Chapter 116: Fate

Where the Malidean Wall once stood.

The towering wall had vanished, but traces of people’s lives still remained.

In the midst of the North’s cold winds and the southward advance of the Demonic Beasts, these aging, crumbling remnants proved that warriors of the North had once been here.

Roses bloomed upon their footprints and the foundations of their lives.

The flowers that couldn’t possibly bloom in the North had taken root, but what was evoked from the scene wasn’t ‘beauty’, but ‘corruption’.

“How is it?”

At the center of those roses…

The man asked with a light smile.

His casual tone sounded as if he was introducing a well-decorated room.

But his blood-red eyes and faint smile instilled an instinctive unease in people.

Making them feel repulsed to approach him.

To converse with him.

Even though they had come all this way with swords drawn, his sheer presence alone stiffened their tongues.

“No answer? How disappointing.”

As he said this, the man rose from his seat with a chuckle.

While no one dared to step forward, only the Grandmaster dismounted.

“Are you a Transcendent too?”

“And you’re a Mixed Blood?”

The man glanced at her odachi.

After confirming her black tail and ears, the corners of his mouth stretched into a long smile.

“Ah, Number 10, is it?”

“…!”

At those words, the Grandmaster’s body momentarily flinched, but it wasn’t due to fear or terror.

The truth was, she could barely restrain herself from lunging forward and swinging her sword.

“I heard there was one trainee who escaped, and your appearance exactly matches hers. Tell me, are you enjoying your little outing?”

“It isn’t an outing…”

“Then what should I call it? The prodigal child always returns to their nest, that’s a story as old as the millennia. You may seem free throughout your journey, but in truth, that isn’t the case at all.”

“I broke away from you guys a long time ago.”

“And yet, you’re still bound to us, hence why you’re struggling to break free, hence why you are here, standing before me.”

The Grandmaster’s shoulders twitched.

Unable to hold back any longer, she placed her hand on her odachi.

Great Iai.

Her tail raised sharply, and her black eyes fixed on a point beyond the roses.

The moment her odachi separated from its scabbard, her slash had already reached its target.

Boom!

A single Iai, just like lightning, too fast to follow with the eye.

The rose petals scattered like a whirlwind, and snow rose high like a pillar.

And yet, no blood was spilled.

When the blinding snowstorm subsided, what came to their sight was something that could be described as ‘terror’.

‘Red’ flowed across the man’s entire body. It seemed to be a type of Demonic Energy; different from what Isaac or the Sword Demons wielded.

Helmont’s Aura, the Crimson Essence.

The Crimson Essence of the Transcendent Race.

That was the only appropriate way to call it.

The Crimson Essence surrounding the man took the form of a greatsword around his weapon.

“You…”

The Grandmaster bit her lip as if chewing it.

At that moment, Isaac hurriedly stepped forward to calm her.

“Grandmaster.”

“Isaac, step back.”

“Please calm down. He isn’t someone you should fight alone.”

Ironically, no one present was unaware of the danger it posed.

After all, everyone knew about Helmont’s might.

“Isaac…?”

At that moment, the man’s interest was suddenly piqued upon hearing Isaac’s name.

“Ah, so it’s you? The one who killed my child. What a shame. If only that child had successfully been Vassalized, things would’ve gone much more smoothly.”

“…Child?”

Isaac asked by reflex. He had a feeling. The man’s ‘child’ that he mentioned was probably…

“Arandel Helmont, of course.”

The man shrugged.

As if to say, why bother pointing out the obvious?

“Are you trying to say—”

“Is there even a need to ask? Do you truly believe that Helmont’s blood is composed entirely of human’s blood?”

The man let out a mocking laugh as he said so.

His composure only made his words even more convincing.

“Do you really think the blood of humans could ever reach such prowess? How truly naive!”

No one, including Isaac, could refute his words.

After all, they all knew of the almost inhuman martial prowess of Helmont.

“Well, let’s move past these tedious old stories.”

The man withdrew his Crimson Essence with a sly smile.

He pulled the cross-shaped weapon on his shoulder—a staff.

It was like one that a pope might carry.

“You want to find the Malidean Wall. That’s why you came here, to bring the wall back.”

Amidst the silence, the man kept on talking while smiling joyfully, as if performing a soliloquy.

“Unfortunately, that’s an impossible endeavor.”

“What?”

“To use sorcery, one has to pay a price. We paid said price to remove the wall, so how could it possibly return?”

Making it return…is impossible…?

“Indeed. Your effort had been futile. I want to let you know that, because I want to see your despair. I want to be your despair.”

The man bowed with a faint smile, placing a hand on his chest.

Isaac wanted to believe it was a lie.

