Stars flowed beneath their feet.
Beyond them, the Milky Way wound like a river, and countless cross sections of other worlds lay embedded within it like shards of crystal.
It was a place whose magnificent vista resembled the view from a divine throne overlooking all creation.
Six silhouettes stood in that realm—a place where only those hailed as heroes or saviors were permitted to set foot.
“……Are you truly going back?”
The first to speak was Ernst, the Holy King of Arcadia.
Even on the fiercest battlefields, Ernst had never wavered. Now, however, his eyes were fixed on Kim Do-hyeon with the anxiety of a child.
“Yeah. I have to go back. There are people there who are incredibly precious to me…….”
As the Archmage smiled gently, Kazan folded his thick arms and spoke.
The Lord of Strife—the great barbarian warrior who had always laughed heartily even on battlefields where life and death hung in the balance—now spoke in an uncharacteristically subdued voice.
“So what? Are we not precious to you?”
A roguish smile hung on Kazan’s face, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“You’re incredibly precious to me.”
Kim Do-hyeon answered without hesitation.
“But all of you will be fine without me.”
Ernst had the people of Arcadia, who revered him like a god.
Kazan had his tribesmen awaiting his return on the northern plains of the Voldrak Continent.
The same was true of the other heroes.
“Torgen, you have plenty of apprentices waiting at your workshop. And Serea…… has the spirits who protect the forest.”
All of them had somewhere to return to.
Of course, they would feel an emptiness if a comrade with whom they had overcome countless brushes with death suddenly disappeared.
But they were all people hailed as saviors in their respective worlds.
“You’ll fill the place I leave behind soon enough.”
Kim Do-hyeon nodded as he spoke with conviction.
And yet—
No one gave him a proper answer.
Instead, everyone’s gaze converged upon one place.
Upon the woman standing alone at the greatest distance, refusing to mingle with any of the other six heroes.
Isabel.
A Half-Dragon and Sword Saint.
The only being in all of Kalhenbrock to have earned the title of Sword Saint.
Torgen, one of the heroes watching her, cautiously offered his opinion.
“Ahem…… Personally, I think that would be nearly impossible.”
Kim Do-hyeon understood why Torgen, known as the Meister, had said such a thing.
Isabel possessed remarkably poor social skills.
It wasn’t that she had a bad personality.
Strangely enough, however, whenever they gathered in this Sanctuary, she never associated with the other heroes.
Even during the grand celebration after all their battles had ended, Isabel had always remained one step behind everyone else.
Kim Do-hyeon was the only person with whom she engaged in ordinary conversation.
Perhaps that was why he felt somewhat responsible for her. Kim Do-hyeon turned to Ernst, the most accepting of them all, and made a request.
“Please look after Isabel.”
“…….”
“She can be a little prickly, but she isn’t impossible to deal with. Once you actually talk to her, I’m sure she’ll be able to get along with all of you.”
Ernst let out a heavy sigh.
“Social skills, you say…….”
Torgen gave a hollow laugh.
“That isn’t what we’re worried about.”
“Then what is it?”
No answer came.
Instead, a voice sounded from behind him.
“I’ll ask you one last time.”
At some point, Isabel had approached the other heroes from behind. Her blue eyes calmly regarded Kim Do-hyeon.
“This is my first time cutting this deeply through space and time. I can’t guarantee that it’ll succeed.”
Her manner of speaking was somewhat stiff, but the end of her voice trembled ever so slightly.
“You understand that there’s no telling what might happen, yet you still want to do this?”
“Yeah. I trust you, Isabel.”
Isabel was strong.
She wasn’t merely powerful.
The title of Sword Saint was no empty honor.
Her sword could cleave the laws of physics, sever causality, and cut through the very source of existence.
Cutting through the boundary of space and time might be a ‘first’ for her, but it wouldn’t be ‘impossible.’
‘And the same goes for me.’
Kim Do-hyeon was confident when it came to magic.
He had even engraved magic circles across his body like brands, preparing himself for every eventuality.
