Did Kangwoo know that such a calm response was, in fact, the most painful thing Isaac could've heard?
Just as Kangwoo had looked forward to a final battle with Isaac, Isaac, too, had anticipated a clash with the swordsman who was the very root of the sword.
He had forgotten this was a war where lives and entire worlds were at stake.
He simply wanted to fight—just the two of them, face-to-face.
"..."
But in the end, this is what it had come to.
Now that the one he was supposed to cross swords with had disappeared, perhaps, aside from losing the war itself, this was the most tragic ending Isaac could have imagined.
"Don't worry."
Was it because Kangwoo had sensed Isaac's emotions?
"My blade is sharper than ever."
At first, those words might have sounded like comfort, but in truth, Kangwoo was merely stating a fact. There was no intention behind it beyond the act of speaking.
"…Alright."
Isaac said no more.
If Kangwoo himself said so, Isaac had no intention of arguing.
No matter how renowned Isaac was as the Silent Sword, no one could know a swordsman's condition better than the swordsman himself.
"Hrk! Kangwoo!"
Then, a woman stepped forward with her crescent blade.
Tears streamed endlessly from her eyes, and her appearance was beyond strange—it wasn't sorrow she evoked, but something eerie.
Tilting her spear, she blocked Kangwoo's path.
"You know you shouldn't be here!"
"..."
"Huuuh… Don't forget our promise."
"Our promise…"
Kangwoo murmured quietly to himself, like a vow, then looked up at the sky.
His eyes reflected the silver stars as he turned his back to Isaac without hesitation.
"…!"
Isaac couldn't believe it—that a Sword Demon like Kangwoo would show him his back.
But the woman with the crescent blade wept with emotion.
"Hrk! Thank you, Kangwoo! Father of the Sword Demons! Sob… I know your resolve! That it is all for the greater cause!"
Kangwoo continued walking.
As he made his way toward the royal palace, Isaac's party hurried after him—
Chuhk!
"Hrk! Where do you think you're going?"
The crying woman openly blocked their path.
"He is abandoning what is essentially his very nature—his desire—and walking away."
She pointed her finger directly at Isaac.
"He's spent countless long years striving to fulfill a promise made with an old friend."
That old friend was the giant Gaia.
Though Kangwoo was originally the one meant to slay the giant, Isaac had ended up taking that from him.
"He longed for the duel with you, again and again—but even so, for the cause of the Transcendents, he chose sacrifice—!"
Even more tears poured from her eyes, a show of respect for Kangwoo's situation and determination.
"I cannot let you approach him!"
Beyond the woman, Isaac gazed at Kangwoo's back.
A man who had lived solely for the sword, now giving it up for the sake of his people.
It was clear just by looking at the woman that Kangwoo had paid the price in sorcery by giving up his emotions.
All feelings except sadness had vanished from him.
"Kangwoo… has he abandoned emotion altogether?"
Vwoooom!
The woman swung her crescent blade wide in affirmation.
"That's right. He said that if even the smallest emotion remained, he would eventually seek you out for battle… so he completely cast his emotions aside."
"..."
"Quite literally, he has become a sword—for us."
"I get what you're saying, but—"
His words trailed off vaguely.
As he opened his mouth to speak, Silverna lunged with her spear, aiming true.
The woman's crescent blade clashed with Silverna's spear.
A deep, resonating echo rang out like a stone splashing into a pond.
"I can't just let this slide, you know? If you want to peddle your sob story, go cry to your family."
"Hrk! How can you be so cruel!"
Though she responded as if wounded, the woman's crescent blade never wavered.
The way she effortlessly wielded such a heavy weapon reminded Isaac of Helmut.
"Isaac, Silverna and I will break through."
Liana joined Silverna. As she surged forward, red energy poured from her.
Isaac had thought it would be hard for the two of them to coordinate, but—
Surprisingly, the pair moved in sync as they pressed the woman back with stylish coordination.
"I can only fight straightforwardly. Silverna, you need to make it unpredictable."
"I know that already!"
"I'll pour out all my energy and break through head-on."
"Can you at least think about where you're swinging that thing?!"
"Then how am I supposed to fight? I don't even want to say this out loud."
"Huuuuuh! You still haven't overcome your curse!"