He could hear those behind him shouting that they didn’t believe the man’s words, but…

That’s how sorcery works.

Isaac’s mind was already convinced that he wasn’t lying.

After all, the same thing applied with Vassalization.

They transferred the massive Malidean Wall somewhere… Returning it to its original state… Is that even possible?

At least, the sorcery he knew didn’t work that way.

To use it, one had to pay the price.

Amidst the cold northern winds, Silverna’s voice still lingered.

[Had I met you earlier, our family wouldn’t have been wiped out in such vain.]

Because you told me so…

I came all the way here…

[Silverna.]

[That’s my name, the name that I abandoned so that my family’s name could be remembered.]

[Silverna Cardias.]

[That’s my real name, Isaac.]

To protect your name…

I resolved the Great Colony early, I provided the kingdom with all the information I had, I created a situation where they could send reinforcements whenever you needed it…

And yet…

This time too, I’ve lost you…

If things turn out this way…

What’s the point of my regression…?

Even if I succeed in avenging everyone, what’s the point if I lose those who’re precious to me one by one…?

The wall that blocked his path ahead felt like a wall that he could never overcome.

And unfortunately for him…

It only grew thicker.

“Ah, is it time?”

Suddenly, the space around the man started to distort.

Countless gasps could be heard from behind Isaac.

No one present was unaware of what this phenomenon was.

More Transcendents entered the battlefield.

At a glance, there seemed to be over thirty of them.

“Ah.”

“C-Crazy…”

“S-So many Transcendents…”

Bewilderment spread among the troops. The man in front of them was already frightening, and now the Transcendents also appeared in droves.

All of them harbored dense hostility, and each of them looked as if they’d ravage all the humans there at any moment.

“Hmm, what a disappointing number. Is this all of you?”

And yet, the man smacked his lips in disappointment.

Ever since they reached this place, they had only been experiencing despair after despair.

They had come here to save the Malidean Wall, but it turned out that it was a trap set by the Transcendent Race to devour them whole.

“Grip your sword.”

At that moment, the Grandmaster’s voice cut through the oppressive air like a sword.

Stepping forward, she glanced at Isaac and asked.

“Do you believe in fate?”

“…Grandmaster?”

“I don’t.”

Isaac too.

When it came to the word ‘fate’.

He was always skeptical about it.

“Hence why, I don’t see your regression as ‘fate’.”

“…”

“Whoever was involved in your regression believed you would overcome everything.”

That’s why they sent you.

“It’s not that you must not crumble. It’s that you cannot crumble.”

The Grandmaster, who had slowly stepped forward, firmly gripped her scabbard before calmly declared.

“Ink Sword, Isaac Logan. Receive my teaching.”

“Master…?”

The Grandmaster’s tail settled calmly. Her eyes filled with frost, reminiscent of moonlight, a piercing gaze, like a blade.

“I entrust everything to you.”

At that, he felt a sudden fear.

He had seen the Grandmaster acting like this once before.

Her last appearance back in his previous life.

“Grandmaster, wait a moment!”

“Don’t interrupt me, this is a critical moment.”

The Grandmaster, with a slight curl of her lips, confessed her honest feelings.

“Do you know why I valued you?”

“What do you…?”

“Whether in your previous life or this one, the reason I valued you was because I believed you would fulfill my dream.”

Dream?

In his previous life, the Grandmaster never spoke of her past.

Even in this life, she only mentioned her schoolmates, never elaborating further.

She never spoke of her true goal, not even once.

The reason why she took on disciples despite not being involved in the war.

“I wanted to see the humans surpass them.”

For her, a mixed-blood, it was an impossible dream.

After saying this, she leaped forward without waiting for Isaac’s response.

“I wanted to be called Master because I had no name.”

She swung her odachi widely.

“As a Nameless, I am content to be forgotten—!”

The Grandmaster’s slash flew towards the Transcendents, was poised to cut them in half, but…

Great Iai.

Another odachi blocked the Grandmaster’s strike.

Both the trajectory and the swordsmanship style was all too familiar.

Two swords, surprisingly identical, collided simultaneously.

Clang!

“You still love pretending to be cool eh, Number 10?”

The other side was a woman who had her head bowed. Thanks to her wide-brimmed hat, her face was completely covered.

Even so, the Grandmaster recognized who she was just by her voice.

“…Number 2?”

The identical odachi exchanged blows a few more times, then they moved away from each other.

She had been ready to accept death.

Hoping that her disciple would fulfill her dream and become an elegant swordsman.

“Time truly has a pleasant side.”

But maybe because she refused to believe in fate…

“Even in such a situation, meeting a close friend like this feels so pleasant.”

Fate had imposed such cruelty upon her.