestor were to see this, how sorrowful he'd be! Hnnng!"
Even as she wept bitterly, the woman's words were chilling.
"To know that his own bloodline would die by my hand! Hnnng!"
"U-Uh, do you have some kind of illness?! Why are you crying non-stop—?"
"Sir Jonathan! I-If you've got time to talk, how about putting in more effort?!"
"Y-Yes, sir!"
Jonathan responded quickly to Heirad's cry and redoubled his strength.
Meanwhile—
A woman appeared from within the palace.
Despite it being dawn, she wasn't wearing pajamas, but a formal dress.
Princess Clarice.
In the midst of this assault, she stood there as if to declare the unshakable will of the royal family.
To the invaders, however, she may have looked like nothing more than a luscious piece of bait.
"Gotta give her credit for guts, at least."
One of the Primordial Transcendents muttered quietly.
From the very back, where he had been silently observing, Helik stepped forward and asked:
"Are you showing yourself because you're confident? Or are you just struggling to protect your sister, Adeline?"
"Do I need anyone's permission to step out into my own garden?"
"Hah."
It sounded like a casual reply, but it was, in truth, a blatant show of disregard for them in the midst of their attack.
In fact, Clarice was deliberately ignoring them.
"A surprise attack only works if the enemy is actually surprised. When you lot desperately gather all your strength and broadcast to the world that this is your final stand—"
Just as her cold words cut through the air, A man clad in red light appeared behind her.
"—then of course, we'll look for ways to respond."
A massive sword rested on his shoulder.
It was the roughest blade among the Helmuts who fought at the northern front.
Lohengrin Helmut.
"Whew… Finally, we meet, you damn freaks. I nearly exploded from stress because you kept poking your heads out bit by bit in the north."
"…Lohengrin? Could you not speak so crudely?"
To think that someone like him had almost become the head of House Helmut—
Clarice was genuinely relieved it had been Liana instead.
"Thanks to the enemy scaling back their northern activity, We were able to pull our forces from there."
Helik briefly glanced around.
Though they were currently attacking the inner city of Everguard,
There were no screams—only the sharp clash of steel.
"Helmut's knights…"
There was no frustration in Helik's voice—only a calm acceptance.
It wasn't hard to recognize that the forces arrayed on the streets weren't ordinary knights.
They were Helmut's elite knights from the north.
That fact alone meant that half of their plan had already failed.
Helik lifted his head.
What his gaze landed on was a silver star.
'Do I look incompetent?'
Maybe so.
But their future had already been blocked by Silver Clock,
And their best efforts had been thwarted by Isaac Logan.
What was happening now wasn't a final, decisive war.
They were simply… shouting.
"That we are here."
And—
"That you should witness our struggle."
Helik took a deep breath.
The reason they brought Silver Clock into the human realm wasn't complicated.
"You made this spectacle—so you should watch it to the end."
Watch our deaths with your own eyes.
And perhaps, Silver Clock might feel something.
"It's not over yet."
Unlike the others who were on the verge of being consumed by emotion,
One man stepped forward with calm certainty.
Kangwoo, the Father of the Sword Demons.
"There are times when one alone can cut down everything."
I am that one.
Kangwoo advanced.
His blade moved too fast for even the Grand Masters to track with their eyes.
"Let's see if Helmut can block even a single strike from me. Helik, are you okay with this?"
"…"
"He is, after all, your own blood, is he not?"
At Kangwoo's question, Helik nodded.
Blood ties…
He wasn't sure those even mattered here.
On the other side, Clarice was growing concerned.
"Blue eyes, a horn on his forehead, blue silk clothes…
He's the one Isaac warned us about, right?
The one they say is the strongest of the Transcendents—Father of the Sword Demons?"
"Huh? Who are you talking about?"
"Ah, we should've brought Liana here."
Clarice smacked her forehead with a light slap.
She remembered Isaac's warnings—his description, his face.
"I really am thankful that you didn't become the head of House Helmut."
"I'll be bringing that up with Liana later, just so you know. I am the eldest son—shouldn't I be—?"
"Such laziness."
Just as Kangwoo's hand was about to rise to his sword's hilt—
A massive spear came flying from the sky.
Shot down from above like an arrow, it was fast and silent.
But its weight and force were in no way comparable to an arrow.
CRRRACK!
One of the Transcendents standing next to Kangwoo collapsed,
A spear piercing clean through his heart before he could even react.
"A spear…?"
A man with that level of skill in spear combat—
Only one name came to Helik's mind.
And then Clarice answered with a smile:
"I told you—we managed to bring in some of the northern forces."
Thanks to cooperation with the Mage Tower,
Additional mages had been stationed on the northern front.
And because the Transcendents had pulled back from the north to conserve strength for this final battle,
Their activity there had become passive.
It seemed like a natural flow of events—
But the results were far from simple.
"Oh, did I cause a misunderstanding?"
Clarice grinned.
"When I said we brought in northern reinforcements, I didn't mean just a few soldiers—"
Quite literally—
"We brought the entirety of the north's strength."
Atop the palace's highest point.
Beneath a windless sky.
The Guardian of the North, Uldren Caldias, stood with his spear, gazing down upon the Transcendents.