Though the situation was somewhat bizarre, Isaac decided to trust the two women and push past.
The woman had wanted to stop him, but with both Silverna and Liana's weapons blocking the way, she had no choice but to tearfully let him pass.
However, the obstacles between Isaac and Kangwoo didn't end there.
As he passed the palace gate the woman had been guarding—
A red-haired man silently stepped forward to block his path.
"Helik."
A long and tenacious bond.
The founder of Helmut now stood before him, and Isaac couldn't help but feel that this moment was fated.
"How ridiculous."
Helik, too, wore a self-mocking expression.
"That day we first met… If only I had killed you then, I wouldn't be dealing with this disaster now."
"Back then… you were imitating Arandel's sword style."
"It's different now."
Thud!
Helik's cane struck the ground with a heavy thump.
"Now, I'll fight you with everything I have—as the sorcerer Helik. I will kill you."
A red aura rose from beneath his staff and spread like fog in every direction.
"And after that, I will kill humans. Again and again. Without end."
Until the sorrow festering in our hearts—endless and unrelenting—has finally been cleansed.
There was a madness in Helik's declaration of endless slaughter. And yet, the way his gaze flicked upward hinted at something else—another purpose.
"I always thought it was strange."
Isaac, following his gaze upward, muttered.
"Why you brought the Silver Clock here."
There was one thing he'd puzzled over repeatedly on the way here.
Why had the Silver Clock been summoned into the skies above Evergard?
"The area may be small, but you literally moved the sky. That must've come at an enormous cost in sorcery."
"...."
Helik didn't reply.
He simply glared at Isaac, the one who had relentlessly tracked his steps. As if daring him to figure it out again.
"You gave up your emotions as the price for sorcery. And you brought the Silver Clock here. Oddly enough, those two actions point to the same goal."
Thanks to that, Isaac had come to realize what the Transcendents truly wanted.
"You…"
He let out a bitter breath and said something that, in a way, was both a relief and the worst-case scenario.
"You never intended to win."
"...."
Helik didn't answer.
But that silence was the clearest confirmation.
A brief silence passed.
Then, with a hollow laugh, Helik nodded.
"There's only one reason the Silver Clock destroyed our world."
His eyes rose again to the sky.
In them, longing and hatred mixed painfully.
"For the sake of humanity."
"For us…"
"Yes. She must've been convinced that if we Transcendents continued to grow stronger, one day we would come for you."
So she decided to cut the problem off at the root.
A bitter smile tugged at Helik's lips.
In his eyes, the regret and fury twisted together in strange turmoil.
"The Silver Clock decided that Transcendents and humans couldn't coexist in the same world."
It was calm but brutally sharp.
"If we grew stronger, it was inevitable we would clash with humanity."
So, in the end, the Silver Clock chose only one answer—
The destruction of a world.
Was she just acting out of fear?
Was her decision completely one-sided?
From the very first Transcendents called the Primordials, to the giants Gaia had once called kin—
Once they crossed into the human world, no one could stop them.
And Isaac, who had personally tried to stop them, knew this better than anyone.
"And so she toyed with my heart, deceived us, and dragged our world into ruin."
"...."
"After many long years, we looked into the human world and acted to claim it for ourselves—"
But we were stopped.
By none other than the man standing before me—Isaac Logan.
The reason the Transcendents spread across all of Evergard—
"We're not here to win."
They came only to kill.
And in the end, what they would claim would likely be their own deaths.
What the Transcendents sought was annihilation.
Isaac looked at Helik and spoke with a bitter tone.
"So in the end… that's all you have left to do."
"...."
To kill humans, even at the cost of their own lives.
That's why they brought the Silver Clock into the sky.
"You just wanted her to see. To witness the tragedy caused by her choice."
Helik laughed, full of self-derision.
But that wasn't the only reason.
It wasn't just to make her see humanity being slaughtered.
"I wanted her to see my death."
Self-destructive behavior.
A blade of guilt meant to pierce himself—and reach the Silver Clock as well.
Self-destruction was colder than any sword.
This wasn't revenge. It was something crueler:
The sharpest weapon of all—remorse—aimed directly at her heart.
It was despicable. Pathetic, even.
And yet—
"Can you sever our selfish, final will?"
For the man called Helik, this was the only thing he had left to offer the Silver Clock.