The moment Isabel’s strike cleaved through the dimensional barrier, his magic would hold the rift open and connect a path through it.
He couldn’t afford to miss even the briefest opening. However, after coordinating with Isabel through countless battles, he knew there would be no mistakes.
A faint sigh escaped Isabel’s lips.
“Haa…… You know this better than I do, but crossing space and time requires an enormous price.”
“It’s fine.”
“You’ll lose everything.”
Her blue eyes seemed to pierce straight through Kim Do-hyeon.
“Don’t you regret giving up everything you’ve built?”
Power. Honor. Adoration. Everything he had struggled so desperately to achieve.
Yet none of those vain things came to Kim Do-hyeon’s mind.
“……To be honest.”
Kim Do-hyeon turned his gaze toward the heroes.
No, toward his comrades.
‘Isabel. Ernst. Kazan. Torgen. Serea.’
As his gaze touched each of them in turn, memories of the battlefield surfaced in his mind.
Nights when they had entrusted their backs to one another. Dawns when they had shared blood. Moments when they had depended upon one another at death’s door.
“I’ll miss all of this so badly it’ll drive me mad.”
He spoke without hiding anything.
“Especially knowing that I’ll never see any of you again. That hurts more than anything.”
A bitter smile bloomed on Kim Do-hyeon’s lips before his expression slowly hardened.
“But I have no regrets.”
He had left nothing undone in this world.
He had always done everything within his power.
He had never fled from an enemy before him, nor had he ever abandoned the comrades standing behind him.
But Earth was different.
‘My family.’
Exhausted by his family’s bleak financial circumstances, he had often lashed out at his parents with almost childish petulance.
No, there had even been times when he had treated them harshly and hurt them.
Even though they must have been suffering and feeling more helpless than anyone else.
‘Maybe that was my punishment.’
Even at twenty-five years old, he had behaved no differently from an immature child.
Indeed, when he had first fallen onto the Rodinia Continent fifty years ago, it had been on the very day he had stormed out of the house after snapping bitterly at his parents.
That was why—
He was burdened with so many regrets.
He should have spoken warmly to them instead of lashing out.
He should have tried to understand how they felt.
He should have sat down and spoken honestly with them.
Even if only to release the emotions buried deep within his heart—
“I want to go back and correct every mistake my foolish past self made.”
Isabel furrowed her brow at Kim Do-hyeon’s words.
“……Moron.”
Her quiet mutter drifted upon the wind.
“You idiot who knows nothing but magic.”
Beneath the light reflected from the stars, Isabel’s expression was impossible to discern.
All he could see was her shaking her head once.
“Fine.”
Isabel nodded and extended a hand into the air, causing the mana around them to surge.
At the same time, the magic circles inscribed throughout the Sanctuary began radiating blue light.
The six heroes stood within the circular formation as differently colored powers blossomed from their bodies.
The Holy King’s white light, the Lord of Strife’s lightning, the Meister’s flames, and the Sage of the Forest’s verdant radiance.
The powers that had each saved a world flowed along the magic circles and converged as one. They gathered within Isabel’s grasp and formed a single sword.
“Hngh…….”
Isabel drew a deep breath and raised the sword overhead.
Then she swung it down.
At that moment—
CRACK—
The world split apart.
Space tore open as though screaming, and a colossal rift appeared among the stars.
A completely different landscape could be seen beyond it.
Concrete buildings. The glow of streetlights. The sounds of automobiles.
Earth.
The instant Kim Do-hyeon saw it with his own eyes—
WHOOOOM—!
An immense attractive force surged from beyond the rift.
It was the restorative force of torn spacetime attempting to mend itself. That force began pulling Kim Do-hyeon, who stood within the rift, toward the other side.
The starlight beneath his feet faded.
Light rose from the tips of his feet and reached his waist in an instant, rapidly devouring his form.
‘This is faster than I expected.’
There was no time.
Even as the light consumed him, Kim Do-hyeon turned his head.
He met the heroes’ eyes.
He wanted to leave them with one final farewell.
His gaze first turned to Ernst, the Holy King.
“Ernst. Thanks to your light, I never lost my way, even in the darkness.”
Kim Do-hyeon’s gaze next turned to Kazan, the Lord of Strife.
“Kazan. Whenever you stood at the vanguard and opened a path for us, I knew I could rely on you more than anyone.”
His gaze then moved to Torgen, the Meister, and Serea, the Sage of the Forest.
“Torgen. Serea. Without your support, we never could’ve won the war.”
At last, Kim Do-hyeon’s gaze settled upon one final person.
“Isabel. Thank you for everything.”
Even at his words of gratitude, her blue eyes remained calm and seemingly devoid of emotion. Kim Do-hyeon paid it no mind and continued.
“I couldn’t have endured it without you.”
The rift in spacetime pulled harder at Kim Do-hyeon.
“To me, you were……”
Almost nothing remained of his physical form as Kim Do-hyeon’s lips slowly moved.
“My best friend, and…….”
Before he could finish his final words, Kim Do-hyeon vanished from the world.
And just like that—
Silence descended upon the Sanctuary where only the remaining heroes stood.
The dimensional rift was still open. However, its ragged edges were slowly mending themselves, as though being stitched together with thread.
“……Isabel.”
Despite Serea’s cautious call, Isabel’s blue eyes didn’t so much as twitch.
She merely stared blankly in the direction where the rift in spacetime was disappearing.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right if you don’t follow him?”
Isabel frowned and turned her gaze toward Serea.
“Why would I follow him?”
As always, Isabel’s voice was cold.
“What good could possibly come from following a moron like him?”
Isabel scoffed and adopted an incredulous expression.
Outwardly, she appeared to possess no lingering attachment whatsoever.
But even she couldn’t completely conceal the trembling in her eyes.
Meanwhile—
The rift in spacetime continued repairing itself.
The enormous fissure that had divided the starlight had already narrowed until it was barely wide enough for a single person to pass through. The view of Earth beyond it was growing increasingly indistinct.
“There isn’t much time left.”
Ernst’s voice was low and firm.
His words might have sounded somewhat forceful, but they contained neither an order nor advice—only sincere concern.
“If you let this chance pass, you may never see Kim Do-hyeon again. Are you truly all right with that?”
Isabel didn’t answer.
She merely bit down hard on her lower lip and stared at the shrinking rift in spacetime.
All the while, the rift continued to repair itself at a tremendous speed.
The torn world restored itself. The fissure drew together like tightly woven stitches, and the light shining through it grew thinner.
“Damn…… Are we already too late?”
Torgen muttered to himself.
“She’s far too dishonest with herself.”
Kazan regarded Isabel with a somewhat bitter expression.
No, it wasn’t only Kazan.
Every hero gathered there wore the same expression.
Regret, sorrow—an emotion that none of those words could properly convey hung over their faces.
At that very moment—
“Argh! Damn it!”
Isabel’s irritated cry echoed throughout the Sanctuary.
At the same time—
Tremendous power erupted beneath her feet, unleashing a massive shock wave as her body shot forward.
“It’s dangerous!”
Serea urgently reached out.
“Isabel! It’s already……!”
“Stop!”
Ernst and Kazan’s shouts followed.
But Isabel didn’t stop.
The rift in spacetime had narrowed to the width of a thread. It was already too narrow for a person to pass through, and the world’s restorative force had transformed its edges into sharp blades that sought to repel any intruder.
Any being caught between them would be annihilated.
No one understood that better than Isabel, who had cleaved open the rift herself.
Even so—
Isabel didn’t hesitate.
She threw herself toward the narrowing rift, and one final shout escaped her lips.
“Kim Do-hyeon, you goddamn bastard—!”
The rift swallowed Isabel.
Then it closed.
The wound among the stars disappeared without a trace.
As though nothing had ever happened.
The rift in spacetime, the Earth visible beyond it, and Isabel’s form after she had leaped inside—
All of it.
Silence descended upon the Sanctuary once more.
The remaining heroes couldn’t utter a single word.
They merely stared wide-eyed at the empty space before them.